Like many, I found lockdown a time for reflection and introspection, thinking a lot about what I wanted to focus on in the future and what made me happy. I’m in a pretty good place with my agency F8, and the coworking space I cofounded, The Kiln. I figured out the missing piece: I wasn’t doing enough lack of personal creative work. I decided to focus a bit more time on drawing and creating just for the process. My personal brand was fairly non existent and my instagram was all based around painting. I’ve had basically no time to paint at all since my daughter was born. I decided it was time for an overhaul of my visual identity and some branded illustrations.
I decided the best thing to do was to get my ipad out and start drawing.
Branded Illustrations
A few weeks later I had a number of new Greg Creates logo variations, and a bunch of branded illustrations of the stuff in my life. I spent ages developing the style of the illustrations, so tried out different brushes, line thicknesses, shades of grey, and levels of complexity. In the end I was really happy with how they turned out.
I then set about rolling this out by redesigning this website and my social profiles. This creative journey has redefined my style, helped my mental health, helped me figure out what’s important, and allowed me to map out a route forward. Mostly I’ve realised that I have to include drawing and illustration in my spare time outside of work. I get maximum satisfaction working on personal projects because they don’t have deadlines or invoices. I spend the majority of my working day managing clients, projects, finances and staff. All this takes away from the escapism of getting into the flow. It’s important to get to that state where you forget about everything else that’s going on.
I’m looking forward to sharing more personal work with you in the future.
