The Path to Becoming An Artist

Having a desire to create, or more accurately a need to make stuff, is the strongest motivator for an artist to BE an artist. That desire usually surfaces at a very young age, even if not acted upon. Some artists grow up with a crayon, pencil, marker, paintbrush (you get the picture), in their hand, while others don't know what will "scratch that itch" until they are well into adulthood.

Let us make a point here. EVERYONE is creative. It's part of being human, part of how we survive each day. Most people just don't think about what creativity actually is, and only think of it in terms of ART. Sooo not true. Do you know someone who LOVES to cook, sew, organize closets, work on cars, plan events, hike, fish, dream up new ways to traumatize younger (or older) siblings? Travel, write, hack computers, build businesses -- it's all creative activity. Just because one can't draw that straight line doesn't mean they aren't creative.

So does that mean everyone is an artist? Maybe, but society defines an artist as one who creates ART, not simply acts creatively. Some of us evidently have a stronger drive to use our creativity in an artistic way. The end result for us is not a gourmet dinner or a restored 1969 GTO, but a painting, or a novel, ceramic vase, sculpture, song, photograph, or any other thing that is conceived and executed from creative thought processes from inside our head.

Using that criteria, how does an artist actually become an artist? Well, that is where growing comes into play. Each artist gets "there" in their own unique (creative) way. Some start young, drawing their way up the art ladder, taking all the art classes they can in school, and then going to "Art School" to learn more about the mechanics of art. Others start later in life, maybe while they are working in traditional jobs, realizing they are "lacking" something, and figuring out they need to create art, so start learning how to express themselves in an artistic manner. Still others stumble upon the realization that they need to create art when they make something as part of a work assignment, or when helping with a school project, etc.

Within that path to becoming an artist, each person encounters experiences unique to their journey, shaping their perceptions and seeding their mind with ideas that will eventually become artistic expression. Along with that, in most instances, there is also training, whether formal art school, workshops and seminars, or individual reading and practice, that the growing artist incorporates as part of the learning process. And as the artist learns and grows, so does the art created by that artist.

It starts with desire, and grows from there.