James Swan “Jalen “.
What fears have you overcome and how?
Title: Jalen Wall Art — WordPress Daily Prompt:06/02/25
Prompt: “What fears have you overcome and how?”
Jalen Wall Art — WordPress Daily Prompt’
Prompt: “What fears have you overcome and how?”
I’ve never been a web designer, but I’ve worked beside one digitally, from a distance for over five websites now. Ms. Shumaila Afzal(https://getsoftapps.com) and I have never met in person.
She’s in Pakistan, I’m in Thailand. Our entire collaboration was built through online exchanges, digital trust, and a kind of instinctual creative chemistry.
Before finding her, I struck out with at least three other developers. Starting anything new, especially technical, would fill me with fear.
I’m not trained in code. I’m a writer, a blogger, and now, somehow, an artist. But every time I leapt into a new creative venture ,whether it was rebuilding a blog, launching a new domain, or trying a new visual medium,I just kept moving forward.
What’s unique about my art journey is that it didn’t begin traditionally.
I didn’t start painting with brushes or formal lessons.
I began with early AI tools way back when the models were crude, even prehistoric compared to what’s possible now.
I used those editorial assistants to build content, shape ideas, and eventually, teach myself how to see.
When image generation arrived, I jumped in.
I took sketches, references, raw ideas and let AI show me possibilities.
From there, I layered in real world mediums: charcoal, block ink, pastel.
I taught myself to paint on paper and canvas.
Then I circled back and digitized those works again, painting over them with a stylus, refining them with hybrid techniques.
I’ve had deep fears around digital painting apps like “Infinite Painter”. It still intimidates me.
I dive in anyway.
I create because it’s the only way I know how to grow.
I’ve overcome the fear of not being good enough, not being technical enough, not being “real” enough.
The truth is: I’m not an AI artist.
I’m just an artist.
And everything I’ve learned through blogging, collaborating, failing, restarting now feeds a practice that’s uniquely mine.
That’s how I rebuild.
That’s how I begin again. Every time.
James Swan “Jalen “
06/02/25
Bang, Thailand