One of the things I really enjoy doing is collaborating with other artists and creative folks. I know every artist is different in how they approach collaborations: some artists are really open to sharing and working together on a project, while other artists may want to have total control over their output. But I like learning from other creative people and seeing how they put things together, so I really enjoy collaborations.

One of the recent collaborations I’ve taken part in is the Human Acceptance Project with James, from Non Zero Sum Games. He liked an art project I made called “Human Acceptance”, which focused on accepting our humanity. We decided to work together, and he created a lovely page where other people can share their human acceptance projects, too!

This is one reason why I really enjoy collaborating with other people. I love to see other folks' take on my art and what they can do with it. As long as it's respectful towards the original purpose I have for the art, I really like seeing how people put their spin on it.

I've also been doing a fun collaboration, a "Mer May" project, with another artist (RosyDumplings). She invited us to send in our drawings of how we'd imagine mermaids! I think this will turn out beautifully, too. (I want to add that Rosy recently published the Mer May collaboration, with everyone's mermaids in the scene. It looks awesome!)

Another collaboration I'm a part of is with my friend Luna. Although we're taking a break for now, we'll eventually get back to a song and animated story we're working on!

When we're open to working with other artists or creative folks, instead of viewing everyone as competition, I think we can surprise ourselves with how far we can go. When you work with different artists, you also come across new perspectives, techniques, and ways of doing things. And that can help you develop your own craft!

It's also just plain fun to work together on a project. You can riff on each other's ideas and create something brand new. You might even make a new friend!

I finished out last month with a few more collaborations, including one with a poet who focuses on the African diaspora and the effects of slavery. We shared our motivations for our work in a virtual interview. The magazine I'm working with is really open to the collab, so we can publish our discussion on their website in the future.

If you're just getting started with sharing your art publicly, I'd definitely recommend doing some collaborations if you feel comfortable with that. Go for the projects you really care about, ones that capture your interest. You can learn a lot from other artists, especially the more experienced ones. And your confidence can build as you work with more people and have more projects under your belt!

Art Collaborations

If you'd like to see a few collabs I've been working on, you can check them out here! Full credit goes to my collaborative partners, James and Rosy:

The Human Acceptance Project Collaboration

Mer-May Collaboration with Rosy and Other Artists

I'm kind of tired after all the work I did with some of the collabs, so I'm going to be slowing down some of these projects as the year goes on. But I did enjoy learning from everyone and creating with other artists!

In a future newsletter issue, I'll talk about how I'm figuring out how to manage my workload and how I'm realizing it's important to take breaks. After all, everybody needs rest sometimes, even if we feel we have to constantly come up with something new. Rest allows us to recharge!