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.
An artist isn’t a brand. An artist has a style.1
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
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
Substack
I already had this post scheduled, but I had to jump back in to add a link to the latest installment of
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:
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.
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,
Oh I loved everything about this. I made my whole world branding as VA, and I think I'm just weary of it at this point lol. I've gone against my better instincts for years, because some guru told me otherwise. Like one thing I've *always* wanted to do, is make little updates to my site for the seasons. Like, when I had a unicorn logo, I really wanted to make it where he was playing in leaves for the fall, or tangled in lights for the holidays, but I was told that that was silly, and no one would even notice.
I still think things like that are fun. Erin Condren's logo, when you hover over it, it spins like some modern art interpretation of a pinwheel. Love it.
I love children's books! I felt really bad about how many kids books made up my reading count on Goodreads last year, but I do a TON of reading to the kids for school and leisure, and I thoroughly enjoy that! It's a pleasure sharing the favorite reads of my childhood with them, and discovering new favorites alongside them.
“An artist isn’t a brand. An artist has a style.” I adore this. So many of the things you’ve said here feel like I could’ve written them myself. I love seeing that you’re embracing your multitudes, it’s definitely encouraging and inspiring for someone like me who’s often felt pressure to segment myself to be more palatable.
Also, love that Neil Gaiman master class, it’s fantastic!