You are already unique

Originality is overhyped

I spent years and years frustrated and disappointed in myself if I was unable to come up with something that “hadn’t been done before”.

That kind of thinking was arrogant, delusional, and worst of all, debilitating. Is it possible to create something TRULY unique?

Maybe? I don’t know.

I have found that most ideas are simply expanded concepts on what has come before us. Other art, other movies, other music, has poured into us, and as creators we let the concoction of our specific taste homogenize into something “new” which is our own style.

I didn’t invent these particular characters. I’m not the first person to use just a hand as an artistic choice. But I had an “idea” and I’m running with it in whatever way it comes out of my homogenized concoction.

I think it’s important to let go of this NEED to be so unique. It actually constrains our ability to discover what IS unique about us.

My pen strokes, while influenced, are still mine and mine alone. My anatomy, while inspired, is still mine and mine alone. My color choices, my shapes, my processes… all of these are specific to me by default. I CAN’T NOT be me.

And being ME is enough.