How to find your creative style and voice

Tips and tools to get your creative side flowing, plus a sketchbook tour!

Welcome to another issue of apartamento 710, a newsletter about living a creative life outside of the walls of the Internet. If you are new here, I invite you to explore my interview series, Sobremesa, my most recent corner, Reference Library, or one of my favorite pieces, my rules for making.

My rules for making

Today I am very excited to let you into my sketchbook archive. I have been making art and expressing myself through different mediums since I can remember. It was only in the past four years of my life, though, that I began finding my creative style without even realizing it. This is my first time sharing it with the world, and I feel it is the beginning of great things for me as an artist.

This journey to find my creative voice and style began when I moved to Canada in 2021. I arrived here with a 25kg bag and very little savings in my bank account. It's the biggest bet I have ever made, hoping to find a better future for myself. I put all my energy and money into going back to grad school. I worked part-time to be able to afford it, and in the little time I had in between classes or work, I drew, painted, collaged, dove into the world of ceramics, and essentially tried as many techniques as I could, searching for my medium.

Every day for the first year living in Vancouver, I questioned if I was making the right choice. I felt very lonely, and that first winter was brutal. Making art through these times not only saved me but gave me the motivation to continue dreaming even bigger dreams. This summer, I found a couple of sketchbooks from these past years, and I was very inspired to share them with all of you.

Notes to self, reminders if you will:

• When you are starting, it’s not about the instrument; it’s about downloading the feeling, the emotion, the idea onto paper. What drew me back to art making was the need to let out all my emotions and cope with loneliness and depression. Since I didn’t have a budget to invest in art supplies, I reused the back of all the sheets from old essays from grad school. Remember that everything is a canvas. I used to paint (and still do) in paper bags, receipts, napkins, and on the wall.

• Something that is highly underestimated when it comes to art making is