Challenge #7: Map Your Creative DNA

"If I were an enzyme, I would be DNA helicase so I could unzip Your genes."

Geeky pick up lines may make me giggle, but understanding how my DNA shapes who I am is something I take very seriously. Last night, this led me to explore something quite different for this blog -- Creative DNA.

We all have that thing that drives us to create -- a passion for a particular subject, a fascination with the way a material works, a desire to share an idea with others, or the need to celebrate/exorcise a personal experience. For me, it's a combination of all four mixed together, and it manifests in a huge array of eclectic influences, inspirations, passions, ideas, and experiences that all feed into and out of each other -- and it's awesome. So awesome, in fact, I made a map of it, just to keep track of all the awesomely awesome ways it makes my creative self light up:

(Click the image if you want to see it at full size)

I'll be honest, once I got started it was hard to stop. The best part is, each time I discovered a new path, I started adding bubbles that then tied into other paths, showing connections in my work I've never thought about before. Which then -- get ready for it -- inspires me to explore some brand new ways of creating art.

So that's this week's challenge: make a bubble graph mapping your creative DNA. Get really crazy with it, and send it into theartabyss@gmail.com, and we'll feature it on the blog. Even grab this week's challenge badge!

What inspiration will you discover? Tell us all about it below!