by Jared Hart
I recently had the opportunity to go to a creative conference in Columbus, GA. This was my second time attending Creative South and it hasn’t disappointed me yet. I haven’t had experience with any other creative conferences, but from what I hear, this is the fun one everyone looks forward to. Here is an overview of my trip to the Creative South Conference.
Both times I’ve been to Creative South I have come back rejuvenated and focused with a fresh mindset on creating. Creative South is all about bringing the creative community together as one big family and encouraging each other to grow friendships on a more personal level and helping each other grow together. If you need a little creative motivation, here are some of my notes from the conference that I found useful.
Von & Savannah Glitschka
I was really excited to find out that Von Glitschka and his daughter Savannah would be speaking this year. I have watched many of Von’s LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda) courses on illustrative design. One of his most popular courses is Drawing Vector Graphics. If you have access to LinkedIn Learning, I highly recommend you check out his courses.
Here are a couple useful notes I took from their speech:
Create beyond your comfort zone.
Fear is part of the creative process.
Create just to create.
Don’t wait for an opportunity.
Doc Reed
Of all the speakers this year, Doc gave the talk that I found to be the most impactful for where I am in my creative career. Doc’s speech was heavily focused on imposter syndrome and ways to face it.
It can begin with shifting your perspective on the way you view your situation.
Competition vs. Worthy Rivals – Making the subtle shift away from thinking about other artists as competitors can help allow for more aspects to grow from one another.
Depression vs Inspiration – With worthy rivals, you can fuel this change. However, you do need to acknowledge that there is work to be done. However, if you don’t do that work, you may find yourself facing imposter syndrome.
We consume way more content than we create. Which means our good taste in art grows much faster than our skills. While it’s great that you’re learning what good design looks like, it can put you in a tough mental spot when you can’t create at that level. That’s why it’s always crucial to measure your growth against where you were, rather than competing against other artists.
A challenge to help offset this unbalanced growth pattern is to work at a 1:2 ratio. For every 30 minutes you spend consuming creative content, create for 1 hour. Once that is no longer a challenge you can bump it up to a 1:4 ratio.
If you’re lucky enough to have a job that supports you taking time researching and learning new skills while on-the-clock, then take advantage of that as often as possible!
Find a mentor – This is a key step in growing your own skills. It’s always easier to grow while alongside other creatives. If you can’t find a community, then create it and be active within it. Never stop learning, but always stop to teach. Be a mentor to someone else. Teaching others can be a great reminder for yourself. Therefore, when you’re teaching, check to make sure you’re also applying the things you’re teaching to your own work. It’s never too early to teach. As a creative, there are always things someone can learn from the things you’ve experienced. Believe it or not, people are looking up to you. If you’re mentoring someone, make sure to tell them when they did a great job. They might not know unless you intentionally tell them.
To recap all of this, share your knowledge. Don’t isolate yourself. Be curious. You are more capable than you know.
If you are a creative of any kind, I highly recommend making the trip to Georgia for this conference. Compared to other conferences, this one intentionally has a smaller attendance count making it easier to get connected with the creative family. Even as an introvert, although I’m mentally exhausted by the end of the conference, it’s so cool and well worth it to hang around and meet so many creatives.
If you’d like to learn more about Creative South, check out at creativesouth.com
Tickets for Creative South 2023 are on sale today.
Bonus Perk for Students: You can get a heavily discounted tickets!
In the meantime, come connect with other creatives in Ignite Studio, where you can explore a range of mediums and put into practice the 1:2 ratio. Happy making!
