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I was reading a blog post that basically inferred that most stampers are so busy doing sketches and challenges, that they never develop their own sense of style. Everyone is basically CASEing everyone else. There are very few doing original creative work.
So I started thinking about that and the way I make cards. I think I have been influnced by other cardmakers. I do sometimes use sketches. Many of us use similar tools. But honestly - I don't think I ever did a close copy of anyone's card - at least not intentionaly.
I'm still trying to find my style, but when I look through my gallery I think it is starting to converge. I tend to be a little spare with embellishments. I gravitate towards asymetrical. I love to play with color combos. I love to color open line images. I'm not off the charts different from others, but I don't really see that I'm completely similar either.
I guess I shouldn't care. As long as my hobby is fun, thats all the really matters. It feels creative to me anyway.
But I'm just wondering what others think. Do you think we are all converging on a similar sense of style? Do you feel that you've been so influnced by what is trendy and popular that it inhibits your creativity?
It's so funny! I was just thinking about this the other day.
Yes, I think to a certain extent, we are all so influenced by the 'new' thing and each other, that we have started to all have similar styles. It think it is inevitable...kind of like I think the world will someday be one race...LOL!
I strive to have an individual style, but it is difficult. No matter how different you are, you are still going to fall into one of the genres or stamping.
I tend to think there are a lot of different styles, and I might make a card in a different style on a different day. I started out just copying cards in magazines, because I really didn't know what else to do. But then I found SCS and started doing the challenges, and I really think that they've helped me find my own artistic side. I may see something and decide to copy the layout or the colors, but inevitably I end up making it my own as I do the project. Usually all I need is a starting point and then the process takes on a life of its own.
Do you feel that you've been so influnced by what is trendy and popular that it inhibits your creativity?
What a great question!
I have been stamping for a few years now, but still consider myself pretty new to it all because I don't think I've invested as much time into it as others have. I think because of that I am still "finding myself" as far as stamping goes. All the amazing work I've seen on this site and in magazines, catalogs, etc. has a huge impact on me. It guides me and shows me so much of what is out there, but I don't think it completely changes and molds what I do. I like to think it inpsires me ;)
I tend to start off with a sketch and it ends up my own. To me sketch and other challenges are there to help expand our horizons and to get us out of our comfort zones. JMO.
Boy, I think we are all different! Super different! If you browse the general upload gallery for a day, you can see every different type of stamper out there posting. Embellies, flowers, piercing, layers, simplicity, diecutting, embossing, colors, coloring in images, the whole ball of wax. Obviously, with the sketch challenges, the cards follow the same layout, but even then some cards look so different a novice wouldn't even know they followed the same basic sketch.
P.S. I definitely feel like I am influenced by the trendy stamping stuff. But, then again, when I was in 8th grade, I just HAD to have San Francisco Jeans with the Goody comb hanging out of the back pocket!! LOL!! I have always followed trends much to the chagrin of my wallet!
I think that I do a little of both. I do CASE quite a few cards, but many times that is for when I'm putting something together for a class or making mass amounts of the same card. Generally, when I want to make a special card, that is completely my own "style" (whatever it happens to be that day), I'm making a card for someone specific. That's when I really let my personal creativity flow and take the time to make a card that is unique to me.
In some ways I'm also very resistant to some trends. I don't have a cuttlebug and nor do I plan on buying one. I only have 2 scalloped punches and don't plan on buying any more. I'm not so much into coloring so I've avoided the prismas and the copics. I'm not really in on the Bella craze, althought I did buy two that I think I can use to make some cute cards that my niece will really like. I like paying attention to what is going on with Paper Trey Ink and seeing how the company grows. I have a few of their sets but do not feel as though as I need to buy every single one that gets released.
All in all, I think that the sharing of ideas, techniques, and cards can only enrich stampers. I think that it is important to remember that not all of us participate in this hobby because we want to produce something brilliantly artistic and original and that is okay. Not all of us are demos and have to be able to present the latest and greatest to their customers. Also, let's face it, there are so many people in the world, even in our own little world of stamping, that we are bound to come up with similar or even, gasp, the same ideas.
I do think that it's possible to "CASE" too much, and thereby hamper your own creativity. But sometimes it is also a good jumping off point. I have just recently started playing with sketches, and I must say that I feel it has actually been a good thing. I'm looking at patterned paper in new ways, and getting more adventurous in mixing them. I think color challenges are good, too!
But I've never consciously copied a card exactly. I know that many of my creations take elements from other cards (not that I've actually made a note to do something in particular, but I see it and the idea gets lodged in my brain). I have too many ideas already, though, and not enough time to create them all, so when I do actually stamp I'm not going to take that time to make something that's already been done... But on the other hand, I would have loved the SCS gallery as an invaluable resource when I first started stamping. But then again, there's a fine line between being inspired and overwhelmed :mrgreen:
I have too many ideas already, though, and not enough time to create them all, so when I do actually stamp I'm not going to take that time to make something that's already been done... :
LOL!!! I know just how you feel. I have new, uninked rubber!! Its killing me!
When oh when will these kids go back to school! Oldest starts back on Sept 4th - but then I have the twins for another 2 weeks before preschool starts. Yikes!
The only time I CASE completely is when I am short an idea for a card group, and then I give that person credit at the event. Most of the time I just grab up one idea from something and then make it my own. Like the way punches are layered for instance. I think the challenges give me the opportunity to explore styles that may not be what mine are, but that expands my ideas.
Sometimes when you develop too much of a style all your own all your cards seem to look alike. I personally like making one of a kind cards unless I have to make a set. I love trying new ideas and new things.
__________________ LizThe joy of the LORD is my strength.Right Brain Madness --My blogProud member of the redDivasKSS certified multi-step stamperFan Club member since 2004
Do you feel that you've been so influenced by what is trendy and popular that it inhibits your creativity?
I have been influenced, but not to the point where it inhibits my creativity! I come to SCS (and other websites, magazines, photos, movies, etc etc) specifically to be influenced! I sponge off of a lot of other people's styles, and I love copying and casing (I give credit too). My goal isn't to be original, but just to have fun. Hardly anything I do is truly original. Every idea I have is inspired by something.
Oh, but not everything that inspires me is trendy or popular.
In any area ideas come from what was there before. Scientific breakthroughs are rarely, if ever, out of the blue. It's only through building on previous information. Art works the same way. It's exciting to me to see the evolution of stamping and scrapbooking. I'm still discovering my distinct style even when I draw from sources outside my head. So in a way it's all new. That's my $.02.
__________________ Debra ---artist * teacher * designer Say yes. Be generous. Speak up. Love more. Trust yourself. Slow down. ---Patti Digh
I was reading a blog post that basically inferred that most stampers are so busy doing sketches and challenges, that they never develop their own sense of style. Everyone is basically CASEing everyone else. There are very few doing original creative work.
To keep this in context, the blog post was talking about stampers who had applied for a design team, not 'most stampers' in general...when you're looking for a well-rounded design team where each person brings their own particular flair or idiom to the table, that's a big consideration.
I think that challenges can be a great way to express your own style through a particular layout, technique, or use of product. We're all at different stages of skill and development as artists - some of us are aspiring to be artists/designers, or "make it" in the crafting world...some of us are demos wanting to share something new with a group...some of us are beginners and trying to learn by example, which does often include CASEing someone's work (giving proper credit as needed, of course!), just to get a feel of the mechanics of what was done...some of us are (forgive me!) lemmings that have to have what "she" has...some of us are just trying to make a pretty card for grandma.
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Originally Posted by Mom0fgirls
But I'm just wondering what others think. Do you think we are all converging on a similar sense of style? Do you feel that you've been so influenced by what is trendy and popular that it inhibits your creativity?
It's possible that we're all seeing and following trends. It's part of life, really. When I started stamping I never realized there were trends in the stamping world, until I picked up an older stamping magazine and thought - wow, no one does/uses that anymore. I have the sort of unique position of being overseas where there is no craft store, and having to be creative and resourceful with what I do have and what's available here - I remain an internet junkie, so I see the trends and ideas, but still...I'm me and I do and I use what I like. I like to try ideas and techniques that I see other people do, but usually I sit on the ideas until they come out with my own twist. I'm pretty much a "jeans and a grey t-shirt" girl...I like what's comfortable for me...but then again, I do like a challenge - but I find that now they're more often personal challenges: limiting myself to a particular company's stamps, trying a new technique, using a new color combo (I usually find then in my laundry pile!), etc.
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Originally Posted by Mom0fgirls
I guess I shouldn't care. As long as my hobby is fun, thats all the really matters. It feels creative to me anyway.
This is totally key to me. Do what you enjoy, use what you like. Share it if you want. Give credit where it's due. Create. Make it your own. Have fun.
When I went back and read my original post - I can see that it does came across as critical of the blogger. That is unfortunate because I did not really intend that.
My reaction to the blog post was more - "hmmm... I need to think about that".
It is because I think the blogger might have a somewhat valid point (or at least one worth considering) that I brought the question here.
I could have made the inquiry in a more positive way though - so if I hurt anyone's feelings I do apoligize.
I had another thought too, FWIW - as designers or demos, those of us who are stamping to represent or promote a particular company...to some extent we do have to follow trends, or at least present work that either makes people say "I can do that" and/or ultimately "I need to buy that". I may looooooove altering toilet seats (I don't really, and no offense if there's really someone out there that does!), but if that's not what 'speaks' to my customers or audience, or the customers of the company I'm representing - then there's no value in that, and I'm not doing my job.
Interesting question!! I don't think that a sketch or any of the SCS challenges necessarily influence a stamper who actually has a specific 'style.' (Except for maybe the Featured Stamper challenge, where the challenge is to actually CASE that particular stamper.) I think most stampers who have discovered their own style tend to make things that look like 'them' no matter what. That doesn't mean they don't grow or use the latest trends, but there is always that special something that inevitably looks unique to that particular artist. Does that make sense?
But, when a person has yet to hone in on his or her particular style, that's when I think they are far more susceptible to looking a little more generic. For example, I think that you can always tell a Kittie747 card or a Jeanne S. card when you see it -- Kittie has her landscapes and detailed scenes, and Jeanne's are always spectacularly colored and well balanced. I might dabble occasionally at making a scene, but mine will never be mistaken for Kittie's, and I dare say those cards tend to look a little out of place in my gallery. Same with most of the floral sets I've tried to use -- no matter what I do, they just never look like 'me,' and until one is cartoon-y with a little happy face or something inside, they probably never will! Much as I try, my style (if I have one!) tends to be cutesy (which I prefer to call fun-loving ). I like bright colors and patterned paper, my layouts are pretty symmetrical and balanced, and I don't go for heavy embellishments. That being said, I LOVE what markie's mom does -- lots of flowers, tons of embellishments, layer upon layer upon layer, etc. We could be given the same parameters of a sketch and/or challenge, and our cards will always be night and day because we have such different styles (again, I am flattering myself at the moment to think I have one).
Thanks to OP for the interesting food for thought!
When I went back and read my original post - I can see that it does came across as critical of the blogger. That is unfortunate because I did not really intend that.
My reaction to the blog post was more - "hmmm... I need to think about that".
It is because I think the blogger might have a somewhat valid point (or at least one worth considering) that I brought the question here.
I could have made the inquiry in a more positive way though - so if I hurt anyone's feelings I do apoligize.
I didn't see your post as anything along the lines as critical, definitely read it as "need to think about that".
I think we all tend to influence each other to some degree, we are all influenced by our surroundings. I wish I could pin point my "style". And if you can, feel free!!! :mrgreen:
I know there are styles that I don't care for, and stay clear of them, but I wouldn't say that anything inhibits me with the exception of my wallet.:twisted:
Very interesting thread. At first I thought gee I CASE too much, but then I chewed over this question and here goes: My cards are relatively simple, some layers, though not many. If I remember that I have ribbon to use, it's probably because I just saw some on a card I love to have sketches--layouts--to follow. Sometimes I do come up with my own. What makes you different, gives away your style, is that you and I will probably choose different types of dp, different color combos, swing from cheery to vintage and back again, different types of embellishments. I don't do embellishments where I have to angst over the new post office rules. I threw away all of my ep. Haven't done it in years. All this said, my friends love getting my cards and display them. I enjoy doing them. You should too. We all have style. Just look at your stuff and you'll see what it is.
A question about style....
