WEEK 27 - evolution
I had this massive, excellent revelation late in 2020:
Humans are not brands.
Pretty obvious statement, I know, so I’ll explain why it was so important for me to realize (and what it means for this week’s HOMwork assignment).
There was a looooong time where I wouldn’t allow myself to do anything other than hand lettering. Even when I was doing art for myself, I would stick with hand lettering.
I thought that hand lettering was the essence of Hom Sweet Hom and if I did something else I was fucking with the brand and my business would come crashing down around my ears.
(In retrospect this seems pretty dramatic haha)
But I’m a person, and an artistic one, and I evolve so of course my art and my focus evolve, too.
Eventually I started trying out other media and techniques (Painted dress! Ceramics! Hom Poms!) but I never shared those on public spaces like social media or my website.
It still felt like too much of a risk.
Then I saw a quote about how humans are not brands and a lightbulb went off.
There are a lot of personal brands out there these days (including Hom Sweet Hom) and we tend to think of them as the same as business brands.
There are a lot of personal brands out there these days (including Hom Sweet Hom) and we tend to think of them as the same as business brands.
They’re not the same.
Business brands aren’t connected to specific people so they evolve very slowly and in response to things like market changes or legacy reputation.
But I change, people change, so much quicker and in response so many more things than business ever could or would. So I can’t model my branding on a company like Saks or Coke because I’m not a company.
I’m a person and I change and my art changes. So my brand can change, too. Can and should.
Once I had that revelation, I started sharing art other than hand lettering, and updating my portfolio, and looking for client work that was outside my hand lettering wheelhouse.
And it’s been a joy. I got over the mental block of “but my brand is hand lettering!” and I have had so much fun figuring out how to express my personal style in other forms.
My business is doing okay, too. ️
Because it turns out that I am not my brand; my brand is me. And however I evolve or change - and how my business or brand evolves in response - that essence of me is always there.
Which leads me to this week’s assignment.
Your assignment: Create new art from an old piece, focusing on your own evolution as an artist.
Now, you might look at this piece and say, “But Lauren! This new piece is still kinda similar to your older pieces because it has lettering?” and you would be correct. However, the more subtle evolution of my work between the old artwork and the new artwork is that I’ve hired a full-time designer at Hom Sweet Hom.
Kristle began working with me in 2019, and she took the lead on the artwork you see above. I got to play the role of creative director, approving thumbnail sketches and giving feedback. Having her support has allowed me to expand my work creatively (aka not exclusively working on lettering projects) while still maintaining my freelance lettering work.
Thought starter: We’ve done this assignment before, and the point is usually to notice how your skills have improved. But this time the focus is on how your art has evolved.
Try to create a piece that maintains some essence of the old work, but is something new. Maybe you use a new medium or shift to a completely different style. You might go from 2D to 3D (or vice versa).
The point is to dig into your artistic style and explore how it has evolved since you created the old piece. What has changed and what has stayed the same?
Caption ideas: Share both pieces (old and new) and explain the similarities AND differences. Talk about what has changed, both in your art and as an artist.
Resources: We’ve done this kind of assignment before! If you want to check out the older assignments, here are the links:
Engagement tip: Invite your audience to share a story of someone who inspires or delights them. We all have those people in our lives, right?
Don’t forget to tag me @homsweethom and use the #HOMwork & #HOMwork2021 hashtag when you post on Instagram. I love looking through your excellent creations and sharing a few of my favs every week in my IG Stories before the next assignment is posted.
x Lauren
P.S. Did you miss out on my free live workshop, The Intentional Idea Framework? It’s all about how to find and refine your ideas for a passion project (aka how to decide what to personal work to pursue)!
Registration *technically* ended this week, but since I’ve gotten such incredible feedback, I decided to keep it open for people to register to watch the replays. It’ll be available on-demand until July 31st, 2021 at 11:59pm ET. Click here to check it out before it expires :)
