“Blessed are the curious, for they shall have adventures.”

~L. Drachman

1. The practice: Daily drawing.

Drawing something new every day is the most advantageous and time worthy habit I have! It helps my art in every way. Many people create and even publish art but can not all draw well. If you learn to draw you broaden your confidence to explore more. It is incredibly satisfying. I draw on an almost daily basis in my sketchbooks. The feature illustration was created with ink, the second with a biro, and third pencil, all drawn into a small A5 moleskin sketchbook.  My family TV time is usually my sketching and doodling time. They watch while I listen and draw.

2. The inspirational: Observation

To stay motivated and inspired we can look at a lot of visuals often. I notice the details as an artist and appreciate creative projects all around. It doesn’t need to be paintings or drawings or other 2D art. Even unusual floral arrangements, fashion, or clever knitted items. There is creative stimulation everywhere if you look close enough. Learn to appreciate the visual world around you.

Stop and not only smell the roses but LOOK at them!

Note the colours, patterns and shapes in everything. You don’t need to be afraid of accidentally copying if you flood you mind with plenty of variety. Lots of imagery will fill you with many ideas. Ideas and you can pull together and make your own.

3. The Freedom: Permission.

Give yourself permission to play and experiment. We put too many restrictions on ourselves sometimes and creative restrictions can make good art suffer.

The more freedom to create the better the art because you discover more and end up creating much more than you ever imagined.

Try new materials, techniques and subjects and see what fun art can be. Let you imagination have as much freedom as you can and play! Spoil yourself with something new; a pen, new paper, craft supplies and explore!