When I wrote about finding a creative outlet through kids and how exciting it can be, I neglected to really show off what that entailed. I suggest you check that post out first if you haven’t already, but with Father’s Day a little over two weeks away, I thought I would share some of what that actually looks like and present some of what my daughter and I have a blast doing.

She couldn’t directly contribute to our shared creative endeavors as a baby, but she was still a huge inspiration

Now initially there wasn’t much she could do being a newborn, but that never stopped her from being my newfound muse. Mostly I drew her and it is always a privilege to draw my daughter. It’s very meta to watch my art of her grow with her and that’s something I’ll do for the rest of our lives. I also found fun ways to incorporate her into other mediums.

Every kid starts with crayons before their parents introduce—then immediately take away—markers. Of course, these are mediums that we’ll use for years to come. My daughter and I still love drawing giant posters that we hang all over the house. At first there was no rhyme or reason to our drawing. I would casually draw while she would climb all over me and scribble all over the paper, me, the floor, the wall, the television, the cat, and most prominently herself. Nowadays we plan what we will put on our posters (usually characters from whatever she’s currently in to) and then wallpaper the playroom. This isn’t just a fun thing to do, it’s decorative and serves a purpose.

I was convinced we weren’t getting our security deposit back on the apartment we moved from there were so many marks on the walls and floors!

The other fun thing about these giant posters is that they are shared experiences for my wife as well as anyone who comes over to visit. Family always contributes time to coloring these posters and its a great activity anyone can share in.

The real irony is how we no longer really watch any of these particular shows anymore, but we still love having them decorate our playroom

Afterwards, we make something of a big deal when we formally place our poster up on the wall and peruse the place like a museum.

One of our more prominent creative outlets have been our Big Show; a fun little talk show style video series where we chat about any and everything. We’ve even occasionally done a news type segment. This gives her a chance to not only be seen but heard and who doesn’t love watching themselves on TV?

What makes everything we do so much fun is often how new it seems for both of us. Paper maché, construction paper stick puppets, our own newspaper, rock painting, or even just regular playtime. She’s even getting more interested in photography.

Dry erase markers on windows is a lot of fun if you remember to explain only those markers on only the windows

However, what we’re known for throughout our neighborhood is chalk drawing in our driveway (in fact, we even recently created an Instagram account for that we would love for you to follow!). Whether it’s taking suggestions from other kids or making huge holiday murals, I tend to get more carried away than she does. What I have to constantly tell myself is that this is our project, not mine. I may draw the lion share of stuff, but it’s 100% okay for her to contribute or draw over. It’s not messing something up if it’s a collaborative effort she loves as well.

I’m also grateful that I’m not the only creative influence she has. We have many variations of talented artists in our family and close circle of friends that expose her to music, dance, writing, acting, and just being silly for the sake of silly.

My wife, dad, brother–in–law, and sister are just a few of the other creative people in my daughter’s life

While drawing will always be my immediate go–to with her, I never want her to feel obligated to follow directly in my footsteps. It’s natural for a creative person to be highly influential in a child’s development, but it’s important they have opportunity to find their own voice, their own style, their own approach. Being creative isn’t limited to, “the arts.” It’s about being able to see things differently so that problem solving is an open–minded pursuit. And if you’re wondering, my daughter adores her school art teacher, insisting, “He’s a way better artist than you, daddy” which I absolutely love. Not just because she doesn’t have an obligation to putting me on such a pedestal, but because she feels comfortable enough to set her own boundaries and even start to appreciate different art forms, styles, and approaches.

My (step) mom always said after she married my dad and became my mom, “There’s no manual” referring to how much of a learning curve there is to being a parent. That continues to make more and more sense the older my daughter gets, but I think there’s something to be said for parental instinct. I started drawing her little pictures for her to find in her lunchbox when she started school before someone my wife and I admire suggested we be careful so as not to make it seem like we were forcing any of our interests onto her, or worse; take attention away from her friends and accidentally redirecting it on to us. Having grown up without my mother often meant I felt I had huge shoes to fill and I didn’t want that burden to be placed on my daughter. After a couple weeks of not placing these drawings in her lunchbox however, she read me the riot act about being disappointed that there were no drawings with her snacks anymore. Now I can draw Louisa from Disney’s Encanto from memory.

Princess Tiana (with a special frog), Luisa from *Encanto*, a cheese bear-ger, and Bruno also from *Encanto*

In the end, my personal feeling is that whatever my daughter finds joy in, that is where her passion will lie. Having the creative freedom to find that joy is such a fun and wonderful journey, that it’s beyond developmentally stimulating; it’s foundational too. Please follow me on Instagram and Twitter and follow my blog every Friday!

A little bit silly, a little bit fantasy, a lot of fun, and a healthy helping of “*throw a ton of stuff at the wall and see what sticks*”

I’ve had this website for quite some time now, but only recently decided to start using it more actively via this blog as some of you may have noticed. Part of this is simply to justify my annual registration fees, but the other part is more personal and something I’ve touched on briefly before. The reality is that the pandemic has really hit home the idea of just getting stuff done. As the parents of a toddler/pre–schooler, that’s a different scenario my wife and I have faced than others. I don’t mean to insinuate we had/have it harder than anyone else, only that any creative endeavors or dreams pursuant to such did not have the luxury of “finally getting to with all this spare time” during quarantine, you dig?

I’ll spare you the long version, but in short; we weren’t able to have a child when we were ready to. It was many years of heartache, determination, and frustration before our daughter was born. It didn’t just happen, so when it finally did, I was thrilled to put all my dreams, aspirations, and even just basic creative habits on hold for the time being knowing full well I’d resume them eventually and with a new ethos. A lot easier said than done, especially at first, but now that she’s getting older and we can explore our innovative sides together, the internal creative renaissance I’m experiencing through her is greater than I could have ever imagined. Hence this blog! So fade to black, roll credits, “They lived happily ever after” and toss in a copyright so everyone knows to leave the theater.

My daughter and father coloring one of our big posters (Dec. 4, 2019) and my daughter fixing up my own drawing (Aug. 16, 2020)

What’s actually happened is a wellspring of ideas thanks to seeing the world almost fully through the eyes of a child again, and if I’m being honest, I’m a bit overwhelmed by it.

A fun experiment I did with my niece back in 2014.

I’m gonna’ take it back for a second and heap all this ridiculous need to show love and guidance to a child on my nibling & niece. How dare they make me love them so much. Anyway, being around kids from a creative standpoint is just—and I am not exaggerating here—the best. I once went way off topic on an article I wrote for ToughPigs that touched upon all of this, just so I could use my niece as a way to explore creativity and how effortlessly kids tear down rules in the most brilliant ways. And I’m sure my sister–and–brother–in–law wouldn’t mind if I took fractional credit for the artistic direction my insanely consummate nibling has taken along with their sister who is also a very talented artist. The three of us based almost all of our time together around creating and creativity. Whether it was making up stories, art projects, silly home movies (a continued childhood tradition with my own sister and brother when they were kids), or drawing games where we’d each “add” to the others picture for a minute before passing it back again. Both of them are almost solely responsible for our desire to have a kid of our own (I love you Z & G!).

My nibling, niece, and I draw their amenable uncle (Sept. 18, 2016).

So now my daughter is Little Miss Personality like all toddlers, and instead of putting innovation and imagination on hold, it extends to every inch of our home. We create giant posters that we hang all over the playroom, we have our own “Big Show” where we talk about every and anything that interests us, we play dress up, we do puppet shows, make books, science experiments, crafts all the time, toys, and even a newspaper!

Paper maché helmets (Jan. 12, 2021) and The Bella Daddy News (March 24, 2019).

I swear, I am not putting all this out there to go, “Whee! Parenting is fun and easy when you’re creative! Look at the things I did!” Because every parent will tell you this life is rewarding but exhausting. I’ll expand more in a bit about getting back on the road towards creative independence, but in the meantime, here’s an actual conversation I had with my daughter one night when I was struggling with how to properly channel all my re–found inspiration.

“Daddy, let’s talk about your feelings”
“Okay.”
“Are you feeling sad?”
“Yes, I have a little sadness right now.”
“Are you feeling angry?”
“Um, maybe a little bit angry, sure.”
“Are you happy?”
“Oh yes, I’m very much happy. In fact all my feelings are connected to you and mommy. I’m a little sad and angry I have to leave you both tomorrow when I go to work. But I’m very happy I’m with you right now and that I get to be with you when I get home.”
“Are you feeling tentinary?”
“What’s tentinary mean?”
“Tentinary means you’re feeling a little soddish. And soddish means you’re feeling a little shy about meeting someone you don’t know. Not like somebody you don’t know, but like somebody you do know. Not really that thinkable like your head is feeling a little weird.”
“Bella, I need help coming up with a word to describe how I’m feeling. If I tell you what I’m feeling, will you come up with a word for it? A word that will describe it?”
“Yes.”
“I have a whole lot of ideas in my head. Like, a whole lot of ideas just running around inside my head, but I don’t know how many—if any—of them are good ideas. What would you call that?”
“How about… snotty?”
“Snotty?!”
“Yeah, snotty.”
“Wait, snotty with a ‘T’ or snoddy with a ‘D’?”
“How about snotty with an ‘S’?
“So… snossy?”
Lots of laughing. “Yeah, snossy!”
“We’ll then, tonight I’m feeling very snossy.”

“Blocks” of varying sorts happen in all creative fields and the solution is usually to view things from a different point of view. Kids have zero regard or understanding for creative rules that we build around us so they can easily demolish them. They’re not all brilliant ideas, they just facilitate very helpful ways to see around a problem. For example, my daughter doesn’t have any obligation to kerning (optical, metrical, or otherwise) when writing her name or even to keep it aligned, level, or baselined. You could very easily write it off as a little kid just learning to properly write their name, or you could ask her why she does it like that. The insight proves to be a different point of view and it’s refreshing, even if it defies your personal aesthetic.

When my sister, brother, and I were making home movies without any editing suite, we created things off the cuff, spontaneously, and—in the eyes of a cinematographer—completely wrong. That in turn pushed me to learn more by the time my nibling and niece came along and helped form my sense of storytelling. Now my daughter not only gets to enjoy all that experience but help build upon it for both our benefits. I’m not saying these things made me a consummate professional when it comes to media and video editing, but I don’t think I would have ever been able to make The Making of The Great Muppet Mural without those personal points of reference, and yes I absolutely am still talking about that documentary!

Rockin’ out with my sister & brother (circa 1993) and *Attack of the Killer Guinea Pig!* with my nibling & niece (May 2015)

Now that my daughter is older, I’m finding (a little) more free time of my own creative volition. This is significant in a few ways. For starters, I’m transitioning back into something familiar but with a newfound and invigorated angle. It’s also like having the training wheels taken off all over again as we enter this new stage of her life. A more world–wary five–year–old will bring new ideas, and her old dad will happily navigate those waters with her. If I could find ways to entertain and teach her as a baby and toddler, imagine what she’ll show me with a full vocabulary, fantastic sense of humor, and an end to doggedly asking me to draw Cookie Monster over and over again (now being replaced with Luisa from Disney’s Encanto).

My whole point and belief has not changed in nearly twenty years though; kids are one of if not the best resource for finding one’s creative wellspring. It’s not just about breaking down walls and getting new perspectives, it’s about tapping into your own unrestricted and unrequited passion for being a creative person. Misery may love company, but creativity cherishes collaboration, even if it’s with someone who is a fraction of your own age. Inject the musings and whims of a child into your process just once and see if it captures any of your old flares and dreams. As a bonus, the child will benefit immensely as well! The best way to foster creativity and imagination is to show how accessible it is. Don’t try to be “cool” in front of other parents or adults. All that does is build back up the walls of restriction and shows a child they’re not your main priority.

For stuff other than illustrations of Luisa, I’d love it if you followed me on Instagram & Twitter!

Creative Daddy II: The First 5 Years

Creative Daddy

Search Posts

Featured Posts