How To Create Without the Fear of Repeating the Same Work Over and Over Again

Sometimes it feels like although you're producing a lot of art, there's not actually much creativity going on, because it all feels so similar.

Maybe you've just written the 12th poem this month about the gracefulness of horses, or the first kiss of a new relationship, or the way you're drawn to visit the ocean. There are many reasons why you've not just become a factory robot churning out identical poems time and time again.

Here are 3 of the most important ones to us artists:

1. We each have our own personal themes to explore. Maybe we're given these at birth, maybe we pick them up along the way. But all of us who create have our own personal themes that keep reappearing in our art. They may be particular images, feelings, places, colours, seasons or any other element that seems to keep returning. Remember that a vital part of creating is self discovery, learning more about what brings you happiness and makes you feel most you. When you find you keep being drawn back to certain themes, it's obviously a strong sign that these are the most important not just in your creative work, but in your life. The themes that make you, you. All an essential part of your life and journey as an artist.
2. We're never the same person twice. Imagine you were asked to sketch a picture about, say, sadness, and you had one minute to do it in. Then the same theme, but now you have 2 minutes. The same again, with a 5 minute limit. The three sketches you produce won't be identical, though they may be very similar. Asked to do the same exercise a month later, you'd produce different sketches, maybe vastly different. A year later, they'd be more different still. The point is, you're never the same person twice, and never the same artist twice. As you go through new experiences, it influences how you create. So you never produce the exact same artwork twice because you're never exactly the same 'you' twice.
3. We can only evolve by creating similar things, but better. If you had never written a poem before and were set it as a challenge, it's unlikely your first effort would be the most accomplished piece of writing ever produced. But if you then wrote a poem every day for the next month, by the end you will have become far more comfortable in writing, and your work would reflect this. You can't take a short cut to experience -- it only comes through creating, learning what works and what you enjoy, then trying to create that a little better next time. There needs to be some similarity in what you create and the subjects you choose for you to recognise this artistic evolution, and appreciate how much you continue to develop.

So the next time you feel you've just produced the same artwork for the tenth time, take a closer look, and notice the subtle changes.

Keep creating, keep evolving, an artist's life is a never-ending and wonderful journey!