I’m always saying to people – and, frankly, wondering myself – why am I so drawn to children’s books when I don’t even have children of my own?
Creatives are all about taking intangible thoughts, ideas and emotions and bringing them into the real world where those thoughts and ideas can be experienced with the physical senses. And children’s books are full of images that can be as lavish, as extravagant, as detailed and colorful and outlandish as I want, with as much added detail as I want! Images that will bring a story to life … that’s just too much fun for me to ignore!
The challenge is to end up with images that evoke emotions from the reader/viewer … the goal of both the writer and the illustrator. When you do that, you end up with a successful book.
The secret is in the emotion of the writer and illustrator and their ability to pour themselves into the work.
I think that really is what creativity is ... just pure, raw emotion and energy inside that is begging for an outlet. It’s what pushes creatives into their studios to get some relief.
Sometimes it takes a while for a creative to find their niche, but find it, they must. Creatives who don’t regularly engage in their creative efforts can really suffer from all the pressure inside. The ones who do finally find their right path generally feel like they have burst out from a dark prison and are now soaring in sunlight.
That’s a good description of what happened to me.
As if it wasn’t enough for Him to simply give me His life and peace, He joins me daily in life and in work.
I used to feel like I was going to explode because of all the turmoil and raw energy inside ... What is wrong with me?!
Now I feel like I’ll explode if I don’t get down on paper all the sheer joy of being His and being right in the middle of His will and doing exactly what He designed me to do.
I know other Christian creatives feel the same. So we'll stay busy creating and doing this thing we do, with Him along side all the while leading and guiding.
It's His work. We'll continue to believe and rest in Him. We can trust Him with the results ... He's got this.
Easter will be here in just a few weeks ...
Listen ... can you hear it?
It's the sound of prison doors swinging open ...