The Vulnerable Side of Making Art

...and how to embrace it.

I heard song lyrics once that pretty much summed up how I feel about art.

I want to share it with you now.

“2 AM and I'm still awake, writing a song
If I get it all down on paper, it's no longer inside of me
Threatening the life it belongs to
And I feel like I'm naked in front of the crowd
'Cause these words are my diary screaming out loud
And I know that you'll use them however you want to”

From the song: Breathe (2 AM)
Songwriter: Anna Nalick

Making art and sharing art is incredibly vulnerable. Inspiration fueling motivation. Compelling someone to set the stage and perform. The act of making art is a decision to bring something inside of you out into its physical form. Could you imagine if you could see everyone’s brain conceiving ideas and processing them like a little projection above their head? Spinning and brewing. Falling apart and reforming again. Then we would see just how much art is being imagined and never brought to life. Poof. Gone!

So the very act of bringing an idea into a physical form that someone else can experience is honestly a miracle and takes a lot of effort.

There are ideas that come and go like fluttering butterflies. Maybe you catch one or maybe you don’t. Then there are ideas that attack you like a bear and wont let go until you tame it. Artists are often captive to their inspired ideas. It occupies their focus until they release it on paper, in the form of a book, in song, through physical movement, using a guitar, or on canvas. Sometimes we procrastinate or ignore these ideas for years (for a thousand reasons), but they still live deep in our minds – haunting us, until we bring them to life.

“2 AM and I'm still awake, writing a song
If I get it all down on paper, it's no longer inside of me
Threatening the life it belongs to”

I have felt that lyric with all my heart. I’ve been up in the middle of the night wrestling with an idea or a drawing. In that moment it feels so important. I have no choice, but to battle it out. An important message that needs to be written. To whom the message is for is not always clear, but the message must be created and if I am brave enough…sent.

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“And I feel like I'm naked in front of the crowd
'Cause these words are my diary screaming out loud”

The choice to share your art and soul with the world is nothing but a total act of bravery! Even if it only took minutes to draw something, it may have taken decades of education, sacrifices, and time to hone those drawing skills. When you hear a musician strum the guitar, you know they didn’t just pick it up and start playing. You might be sharing something that may have taken hours, months, or even years to create. It makes sense that most artists and illustrators will struggle with sharing their work. Many hold back (including myself) on sharing because its terrifying.

When you look at my art, you won’t just see a pretty picture. If you look closely, you’ll see my marks. You’ll see my mood. You’ll see the choices I made. You’ll see my skills and style. You’ll see my story. It’s a piece of me, like a diary entry, being shared out loud with the world.

“And I know that you'll use them however you want to”

This is the mysterious second act. The first is the making of the art. The second is how it’s received. The audience will use whatever you’ve made and shared however they want to. Even if you share it with just one person. What if the response is negative? What if someone steals your art? What if everyone discovers you’re a fraud? Or… what if… it gives someone hope? What if it makes someone happy? What if it brings you more work? What if it inspires someone else to get up and make something of their own? What if it saves someones life? What if it teaches someone else how to start?

If you’re actively sharing your work, you don’t always get to know exactly who sees it. If you’re lucky, someone contacts you and says, “Hey, that thing you did meant a lot to me. It has inspired me to do XYZ.” or “I loved what you shared. We have been looking for some one to work on this amazing project and I think you would be the perfect fit.” But mostly, you wont know how far reaching your work goes. You may just see the negative side or the fact that no one took the time to click the “like” button. That doesn’t mean it didn’t reach anyone. The message could have been “sent” to the exact person that needed to see it, but for whatever reason they couldn’t or didn’t respond.

In this very moment, I’m interpreting the song Breathe. I’m using it how I want to. Anna wrote it and I’m interpreting the message for myself. I haven’t talked to her. She doesn’t know me. I don’t know her. She wrote it, bravely shared it with the world, and I received it. In my eyes, the entire song is talking about vulnerability and experiencing hard times. When times get rough, you should slow down and “just breathe”. Life only moves forward. You can’t go back and change mistakes or things you’re not proud of. You can only move forward with a positive attitude.

The chorus:

“Cause you can't jump the track, we're like cars on a cable
And life's like an hourglass glued to the table
No one can find the rewind button, girl
So cradle your head in your hands
And breathe, just breathe
Oh, breathe, just breathe”

So, we must focus on the art itself. The part we have control over. It’s the part where we set the stage. It’s the moments when we get to actively be artists.

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Seek inspiration. Make artist dates with yourself. Go to a museum, the mountains, a busy market, or your attic. Search high and low. This is your creative fuel.

Let it fill you. Make notes, scribbles, bad sketches, or voice memos.

Enjoy the thrill of setting the stage and finding your creative voice. Make room. Buy better art supplies. Give yourself what you need. Experiment. Take up space.

Act your heart out. Do your best where you are at in the journey. Lose the perfectionist act. Let your guard down. Be genuine.

Give it your all. Don’t hold back. Use the nice paper. Open the paint set that’s been waiting for months in the closet!

Then humbly share your creation. Do not focus or fuss over who or how it will be received. This half of the creative equation is mysterious and out of your control. Just know that if the inspiration came to you, then your job is to see it through.

Share it with a smile.

…and before you second guess yourself, do it all over again!

It’s really the only way to embrace the vulnerability of it all.

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Here are some illustrations I recently made:

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