Where would we be as creative professionals without our creative skills and the techniques we employ? We’d be stuck! Perhaps full of ideas and inspirations, but with no capacity to bring those to life. It’s a given that skills and techniques are integral to our work which is why I include them as part of my Wheel of Creative Practice/Business/Career. We rely on them to take our creative visions from concept to reality. We might consider skills and techniques as interchangeable terms. They are connected for sure and yet they are distinct. Skills are abilities or learned aptitudes that allow us to execute with a level of proficiency. Techniques are methods we create, use and customize to apply our skills. As creative professionals we need to develop and apply both to realize creative output. And developing skills and techniques in other areas really supports us to thrive and build a sustainable and fulfilling creative practice, business or career.
Skills We Need to Build a Sustainable and Fulfilling Creative Practice, Business or Career:
We need specific artistic and creative skill sets relative to the disciplines and mediums that we work within (to create visual artworks, write a poem, novel or screenplay, act, dance, choreograph, create original music, films, exhibitions, etc.) We acquire and develop these skills through training or experiences and through practice. Our proficiency grows over time and we draw on our artistic and creative skills and add to them as our creative inspirations and opportunities demand from us as creative professionals.
When focused on building a practice, business or career as a creative professional, we also need a host of other skills. Depending on the paths we choose to pursue, some or many of these types of skills may be crucial to our success :
Communication skills
Computer or other technical skills
Strategic planning skills
Negotiation skills
Project management skills
Business skills
Time management skills
Networking skills
Some artists and creatives resist learning these other types of skills. They might feel intimidated, out of their element or overwhelmed by where to even start. I hear this all the time from my clients. “I’m not good at time management”, or “I don’t know how to market my work”. But just like our artistic and creative skills, we can (I would argue must) acquire and develop these types of skills as well. Similar to our artistic and creative skills, we can develop these skills through applied practice over time. We may need to invest in training, peer mentoring or coaching to open our eyes to how we can benefit from gaining these skills and help us get started to learn these skills.
The Importance of Developing Technique in ALL Areas of Artistic and Creative Work
Our skill sets can help us move forward and evolve our creative work and career, but it’s our techniques that really set us apart! Techniques are how we leverage our knowledge, experience and skills to achieve certain effects or outcomes. Our techniques are what helps us create a cohesive body of work or portfolio and what sets our creative work apart from other artists and creatives. We may combine proven techniques learned from others along with techniques we discover through experimentation and experience to create our own style or way of doing things. Over time our techniques evolve to become more individual as they grow to achieve effects that are important to us. The more we experiment the more we hone our techniques.
Like Miles Davis said “You have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself.” Our style of painting, song writing, storytelling, design aesthetic becomes distinct and attributable to us even as it evolves and changes over time.
It is also true in the broader sense of developing techniques that become signature to how we approach other aspects of our work. From time management to networking to marketing and promoting our work, we can figure out and develop certain methods or techniques that over time become the way we work. This is a big part of what I support artists and creatives with as a coach. I help them understand what works for them and develop techniques (you could also call them work life “hacks” or evolving their style of working) so that they are empowered to realize the ambitions that they have in all areas of their creative practice, business or career.
There is no one right way to build a creative practice, business or career. But our success is truly dependent and driven by the skills that we gain and the techniques that we develop in each area of our work as creative professionals.
Image Credit: Michael Evans - Image of me admiring the skills and techniques of artist Wanda Koop at her exhibit Who Owns the Moon, Montreal Museum of Fine Art, 2024
What are the key skills that you draw on as a creative professional?
In what areas are you lacking skills that are key to moving forward?
What techniques are signature to your style of work and working?
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