Do you ever feel like your creativity needs a bit of a kick? Towards the end of last year I was beginning to feel a little uninspired and like I needed to do something to get my creativity flowing again. In January I decided to make some changes to my usual creative routine and went back to basics, developing new habits that I hope will inspire myself for the year ahead. Here are 4 ways I inspired my creativity.
I STARTED DRAWING FOR 15 MINUTES EVERY DAY
I realised I probably wasn’t really drawing enough. I had lost my confidence in my ability to sketch and it felt like a huge task to get my materials out and draw a picture I could be proud of. This seemed a bit silly given my chosen career is to be an artist.
I decided to put an end to this as drawing is, and should be, an integral part of my practice. I need it to communicate ideas, to document things I see or others tell me about and to use as a creative outlet. In January I started sketching regularly and aimed for at least 15 minutes a day although I tried to go for longer if I could. The idea was to just get on and do it without worrying about the final outcome. I really pushed myself to ignore the overwhelming feeling of ‘what if it doesn’t look good?!’ and just started drawing things from around the house or from photographs I found on google. I left my sketchbook and pen out on the side in my living room so I could just pick it up whenever it suited me and draw a little doodle.
I've been really enjoying this daily sketching although I will admit I've missed a few days here and there. Drawing more regularly has helped me to get over the need to create something perfect each time and just embrace experimenting again. It has given my creative thinking a big boost. It's beginning to give me a new confidence in my drawing style too. I recently sent a design sketch to a client and I realised I was much happier with the way I had represented my ideas this time and didn't feel quite as embarrassed of my drawing skills.
I CHANGING THE MATERIALS I USED
I use a HB pencil and watercolour paints for nearly all the work I create. Sometimes I will use acrylic inks but I am quite specific about the mediums I use as I know how to use them well, so why change? I thought this may be restricting my creative development and decided I would push myself out of the comfort zone of a pencil and paint brush and tried using other materials for mark making to see where it might take me. I found some old charcoal sticks from when I was at university and had some chalk pastel pencils I was given as a present. I also invested in a variety of new ink pens which I had never tried before but were recommended to me by an illustrator. Its been great fun playing with materials I haven't used for years. They feel very different to draw with and have made me think differently about how I start and then develop my sketches. I've started to apply this to my sculptures too and it has sparked some new ideas I would like to experiment with later in the year. (If you want to know more about the mediums I've been using, there is a list at the end of all the materials I've photographed above).
I STARTED TO COLLECT SOMETHING ONCE A DAY
I have 2 dogs so I always manage to get outside once a day but I realised I wasn’t paying much attention to my surroundings, I was trying to multi task, reading emails or organise my calendar while getting the dogs walked. I started to collect something each time I went out (sometimes this was a photo rather than an object), to help me focus on my surroundings a bit more and not just stomp past the little things that have always inspired the sculptures I create. I made my dog walks more mindful and having this space in my head every day, away from the day to day running of the business gave me the opportunity to think more creatively and get inspired by what I found.
It was also the perfect companion activity to my daily sketching as it meant I always had something new I could draw. My sketchbook has become more of a nature diary now as I add my finds to it (almost!) every day.
I LEARNT HOW TO USE WATERCOLOURS.... AGAIN
I've spent some time re-learning how to use watercolour paints. As I had gone back to basics with my sketching I thought I should do it to the mediums I use regularly too. There is always something new to learn and I thought starting from the beginning might give me ideas for new ways to use different techniques in my sculptures or just generally how to improve the way I paint them. I watched some lovely videos made by botanical illustrator Lizzie Harper (you can find them on YouTube or via her website www.lizzieharper.co.uk ) and read some books about techniques. I also signed up to a course on Domestika by Julia Trickey which took me step by step through how to paint a botanical illustration. It was wonderful to be reminded of the variety of ways you can use watercolours and interesting to see how other artists approach similar subjects.
I think over the last couple of years I have very much become a creature of habit and got stuck in my ways of making. Changing things up this last month and going back to basics has really helped me feel more creative and widen the possibilities for future projects I'd like to work on. I am really looking forward to using these developments to make a new collection later this year and I'm going to try and keep up with my nature diary so I have a visual record of 2025 to look back on in the future.
If you have been doing anything this winter to spark your own creativity I would love to hear about it in the comments below!
List of pens and pencils I've been sketching and experimenting with:
Coptic Sketch Marker – Cool Grey no.3 (C3)
Faber Castell Pitt Artist Indian Ink Pens (sizes 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, B)
Zebra Brush Pen – size Fine
Pentel Mechanical Pencil
Pentel Fude Brush Pen
Standard Eraser
Faber Castell Pitt Pastel Colouring Pencils
Willow stick Charcoal
Smudge Stick for Charcoal
Soft Putty Rubber
I found these all online at various prices depending on who sells them.
Comments