We were lucky to catch up with Blue Barnett recently and have shared our conversation below.

Blue, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I started off as a self-taught graphic designer out of necessity and lack of funds to hire someone for all the designs I needed for the bands I was in. This included things like album artwork, physical and digital gig flyers, t-shirt and merch designs, social media banners, website/EPK designs and logos. My first creative passion before music was drawing, and I wanted desperately to go to art school after high school but it wasn’t in the cards for me financially. So after spending the next decade pursuing a music career, it’s been such a nice reunion with my passion for art and design to combine the two on a professional level. I would say that my artistic skills and classes I’ve taken over the years + interest in emerging technology and my own personal music networking skills have been the most essential. Now that I’m near the end of my college Bachelor’s Degree program for graphic design I can see some obstacles now being finding that next level job that might afford me more comfort in life and to pursue my music goals. Some other obstacles again have been financial and having to work multiple part time jobs to stay afloat with a full time school schedule, leaving me very little time to continue my networking efforts and freelance work.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My father is an accomplished landscape and impressionist painter, and photographer outside of being a real estate broker so growing up I was surrounded by art and creativity at home that my peers weren’t all exposed to. My mother was also a musically inclined person for most of my younger years, singing in wedding bands and playing nursery songs for my siblings and I on the acoustic guitar. In school I was quiet and shy, having moved around a lot and having a hard time making friends / avoiding being bullied for wearing glasses and not super-social. I found my voice through art and music and after those terrible awkward years started fading away and I became more comfortable with myself and being social through these creative groups like art club and choir and my after school skateboarding buddies – it started to click! When it comes to anything I do, I consider myself a perfectionist with a great eye for detail and a yearning to do the best job possible for whoever I’m working with. So for potential clients, I would just want you to know how much I truly care about all the projects I take on – the endless hours I’m willing to pour into them so we’re both happy with the end results – and that I spend just as much time bettering my own skills and keeping up with tech and artistic trends to keep my work on the cutting edge.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Being my own boss. Working around the time that I’m most alive and not just clocking in and forcing my brain to be a morning person when I know deep down my best work happens after midnight. There’s something beautiful about tapping into the creative and emotional side of our brains, creating something meaningful and sharing it, and then slowly but surely find your audience who relates to it on a deep level. Those are your people, and I’m excited to keep putting my art and design work out there to attract them and connect with them. That’s not something I can say for a lot of career paths I’ve wandered down.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

That you have to be a professional to “start”. Start messy. Start in the weeds. Start once a month. I wish I had taken this leap ten years ago and was creating ugly art every day. I think of all the drawings I’ve started and thrown out because they weren’t “good enough” to share. Finding your style and your voice take time, trial and error, and only get better after you fail over and over again. So the lesson I’ve had to unlearn is waiting to share the “final product”, and instead start sharing the journey – whether that’s online or just with a client sharing rough drafts. I think it’s something that makes me a better artist now for embracing the whole journey and not just the ending.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bluebarnettdesign.my.canva.site/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_bluebarnett
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanette-beirne-09b46441/
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/YK_5MhBrkok?si=fZO4wrtWXRhto23p
• Other: My band Best Bear, I’ve designed our website, merch, logos, flyers, everything you can think of!
  https://bestbearmusic.com/

Image Credits

Live Performance photo by : https://www.instagram.com/olliephotographie