Find Your Artistic Voice: The Essential Guide to Working Your Creative Magic (Lisa Congdon x Chronicle Books)

This is a very enjoyable, simple to read, sound book with advice for artists, from beginners to emerging, on how to develop our artistic voice. It delves into what an artistic voice is, why is important having one, how to find it, and the struggles on how to get there. The book inserts ten interviews with renowned professional artists (mostly illustrators and mostly women) in with the author poses these and other questions to them, and discusses the creative process in general. The artists interviewed are: 1/ Sean Qualls & Selina Alko. 2/ Andrea Pippins. 3/ Fin Lee. 4/ Kindah Khalidy. 5/Andy J Miller. 6/ Daniele Krysa. 7/ Kate Bingaman-Burt. 8/ Libby Black. 9/ Ayumi Horie. 10/ Martha Rich. My fav interview was, Kate Bingaman-Burt's. Congdon's delightful humorous illustrations spread throughout the book. I really love her style.Our artistic voice is the art that we make when we listen to our inner truth and convey it to the world in specific ways. Our artistic voice is made of "all of the characteristics that make your artwork distinct from the artwork of other artists, like how you use colors or symbols, how you apply lines and patterns, your subject matter choices, and what your work communicates." (p. 7).Congdon says that to find our voice we need to show up, make art every day, be disciplined, practice-practice-practice, 'positivize' boredom and embrace our fears and self-doubt. We also need tons of patience because, as mastering a musical instrument takes years of hard work, so does Art. Embracing our fears and doubts is especially important for beginners, and, that being the case, we have to have compassion and patience with ourselves and our mistakes, with the disasters and ugly pieces, because they're the stepping stones on which our artistic voice is gonna be built. For the rest, all the interviewees agree on the fact that hard work and expressing our personal truth and who we are, are the recipe to find our artistic voice; except for some 'geniuses', most professional artists have to work at it. Congdon says, "The unfolding of your voice requires showing up and working hard. It requires being willing to create failures, to ask for feedback, and to go back and try all over again. It requires staying open. It requires moving outside what’s comfortable and being vulnerable." (p. 119).Congdon also advises twelve strategies for developing our own artistic voice, and they are:1/ Marke art every day, even for a few minutes. 2/ Don't stop, keep going, when thigs get hard or tought. 3/ Embrace the monotony and boredom to break through and experiment. 4/ Create challenges for ourselves and stick to them, no matter who's paying attention to them, even if it's just ourselves. 5/ Learn to practice mindfulness when we go outside into the world to notice new things, new colours, curious weird stuff. 6/ Find a space to be alone to create. 7/ Find a feedback partner or critique group. 8/ Take classes. 9/ Brainstorm. 10/ Develop your vocabulary of interests, knowledge, and ideas. 10/ Support other artists and learn from other artists. 11/ Stay open to all experiences.MINDThe book is intended mostly for artists who want to have an artistic career or are professional artists. Yet, the advice is great also for everyone, even beginners like me, who want to have a distinctive voice and express their own views of the world.THINGS I MISSEDThe interviews with other artists are very interesting, but I see them fitter for a blog or art magazine, and some of the most important points they make could have been summarized or the reader without the need to go through the whole interview. Besides, I would have loved having the invited artists' artwork featured int he book (like 2-4 i medium size mages per head) as well as their website and social media accounts listed.

I agree with the reviews that say the text is too small and light gray, but buy a pair of reading glasses from the dollar store (like I did) and get over it, because this book is worth it!I went to art college 20 years ago but felt frustrated with the department I was in, and was working full-time to afford it and eventually I burned out and dropped out. I've always regretted it. Now that I am an old lady, I am getting back into making art. I want to do it full time and make money at it and I have been researching how people do that. I never found my "artistic voice" and I stress out about that. This book is full of brilliant insight from professional artists who have been there. I book marked all the pages I want to re-read and there are about 50. There is a quote from an artist in here that completely changed my life. I'm paraphrasing, but he said, "Your artistic voice is the swag bag you get for attending the (art) party, not the ID badge you need to get in the door." In other words, show up every day and make art and your artistic voice will be your reward. I love that! This book is full of the wisdom needed to get from aspiring artist to professional artist. I highly recommend it!

Honestly, this is a really good book. I just think she overused the work of Kaufman & Gregoire to prove her point.However, I very much enjoyed this book. It really expands your creativity and pushes you to think outside the box. It gives you strategies to find your voice, and encourages you to show up everyday. That last one is perhaps the most important. I liked how each chapter had an interview with an artist, as you can see that the voyage to finding your voice will look different due to your circumstances, influences, culture, etc. I also liked that the author added her own artwork.I recommend this book to any artist having trouble finding their voice. It really helped me see that the process is not linear.

This book offers helpful steps that call attention to the artistic process. It is thoughtful, interesting and practical. Recommended.

This book is a necessity for every artist. It was such an easy read because it felt like a conversation. Lisa’s book is not only inspiring but transformative as it highlights and tackles a problem that most creatives face - the act of finding your artistic voice/style. We often see famous artist and we forget that they were once amateurs (literally a paraphrased quote from the book). Famous creatives found their voice and it all came from conscious and intentional practice.I gave this book five stars because it’s just pure gold. The illustrations and the messaging were so good. You just have to read it to get the full picture.

I bought this book signed at a conference after hearing a presentation from the author. Then I participated in a virtual book club with conference members to go through it a chapter each week and apply it to life. Really a great lifelong handbook even if you are a thriving, successful artist or someone who’s not sure if you can call yourself an artist.

Wow, what a disservice Chronicle Books did to this fine author. I would give her content 5 stars if I could read it. Three stars is a generous rating, considering. The print is so tiny and so faded looking that I can't bear the struggle. I intentionally bought the print rather than Kindle version because of the lovely illustrations. I'm not about to shell out more money for a second Kindle version, and this is all a shame. I will donate the book somewhere, but it seems unlikely anyone will ever read it. Authors beware: do NOT let publishers do this to your work to save a little money on ink and page count. Lisa Congdon is a wonderful artist and speaker and writer. It's sad that her book isn't higher quality.

Terrific book. I am an art teacher and this has been inspirational and useful as a teacher and as an artist.Highly recommend

Very clear read about something many artists including myself struggle with for years. It's not really ground breaking territory, but it's full of practical interviews with working artists. I like to dip in and read bits every time I start doubting myself.

Enjoyed the authors words and interviews with fun illustrations. Read before making art on my days off. Thank you! Would recommend.

I really enjoyed reading this book, and it’s one which I will keep referring back too. Lots of practical tips and great advice. Highly recommend!

Very useful information

I received my book and it was in great shape/condition and very quickly received. Thank you.