Jack of All Trades or Master of One?

How Many Mediums Should One Creative Have?

I got a problem (yeah, I know you know). In addition to having a tendency to starting too many projects (read all about my case of Inspiration Overload here) I also have a habit of trying out a new medium at the drop of a hat.

Looking around my office right now I can see at least a half dozen different mediums that I have tried using to express myself creatively. Seriously, without even leaving my seat I can see the following:

• Drawing pads with hand sketches

• A box of alcohol markers

• A set of gouache paints

• Two 3D printers (FDM and resin)

• Three miniature woodworking saws (scroll, table, and band saws)

• Acrylic paints and canvases

• A few dozen miniature crafting hand tools

If I were to step out into my garage I could add sculpting, airbrushing, and wax casting to the list.

My miniature tool box. Like, tools for building miniature stuff. And, yes, creating this tool box was also a creative project!

Is this healthy? How many many different medium should I be spending my limited time and energy on? I am glad I asked!

Healthy Exploration

I believe that a part of being creative is exploring different ways to express yourself, including new materials. If you are a woodworker this may be different flavors of wood, stain, or finishes. A painter may want to try watercolors, acrylics, or oils. If you are like me and not schooled in any particular discipline, this likely looks like a mess of different creative media.

I honestly do think that my ability to jump into a new medium with little prompting (or preparation) has benefitted me in the past. A few years ago my cousin and I wanted to create a children’s book. Rather than illustrating it using paintings or drawings, we came up with the idea of building miniature sets, characters, and props and taking pictures to illustrate the story. The result was a book unlike anything I have seen before and my experience with wood working, 3D printing, sculpting, electronics, and painting all came together and let me create without any boundaries.

A picture of the book… everything was built at 1:7 scale and shot with a camera, including the text (which is a small hand written note lying on the floor and photographed, as well).

Benefits of Focus

So, yeah, I have enjoyed running amuck across a dozen different creative fields, but there has to be a down side, right? Well, I have accumulated a LOT of art supplies. I have too many art supplies. I have four or five sets of pastels in the garage and some ink wells and nib pens that I will likely never use again… now that I write this, I am feeling a strong drive to clean house…

In addition to preventing my garage from looking like Blick.com’s return warehouse, I believe that focus does help me to get better at my creative pursuits. At this point we have probably all heard the idea that we can become a master by practicing something for 10,000 hours. I believe that this concept was debunked (due to all the variables of mastering something including natural ability and the vast variances in how hard different disciplines are to master), but the truth is, the more I do something, the better I get at it. We can argue about how much time leads to improvement, but I feel pretty confident in saying if I were to spend ten hours per week focused on one discipline I would get better at it than if I spent one hours on ten different ones.

I want to improve. I want to get better and become more skilled. I honestly do not believe that I can do that trying every medium I see a creator use on Instagram or try out every workflow that comes through my mind in a given week. I believe that in order to get better, I am going to have to focus on fewer pursuits.

What to Choose

So, if I consider pairing down my efforts, I will have to choose what to focus on and what to abandon. I honestly know that I cannot focus on a single discipline. For one thing, I am not always in a location that I can do everything. My painting supplies are all at my studio in town and my laptop generally stays home so neither writing nor painting can be my only effort. I also feel like I have inspiration that does not always fall perfectly into a single medium. When i look across all my different medium there are three that i feel like I should pursue. These three will give me the most range in what I can create and at least one should be available to me at any given time.

My “Core 3” Pursuits

1. Painting - I have spent the last year developing my own style and have enjoyed creating and selling paintings. This is, right now, my preferred artistic pursuit.

2. Writing - This is something that I have enjoyed in various forms in the past, and I am seeing as a key piece to tying all my pursuits together.

3. 3D modeling/printing - I have a maker/designer spirit that requires me to work through problems and figure out how things work. The best way i know to do this is through 3D modeling and printing.

That’s it! Nothing else! For the next six months, these will be my pursuits. I won’t be eating, or sleeping, or watching TV… just these three things… OK, that’s not real. I do want to stay focused on these efforts, though, and try to limit the amount of energy I put into one-off projects for half a year and see how much I can improve.

Commitment Time

I started this Substack so I could create community and grow as a creative. One way to grow and engage with you amazing readers is to commit to something publicly and asking you all to keep me accountable… this is either genius or stupid… So here goes, I am going to focus on fewer pursuits. I am stating it here and now, I will be putting my energy into these “Core 3” efforts: Painting, writing, and 3D modeling/printing.

My plan is to spend three to five hours on each of these pursuits each week. My plan is to find a way to post about this every week right here on Substack. I do not have a plan for exactly how I will go about this, practically (I am still learning Substack), but I will figure it out. What I am asking from you all is to swing by and check in on me and hold me accountable. If you follow me on Instagram and see me post about working on a clay sculpture, remind me that is not in my core three pursuits! If I am not posting anything on Substack please harass me and make sure I am still writing!

Sound good? Anyone want to join me?