I'm lucky, I'm able to be very creative at work, but much of my personal stuff does not fit within my "works" style. One of the things i like most about Renderosity is i can experiment with different approaches and styles and get some feedback from other artist. This forum, and many of the others on this site offers a great wealth of information whenever I'm looking for an effect and not sure how to pull it off.

I find by working on personal pieces (these are the uncommissioned, unsalaried, and sometimes unseen) that are self-instigated and self-motivated, from inception to completion, that they become a foundation for my "public" work. It is by experimenting with out pressure that I can try fresher approaches to assignments that have unbelievable deadlines.

A local art gallery had a show with some of the "personal" works of fellow designers (whos stuff i'm very familiar with on a work level). I don't often get to see this side of their talent because many of the pieces were not created with the goal of showing them publicly. The one thing that i walked away with was; the need to share our visual communication is so important, especially when there are other designers (even "the competition") who are on the verge of leaving their own personal work behind in pursuit of their career.