Hey, itâs Erica again from Patreonâs content team. Iâd love to get your input for a story!
What is the best gift youâve received that allowed you more space or gave you more freedom to be creative?
Whether itâs a physical gift like a new laptop that made it easier for you to manage your business or create content or a less tangible gift like a friend willing to help you send handwritten Holiday cards to your patrons, whatâs a gift you received that gave you more space and inspiration to create?
Also, if you have a photo of the gift or one youâd like us to use in the article, please attach it to your comment.
Full disclosure:we would like to use some of the answers we receive from this discussion for a blog post, so please let us know if youâd be willing to be mentioned in the post, or if youâd be willing to talk directly with one of our writers!
Years ago, a longtime follower (and online friend) received a free graphics tablet as part of a computer package she purchased. She gifted me the tablet, which was on my âif I ever win the lotteryâ list, because she said she had no use for it. I still have it, and use it, and it made a big difference in my production of digital designs.
A long time ago, my Aunt had received a Wacom Graphire tablet through her work somehow and after visiting her a few times and playing with it a bunch, she ended up gifting it to me. Prior to that, i had drawn traditionally or with a mouse on computers. I was so ecstatic to try the tablet at her house and see what it could do so when she gifted it to me, I was over the moon with excitement!
I actually still have the first full drawing a made on it using the art program that came with it.
She kick started my current day art career with that gift. I still work both traditionally and digitally, but i wouldnât have gone anywhere digitally without that gift and the support from my parents to pursue art.
(And yes you are welcome to use my writing and art in the post if you see fit to.)
Itâs so great to see the evolution of your work, and that you not only got that physical gift of the tablet but that gift of support from your family to pursue art! Thanks so much for sharing this!
Bumping this thread to see if anyone else wants to contribute! Would love to hear more about the most priceless, impactful, and thoughtful gift youâve ever received
For me it was a year subscription to Lynda.com that was gifted to me by a friend.
That website has taught me so much about not only things like Photoshop and Premiere Pro, but also about web development, photography, and videography. Every class I have taken through them has expanded my creative freedom.
I am totally down to write more about my experience, and my suggested courses if you think it would fit your blog post.
Recently, a good friend bought me $200 worth of printer ink & good paper so I could concentrate on art & Etsy instead of worrying about running out of Cyan. Sometimes a little space for your brain to breathe is all you need, yâknow?
iâm really lucky to have an S.O. that supports me fully, wants to see me succeed, and helps me out whenever they can. a few years ago, they asked me what i wanted for christmas and i jokingly said âa new imacâ since the only computer i had was a macbook laptop that was at least 7 years old and barely chugging along. but to my surprise, they really got me a damn expensive and brand new computer. its changed my quality of work so drastically and iâm so so thankful.
This is awesome! Learning as a gift is truly something that you canât replace. Iâll reach out if we need more information, and thanks for offering to share more!!
What a thoughtful friend! Itâs so easy to think of what you can âaddâ by giving someone a gift, but âsubtractingâ your worry so you could focus on more important things - thatâs a HUGE gift! Thank you for sharing
Love that this wasnât just a gift but a surprise, and that it gave you the opportunity to up the quality of your work. Thanks for sharing your story.
One of my Patrons knew my PC was a bit of a potato and had a spare Dell workstation with about 14TB of storage, so he boxed it up and had it shipped to me, it was pretty cool gesture I have to say
The inheritance I got from my Grandfather. He told me once âas long as I was happy, the work didnât matter.â The inheritance was the seed money for this try at an artistic business. It really, really helped me, because that gave me the cushion to figure things out with out having to worry about making money.
I have one fan in CA (also a patron!) who comes to all our shows and hands me wads of cash. She came into some money recently and at our last show, gave me $1500 in cash and said âtake the band out to a nice meal for me.â Needless to say, I took the band out AND gave everybody a $300 tip!
It really, really helped me, because that gave me the cushion to figure things out with out having to worry about making money.