We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Elizabeth Hunn. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Elizabeth below.
Elizabeth, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.
It’s so easy to burn out as creatives and over the years I’ve had to learn the importance of keeping a balance between creating and taking time to find inspiration. Often, when I’m struggling to find ideas and find myself staring at a blank page, that means allowing myself to take some time away from drawing.
In those times I like to dip into the variety of areas and hobbies that I find bring me inspiration. For me, video games are a huge part of that. Being able to switch off and absorb myself in another world, or a character’s journey, is a great source of ideas and allows me to disconnect enough to find my next step. Books or films can serve a similar purpose. When I’m stuck on my own ideas, creating fan artwork of things I’ve recently enjoyed can always be a good starting point. Starting prompts, like re-interpreting a show’s characters in my own style, can really help with taking away the “what am I going to draw” issue and let me focus on getting back into the swing of the drawing itself.
Overall, just letting yourself have these breaks, or taking away the pressure of thinking, help to maintain the creative motivation and continue a consistent practice.
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’m an Illustrator and Animator. I’ve spent my whole life drawing whenever I can, from nursery to university, where I studied illustration. Since completing my degree I’ve been running an Etsy shop, under the name DustandMarbles, creating stickers, prints and bookmarks, as well as working on a variety of freelance projects. I’ve had the opportunity to create some really fun animation projects, including a series of YouTube intros themed on the Bioshock video game series (a favourite of mine) as well as animating for the film MINORE, a greek fantasy horror. With my illustration work, I’m currently really enjoying working on digital portraits (very stylised and cartoony) both for commissions and personal work. On top of that I’ve been making an abundance of frog drawings and plenty of cute cottagecore scenes.
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?
For me, learning to make things that I want to make rather than what I think others want me to make, was such an important lesson. When you enjoy making something, it so often comes across in the quality of the creation itself and allowing yourself to create for you can be both beneficial professionally and personally.
Developing the practice of sketching was another skill that has really benefited me throughout my creative journey. Everyone will always tell you the best way to improve is to practice and it’s so true. I’ve always loved carrying a sketchbook with me whenever I can. Sometimes the off moments like while waiting for food in a restaurant, or a long train journey can be great moments to get out a basic biro and draw the world around you. Developing a habit of picking up the pen and just going for it can help a ton in developing your creative skills and getting your ideas going.
My final advice, which I’m still always having to relearn, is sometimes things are messy. Not everything will fit into neat boxes. You’ll make good pieces and bad ones, sometimes you’ll try new things, sometimes you’ll draw the same things for months on end. It doesn’t have to make sense and it probably won’t. Trying to force your creative work to be a certain way never works, you can only keep trying and over time things start to come together in their own way.
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
For me it always helps when I get things down on paper. I’ve tried all kinds of elaborate planners and phone apps for organising but at the end of the day nothing helped as much as getting a post it note or a scrap of paper and making a basic to do list. I find it helps if the list isn’t written on anything fancy, that way I can’t worry about it looking nice. I like to make my plans a day at a time, sometimes I’ll keep a list of longer term things on my phone but in terms of de-whelming myself, making a basic list of what I think I can do in a day helps put things in perspective. I think it’s important to even include basic everyday tasks like getting dressed or eating lunch, mostly so even if I can’t get much done on the list I still have some things to tick off and still get to feel like I’ve achieved something.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.dustandmarbles.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dustandmarbles
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-hunn-559b86209/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3VRZk1mFnI6HPsLb1N_Cyw
