The Artist Within by Whitney Ferre

The Artist Within by Whitney Ferre is a creativity workbook which is packed full with exercises which encourage creative growth and can be done over and over again.

Creativity is something I believe that everyone has. I’ve always thought I was creative – I was just brought up being told I was, and so I am! Not everyone is so lucky though. Maybe you’ve been discouraged somewhere along the line and gave up on that “creative gene” that you think you may be lacking. Well, I’m here to tell you that you in fact are more creative than you think. The Artist Within will help bring that out in you if you think you lack creativity, and even make you more creative you already know you are!

Book Description
“If you can spill paint, this book will help you turn your creative potential into reality. Whether you are looking to be a writer, architect, entrepreneur, painter, or business leader, developing creative ideas is the factor that differentiates the extraordinary from the common. Based on principles that underlie the aesthetics of design, this book shows you how to strengthen your own creative ability and how to turn that ability into reality. So, if you ever felt that you have creative potential, or even if you don’t, but you want to be more creative, pick up this book and start unlocking your own Artist Within.” – The Artist Within

My Thoughts
There are so many ways to be creative and artistic that everyone can find something that is sure to inspire and speak to their creative side – you just have to give it a try and listen. The daily life tasks of work, school, family and so much more can put people into a funk that they just don’t create. I am also at fault on this. However, I want to do something about that. The Artist Within was just the answer.

The book covers the eight principles of design and is used throughout the book. There is even a test you can take in the book which shows which areas you need to focus more on to bring your scores up to help you in each aspect of the design principles. My favorite test though was the shapes test where we had to list “doodles” in order of most to least favorite. This explains what your conscious and unconscious is seeking and pushing away. I found it to be quite true with myself, and really did help me see areas I need to be more open with.

The exercises in the book cover easy things like doodling and leaf rubbings to dream collages (or vision boards as I call them), paper weaving, abstract tiles, magazine mosaics and much more.

My favorite though was the abstract canvas. I love to paint but often found myself just staring at a blank canvas and afraid to put the brush in the paint and do it. I’m not sure why. I guess I was afraid I’d not be good at it if I didn’t know exactly how it would turn out. I’m a planner. Well, this exercise let me throw that thinking out the window.

Here is what I created:


Overall, I think The Artist Within is the perfect book for everyone who wants to be more creative – even if you think you already are creative or not. This is the book to get you painting and trying out new creative things you never could have imagined until reading this book. It really is like going to take an art class (but much cheaper).


Thank you to the publisher of The Artist Within, Turner Publishing for providing me with a copy for review. All opinions expressed are my own.