Master 4 Layers of Storytelling to Make Your Art Unforgettable

You think storytelling is just for writers? Wrong. The story you craft—not just on canvas, but in your journey, your impact, and in your own mind—could make your art impossible to ignore.

It's easy to think Storytelling Mastery is only relevant for writers, filmmakers, or visual artists working with obvious narrative elements. But if you're an artist—whether your work is narrative, abstract, or somewhere in between—understanding the power of story is essential to your success.

Understanding and mastering the four layers of storytelling is not just a plus; it's a requirement. When actualized, these layers elevate your work, deepen your connection with your audience, and can even trigger personal transformation. It seems fantastical, doesn't it? But aren't all great stories that way?

These four layers are:

1. The story the artwork tells.

2. The story of you, the artist. Your setbacks, failures, and triumphs.

3. The story of how your art impacts and enriches others.

4. The story you tell yourself... about you—your mindset, transformation, and capacity for growth.

It's not the obvious. It penetrates far beneath the surface; it's about who you are and how you connect to others. It's about creating captivating artwork and going far deeper into the darkness. True character requires deep personal exploration. Stories are about transformation, and yours is about transforming as an artist, a storyteller, and a person.

The Story Inside Your Art: Communicating Through Your Work

Let's begin with the most obvious layer of the onion: the story in the art itself. This is surface-level stuff. It's right there on the canvas. If your jam is narrative in nature—whether you're a comic book creator, an illustrator, or a representational painter—this is where you take your viewer on a visual journey. Your composition, figures, and landscape all work together to reveal something interesting to your viewer

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But what if your art isn't narrative? What if you're an abstract artist? Your work can still evoke a story and trigger a wave of feelings. While it may not be a literal narrative, lean in. Let your work wash over your viewers. Consider Jackson Pollock or Agnes Martin. Their work wasn't about telling a linear or obvious story. Not even a little. But their paintings did ask their viewer to engage, to look and be present with the canvas and the paint. Viewers experienced the canvas in their own ways, some emotionally and others intellectually. Still, if you're worth your salt, that immersive experience left them feeling connected and engaged.

In this context, storytelling is about taking the viewer for a ride—aimed at feeling something... anything. Calm, tense, joyous, or introspective... didn't matter so long as they got sucked in. Without this layer, your work risks feeling distant, disconnected, or even didactic. Your goal as an artist is to guide your audience, even if the path is abstract, through a meaningful experience.

The Story of You, the Artist: Why Your Journey Matters

The second layer of storytelling is one that many artists overlook: the story of you. We're not all narcissists but even introverts like me must get comfortable sharing ourselves enough that people trust that we are serious about what we're doing. Most people want to know that the artists they support are professionals who care about the work and its meaning. But viewers also want to see the person behind the work, maybe even care. Art is rarely just about the final product. Context matters.

Take the abstract expressionists; their work was not narrative, but their personal stories were essential to positioning their art in the arc of history. Convincing the world of their conviction and why they rejected representation, focusing on the paint on the physical canvas was groundbreaking. Pollock's action painting became more than paint on the canvas. It became a story of his struggle, weaknesses, and bravado as the face of innovation, the radical tearing the establishment apart.

Your personal journey—the challenges you've faced, the obstacles you've overcome, and the transformations you've undergone—is not just a part of your story as an artist. It's a valued and integral part of your work. When people understand why you create, they connect more deeply with you, your process, and your art. They're investing in a painting and you and your vision. Again, it's all about connection and empathy, understanding that your journey is a part of what makes your art unique and meaningful

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Your story helps people understand the context your artwork occupies. What brought you to this moment? What inspired your artistic choices? Sharing these insights creates a deeper bond between you and your audience, helping them see your work as a reflection of your life and journey.

The Story of Your Art's Impact on Others: Making Them the Hero

The third layer is about your audience. I lean on the ideas in Donald Miller's book "StoryBrand" to reveal the often overlooked. The customer—not the creator—can be the hero. When you do this, you elevate your customer. It's just good marketing. We all need to learn a spoonful of marketing. Don't we?

For artists, consider how your artwork can help your customers be heroes in their own story. Seems far-fetched, right? If you've created a meaningful connection with your customers, they'll be open to how your art can feed them.

People don't buy art just because it's beautiful. They buy it because it adds something to their life. It makes them feel a certain way, transforms their space, or becomes a symbol of something meaningful to them. There are dozens of reasons to buy original art. Our challenge is to identify the why and persuade customers that our work solves some meaningful problem FOR THEM. They probably don't care if you can pay your rent, but they may care if their mother-in-law thinks they've got great artistic taste and beautiful art in their guest room. Whether your work is abstract, representational, or conceptual, your audience connects to it because it enriches their lives.

Think about it: when someone brings your art into their home, it reflects who they are. Maybe your work sparks conversations at dinner parties, or it brings a sense of peace to their living space. Your art makes them feel more creative, more connected, more alive. Maybe it will impress their Great Aunt Hilda, who has always loved watercolors? When you can frame your art in terms of how it enhances your customer's life, you turn it into something they can't live without. It's not just a painting—it reflects their refined tastes or their edgy contemporary sensibilities. It's different for each customer, but your connection to them will intensify if you find a common frequency. Maybe they'll buy more than one artwork from you. We can dream, right?

The Story You Tell Yourself: Mindset and Transformation

Now, let's move to the fourth layer—the one that operates behind the scenes but influences everything you do: the story you tell yourself about yourself.

This angle on story was inspired by Kindra Hall's Change Your Story, Change Your Life. It speaks to internal narratives shaping your mindset, actions, and ability to reframe the negative story to take control of the ongoing narrative of your life. The process shifts the story you tell yourself about who you are, what you're capable of, and who you're becoming. Doing so might profoundly impact your work and path to success.

Every artist faces self-doubt, fear of failure, imposter syndrome, or moments of creative stagnation. The pivotal difference between those who push through and those who get stuck falls on their internal story. Are you telling yourself a story of struggle and defeat? Or a tale of momentous personal growth and transformation? Your meditation on and exploration of that voice in your head, that whisper of a narrative, should lead to greater self-awareness. Know Thy Self.

In Hall's book, she explains how changing your internal narrative can radically shift your life. The same applies to artists. If you see yourself as an artist capable of overcoming challenges, breaking through creative blocks, and evolving, you'll approach your work with a different energy. Your mindset shapes your reactions to every situation, resilience, and risk acceptance. Growth ain't free.

Psychologists and therapists often discuss the power of narrative in shaping our identities. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) works to reframe the stories we tell ourselves to disrupt our broken behaviors and create healthier thought patterns. Break the chain. Let's find a new, healthier feedback loop, shall we? Let's shift our negative internal stories—seeing obstacles as opportunities for growth rather than catastrophes to bemoan. I haven't gotten this all worked out, but maybe, as a community, we can support each other as we try.

This internal story isn't confidence-driven; it's about visualizing who you want to be, the heavy challenges you will face, and what you could be like after transforming. Bang or Whimper? It's a choice. The story you tell yourself will shape your dreams, decisions, risks, and potential rewards. When you believe in your capacity for transformation and growth, pushing through the setbacks will seem natural, even a bit inevitable. Believing in yourself is table stakes for the future you hope to win.

Why These Four Layers Matter

When you master all four layers of storytelling, you create art that resonates on multiple levels. The story inside your art draws people in, your journey makes them care about you, how your art enriches their lives makes it indispensable to them, and the story you tell yourself gives you the mindset to persevere and evolve as an artist.

Ignoring any of these layers can limit your potential. Without the story in your art, you risk losing your audience's attention. Without sharing your personal journey, you miss the chance to build emotional connections. Without understanding how your art impacts others, you're not positioning your work as something that transforms their lives. And without a positive, growth-oriented story about yourself, you limit your potential to create, grow, and succeed.

Actionable Steps for Mastering Storytelling in Your Art

1. Create Art that Communicates Emotionally

   • Captivate the viewer. Even if your artwork leans toward abstraction. Use composition, color, and form to evoke an emotional or intellectual response. Preferably both. Guiding the viewer through your piece; craft an experience worth having.

     

2. Share Your Personal Journey

   • Open up about your experiences as an artist, and don't neglect your setbacks. Vulnerability breeds trust. Share the struggles, sacrifices, breakthroughs, and epiphanies that shaped your creative vision. People want to know why you create what you do and how you do it—give them a reason to care about you and your work by investing them in your story

     

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3. Show How Your Art Enhances Their Lives

   • Frame your work as something that adds value to the viewer's life. How does it transform their space, their mood, or their conversations? Help your customers see how your art in their lives makes them the hero

     

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4. Change the Story You Tell Yourself

   • Reflect on the internal narrative you tell yourself. Are you telling yourself a story of failure and doubt or growth and potential? What phases have you been through, and how do you manifest today? If necessary, can you reframe the story you tell yourself to shift your mindset, focusing on the upside? Can you focus on the gains and minimize the gaps you feel, celebrating your progress without forgetting the sacrifices you made to get where you are? Transformation and resilience are great stories, worth surfacing and celebrating

     

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How Storytelling is One Key to Success

Story can be a pivotal skill in the life of a visual artist, and mastering all four layers is essential to creating art that resonates, connects, and endures. By understanding the story within your art, sharing your personal journey, positioning your art as transformative for others, and reframing the story you tell yourself, you might unlock your full creative potential.

Storytelling can be a profound tool if you learn the basics and apply them. When you do, you'll connect with more people more deeply. You might even transform yourself in the process.

I'm publishing this special edition of The Invisible Thread on my birthday because I believe in the power of storytelling, and there's nothing I'd love more than to hear your story being told well.

Charles Merritt Houghton

26 September 2024