After writing those heavy words the other night I’m feeling much better – it’s like a weight has been lifted! I have had some amazing supportive comments and advice which have made me smile, thank you! Now I’ve got a clear head and I’m ready to tackle my creative block – It’s creative rehab time! I was on the hunt for new blogs for inspiration when I stumbled across a couple of posts by Veronica Dearly: On Beating Creative Block and Kill Self Doubt Dead. Both spoke so much sense to me – I recommend giving them (and the rest of her blog) a read.
At the end of my Frequency internship I was panicking about what I was going to do next. Both Sam (my internship mentor) and Chris (tutor from Uni) were telling me to do nothing: ‘Have a rest.’
At the time, it seemed like a strange suggestion – I like to keep busy and work hard so having a rest felt like laziness to me! How could I have time off when I had to strike whilst the iron is hot and get a job? But I did feel exhausted – Graphic Design students (alongside Fashion students) have a reputation for being some of the hardest working with a heavy workload and after 3 years, the all nighters and stress had taken its toll! So I went to London for a couple of days for my Inspir-cation and then it was time for me to leave Lincoln and move back home. I’ve had a lot of rest since being home – 2 months of looking and not doing. Reading blogs and clicking through Behance projects is great for inspiration but there comes to a point where you need to stop looking and thinking ‘I wish I had done that’ and actually do something! Although on one hand I feel like I’m failing at life as a jobless 24 year old, it turns out that sometimes it’s best to take a break – I now feel ready to get creative again.
The festive season has helped a little – I flexed my Photoshop and Illustrator skills to create my Dad’s personalised Christmas gift and some graphics for the blog. It was also the first time in ages that I have picked up a pen to draw – I doodled on Emma’s Birthday present parcel – I think she appreciated the effort 🙂 Small steps! Last week I started a project which I’ve been planning since the summer. I’ve not done anything visual yet, as I was collating data from 3 years worth of receipts, but I absolutely loved getting my teeth into some numbers and data – it’s been too long! I’m done with being scared now and I’ll blog about it soon, promise!
I’ve put fresh inspiration on my noticeboard, a new tri-tastic case for my iphone…
… and I’ve been getting my hands messy:
All will be revealed soon! For more snippets of creativity and inspiration, follow me on Instagram @natasha_nuttall. If you have Instagram, let me know where I can find you in the comments!
P.s. might have let slip on twitter that I have an interview tomorrow… 🙂
4 comments
emanateslife
16/01/2014 at 12:07 pm
Excellent! 🙂
emmadawsondesign
16/01/2014 at 6:46 pm
I totally appreciated the doodled parcel! almost too lovely to open. Very excited to see the result of the masses of receipts
ninavjohansen
16/01/2014 at 11:52 pm
Love those letters!
graphiquefantastique
17/01/2014 at 12:32 am
Thanks Nina – more about those soon! Until then, check out this post from a little while back: https://graphiquefantastique.com/2011/08/09/mytypeofdecordiy3dletters/