From seemingly insignificant doodles to realised designs-reflecting on creative growth

I have been spending some time on my website, working on improving the SEO, so I have found myself delving deep into my OLD blog posts. It’s a bit embarrassing to look back, but ultimately, it has given me perspective and shown me how far I have come in my creative pursuits. It has also been enjoyable to see the origins of some of my current work.

For instance, in 2014 (wow, 10 years ago!), I was drawing highlighters with highlighters and that lead me to paint a sweet gouache painting of a bunch of highlighters in a grid layout.

My original sketch of highlighters drawn with highlighters.

My gouache painting of highlighters. I left off the type saying highlighter and added VERY IMPORTANT-TAKE A LOOK.

This then led me to recreate the idea digitally in Procreate. I kept the type that reads “VERY IMPORTANT-TAKE A LOOK,” but decided to bring back the streaky effect that actually occurs when you draw with a highlighter marker. I did just make this design available in my Spoonflower shop, so check it out if you are interested. :)

My digital illustration created in Procreate.

While I was tempted to delete the Highlighter Blog Post from 2014 because there is absolutely nothing remarkable about that post at all, I decided to keep it as it is a reminder to me that creativity is a process, a journey, and one random little doodle can often lead to bigger and better designs and ideas. It reminds me that I must continue to make those little doodles that mean nothing at the time because you never know where they will lead you.

I have more examples that I can think of, and once I gather up the images, I will be sure to share because I think it is VERY IMPORTANT to TAKE A LOOK and reflect on where you are and where you started.

Don’t know what to draw?

Inspiration can strike from anywhere, even during your daily stroll!

Since I have been drawing daily in my sketchbook, I often find myself wondering what to draw. Lately, I have begun to photograph anything and everything that sparks my interest. Whenever that little voice speaks to me, I pull out my camera and take the photo without overthinking about the why. Then when I am home later in the day, I have a collection of resource photos to draw from. Of course, I don’t draw everything I photograph, but it’s nice always to have something on hand to draw from. Plus, it’s a great way to build a collection of resource photos to draw from that have meaning and a personal connection to you.

Here is an example of a quick sketchbook drawing of a super cute and derpy cat I saw while on a neighborhood stroll. Inspiration can also strike within the home, so if I see something that sparks my interest but don’t have the time to draw at that moment, I’ll photograph it for later.

OFFICE PAPER AND A BOX OF CRAYONS

I was feeling stuck and uninspired last week.  Do you all ever feel that way? What do you do about it?I kept attempting to make new stencil print paintings but they kept coming out terrible. I was getting nowhere and felt myself spiralling into a negative space, so  I decided to stop trying and do something else. I walked into the other room and saw my son’s crayons on the floor. I went to pick them up and thought to myself, why don’t I just sit and color freely like he does? Why don’t I allow myself the freedom to just play without worrying about the cost of materials. So I grabbed some cheap office paper and the box of crayons and sat outside and just colored and colored and colored.. It was so liberating not worrying about wasting expensive art supplies, and that allowed me to get into that magical flow state we all crave. The act of scribbling was fun too! I really need to remember this the next time I am feeling stuck and uninspired! Please share with me what you do when you all are stuck in a rut.

Here is a picture of a pile my crayon drawings and then the two stencil prints that were inspired by them.