This past week I had the wonderful opportunity to once again share techniques with a fellow artisan, Summer Ross. Between the two of us, we. Each had a skill or knowledge the other wanted to improve upon. We shared with each other, helped each other learn, grow and expand our skills. Such cooperation is surprisingly far less common outside of video tutorials, be they free or paid.
Consider this as you think on sharing your skills with fellow artisans. Where did you learn? Was everything magically within your ability? Did you see a design or style that inspired you? We all learned and continue to learn from each other. So why not do so openly? In the case of Summer and I, we worked with methods we each felt needed more skill. I personally thought that making faces of any kind was extremely difficult; for Summer it was any type of cane outside of a bullseye. We showed each other just how simple both of these things can be.
That being said, the style she showed me is her unique style. We discussed that I will be trying different things with the techniques for faces in order to make the style more my own. This is in order to keep from flat out duplicating her style, besides I prefer to make things in a style more fitting to my own. I would never want to undermine Summer or her works. Any pieces I complete while working towards my own style will absolutely name her as the style source, with an advisement to see her many other amazing works. This is the most basic courtesy, giving credit to the sources of learning and inspiration.
When we watch a tutorial, we duplicate the result. The final goal is to take those newfound skills and eventually use them to create a style all your own. When we share amongst each other, we ensure many things. The continuation of the skills, the broadening of the artistic world, potentially learning something new from those who learn from us and more. Remember that in teaching or sharing skills, you too can learn from the ideas, technique and styles of those who learn from you. The world is vast, there is plenty of room for every artist. The closer we are as an artisan community, the better for us all.
Lets get inspired and motivated! Rest well and let those creative vibes flow. Never forget; you are amazing!
~ Michele Hinchey
MacTiere Luna