I’ve been in a bit of a creative slump lately. I’m pretty sure it comes from spending all my energy getting this blog up and running, and looking at all the incredible artists and bloggers out there who are light-years ahead of where I am (and where I feel I’ll ever get). Plus, the onset of fall always brings me down.
Pep Talk, With Visuals
So today I’m going to share some of my past completed projects to remind myself (and you) of a few important facts that I have a hard time remembering when I’m in a creative dead zone.
1. You have made things in the past. Some were awesome, some not, but you made them and you can do it again.
An artsy photo of some art at the Seattle Center that I took with my iPhone
2. Don’t wait until you feel like making art. Just make something, even if it sucks. Even if it’s an imitation of something much better.
A sketch of my pug I did on my iPhone using a tracing app
3. Remember what it feels like to make something that you like. You won’t like every piece, but you will like enough of them to make it worthwhile.
A sloppy painting of Boba Fett I did one drunken New Year’s Eve
4. Every time you make something, you learn and improve. If you don’t like what you see in your portfolio of past work, that just means you need to keep making more to get where you want to be.
A doodle I made around the letter M on the back of a 3×5 notecard
5. Never ever ever compare your work to what’s been made by professional artists. Give yourself 10+ years of honing your craft full time, and then you can maybe start to make comparisons. Maybe.
One day I felt like making collage on an old scrap of cardboard
As you can see, I’ve dabbled in several different styles of art over the years. I definitely wouldn’t consider most of it ‘art,’ but that’s the term I’m sticking to in this blog (and that’s the subject of a whole other post someday).
I won’t be posting every single thing I’ve made here on the blog (ain’t nobody got time for that). I do have a Pinterest board where I’ll be gathering all these early attempts and adding new projects as I make them, and I recommend following that. I have other lovely boards, too, which you should definitely check out.
What do you do when you’re stalled and feeling uncreative? Share your tips in the comments! And be sure to subscribe to my blog (see below) so you can follow along as I figure this stuff out. I’ll be including more pep talks along the way (as much for myself as for anyone else). Thanks for being here!
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