Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brian Wooden. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Brian, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.
A big part of confidence for me isn’t necessarily the presence of a particular skill set or achievement, but instead the lack of those negative voices in the back of one’s mind. I think working towards your goals and skill sets go hand in hand with this this notion; by focusing on what you want out of life or want to achieve then you are automatically wiring your brain to focus on that instead of giving it room for the negative self talk to creep in.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I love the title of “visual artist” because it leaves so much space to create anything you want and work in any medium. This is great for me because I like to experiment with a range of materials and techniques. I recently began working with textiles and collaborated with a furniture company to translate my illustrative work into a furniture based installation. The idea of 3 dimensional sculpture work has been very exciting to me lately and creating motifs in everyday environments that have never been seen (or really even considered) before.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Number one for me has always been the ability to draw. And by that I just mean the ability to see something or imagine something and re create it using lines, shapes, shading, etc. This has always been the basis of all my work.
Along with that comes the ability to see and create a balanced and interesting composition. Favorite work comes from simple images that utilize a strong sense of composition. This can really set an artists work apart from others who might be able to draw or render something realistically but can’t present it in an interesting way.
Another huge one is the intention behind your work. This one can be tough. Why are you making what you’re making? Is it for you or for someone else? Are you doing it out of necessity or out of love? Sometimes you have to make things out of necessity or make things for other people but if that is your only intention then burnout can happen very fast. The more I can remember to have fun and make what I want to see in the world, the stronger my work becomes.
If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?
My biggest challenge lately has been wanting to continuously create pieces that are bigger, better, different, exciting, etc. and forgetting to just chill out and focus on the basics and the aspects of visual rot that got me excited in the first place like fun drawings and illustrations. Especially with social media, it can be tempting to just wanna show people constant growth and always want to post something crazier than the last thing, so I try to remind myself that it’s not always about bigger and better.
Contact Info:
- Website: Brianwooden.co
- Instagram: @brianwooden
