Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Keyshawn Browne. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Keyshawn, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

Learning my craft or rather crafts in this case was probably the most fun thing I’ve done for myself personally. I learned through trial and error, I first had to get over that fear of not wanting to fail as well as how my craft would be perceived by others. If I would’ve known what I known now when I started I would’ve sped up the process is to just take a step back, gather my thoughts and let things flow naturally, trying to forcibly do anything while stressed or panicking is a recipe for disaster in my experience. For example I love writing and am still working to earn income from my works, currently I pick different characters such as the Joker, All Might, Black Panther etc and I write imaginative monologues about situations they’ve been in or ones I make up myself. I really try and get into their heads and think based on their character what would they do and say here and there was a time I had horrible writers block and tried to just force myself to write something despite how I felt it got to a point where I didn’t write for months in between but once I learned to breathe and actually give myself space and time to think things flowed so much more and writing from the characters perspective became clearer than ever. That’s one skill I think was most essential in my crafts, being able to look at things from another perspective even if it’s a fictional character’s, whether I’m writing, making cosplay, or doing photography thinking about how this would look if I did this or that or if I sewed these two piece together or climbed up there and took a shoot from that angle, the final outcome of what whatever I’m doing can be affected so much just by looking at things a little differently. But of course nothing in life is without its obstacles, my own time management skills as well as having a hectic schedule stood in my way and caused me to neglect my more creative side, making me my own worst enemy. Ironic isn’t it? But slowly I’ve been getting better with managing both my professional life and my creativity.

Keyshawn, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Hello Canvas rebels!! My name is Keyshawn Browne and I am a cosplayer, writer, and amateur photographer. The story of how I got in to each of my creative vices actually starts from high school. A creative writing class was where I ended up finding my voice, we were given a prompt every day in class to write about, it could be a spoken word, a poem, a joke, anything we could think of! I was a very shy teen in high school and rarely spoke so you could imagine my surprise when I did my first piece and it was a hit with my class! It gave me some much needed confidence and I even went on to compete in my firstspoken word! My photography has a similar beginning in college where after taking a photography class with a very passionate, fun and supportive teacher, I started to love it and wanted to pursue it even more, I even got myself a camera as a graduation gift. Finally my cosplay is my more recent creative endeavor and it’s easily become my most fun! I’ve technically been doing it for about 5 years now but I only recently started taking it seriously about 2 years ago! Since taking on all of these creative endeavors I’ve also had clients who had seen my work with my writing and photography and became interested in my services! With my writing I’ve written landing pages, email listings, advertisements, short stories and more! As for my photography I’ve been hired to do birthdays, baby showers, parties and other events! I’ve learned that feedback and constructive criticism are very important! I understand that everyone has their own vision for their work but so does the person you’re working for/with so I’ve learned to be open and receptive to genuinely well meaning comments on my work and to try and apply that feedback to my next project. The thing that makes me the most proud in all my projects is honestly seeing the finished product and getting to make others as well as myself happy with my work. Being as shy of a person as I was I it brings me a sense of pride seeing the things I can create now! That’s honestly the biggest thing that drives me to keep creating! I wanna see what else I can make!

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

Being a creative has definitely come with its rewards, and the most rewarding aspect of it for me is being able to improve my craft. Each time I take a new photo, create a new cosplay, or write a new piece I always go back after giving my mind some time to settle and look at it again. By doing so I can see where I can improve, what I can take out, what I can add, and where I can try new techniques or ideas I have. Seeing other people’s work also helps with this, for example I cosplayed Kaido (from One Piece) in his hybrid beast form and though I loved it and it received a lot of love a NYCC I knew it could definitely use some improvements. I later saw another Kaido cosplayer on Instagram and I was amazed at how she did her cosplay of him! It immediately gave me a lot of ideas of how I could improve my own for next time. I always see every project as an opportunity to improve and see just how good I can get! For me I believe that there’s no limit on creativity, the sky is the limit when it comes to improving your craft as a creative!

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I think something that non-creatives would struggle to understand about about my journey as a creative is why I continue to pursue being a creative even if I don’t always get recognition nor always make a lot of money from it. My answer to that is simply because I genuinely enjoy doing it, I understand that we all need to make a living and build a comfortable life for ourselves but just going to work and coming home isn’t the only thing I want to keep doing in my day to day routine for me personally. I encourage everyone that even if you get no recognition from it nor make any money from it to pursue your creative endeavors whether it’s something you want to try and turn it into a business or keep it as a hobby, don’t focus on making money from it, focus on improving and having fun with what you’re doing.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kbportfolio8.wordpress.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kidkeke22/profilecard/?igsh=M25oYzB1cjh0MjV2
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/kekeskamera/profilecard/?igsh=OTBnaXg5MWgya2Vm

  https://www.instagram.com/mstr.monologue/profilecard/?igsh=MWJ3ZXFxZ2E4dGJiZg==

Image Credits

Photo credits for my cosplays:

https://www.instagram.com/zeroe_filter?igsh=MTh4ZndzMWtzbXF5YQ==