I think computers are neat. I think you know that I think they’re neat.

But I do have an issue with them: you can store a lot on them.

Take Photoshop or Procreate, for instance: not only can you save tons of your own files, but you can also collect an endless amount of extras for those programs.

Things like brushes. Textures. Effects. Filters. And I did. I stored them. I even bought brushes; sometimes just because someone, somewhere, on some forum, mentioned those were the ones used for a certain illustration. A design. Whatever.

Here’s the thing about how my creativity works (or rather, how it doesn’t) I’m really into building something from nothing. And when I get a product that skips that step for me, nothing happens afterward.

Say I have one of Kyle’s Real Oil brush sets for Photoshop. Now, I think that if I ever need to draw or paint with an oil effect, I’ll be ready and set to go. I’d be prepared. But… for what?

There are so many things you can make with these neat computers. But me? I feel like I’ve been creatively blocked by tutorials, by helpful “tools,” in a way that’s funneled my creativity into something I don’t even enjoy.

I’ve struggled with creativity for years. That’s why I’ve been reading about how to maintain creativity in times like these: times when people talk more about what products they use than what they actually do with them. And I’m guilty of that, too.

So, I’m uninstalling all those extras. I’m going back to my own ideas.
Because everything started to look like a nail to me: because all I had were hammers.

But what if I never needed a hammer at all?

What if I needed something else entirely?
Something no one else had already built?

What then?

I don’t need more tools. I need more of me in the work.

Sorry, Kyle, but your work has been drowning mine.

Source: My after‑hours blog on Tumblr Code & Canvas