Make Art Your Own: Exploring Artistic Identity

Meet Gary Baseman and learn about his journey as an artist. See how his art grew from his childhood to his early career, to the present-day iconic artist he has become. Explore some of the artists that inspire and influence his work, in areas like animation, illustration, painting, and performance.

Discover how Gary makes art his own, as he shares his process of taking inspiration from a range of personal experiences. See how he developed his exhibition “The Door is Always Open”, and understand how he expressed the constant connection between his life and art. Learn how he transforms what he draws and records into art by taking a look inside his sketchbooks. Then, discover Gary’s rituals that help him stay focused and inspired. Get familiar with your materials with a warm-up exercise, before going through some drawing practice to loosen up and experiment with expressive lines, your drawing style, and more.

Delve deep into your life experiences to find artistic inspiration, and see how Gary’s childhood is reflected in his art. Look back on your own childhood to start ideating a series of characters that demonstrate your style and represent your unique personality. Gary then invites you to look inwards and reflect on your identity, values, interests, and more, to create a character that could be your alter-ego. Look out to the world and explore how travels and other cultures can also impact your art. Learn how to observe and absorb a place or culture to inspire a character drawing. Then, discover how to interpret your family heritage and history into your artwork. See how Gary finds inspiration from his own heritage with a drawing interpretation of a family photo.

Fuse all your sources of inspiration together into one drawing that reflects your unique artistic identity: your childhood, personal experiences, travels, and family heritage. Look over your work to further analyze what you have drawn, and consider some other ideas for further creative development. Then, hear Gary’s advice on how to stay connected and broaden your creative community on social media. See practical ways to extend your sketches into projects or different formats and finish with some tips on how to stay inspired.