As a kid, I would see classmates drawing and doodling, both in art class and in their notebooks. Through the years, I met many other kids that had genuine artistic talent and who created beautiful and unique works. At the time, I thought that you were born with artistic and creative ability or you were born devoid of both, and because I was terrible at art, I figured that I missed out. Not only was I terrible drawing what I saw in the world, I couldn’t even think of anything fanciful to draw. I was just one of the unlucky born with a creative bone in my body, with no eye for art, and no chance to produce something beautiful. I felt that way until I was in my late 30s, when I started to uncover my creativity through woodworking.
I’ve already written a bit about creativity, but not about my own journey from artless buffoon to competent furniture designer and illustrator. That’s what I want to explain now, over the course of several posts in the coming weeks. My primary goal is to show you that anyone can be creative and make beautiful furniture that expresses their unique way of seeing and loving the world. It’s a skill that you can develop by practicing.
Today, I am explaining how you find a place to start, where the creative seed is sown. Later, I’ll talk about how I grow the seed to fruition. Along the way, I’ll share the tools I use to get ideas out of my head and onto paper (some are digital, but most are tangible, like pen & paper), and give you some technique (and a few “cheats”) to help you develop as an artists (at least as an artists that specializes in drawing furniture you might want to make).
Before I get started, here are two earlier posts about creativity and design.