Find Your Artistic Voice: The Essential Guide to Working Your Creative Magic

I agree with the reviews that say the text is too small and light gray, but buy a pair of reading glasses from the dollar store (like I did) and get over it, because this book is worth it!I went to art college 20 years ago but felt frustrated with the department I was in, and was working full-time to afford it and eventually I burned out and dropped out. I've always regretted it. Now that I am an old lady, I am getting back into making art. I want to do it full time and make money at it and I have been researching how people do that. I never found my "artistic voice" and I stress out about that. This book is full of brilliant insight from professional artists who have been there. I book marked all the pages I want to re-read and there are about 50. There is a quote from an artist in here that completely changed my life. I'm paraphrasing, but he said, "Your artistic voice is the swag bag you get for attending the (art) party, not the ID badge you need to get in the door." In other words, show up every day and make art and your artistic voice will be your reward. I love that! This book is full of the wisdom needed to get from aspiring artist to professional artist. I highly recommend it!

I was excited to order this book based on the positive reviews and my desire to explore my artistic voice. Sadly, while the colored illustrations are bold and vibrant, the main text is small and light gray upon a white background — it’s extremely difficult to see the print in order to read the content. If only the nice dark print used for the personal stories had been used throughout the book!Sadly thus is going back for a book on wxploring creativity shouldn’t give the teader a headache merely trying to see the text.

I am not a professional artist and do not aspire to be one but I have made my own artwork off and on over the years and was an art education major as an undergraduate. I had never thought about my own voice and was interested in discovering what was possible if I challenged myself. I found many helpful suggestions and ideas in this book—some thoughts to ponder for sure. I also liked the interviews the author conducted with a number of working artists to allow more than one perspective. The section on how to manage influences from other artists without falling into imitation was especially useful. I would recommend this—the author met my expectations.

Everything that comes out of Lisa Congdon's pen or paintbrush or mouth is pure gold, this book is no exception. The interviews with a diverse group of artists gave scope while Lisa Congdon's essays gave foundation. I've referenced and referred this book to others often.

I’ve read a lot of books on art process but none that spoke directly to where I was on my creative journey. I recommend to all creatives.

I liked this book very much. I found a great deal of encouragement in it from the author as well as some of the people she interviewed.Personally, I don't feel as if MY VOICE is something I have needed to search for or find. I am an individual who is constantly "becoming," so I have been learning to listen to my own ideas, but am open to the teaching and knowledge of others, because there is always more to learn!

Love this book. I recommend it

Love the informations inside!!! Very inspiring 💖

This book has made me think about concepts and ideas about where I need to go and what I need to research to find my style. So helpful.

Absolutely the most useful, impactful book for me. I will read it over and over. It addresses the mind. Stuff we don’t talk about like fear, self doubt, motivation. It also addresses practical things like routine, discipline. So much more. We’ll worth purchasing!

As an artist who’s still finding his voice I thought this was a great, empowering, and easy read. Would highly recommend. I’m still early in my journey but there any many gems in this book that I think would serve artists of all levels.

I bought this book signed at a conference after hearing a presentation from the author. Then I participated in a virtual book club with conference members to go through it a chapter each week and apply it to life. Really a great lifelong handbook even if you are a thriving, successful artist or someone who’s not sure if you can call yourself an artist.

Lisa has knocked it out of the park again. This book is not just full of helpful information, interesting interviews, and solid advice, but it's also a pleasure to hold and look at.

I was excited to order this book based on the positive reviews and my desire to explore my artistic voice. Sadly, while the colored illustrations are bold and vibrant, the main text is small and light gray upon a white background — it’s extremely difficult to see the print in order to read the content. If only the nice dark print used for the personal stories had been used throughout the book!Sadly thus is going back for a book on wxploring creativity shouldn’t give the teader a headache merely trying to see the text.

Honestly, this is a really good book. I just think she overused the work of Kaufman & Gregoire to prove her point.However, I very much enjoyed this book. It really expands your creativity and pushes you to think outside the box. It gives you strategies to find your voice, and encourages you to show up everyday. That last one is perhaps the most important. I liked how each chapter had an interview with an artist, as you can see that the voyage to finding your voice will look different due to your circumstances, influences, culture, etc. I also liked that the author added her own artwork.I recommend this book to any artist having trouble finding their voice. It really helped me see that the process is not linear.

This book offers helpful steps that call attention to the artistic process. It is thoughtful, interesting and practical. Recommended.

Terrific book. I am an art teacher and this has been inspirational and useful as a teacher and as an artist.Highly recommend

Wow, what a disservice Chronicle Books did to this fine author. I would give her content 5 stars if I could read it. Three stars is a generous rating, considering. The print is so tiny and so faded looking that I can't bear the struggle. I intentionally bought the print rather than Kindle version because of the lovely illustrations. I'm not about to shell out more money for a second Kindle version, and this is all a shame. I will donate the book somewhere, but it seems unlikely anyone will ever read it. Authors beware: do NOT let publishers do this to your work to save a little money on ink and page count. Lisa Congdon is a wonderful artist and speaker and writer. It's sad that her book isn't higher quality.

Very inspiring and uplifting but the tiny grey type is disappointing. Because it makes it difficult to read the words. I really like the illustrations. Not typesetting isn’t her strongest suit.

This book is a necessity for every artist. It was such an easy read because it felt like a conversation. Lisa’s book is not only inspiring but transformative as it highlights and tackles a problem that most creatives face - the act of finding your artistic voice/style. We often see famous artist and we forget that they were once amateurs (literally a paraphrased quote from the book). Famous creatives found their voice and it all came from conscious and intentional practice.I gave this book five stars because it’s just pure gold. The illustrations and the messaging were so good. You just have to read it to get the full picture.