An Artist as a Writer

Well, youve found me. An artist currently posing as a writer. However, I am primarily an
artist. Therefore my writing style seems to be manipulated by my brain, naturally formatting work
like one. More specifically - like an Animator, as in Disney/Pixar kind of stuff. I excel in express-
ing myself visually, artistically and through visual storytelling. In opposition to this, to put it
bluntly, I am an artist and art is supposed to make you feel. I believe this ideal plays as the foun-
dation to all my work. Thus, it also spills into my homework assignments. Its my lifes goal to al-
ways create art - to make people feel.

As anticipated my initial artistic background really does affect how I write. Before our
analysis of rhetoric, I would have considered them as two separate worlds and means of ex-
pressing myself. I suppose it was obvious though, because who in their right mind would create
a collage of paragraphs and use it as an essay building tool. I didnt even notice I was doing
this, along with many other effective and ineffective quirks. Luckily, its more common than I
thought so I am not alone. The beginning of my collage essays tend to look like a huge mess,
but to me its really a very organized mess. They are kind of like sketches I make when trying to
form an art piece. More often than not the beginning sketches dont convey or do much for my
viewers. Im often asked, What is that? However, through my eyes its almost as good as the
final piece. Yet for viewers, my final pieces are usually the only thing that do them in with words
of oos and ah's. I am still currently working on getting the same end reaction for my final writing
pieces.

Throughout my life I have found myself writing most often for homework assignments.
Through that, Ive discovered that I heavily portray my identity in in all my work, especially
homework. This is because as an artist I have to feel passionate about what Im creating. Which
reflects greatly on the topics I choose. The list below contains a few assignments Ive completed
in the past year along with a brief description:
Women in Film - Powerpoint presentation
Provides an elaborate history lesson on lost information of womens effect and
efforts in film as directors, special effects persons, actors and even as movie go-
ers.
Eating Disorders - Essay
Summarizes details of eating disorders, and verbalizes recent gender-neutral
awareness for eating disorders.
Covers social contributors like media, which lead people to hold value on unreal-
istic thinness or muscularity.
Lady Diana - Essay
Illuminates the life of Lady Diana as my personal role model.
Personality Type A - Essay
Discusses personality type A history and findings with a get to know Type As
tone.
 My topics currently adore strong women, and the roles they played in our history. I see
that women and girls dont just need to obtain better role models, they need to know theyre out
there in the first place. The world isnt just filled with damsels in distress and Miss Americas. I
also chose to do an assignment addressing eating disorders because of those same strong feel-
ings regarding the misinterpretation of body image for both men and women. The last essay
was a more simple, but still personally important, paper I wrote on Type A personalities. I
thought I wanted to help people better understand type As when really, I was just trying to bet-
ter understand myself. No matter what topics Ive chosen in the past, it is incredibly easy to find
ties relating them to something Im passionate about. In a way, this dictates who I am - supply-
ing me with knowledge I would have otherwise passed up to instead consume the footage of the
world around me.

A successful animator is someone who is observant and inquisitive about life and the
world around them. -Kristy Mize.

Animators are said to have different eyes than others. As an animator/artist we see allu-
sion as a huge asset. We need to refer to the world around us to create accurate depictions of
our own or to help us form a base for our artistic creations. Without references, you are blind as
a young artist. I feel this ties into my writing style when I add quotes and complete so much re-
search for my homework assignments. However, I think its one of the more useful artistic writ-
ing habits I use.

You can see through my work that I usually tell stories in chronological order, like most
people. Unlike most people, I have a hard time summarizing. Im a person who pays attention to
every intricate detail of an eye, to every characteristic about the old man who was talking to him-
self at the coffee shop. Which is good for animating - having all that reference. However, if I
were to draw every detail it would only overwhelm the viewer and leave little room for them to
participate in the drawing. The same concept applies to storying telling. An extremely detailed
story either bores or overwhelms the readers/listeners. A good art piece and good story both
need to participate in a balancing act of intricate detail and scope left for the imagination so the
viewer or listener can participate. This is a trait I am currently trying to master in both lines of
work.

My two best friends are revision and feedback. I receive a lot of feedback for the art I
present, yet I dont feel Ive hand much guidance for writing until now. In my studies, I want to
insure I am making effective work; work that makes others feel. I know with all the assignments
Ive completed that there are also thousands upon thousands of steps towards revision made.
The same principle applies to art. A sketch can often end up having too much information or to
little, or one side doesnt coincide with the other. I feel all these comments strongly reflect on my
writing situations as well. However, I can rest easy knowing revision has saved me from many
awkward drawings and awkward silences for awkward collage essays.

Lastly, Id like to leave a self-portrait I made as the artistic composition artifact. I feel it
captures my feelings towards writing situations. I project my feelings a lot in the papers I write,
art I create. I reflect what I learn. So, in a way it reflects my overall findings. I use tactics from art
as I write and art is supposed to make you feel. So hopefully I at least achieved a few smiles. If
not oos and ahs will suffice.
 Morgan N:
Describe: This essay speaks to me about how you are an artist and how that affects
your writing. What I got from that is that you like to create emotion for your audience.
Suggest: I just added a couple commas and fixed a couple spelling mistakes. But I
think this was beautifully written. Great job!
Evaluate: I think that this piece really tied the whole essay together. It is a gorgeous art
piece and helped add some emotion to what you had already written. I think that you did a
wonderful job conveying emotion through your writing as well.

Geoffrey B:
I thought you did a great job of portraying your identity. The paper was full of voice and it had
the fluidity of a conversation.