For many of us, the beginning of the year signals a new start. It’s a blank slate, a chance to address and remedy past mistakes, or to tackle new challenges and opportunities. We asked top creatives from Behance to reflect on their work from the past year and share their creative intentions for the year head.

See the Best of 2021 moodboard on Behance

2021 was a challenging year on many levels. “I had difficulty finding inspirations and new ideas being locked up in my home due to the COVID situation in Brazil, so for me it was about trying to find them inside my house.” shares illustrator Lucas Wakamatsu. Despite these challenges, Lucas found a way to express hope and positivity in his work. “I really like the results of my personal project Tropical because it has this positive, dynamic, fun energy that I like to share with my work.”

In the new year, Lucas hopes to find a boost of inspiration through experimentation: “I plan to develop and explore my style as much as I can. I’ll try to explore pretty different directions, practicing and exploring a little bit everyday.”

Tropical by Lucas Wakamatsu

For others like designer Candice Bondi and visualization artist Iryna Nalyvaiko, 2021 brought significant professional shifts. Mid-pandemic, Candice made the decision to leave her position at a design agency and branch out on her own as a freelance designer.

“I had become so used to a stressful, fast-paced way of working, that when I was forced to really slow down, I noticed the way I was working had started to change,” Candice explains. “New creative processes were developing, ways of looking at the world around me were shifting and the way I approached a new job felt more exciting. I spent a lot of time learning new skills and further developing existing ones, which have all helped me in terms of looking at my projects more holistically.”

Petit Grain brand identity by Candice Bondi

Like Lucas, Candice plans to continue on her path of creative growth this year: “I want to continue learning and developing my skills so that when I feel strongly about creating something, I am able to do it without the fear of feeling like it’s not within my current skill set.”

Irina was promoted to Art Director at her studio The Digital Bunch last year, which brought her a lot of new opportunities as well as responsibilities. To counter the increase in professional pressure and workload, Irina’s creative goal for 2022 is “to balance the creative process: travel more, look for inspirations beyond the computer screen.”

Under the sheets by Iryna Nalyvaiko

2021 threw us a lot of curve balls, and within the chaos of it all, left some creatives with feelings of uncertainty. “2021 gave me enough time to doubt what I am doing and to wonder what I have to adjust in order to be satisfied with and proud of my work again,” shares photographer Laura Zalenga.

Through reflection, Laura came to set an ambitious and personal creative goal for this year. “I feel the need to create work that feels more meaning to me again. I will try to not only talk about topics I care about (rights of minorities, climate change, animal rights) and share relevant content about them with my community but also include these themes into my images. It makes me excited to think about how I can try to manage bringing important topics to life in my work.”

Hands by Laura Zalenga

Whether you’re branching out in a new professional direction this year or resetting your creative priorities, we look forward to seeing all the inspirational work you will share to Behance in 2022!