The past week I tried something new, something scary, something vulnerable.

I made a few illustrations which are a lot more autobiographical than my usual work. Something made me look back to how I got to where I am now. And there were some key moments that stood out to me. Images came to mind and I made some sketches. It wasn’t hard to get the idea down, and with a little gouache and pen I made this mini series.

Making things in your own safe comfort zone at home is the easy part. Nobody to poke at your vulnerabilities. Call you out for not being a real artist. Telling you you’re not good enough. Or any of those fears that might come true. Still, I decided to share these six pieces and the accompanying story on my Instagram. Every day one part of the story. And yes it was really scary to do. Because it wasn’t really a joyous or funny story. I shared about mistakes I made, my downs (and ups eventually), trial and error. I showed my vulnerable side.

Why I did this? As I’ve said before, I can find a lot of support, inspiration and motivation in the stories of others. And maybe, somewhere, I could do the same for someone else by sharing mine. That’s it. And it was enough to make me feel confident I was doing the right thing.

Creative Journey 3
Part three of this personal series. Read the story here.

And the funny thing was… Even though the statistics sucked according to Instagram Insights, low reach and few likes on most of these six posts, it felt like a succes to me. Because in te comments I read I could see people were glad I shared this. I got a few messages of people who thought it was awesome I was doing this. Who felt inspired by story. Not a whole lot of people, but a few is enough for me. I achieved what I set out to do: help others by sharing my story.

Being open and honest about ourselves, makes this whole thing of finding our way through life (creative or not) a lot easier.

Would you dare to open up about your own story?