This month, I’ve been diving into courses on graphic design and drawing. I never saw myself as a creative person before. But a seemingly unrelated activity led me to explore myself in a new way.
It started with editing videos for the Intro course for Plussios. This course introduces the concept and Google.Sheets template, and the videos include motion graphics to help visualize the ideas.
I decided to learn how to edit videos and add motion graphics. At some point, I realized that I also wanted to create the actual graphics that I would put in motion. I was vaguely familiar with Illustrator, and decided to watch a couple of videos from a course to get oriented in the app in the fastest manner. I didn’t expect it to influence my life, but that was what actually happened.
The course got me hooked. I did the first assignments without any expectations about my results. Why would I have expected much of myself? I had always seen myself as a highly technical, non-creative person. Designing? Drawing? Not my thing.
But I liked the results I got. Not much for creativity, but I managed to produce something. Something that I actually liked. And then it started to evolve.
Later, I came across a course about how to start sketching daily, where I discovered that I could actually doodle and draw something pretty decent occasionally. Then I even started a course on anatomy and figure drawing with hopes to get close to my aspiration of designing outfits for men.
Although I haven’t completed most of the courses I started, the main point is that I have allowed myself to be creative. My non-creativity wasn’t something inherent, but rather a limiting belief. By being creative I mean creating new things that I love while enjoying the process.
I had always been afraid to step out of the seemingly direct path to my nearest objective. I should have used numerous ready assets in my motion graphics instead of learning to design. But this deviation from the “right” path helped me shed another layer of self-constraint, and feel myself a bit more empowered.
Was it worth it to spend time on “unproductive” work? I believe it was. It might not pay off right away—but it may have unlocked paths I couldn’t walk before.
How about you? Do you always stay on track? Or do you allow yourself to wander and explore? Share your experience in the comments.
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