Episode 21: Leading with Curiosity in Place of Fear with Genna Blackburn

Genna Blackburn has gone on many different paths to make income from her art such as, owning her own stationery company, designing for Minted, freelance, wedding invitation design, art licensing, and online education. Her attitude and approach to learning and taking on new things have greatly contributed to her success. 

Letting Go

After creating a stationery company and an entire wedding stationery line, Genna knew it was time to let those things go and turn her attention to other revenue streams. She could look at letting go of these things as a waste of time or a step backward, but Genna has a different viewpoint. She reminds us that letting go of something is a step forward. Trying something out and changing directions is a learning opportunity that propels you forward onto the next thing in your journey. 

Leading With Curiosity 

Approaching new things with curiosity and the mindset that it is an experiment and it doesn't have to be a success right away can also help us take the pressure off of ourselves. 

We never know if something is going to work or be something we like until we try it. Having a level of naivety also assists us in being bold. A lack of experience or understanding can make it easier to approach things with less fear. Listen to this episode of The Goal Digger Podcast to hear more about boldness from Jennifer Cohen.

The Fear of Making Bad Art

If you tend to approach a white blank page and feel paralyzed or fearful of making bad art, Genna has many great ideas to help work through those feelings such as:

-Drawing for 20 minutes each day. Even though it feels like not very much time drawing for only 2o minutes each day is powerful and can create momentum. Every day you build on what you did the day before. 

-When you approach a new piece of work take the pressure off of yourself that everything you make has to be good and sellable. This can be helpful to calm your mind when encountering the blank page.

-Recognize that your art style is always evolving. There is always room to experiment and play. However, having rules and parameters can be helpful and freeing to help develop your signature style. This can also help with the decision fatigue a lot of us can experience when creating art.

-Follow along and draw with another artist online to decrease anxiety and just play. 

-Limit your supplies to help with decision fatigue. 

-To warm up just draw shapes or lines. 

-Read "Big Magic" by Elizabeth Gilbert 

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Reframe your thoughts about letting go of something. It isn’t a step backward but a step forward in your journey. It isn't a waste of time but a learning opportunity. 

• Having a mindset of being curious and seeing it as an experiment can make trying new things less scary.

• Drawing for 20 minutes each day can be powerful and can create momentum. Every day you build on what you did the day before. Taking pressure of yourself that everything you make has to be good and sellable can also be helpful to calm your mind when encountering the blank page.

• Your art style is always evolving. There is always room to experiment.

• Having rules and parameters can be helpful and freeing to help develop your signature style. This can also help with the decision fatigue a lot of us can experience when creating art. 

• When you are feeling self-doubt and fear, recalling past successes can be helpful to push through those mindsets. If you are also being reminded of past failures, a helpful truth is that everything you try has a 50/50 result. You don’t have any idea what that result will be until you try.

• You learn more from your failures than your successes. If you look back at things that didn’t work with curiosity this can be a powerful move to help create better things in the future.

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Genna Blackburn is a surface designer, illustrator, and educator working from her nearly 100-year-old home in Detroit, Michigan where she lives with her husband and son. Inspired by her love of plants and animals, her work is a playful exploration of shape and color stemming from her background as a graphic designer. Genna teaches on Skillshare, has her own course (InDesign Your Portfolio), and has had the pleasure of licensing her artwork on a variety of fun products for clients including Target, Hello Bello, PBS Fabrics, Little Sleepies, and JIGGY Puzzles.

Visit Genna's website at www.gennablackburn.com and on Instagram. 

Download Genna's 6 steps to develop your signature style