Your Permission Slip to Reinvent Your Creative Identity

Pictured artwork by Bri Custer.

You feel stuck.

You’ve been making work in a consistent style and you’ve been making steady sales. That’s great! Right? For many artists, yes, this is an ideal situation to strive for. Once you’re at a place where you’ve honed in on your creative voice, you can then focus on growing your audience to generate consistent sales, making connections with galleries and the media, and further refining your techniques to dive deeper into your practice. But what if you’ve made it to this point of ‘success’ (putting in quotes because this is just one way an artist might define success!) and now find yourself longing to create something new? 

Maybe it’s a different scenario altogether, where you’ve built a solid body of work but it isn’t connecting with people the way you thought it would and you’re simply no longer as invested in it as you were at the beginning. Or, perhaps you haven’t made work in a while and aren’t inspired by the idea of returning to what you were making in the past. 

Pictured artwork by Jenny Brown.

Is it really worth starting over from scratch? 

Almost all artists go through this at some point in their careers. Remember it’s almost impossible to be satisfied with the creative work you do 100% of the time. Try to identify the difference between when you should dig in and push through feeling uncertain about your art and when you truly feel you need to start over in a new direction. Listen to your heart and your gut, rather than giving in to fear.

The most common misconception about experimenting with a new style, medium, subject, etc is that any audience you’ve built around the art you currently make will no longer be interested (and that a smaller following means fewer sales and less $). Sure, you may lose a few past clients but you will also gain tons of new ones! This fear is rooted in the idea of trying to create art that you think will sell rather than internalizing that you can find success in any niche. I’ve never truly been convinced that some art is more commercial than others - to me, it’s always about putting your art in front of the right audience. 

When you’re making work that fulfills you creatively, that energy will radiate from your art and resonate through the ways in which you share it with the world. These feelings are contagious and other people can’t help but to be drawn in! Also note that for numerous collectors, the experience of buying art has to do with supporting you as much as, or at least in addition to, the connection they made with what you create.

For artists who already work in multiple media or styles, I usually find that their art is still recognizable as having been done by the same hand in one way or another. Have faith in your community that they will happily continue to watch you develop as an artist and remain dedicated customers along the way. 

Pictured artwork by Piya Samant.

Nobody expects you to create the same work forever. Why put yourself in a box? Even artists who have a distinct style for decades find ways to keep it exciting and avoid burnout. Besides working on their techniques as mentioned before, they may play with color and scale. Or, an artist might choose to create a personal series on the side just meant for fun instead of sales. This could be any creative outlet that helps them return to their professional work feeling refreshed rather than like it is a chore. Experimenting, sketching, writing, reading, and other hobbies can end up inspiring new ideas for your art! 

Another factor holding you back might be worrying about time. Specifically, you may wonder how long it will take to get back to consistent sales again or simply to a point where you feel confident in your work. While there’s no guarantee and certainly no standard timeline, if you got there once you’ve already proven you can do it (so you can do it again). This time around might be faster and easier since you now have knowledge and experience that you didn’t have before. If you weren’t happy with previous work then honestly ask yourself: what do you have to lose? 

Finally, you might fear judgment for not sticking to one thing. Fight this by finding joy from your art and process rather than from validation. The more you can do that, the less it will matter to you. Not to mention, the former will bring you exponentially greater satisfaction in the long run anyway. Creativity is your superpower - it should allow you to feel free, not restricted. Keep in mind that you can always keep any new work you create to yourself until you really feel comfortable enough to post about it or start exhibiting.

Pictured artwork by Chloe McEldowney.

You don’t have to completely give up on any past work or ideas and can choose to work on them simultaneously if you have the time and available materials. And there’s no rule against returning to your previous style if trying something new doesn’t pan out. In fact, shifting focus for a while might be exactly what you need to give you a new perspective on your previous work and get you excited about it again.

Despite the title of this article, it’s ultimately not up to me to give you permission to explore something completely new in your art practice, it’s up to you. So go ahead and give this gift to yourself.

You deserve it. 

-Alicia 

Many thanks to artist Katie McCall for recommending this as a career advice article topic! 

If you enjoyed this article, remember you can find even more career advice in our bestselling business book for artists The Complete Smartist Guide.