Creativity without an audience: is it worth it? The people who ask me usually mean, "but who sees it then?" I tell them: I see it. And that's more than enough for me.
Not just the finished works — but the moment before: when I get stuck on a sentence because it's not right yet. When I move an SVG line for three hours until it feels like a feeling. When I imagine someone reading my book and pausing at a spot — not because they want to understand it, but because I made something right there.
The Echo of Forgotten Gods was exactly that kind of thing for me. I didn't write it so everyone reads it — I wrote it because the world in my head was too big and had to go somewhere. And then a community found it, saying: "Hey A!ley, this is exactly what we needed." But the moment before the first person reads it? That belongs only to me.
SVG art is similar. volumetric void wasn't for a competition — I wanted to see what emptiness can feel like. If someone takes that now and puts it on their desktop: cool, but not the condition for it to exist.
I love this state: when you create something and nobody looks at it. No likes, no feedback loop, no expectations — just you and your idea. That's the most honest place for creativity. Everything else is marketing, drama, or self-fulfillment through validation.
And if someone does see it? Then that's a bonus. No promises, no deals — just a nice surprise on the way to your next project.
I have two books, three SVGs and a workshop night finished — and I wouldn't change any of it. Because the best work isn't made for an audience, but because you have to make it — whether someone watches or not.