Creative Connectors - No. 31- Erin Sullivan
@erinoutdoors - Photographing Miniature Worlds
About this Resource:
*Creative Connectors is a series of case studies showing how “success-FULL” artists & creators are connecting with their true fans and a follow-up tool from the free resource The Connection Blueprint by Stop The Starving Artist.
Each example in this series is made up of the creator (or artist), the vehicle (or creation), and the 3 connection components - the belief, opponent, and story.
Use these case studies to see how YOU could better authentically connect with your audience through your own work, social media, and heART based marketing.
✅ The Creator (The Artist): Erin Sullivan
In 2020, Erin began challenging herself to create adventures from entirely within her home. “The project began with me recalling what I’d do when I was bored as a kid. I remembered imagining little scenes and worlds in the grass, or in the corners of my house, or under my covers. I set out to re-imagine these– first, by building the environment, and then by adding figurines to give the scenes a sense of scale. I called the project #OurGreatIndoors.”
✅ The Vehicle (The Creation): The Photography
Erin’s miniature scenes are made with real materials to showcase the beauty of the natural elements. She sources the produce from her local farmers market. With the food and her ingenuity with what is in her home, she creates entire worlds in which miniature people actively explore their otherworldly surroundings. The project, Our Great Indoors quickly morphed from a personal project to a staple in Erin’s creative world and her portfolio and she brought her fans along for the ride— inviting them to participate from their homes.
⚠️⚠️⚠️The 3 Components That Make It Connect:
NOW FOR THE GOLD! In the Connection Blueprint, we outline 3 important components that allow your fans to establish a quicker and more compelling connection with YOU as the artist: Your Belief, Opponent, and Story.
Check out the hand picked content below and let us know in the comments if you can spot the BELIEF, OPPONENT, and STORY.
Now.. Share what jumps out at you: What do you think she believes? Who is she opposing? Do you catch any of her story that helps others connect?
Here are just a few examples we spotted on how she uses these 3 components to connect with her audience in an authentic, true to self, and success-FULL way:
⚠️ Belief:
“If you stand for something you will have people for you and people against you. But if you stand for nothing you will have nobody for you and nobody against you.” -Maurice Saatchi
These are a couple that we’ve noticed:
⚠️ Belief:
Erin is passionate about her faith and is transparent about how her worldview and belief impacts her creativity and art.
She wants to foster community for photographers and creatives. She wants to teach those who want to pursue photography and help them grow and thrive. “My advice to the multi-dimensional, multi-talented, multi-passionate creatives (i.e. you): don’t put yourself in a box. Be a specialist, yes, but don’t let that limit what you make or who you ARE. Shine bright, I am rooting for you,” she said in a post.
That oftentimes the ideas that are “weird” are the best ones. “Most of the things I have pursued in my creative life were considered weird, cringy, or too much by someone at some point. And most of them led me somewhere incredibly fulfilling and rewarding,” she said in a post.
⚠️ Opponent:
Erin’s opponent seems to be perfectionism, she is honest with her audience that while she struggles with wanting her photos to be perfect— she knows that perfect doesn’t exist and that she can leave them at, “excellent for now”.
⚠️ Story:
Fans of Erin might know that she attributes a lot of her success as an artist to a, “weird idea” she had in the midst of the pandemic to photograph miniature scenes from home.
She has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning, interviewed by @drewbarrymore on @thedrewbarrymoreshow and earned a spot on @adweek’s Creative 100.
To see more of Erin Sullivan’s art check out her website here!
What else did you notice? Got another creative you’d like us to do a case study on?