This article was written by Magu Villar, a communicator, illustrator and creative writer specialized in storytelling. Based in Buenos Aires, Magu stayed at CoImpact Coliving in May 2022, and among other things she gifted us this great article.
Since I’ve started working as a freelance illustrator (and most recently as a digital nomad), my motivation has been to construct a career that prioritizes my passions and abilities. It is the continuous development of creative projects that allows me to achieve my goals. In this article I’ll be sharing with you 3 ideas to connect with your inspiration, so you can work on your own creative project.
What makes a good project? Although there are no magic spells or recipes to be followed, there are certain keys that can help us to generate visibility, connect with our public or attract potential clients, successfully.
The starting point: authenticity. We are attracted to personal, authentic, valuable content, able to communicate something new, unique. A universal experience seen from one’s personal point of view. This can open a world of possibilities and give us permission to show ourselves just as we are, while showcasing our work.
Here’s an example: if you are a hand-lettering illustrator, instead of using well-known phrases (such as “Live, laugh, love”), you can use your own phrase, your personal mantra, something that you’ve heard from your child that made you laugh, something you’ve heard on the street, anything can be a source of new ideas.
The key? You must feel connected to what you’re about to share.
Interestingly, the more personal is your work, the more inclusive it will be, since other people can feel represented by it. The kind of content that friends will share between themselves saying “this is so us”.
The idea is to connect our projects with the sensation of “look and feel”: a distinctive way to showcase our work, adding value and uniqueness, that only can come from ourselves.
In case you feel a little bit stuck while trying to idealize your project, here’s 3 ideas to get you connected with your inspiration and explore your full potential:
1- Keep a journal:
In general, the main tool that helps me in my creative process is the habit of keeping a sketchbook journal, where I register all of my inspiration sources, which later will become a project. Ideally you should document everything that inspires you: a sentence you’ve heard, a color palette that you liked, a dream you had, whatever calls for your attention: that mix of references can be combined to help you on creating something new, Your journal will become a visual tool that you can turn to search for new ideas.
2-Creative brainstorming:
Is not always comfortable to sit in front of a blank page and the uncertainty of what’s gonna come out, but once you break through the uncertainty, you can start to experiment. You can write down your subjects of interest, concepts or themes that you feel drawn into, and enumerate them. Mix those themes together with your abilities (drawing, lettering, illustrating, embroidering) and, at first, allow yourself to play it around with the combination of your passion and how to translate that into your work. For instance, if there’s a type of music that you’re into lately, try designing your own album covers inspired by that music genre. Or if you are a cat lover, try to illustrate one different cat per day, for 30 days. Once you have gone through all of this different experimentations, you can evaluate – in a more strategic way – which project can be turned into a paid job.
3- Design a project to be shared:
The last piece of the creative process is to share your projects, so more people can get to know your work. It is important to use strategies of communication, so you can choose people who will interact with your projects. What makes content worthy of being shared? The content that makes you feel something. Try to make others laugh, feel touched, ponder. Try to make people feel something when coming across your work.
Are you ready to start your next project?
Do you want to know more about Magu and connect with her? We invite you to visit her website.
Are you an entrepreneur and want to collaborate with CoImpact Coliving? Contact us at coimpactcoliving@sweetbcnapartments.com
