Being Uniquely You As an Artist

1. Being Uniquely You Promo Short: Hey, guys. I'm Shiri Burbach, mixed media artist. And in this EQ wars, I want to talk about being uniquely you meeting being the artist that you were meant to be developing your own style, having your own artistic voice, all of these air so important when it comes to creating art, and I want to talk more about how to make that happen. 2. Time Is Your Friend: first time is your friend in this pursuit. That is probably not what you want to hear when I when I have somebody asked me about being an artist or, you know, developing their style. I tell them things like it takes time. It takes daily practice. It takes doing a lot of paintings, and it's just not something they want to hear, because what happens is they see another artist. They like it, They want to create our kind of inspires and they want to get going right away. And the problem is in those early stages, you know, you might not be developing that type of art that you were meant to create. And I see this very often with with mixed media. I see it over and over, and so that's why I want to address it. Time is something that it's hard because for us I mean, everything in our society is so quick, right? I mean, we have, you know, fast food and drive through this and you know, you go online and you order this guy tomorrow. These are all great things, except that when it comes to art and it comes to developing your old style of being who you are as an artist. It takes a little time. It isn't just learning to paint. It isn't just, you know, developing. Ah, certain skill set. It encompasses who you are as a person. Your experiences. What you want to say is an artist. All these things take time and they're meant to take time and they're worth it. So my advice to you is allow yourself that time and instead of having the attitude of I want I wish I was here in my heart career. I wish I was doing this. I wish I knew how to do this Instead of thinking about all that, don't think about the what you want. You know what you wish in the future and what you want. Think about right now, because right now whatever you're doing is valuable. Watching any course to learn more about makes me the art is valuable to who you are as an artist. Painting every day in getting the practice is valuable. Sketching is valuable. All these small steps that you take are doing something to you as an artist, and it's not just like I said, developing a certain technique or skill as a painter. It is, you know, looking at the world a certain way, having a certain opinion, having a voice as an artist, thes things, take some time. And they take doing a lot of different things. A lot of inspiration. Looking at the Masters, going to museums, all these different things that you might do when I'm gonna talk about some of them, allow yourself the time to do all these things and just make peace with the fact that it will take a while. And that's okay. And nothing you're doing right now is a waste of time. You know, here that sometimes, like I painted for a week and I made a picture I didn't like Well, that's there's value in that. You first of all, you painted something you didn't like, which is a lesson that you learned you develop this skill set while you were painting. You kind of looked at a process. You know, all these things that you don't really realize it because we don't think about them. We just look at the finish product product. You know, I have people that say you know very often when you're starting as an artist, you have a full time job, and so you don't have a lot of time. You got kids, you got family, your job, whatever it is. So you go into the studio or your kitchen table, right for, you know, a few minutes and you're not creating what you want to create, and you just think it's a waste of time, so you don't do it again the next day. That's wrong, because here's the thing. Even the 10 minutes that you have to brush a few strokes on a canvas, even the five minutes that you take to sketch up something just playing around. All of those things are valuable, and they all help you as an artist. Trust me, everything you're doing, it's worth it. And allow yourself to develop, um, as an artist in your own time, because that is gonna be the very best way that you can create the art you're meant to create. 3. Get Inspired But: next get inspired. But don't let it limit you. What anymore that is. You know, first, let's talk about social media because I think we see a lot of artists on social media, and it's a great way to get inspired. I love seeing art and social media. I mean, it's a way that I relax. At the end of the day, I look at what all these artists are doing, and I just makes me feel good. And so some of that might make you feel like, Hey, I want to create I see what these people are doing. This is inspiration and it feels really good. But when you hard developing your own style, um, really limit your social media time, it can feel really weird, right, because you want this inspiration. But trust me when you're seeing all these different images, they get stuck in your head in some way. And when you are trying to figure out who you are as an artist, you need to step away from all that and just it doesn't come from the external sources that you're gonna get or learn or review. It comes from inside. So with social media sure you want to be on social media Glance at social media, but stay off of it for long periods of time and watch what that does to your art practice because watch how you develop art when you don't see other people creating art. Watch what happens when you haven't. What is your attitude towards art when you're not seeing other people creating art and really pay attention to that? Because all of these things can help define you as an artist. Another thing. Look at the Masters, but don't try and copy them. Look at the masters to see. And I mean the people who have really in time develop this reputation as an artist. See what they were doing, why they did it, study them, learn what they were doing. But don't try and paint like them. Instead, take what they were doing. And as a matter of practice, not like you're gonna sell this these paintings. But as a matter of practice, take these things they were doing and see if you can apply it in a different way and, you know, painting Monet. Type off picture in watercolor on. Watch what that does to your attitude about creating paint, creating a painting. You know, take a artist who was just really out there like Picasso and see what it is that he's doing that maybe you can do with different supplies and not trying to emulate him. But really see what he's doing and how you can do your own type of painting like that and doing this And this is a practice this isn't meant to be. Like, you know, you're gonna take this watercolor painting you do morning and sell it. This is a practice meant to help you to find your own style and become you and in the studying the masters and in really seeing what they did. But he applying it to you in a different way. It helps develop your process. It helps develop the way you look at art. It helps develop the techniques that you use with current supplies because we have supplies available to us. They didn't have available, you know, and we have oil stick, you know, for example, which is awesome for me because I have a very limited studio space and I love using oil stick and, you know, 20 years ago or 30 years ago, I would have never tried it. So, you know, look at what they were doing. Learn from it. But again, when you're doing this practice, allow yourself the time to take a step back and really just absorb it all. Part of developing who you are as an artist is the time it takes to kind of figure things out. And some of it is done by the daily painting that you're gonna do or the frequent painting that you're going to do. And some of it's gonna be done by observation and thinking and feeling. So allow yourself that, especially with the masters who are great teachers. One question I get a lot is how do I paint something that looks like this? How do I mix a color that matches what's in a photograph? How do I make a draft look totally realistic. How do I paint a person that looks exactly like a portrait? Now, these air great goals and you know, as a painter you always wanna learn and better your technique. But my question to you would be instead of asking, How can I paint just like this? Or how can I do this. Ask yourself why you want to do that. That's really helpful in determining your style. You know, instead of I want to get a face really realistic. Ask yourself. Why is it because you really, you know, want to determine? Um, you know someone's emotions in a picture. There are other ways to do it than painting. Realistically, there's ways to do it through color and through form. And so when you're asking yourself these types of questions, really figure out what it is about that question you have and that desire to learn a certain thing in art. Ask yourself why you have that desire. That's the most important thing it isn't. You know how to paint a giraffe. I'm gonna show you a picture of a draft that I paint. Hold on. Okay, that's my pink draft. That's what I paint. And this comes from. You know, I have painted, you know, I learned painting and sketching and drawing in everything in school and, you know, have done it for years and years and years. And what I found was that in painting things my own way and the way that I kind of saw them and felt them. I felt really good when I did them. And so that's why I continue to paint the way I paint when you have a question like that. Which is How do I How do I mix paint where I get that exact color? Ask yourself why you want the exact color. Why don't you want to paint a sunset with greens rather than oranges? What is it that is pushing you towards that question? It might just be, Hey, I want to develop as an artist. I want to get better at certain techniques. Sure, that's great. You you can do that, but when you're developing your own style, there's something else in there that's pushing you and you might not be aware of it. So ask yourself these questions. When you're gravitating towards these things, you want to learn because it might reveal something that you hadn't realized about yourself , which can really help you when it comes to being uniquely you 4. Challenge Yourself: one way to really develop your style is to purposely challenge yourself. And I would encourage you to do this, whether you're a new artist or whether you've been painting for years and years and years. I like to purposely challenge myself, for example, with the supplies that I use just because I work in mixed media and it's really easy for me . If I wanted to go to the store and buy a kit of something and I don't want to do that because it would just be so easy, my art would lack meaning to me. I wouldn't have the same art that I have now, so they have now. So one way that you can do that is limit the type of supplies that you have. Um, you know, don't buy the kit. Instead, create the art on a budget. Limit yourself financially when you're creating art war art or limit yourself with a palette. You know that's a great way to really figure out shading and the types of things that you paint really give them a unique voice and tell the story of this painting in a single color palette. I mean, that's very powerful When it comes to challenging yourself, you have to shake differently. You have to, you know, look at an object differently, and you have to think differently about what you're painting. So it's a great way to really purposely challenge yourself, because then when you have more money or you have more colors, you will be able to paint a different way just because you've done this exercise where you challenged yourself or maybe you like it and you will continue. This limited palette that can teach you something about your own personal are art style as well. Another way to challenge yourself is to use unconventional supplies. Now I've talked about, you know, cheap supplies, but let's say unconventional something that you wouldn't think would apply paint to a campus, something that you wouldn't think would be the basis for a painting or work of art. You something unconventional. Go outside and get a handful of leaves and paint on them, Um, you know, paint on rocks. I've done this recently with one of the kids in my life, and it was so fun and challenging because he couldn't do the things I didn't really dio mixed media. I got a lot of layers. I got, you know, a big canvas, and having this little rocks was really challenge for me. And so I think that's a good way to push your creative techniques is to really paint on something that is unconventional or used unconventional supplies in the process of creating art, which can create some really unique, wonderful looks. Another way to challenge yourself is to purposely do something in the art that is uncomfortable to you. Things like using your non dominant hand. For example. You know, you're a little bit uncomfortable. Your heart is gonna look a little different. Challenge yourself this way. Use a material that you don't usually use and you're unfamiliar with, and you don't know how it's going to react with the canvas, and it makes you uncomfortable. Do that. Watch it explore and see how you react as an artist. And really push yourself in those types of ways where you're not just, you know, you're not just sitting down and creating the same painting that you have in your mind. You're kind of going with the flow and seeing what develops with your painting and then going with it you're kind of becoming part of the process, and you're having a different approach to your painting. It's a great way to develop your own style because you find out what you like and don't like what kind of appeals to you and doesn't appeal to you. And it's a good way to keep yourself fresh. And, um, you know what can happen Sometimes let's say you get stuck. Let's say you find a bunch of things that you like painting, and you just paid him over and over and over, and there's nothing wrong with that. Okay, But let's say you wanna break out of that. How do you do that? One way is to actively put yourself in a position where uncomfortable in some way, go to a different location to create. Maybe you're used to creating alone in your studio, and I'm gonna take your sketchbook or your many Palin. You're gonna go to a coffee shop and people are going to see you and talk with you and look at your stuff. Maybe you're gonna go outside. You don't usually paint outside something that will make you look at this process in a new way. This can kind of help you become the artist you're meant to become 5. Make Use Of an Art Journal: make use of an art journal. Now, art journaling has become really popular today. You see it everywhere. I mean, I see it all the time. I see people sharing their our journals and where our journals can almost look like finished pictures. But look, when you are creating in our journal, I want you to really look at that journal as something you could do anything with it. You know, we see on social media especially, you know, these are journals that are perfect. And let me tell you, I never look perfect. I use my art journal to sketch toe work through ideas to just play. And I really encourage you to use in our journal as a way to develop your daily art practice. Let's this Let's face it, the reality is it of life is that you know, you're gonna be busy and you're not always gonna have time to get in the studio and paint a picture in our journal is something you can take anywhere. You can use a limited supply. You can create something really quickly, and you can feel good about it. And don't discount that because that is part of the process of being an artist, this continual looking at the world, a different weight, thinking of things a different way, sketching out ideas, and all of that is really valuable. So user are journal for something that you're not gonna be judged by. Use it to work through ideas, use it to play and kind of just play around with different techniques. Use different types of markers. You know there's a lot of travel supplies now that you can get that allow you to take like a watercolor, you know, palette to somewhere, and you can take it and, you know, sketch around and play around in your art journal and do those kinds of things and and use for our journal. If you're somebody like me who is an artist in a poet and loves words, use it as a way to write notes and poetry and to record words that have meaning to you and use your own words. You know that's as important as using your own art. I see this all the time on social media, people using words and quote said, Everybody has said they use it, probably without permission. Don't do any that use your own stuff because that helps create your own art. When I do paintings, you know, I use my own words or words from the Bible, and the Bible is you know, the King James version is in the public domain, so that is something that you can use. But, you know, I see a lot of people using quotes from celebrities or things like that. And you know what? That's not gonna make your art uniquely you. So think on this stuff. And this is, you know, words are not a requirement for art in any way, as we've mentioned. But if this is something that appeals to you and using words is it is something that appeals to you. Think about those words you're using. Don't just parrot whatever the cop the You know the word of the minute is because certain words get invoke and you see them over and over and you see them happening. And you know what? Use what you feel, and that is what's gonna have people attract to your art. And really look at your art and see you rather than see you know somebody else. You don't want someone to look at your heart. Think of somebody else. You want them to look at your art and think of things in their own life because that's what your inspiring them to dio. And you can do that by jotting things down in your journal. Really making our journal. Ah, catch all for whatever is going through your mind creatively. 6. Cautiously Learn About Art: cautiously learn about art being active, student at art. But hold yourself in a distance and what I mean is, you know, take a lot of classes, see how people are doing things, learn from different people. But every time you see a technique or a way of doing things are a type of figure anything that you are learning about, take a step back and really look at how you can incorporate this into your own art in your own way. Meaning Don't run home and just copy what they're doing because you're not going to get the full benefits of taking these classes unless you apply it to your own art art. So be really conversant about copying. If you take a class and you see yourself doing something like somebody else is doing and you've seen this and I've seen it, I people take my classes and I have people I had. You know, I've had this happen, and, you know, people kind of turning out copies of my art and because it's a copy, it's not my art, and it's not their art, and it's not. It doesn't have soul. It doesn't have their voice. It isn't the same, you know, And let's face it, you want to be a copy of somebody else wanna be you? And so when you're learning and it and it is a good thing to learn about it is a good thing to see how artists do things always learn with this element of how can you bring it to you ? How can you do this, but not copy? And when I say not copy, I don't mean just Oh, this person paints this bird this way. Well, I'm gonna paint, just like down with the same face. But I'm gonna put it on a dog or something like that because I see that happen a lot too, or I'm gonna pages like you. Sure, you can only use I'm gonna use this instead of this, and it's like it looks weird because it's not there creation, you know what I mean. You really have to develop your own thing. Now. There are times where artists are creating and, you know, styles emerge and different techniques and emerging more mixed. Media emerges and all that, and you see people that kind of remind you of each other. But I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about you taking a class and kind of copying somebody. Don't do that. Um, it's first of all, it's not to your benefit. You're not gonna create the Archie you were meant to create, and you're not gonna have the joy in creating. And so, really, every time you learn something, really take a step back and apply it. But make sure you understand why you're applying it. Make sure you understand why that technique or that way of doing it appeal to you. And it has to be more than just this was fun to create. Maybe Maybe that's what it is. But if you're gonna sell art, you're gonna be a unique artist. You you know, it has to be more than just This is my hobby. So I'm gonna paint like this person visits my hobby. I mean, I don't know if you've seen because I have seen people who are really good painters, but they're painting like, you know, the masters over over number. They're painting like this person. You look at it and you're like, and there's something about it that is very hollow. They're not painting something interesting that tells you about them. And what it kind of says is you haven't developed this past this desire to to imitate, and so you really have to get past that. And the way to do that, incidentally, is create lots and lots of art, and I don't mean lots of art. And I don't mean lots of art like somebody else, cause I've had this happen. I had this happen. I taught a class, and I had somebody that just cranked out one after another. These copies of my one of the things that I paint. And it was like, one after another. And eventually she started hauling it like her art and everything. And the problem waas This art was very it didn't grow. It didn't tell you anything about her because it wasn't hers. And, you know, I kept saying you got that kind of develop your own thing. Because when you're painting a lot, um, you know, especially with the other tips of giving you about staying off social media and that when you're painting a lot, you your style will come out and so do that. And as you're doing a lot of art, keep this thing in mind where you're not copying, because then it kind of frees you up to do whatever it is that is in your heart, mind and soul. And let's face it, art is not just about the technique. It's not just about, you know, the types of supplies you use home, even what you're painting. It's about you. So the way to do that is learn with this idea in the back, your mind all the time off, taking a step away to understand what you like about someone style or the type of process is the use, and then using all that, too. Inform your process, you know, and it might take a while again. Time is your friend. It might take a while for you to really sit with that information and in the process, create lots of art so that you can work through all this stuff. All this stuff that you don't even think you're thinking about, you're reminded heart. Know that. And when you sit down to create a painting, that's why sometimes paintings can surprise you. Because maybe you don't realize that you were thinking about this stuff. And here it is on the canvas. So, you know, learn about art, but with caution, always 7. Push Away the Desire to Paint a Certain Way: push away any desire that pops up in which you want to create or paint a certain way. And now this can feel really weird because, baby, you are attracted to mix me the art and you're taking any course and you want to learn more about it. But what I mean is, instead of saying like I want to create this way, learn whatever this technique is teaching you. But don't sit down thinking I am going to create a mixed media painting. I'm going to create a peacock or whatever it is that you have in your mind paint with the intention just to paint whatever is on your mind, Whatever is in your heart and the way to get through some of the noise that you know, really clouds our judgment creatively is to take a step back. And instead of saying like I want to paint a certain way, just just paint and just allow yourself to paint whatever way you want to paint. You know, I have a few people in my life who constantly asked me about painting techniques because you know their interest in painting and they want to develop their expertise and that's great. But their questions are always like I want to paint this. You don't. It bothers me. I created this painting and it bothers me because it doesn't look like you know, the the picture that I took of this or I'm painting the singing. It bothers me because it doesn't look exactly like this person or whatever. And my question always to them is Why do you want it to look that way? Why do you want it to look that way? And it might be that you have this desire to reflect nature or humans as they are. It may be that IHS Maybe that's the reason. But is it, you know, do you know? Because a lot of times artists that really defined themselves as unique beings and you know their unique, creative, creative style. Very often their stuff doesn't look like everybody else. It doesn't even look like reality. And that's the styles that kind of appeal to me the most where they looked at something and they just created what they saw and not what was there. And so when you have this desire to paint a certain way, maybe you're gonna pay with oils and you're just like this. You gonna pay like this painter or whatever You have this decided because you feel like this is a good painter and I paint like this Instead of just going that level, get a little bit deeper and figure out what is it that attracts you to this painter and this painting style and that will help inform you when it comes to doing the rest of your paintings and creating your own style. 8. Give Yourself Distance From Your Art: work on creating art that is temporary, Meaning it's on temporary surfaces. It's meant not to last, you know, work in this way where you're creating art that is going to get thrown away. The reason I want you to do this is because look at how this changes your art process. You know, work in a way, you know that if you're gonna create this thing and you're gonna throw it away, what already gonna create on their What do you gonna put on there? How attached are you going to get to this piece? Uh, do a painting and the next day paint over the same painting. Do that practice, because again, what that does is a kind of distances yourself from your work. Sometimes we can do these certain pictures and we get really attached. And you know what? That is dangerous because it can't allow us to look at our work in a way that other people will not look at it, and viewers will not look at it. And if you're a painter, you probably want people to buy your enjoy your heart, so allow yourself to have that distance. And if you're having trouble with it. One ways is to paint it on something temporary and then step away from it or the next day thrown out and allow yourself the distance to kind of let that painting go. Let that drawing go See how it changes your process and how you approach pictures like that and how you do them and how you feel about it afterward. Finally, embrace your mistakes. You know, I think with art. I hear people just judging themselves so hard. You know, they wanted to be in a certain way and in their hand moved. And now it's all ruined or they bumped the table on their wander on it. Now it's all ruined or whatever, or they meant to use this color, have used another color, and now it's all covered up. I've had this happen. I have embraced my mistakes because what they have taught me is different ways to approach pictures, different types of techniques. I mean, you know, I got a dog that interrupts me constantly when I paint, and what I noticed was that sometimes it, you know, she pushes me, jumps up on me. My arm moves. Sometimes it helps me create marks that I wouldn't have thought to create. And I like them sometimes sometimes now we have to find a creative way to fix them or to make them part of the picture that I had anticipated. And all this stuff really does help you as an artist. I know it sounds really, um, weird. But when you're making these things that you consider our mistakes, really, they're just lessons and so embraced them. And don't be too hard on yourself. Don't get bummed out. Like I've seen people get very bummed out when they do something that they determine is a mistake. I've taught a lot of our classes, and a lot of people are just so critical of themselves, or they paint something in it. I want to use this color and I did it. They're just, like, so angry with themselves in that you don't need to do that. Art is not about that. And in doing that, you're also limiting what you're doing. Instead of embracing those mistakes and kind of rolling with them, you never know what's gonna come about. If you do do a mistake and you learn something from it may be the way the paint splatters will give you an idea of how toe apply paint. You know, I had one time put words on a canvas. Then my dog jumped up in the middle and I just kept working. I want to get this picture dawn. And when I went back and looked at it when it was finished, Of course I spoke the war wrong because I got interrupted in the middle. I didn't get to finish putting the letters on and what it taught me. Waas First of all, you know how I apply words how to maybe cover up and do words differently. It really taught me more about just kind of like letting things go and maybe that can't Maybe that particular picture did need those words. You know, it's like, you know, we have this idea in our had, sometimes about what art should be instead of what you know. Our psyche and mind and soul is telling us to create, and there's a valuable lesson in that, so embrace it 9. Explore What Drives You: Explorer. What drives you as an artist? What is the reason you want to paint? And this sounds like something so easy. Like, I just like creating or I just like this type of subject matter or whatever, but it's more than that. You're type of style. Your artistic voice is really a culmination of everything that you have experience. It's how you view life. It's the thing you want to project to the world. So really take note of that. You know, Are you somebody, for example, who really wants to highlight the pain in your life? Or that you see other people experiencing? And you want to do it in a way that brings beauty to the pain? Or you want to make it realistic because you want people to feel that so they get it or you want. You know, people toe look at an issue a certain way, or you want to just make them feel happy or sad or whatever. Explore these reasons. All of these can help you when it comes to creating the type of art that you were meant to create. And really, when you are looking at paintings from somebody you know you get a sense of who they are. You get a sense of their person. Your style is you. You know, when I look at Van Gogh, for example, he's one of the really big inspirations in my life. I really you know, a lot of painters inspired me, of course, but I really like his work. And when I look at his work, what I see is really a lot of emotion, and I see a lot of anguish, and I see a lot of appreciation of beauty, and I see a lot of appreciation of things that maybe other people at the time didn't think were beautiful. But he created something beautiful from them and the, you know, the seriousness in the brush strokes, all those things that I see when I look at his work, somebody else is going to look at your work and get a sense of who you are when you develop your own style. So it's worthwhile doing 10. Focus on the Art and Not the Art Career: Finally, when it comes to developing your own style and being uniquely you as an artist, focus on the arts and not the art career. And what I mean by that is, um, this is really based on my own experience in I do a lot of craft and art shows. I set up a tent, I sell my stuff, and I always have people that come up to me and they go all. I'm an artist, too, and they're looking at myself like I would paint like that. I would do that, and I'm and they kind of see these things. And then I ask him more about themselves, an artist, what you know, and they tell me they haven't painted in 20 or 30 years, and they always want to paint. And they want to sell stuff in a booth like this, and they really get ahead of themselves because first of all, if you set up a tent to sell, you know, like, let's say that's what you want to do, what you gonna sell? You need to have some art. If you look at somebody who's doing art license saying what what have you been a license you need to do the art, you know, in all these things and the common element, the common story that I hear in in these tales that people tell me about. You know, I used to paint in college and I gave it up because of this. And I used to do this and you know what? That happens. And the common thing is that there are these huge gaps in time where they're not creating, you know, and a long time years and to me, then the first step is not the our career. It's not selling stuff in a booth, relations saying or anything else. It's just doing art, just making time every day, little by little by little. That's the first step, because the practice of regular creation, regular art, making, being creative, stepping into that space when you don't feel like it when you're not inspired, you know not when I see this and I want to go and paint it. You know you might eventually decide to be that time painter, but if you're somebody who hasn't painted in 10 years, you have this designer Teoh Havenaar career. The first step is always just doing the daily practice of art. And I say daily because I feel like if you can fit in five minutes to do some type of art sketching in a book, scribbling, you know with crayon, anything that will get you in a creative process will help you when it comes to being uniquely you as an artist. The other thing about the other thing about it is, you know, being an artist and ah, working artists, meaning that you're selling your work in some way. Today is a lot easier than it was years ago. Because we have social media, we have websites, you know, we have ways to cellar art that is more accessible. And so you might look at these people who are doing this. You might think I can do this. I want to do this. And my caution to you is toe. Always focus on the art first and foremost, because even if you develop in our career of some sort, your art career might look totally different than somebody else's. Maybe you look a licensing. You think I want to do that, I'm gonna make stuff, and it's gonna be in stationary and towels and all that kind of stuff. And, um or maybe, you know, you look at somebody else in there in the gallery all the time and, you know, you look at these people who are doing it, and it's great that they inspire you, but don't focus on their career. Focus on your own art. Don't focus on your career In the beginning, when you're developing your own self, focus on the art and creating art because in that process of developing your own style off being uniquely you, you will then see avenues that maybe had thought about for your art. Maybe your our career is gonna be wildly different than somebody else's our career. And that's gonna be good because for your particular art, you're reaching a different audience. So really put aside, you know this desire Teoh have in our career like X, like that person a do Alana e courses. They do allow to whatever I want to do that or whatever it is. It's great to be inspired by that and toe have an idea but really pushing aside and focus on the art because the art will dictate the rest. And that's the best part and really focus on being who you are as a person as an artist, and that will help you really get the art career that you were meant to have and one that will fulfill you whatever stage you're at in your art career. I wish you the best. And if you've any questions, I can always be reached through my website.