A personal project is your opportunity to accomplish what you want. To demonstrate the abilities you’ve gained through time in your studies and through different learning methods, and to apply them to an area or topic of your choice.
Talking about personal projects and how you can get a personal project off the ground, get it started, and how you can get it finished. A big part of developing style and voice is creating your own work and really taking on a personal project that 100% comes from you. It’s just a fantastic and exploratory method of getting to those things that are important to you and beginning to express them creatively.
The most difficult part is likely to be project management, namely knowing the next step, initial step, and proper actions. For example, if someone asked me how to start and complete one comic, I’d be clueless.
Initially, I was going to talk about why a personal project is beneficial? You know maybe I’ll do that a little bit but I thought it would be great just to talk about how you initiate a personal project? How do you start something? How do you finish it?
And you know it sounds dumb but that’s really all it takes. You need to kind of figure out this skill of starting a project and you need to figure out this skill of finishing a project. There’s a kind of wisdom and a path and practice to doing those things.
If you can master two skills you can finish a project and I was thinking it might be best to use my first comic as an example of how I was personally successful at initiating and finishing a personal project while I was working full-time.
I’ve also just found that when I really focus on doing stuff that matters to me personally that it kind of just does better. So I want to take you through the process of my personal project step by step.
Steps to Start an Ambitious Personal Project
Here are a few easy measures you can take to get out of that personal-project rut and get you started:
Define your Personal Style
Are you fully aware of your hero persona? Do you know what makes you unique? If you’re attempting to create your brand, it’s critical that you have a distinct style that you’re not ashamed to promote. Once you’ve identified your real, best style, create personal work that reflects it; develop a series that helps others ‘get’ your brand voice.
Determine your Course of Action
Do you have a specific goal in mind? What is your ideal setting, and how does your work play a role in it? If you want to be a travel photographer, stop over-analyzing the work of another photographer. Go on a vacation right now! Then make a personal project out of it.
Define your Goal
Why do you subject yourself to the agony, suffering, and torture of working as a freelance artist? It certainly wouldn’t be job security. What drives you to pause and shoot when the rest of the world is rushing by? What is it that gives you that jolt? Spend some time contemplating why you do what you do.
Define your Core Values
Start with something dear to your heart if you’re attempting to come up with a theme for your own work. What is it that you are concerned about? What are your core beliefs? If you know the answers to these questions, you can focus your efforts on the causes you want to support. You can get clear about which initiatives are appropriate and which are incorrect for you.
Create!
Allow yourself some creative space by taking out a pen and paper and penning down some thoughts, or drawing a mind-map. Create a personal project that corresponds to all four preceding phases, and you’ll be well on your way. Use your style, direction, purpose, and beliefs to guide you to your next series, and use the same rules to keep you from straying astray.
Shooting the perfect personal work will nourish your imagination and keep your enthusiasm alive. It has the potential to inspire people to change and, at the very least, raise awareness of issues that are important to you. And, in the end, it may lead to clients, clients who can commission those dream projects. So, what are you holding out for?
