Storytelling Is The Most Important Skill
I have been working on improving my narrative illustration skills for the past 6 months. I think it is crucial to being successful…at anything. Whenever you look at a piece of art someone created, there is a story that is made. It might not be the same for everyone or what the creator had in mind, but there is a story that plays out. People engage far more with art that has a good story going along with it. The better the story and the art, the farther it will go.
Think about anything you connect with deeply. It could be a book, a drawing, a person, a local business, or a small business you support online. I guarantee you they have shared their story in some way and you remember part of it. One that always comes to mind is a local pizza place I love and Andy’s. They both have a short and sweet history to them that they make sure to share all the time. You can find their story easily and feel like you know the people behind the scenes making your food. That’s what stories do to people. It gives humans the ability to share a part of them in a creative way and connect with others. To sum it up, stories serve the following purposes:
Connect with people
Build relationships with people and engage deeply with them
Give people a reason to take time out of their day to support you
People know there is a human behind the work at the end of the day
It’s what keeps life interesting
Giving everything we do meaning
The list could go on for days! But, I think you get the idea. You can have all of the talent in the world, but if you can’t tell a story (remember, it doesn’t need to have words!) through your chosen craft, it won’t get very far.
This was a shorter blog post, but I didn’t feel it was necessary to drag on to get the point across. Thanks for reading friends!