A brand is a can of soup. 🥫

Further reflections on branding vs. artistic style.

Hello everyone!

I’ve been blown away by your response to I’m Not a Brand I’m a Human 🫀.

You’ve written so many amazing comments and emails I haven’t even managed to reply to you all yet. But I will! I see you and I’m so glad to hear from you.

My branding post seems to have really struck a nerve. So many of us are feeling the same way!

You are not alone.

If you’re new here I used to have two separate Substacks which I am integrating - one explored autism and neurodivergence and one discussed creativity. The more I wrote both of them the more I realized it’s all interconnected.

After merging Substacks I’ve had a bit of a *cough* tidy up…

I will not call it a rebrand. 😂

Last week someone responded to my post on Notes saying, “This is a really great post on branding.” I think they missed the point.

A brand is a can of soup.

Campbell’s Condensed Tomato Soup Can, Photograph

An artist isn’t a brand. An artist has a style.¹

Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Tomato Soup Can Silkscreen, 1968

For me this is a mindset shift away from branding toward developing my style. I’m taking a Masterclass in The Art of Storytelling from Neil Gaiman right now. He says,

“Style is the stuff you can't help doing.”

He suggests the best way to develop your creative voice is to write and keep writing and keep writing.

Or make stuff and make more stuff and make more stuff.

Eventually your style will come through.

Style isn’t something you create with a mood board. It isn’t a business strategy. It is your heart and soul. You find it by doing the work and being brave enough to be honest. I see all of *waves hands* this online stuff as a creative portal. It’s all art.

Let’s stop being “brands” and be artists.

Let your work change and evolve and grow.

Be more yourself.

Not an edited version that is easily palatable.

This week I’ve been sewing my various identities back together crazy quilt style.

You may have noticed my Substack publication is now called Kindle Curiosity. Moving forward I plan to write more long form emails and they will be in this section.²

Kindle Curiosity is also my author imprint for self publishing. I made this design myself combining linocut and watercolor techniques several years ago.

Today you’re getting Down the Rabbit Hole which is a studio update and a list of rabbit holes (links, books, etc.) for you to explore.

Neurodivergent Space Time is an unmasked podcast to explore autism and other neurodivergent identities from the inside out.

The Messy Middle is behind the scenes podcast about art and life. I’m launching it for paid subscribers next month.

The Messy Middle was a podcasting identity I used when Davy was a toddler. The design includes his crayon scribbles I altered to a color I love in Procreate.

Cabinet of Curiosities is a place for things that don’t fit anywhere else. Making room for this kind of eclecticism is precisely what this un-branding process is all about. These posts might be one-off experiments or they may turn into projects of their own.

Cabinet of Curiosities, National Geographic Museum via Wiki Commons

If you’re a long time friend you’ll notice these are all different “brand identities” I have used and dropped over the years. It has been such a healing process to gather them all up and stitch them together. We contain multitudes.

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This week my creative energy has been focused right here on Substack. Aside from that I’ve been ideating and gathering supplies to create new works for This is My Brain on Motherhood. I’ll be sharing those soon.

I’ve also interviewed artist Catherine Reinhart who is crowdfunding a project called The Collective Mending Sessions. I may do more of these if you enjoy them. Let me know!

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Other bits and bobs I’d like to recommend this week.

Books

After the crowdfunding campaign I put down every book I tried to read. Finally I took myself to the bookstore and ended up buying books in the kids section. Books are ageless. Read what brings you joy. These were so cozy and lighthearted and just what I needed during cocoon week.

The film Kiki’s Delivery Service was actually based on this book which was only recently published in English.

Substack

I already had this post scheduled, but I had to jump back in to add a link to the latest installment of

Monday Monday

by Mar Grace. I had a hard time choosing a quote, but finally went with this one,

“I am an artist, trying to string together my interests and my skills and my desires and my intuition. As soon as I start piling myself in to an online business world I get trapped into thinking I need to perfectly have a “funnel” and a “marketing plan” and to have it all figured out. It’s why our offering are shapes, malleable and shiftable.”

The whole post it worth a read:

Fatigue and the digital footprint

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I’ve noticed a lot of authors post their books at the end of their emails. I haven’t made a fancy little graphic yet, but if you enjoyed my writing on branding you might like my book Discover Your Creative Ecosystem. It’s kind of like The Artist’s Way if Julia Cameron were saying “Humans are unique. Find what works for you.”

Your whole life is an ecosystem for creativity.

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Substack has rudely told me my post is “too long for email” so I deleted what I had to say about this link. You’ll have to check it out for yourself. See you next time.

Cheers,

1. If you want to learn more about Andy Warhol’s Campbell Soup Cans start here and here.

2. You’ll be subscribed to everything I post, but if you’d like to adjust your subscriptions you can do so here.