Hey everyone. Short bit of news and then onto the meat of this blog post.
You might have noticed most posts this week. Let’s get used to that now. Every Saturday, I’ll be here, telling you how my week went and what I’m up to (Let’s trust Andi the Handy Assistant to yell at me to do this every week). Preorders, POVs, excerpts will get posted on the blog in their own posts. But that’s all for the news. This week, I wanted to ramble on about creativity and finding multiple outlets. If you’re here, you know me as the author of something. Kristen Banet writing Age of the Andinna or the Redemption Saga, K.N. Banet writing books in the Tribunal Archives world like Jacky Leon or Kaliya Sahni.
But what about other creative ventures? Well, today, I wanted to formally introduce you to other creative things I love to do! Like art! I used to be a freelance illustrator with a particularly ‘cartoon’ style. I also make (most of) my own covers (I’ll make a list of which I did and did not do in the FAQ). I have a degree in graphic design and I use that… a lot. I love models and recently got a 3D printer and paints to explore that as a new hobby (this is a long term work in progress I’ll introduce you to next week).
Also, why do I find it important to have so many creative endeavors? Well, it’s freeing. Sometimes overloading, but freeing. Creative fatigue is a real thing. Writing day in and day out or drawing every day is exhausting. It’s a slog. By having multiple outlets, I can keep exploring the worlds I write by taking them into a different medium. (This is possibly an ADHD brain thing… it’s most likely an ADHD brain thing)
See, when I was a young sprout in High School (if you don’t know, I’m 30 as of this past July), I got into drawing because I wanted to draw comics and tell stories that way. It never came to pass, but the need to bring characters to life never went away. When I was in the Navy, I tried to get over it. When I got out of the Navy, I decided I was never going to work for someone else’s dreams or goals ever again. I was going to tell my stories and do art. I was willing to be dirt poor (and I was for more than a couple of years). But, eventually, trying to pay the bills as a freelance illustrator made me depressed. I couldn’t pick up a pencil to draw. I needed a new way to be creative that allowed me to step away again from what others wanted. So I opened a Word document and started writing the first story that entered my head. Remember what I said about creative fatigue? So I do my Threadless store (where 99% of the items I designed),and I do a lot of my own covers, and now, I’m picking up the pencil again and doing artwork (I’m REALLY RUSTY).
And here I am. A full time author, with other avenues of creative that keep me breathing every day when I get up. I’m going to use this Saturday blog to talk about what other nonsense I’m up to(most of the time). I hope you’re all excited to see Jacky, Kaliya, Mave, and more come to you in a different way. First up? Chibi Kaliya being… Kaliya. This is a work in progress, so there’s a couple of obnoxious watermarks.
Have a great day everyone. I hope your week went well and onward to more weeks together! Comment below or find someway to let me know if you think I should make an art page with a gallery somewhere on this website.