Hello my loves and welcome back to my sketchbook.
And huge thanks to Skillshare for sponsoring today's video.
Today I'm working on a spread inspired by some Poinsettia petals that I pressed while
I was clearing up all my Christmas decorations, I thought it would be nice to just write a
quick little journal of my time this past holiday season.
I wanted to go for a vintage look- I'm finding myself more and more drawn to that kind of
style- I absolutely adore old books and just the charm of found items and old relics.
I actually got the idea to stain this paper with watercolour from a Skillshare class I
took that was specifically about adding a vintage look to your journal.
The class was taught by Helen Colebrook, who I also avidly follow here on YouTube, you
must check her out, but in this particular class, she really went into her process and
techniques, which in turn helped me feel more confident in giving it a go myself.
And I find Skillshare is wonderful for building on your existing passions or skills, deepening
your knowledge on things you're interested in while also providing so much room and potential
to discover something entirely new to learn and sink your teeth into.
Skillshare offer thousands of classes on all sorts of topics like illustration and design,
building a business... even languages, I think it's the perfect platform to make the most
of this year, to develop new skills and take your creativity up a notch.
As an online learning community, Skillshares classes are easily accessible, nice and digestible
in your own time, and affordable at $10 for an annual subscription.
As I've said, I'm really interested in getting more into creative journaling, and I've already
spotted a few classes on there that I think can really help in that, more from Helen and
a few others that I'll link below.
I'll also have a link below that gives you 2 free months of premium access to however
many classes you're interested in, so check it out if you're looking to to make 2020 a
year of personal and creative development.
Now, onto today's topic.
If you do happen to want to improve your art, one of the ways you'll always be told is most
effective, is to spend more time on it, work on it every day... but somehow, life always
gets in the way.
You don't *have* enough time in your day after school or work, eating, socialising, exercising,
cleaning, taking care of assignments or kids!... to make time to just draw can sometimes feel
like a waste, and if not, it might just feel impossible.
Now, I'm lucky.
This is my job.
I can spend time on drawing- I kind of have to- but even so, I've found myself feeling
guilty for making art when I could be being 'more productive', or, I get all my other
work out the way, just to feel too tired or unmotivated at the end of the day to sit down
and create.
So where do you find the time?
I'm assuming you're watching this because you really *want* to make art, whether as
a hobby or as a career- but I still think it's important to get clear on how much it
means to you, in the scheme of things, and why.
When the issue is motivation, which it often is for me, I find it really helpful to be
clear on why I'm dedicating however much time it is to this thing.
Of course making art makes me happy- most of the time- but there are times when it's
hard, when it's boring, and when it all seems a bit pointless- those are the times where
you can talk yourself out of doing it at all- and in those times, it's good to be prepared,
to have a reminder that this matters- because you have something you want to communicate
and you're doing it through art, because art is something you can escape into, because
mastering a skill is something you've always wanted to do, because you dream of building
a career from your passion...
So what is it for you?
Because if this really does matter, then let's start looking at finding you some time.
I would recommend spending a day tracking how you're spending your time outside of work
or school.
Be honest and be specific.
If you can, I would even try and do this for a couple of days or even a week.
Have a notebook or use the notes app on your phone, and whenever you go from one task to
another, write down the time and the task you're starting.
I've done this before, and it's quite eye-opening to see the hours of scrolling, of watching
telly, texting, playing video games, general faffing about, seeing those hours add up.
I personally don't believe in this idea of constant hustle, of always doing something
that *means* something.
I do think we need down-time, we need to give our minds a break, but it helps to put your
day into perspective.
If nothing else, to see that there is some time in there.
Now, you might do this and see that actually there really isn't much time in there.
You could be a single parent, you could be working two jobs, you could be doing your
dissertation, in which case I would look at whether you could delegate a task or two to
someone else at all to free up any time, or at least share it, and at the very least,
if it's all you can do realistically, see if you can carve out an hour for art on a
weekend or a day off.
You don't have to be making masterpieces, at least not all in one sitting.
Sketch on the go, in the in between times.
Bring your sketchbook with you and doodle on your lunch break or on the bus or on the
sofa instead of watching YouTube videos- or while watching YouTube videos!
Don't expect to me making tons of art and be discouraged when you find you can't.
Commit to making a little bit when you can, whenever you can.
Add to a painting a little at a time over the course of a few days or weeks.
You'll actually find that you're making more art, because you're not putting that pressure
on yourself to finish something.
When you know you haven't got time to finish it, you're probably gonna find it hard to
even start.
When you're just taking each little step at a time, you'll find youself moving forward
without even realising it.
When you've found that sweet spot of time- and it may just be half an hour before you
head out for the day or before you go to bed- and when you're clear on your motivations,
clear enough to not talk yourself out of trying to make it work, then the final thing to do
is make the act of making art habitual.
Make it as routine as brushing your teeth, or grabbing your phone to scroll through instagram
first thing in the morning.
I know I've done my Skillshare bit so I'll keep this brief, but if I could recommend
another class, Thomas Frank has a fantastic class on there about building habits that
last.
It's a good hour of real, actionable steps to really make a difference to how you approach
building your positive habits this year and I think it could really change the game for
a lot of you guys watching.
I truly believe this year is gonna see so much growth and achievement.
I don't know, I just feel like we're ready for it.
Let's start with finding a small slot of time we can commit to making art, a little at a
time.
Thanks for watching guys, and thanks again to Skillshare for supporting creative channels
like mine.
Let me know what you thought of the video.
In the future, I'll try and talk more about the art I'm working on, in this case it just
felt a little self-explanatory.
And if there's anything you'd like me to talk about in more detail like this, let me know.
Check the description video for the tools I used today, the link to 2 free months of
Skillshare and the classes I mentioned.
And otherwise, I'll see you in the next video, bye!