Hi my loves, welcome back and Happy New Year.
I hope you’re all well and ready to smash 2018, productively, creatively…
all that good stuff.
Now I’ll be completely honest, my year has gotten off to a bit of a slow start, which
has prompted me to really just pause and reflect, ground myself and ask myself some important
questions.
Just refocus and regroup.
I’m still working on it and I’m also hoping to talk about that journey in a lot more detail
with you soon.
But for today’s first video of the year, I thought it would be great and also relevant
to how I’m feeling, to look ahead to some art goals for 2018.
This video is also sponsored by Skillshare who have been a huge part in my learning and
personal development for a whole year now, but more on that later in the video.
Right now you see me working on a gouache painting that I created to become an exclusive
print for one of December's Patreon rewards.
One of my favourite paintings of last year was my Crane painting and I just wanted to
remind myself of that style, steer myself back in that direction.
And that ties in with my first goal.
1- Refine my Style - I’m actually pretty happy with my drawing style at the moment.
I had to have a scroll back through my instagram feed which I see as kind of the highlight
reel of my favourite pieces of work, and it’s a lot more consistent visually than it felt
while I was creating at the time.
It’s really difficult as an artist to see a style in your own work, recognise it's distinguishable
features, but taking a step back and a scroll through, I was able to pinpoint some things
that have pretty much been consistent since the beginning.
So I’m happy to just go with how I’m going in that aspect, trust in that there is something
in me that draws me to creative decisions that lead to pieces that somehow tie together,
all I want is to have more of an understanding of what I’m doing, so I can create art more
intentionally and then in turn deliver something less chance-based and more consistent.
And just to simplify that incase it got a bit rambly; I trust my gut, it gives my art
a particular style even if I don’t always see it, I just want to have a bit more control
over it, or at least a bit more understanding.
Which leads us to my next goal which is to
2- Learn, learn, learn - All my insecurities in art come from a lack of genuine knowledge
and understanding.
Once I actually get something, I’m so happy to just go ahead with it, try it out, experiment
with it, no hesitation.
I never would have thought I’d be so into urban sketching but that kind of style of
drawing has become like my go-to, back up, ride-or-die outlet of creativity.
I can talk myself out of creating any artwork for fear of messing up, but to draw a street
scene in the way I’ve learned to do so is something I know I’ll never shy away from.
And that’s just testament to the value of actually learning about something.
Being taught.
Understanding.
When you understand something you don’t fear it right.
So you might remember my first urban sketching video, I shared tips I’d learned from lessons
on Skillshare.
And I have a ton of lessons on there on all sorts of things, saved and just waiting for
me to take the time, to learn.
As far as I see it, every lesson I learn is just gonna be another creative roadblock that
I put on myself, knocked down.
I’ve worked with Skillshare quite a bit this year, especially in the last few months,
because now is the time that I always focus the most on self-improvement.
The more I learn now, the more I can take forward into the new year.
But if you somehow haven’t heard of Skillshare by now, it’s a website, an online learning
community, they have thousands of different classes on things like watercolour, sketching,
digital art, all sorts.
You can take as many classes as you like with a premium membership that works out to $10
a month annually, and if you wanna just give it a try, I as always have a code for you
to use linked below.
This is for a whole 3 months of premium membership for just $0.99.
I think this is the best deal they’ve ever given me, but the code is only valid until
the end of January.
So if you’re interested, check it out.
My goal is to stop procrastinating and actually take the time to sit down and digest the huge
library of lessons and the stockpile of saved classes that I've been interested in for a
while.
I’m also hoping, and I don’t know if this counts as an art goal necessarily, but I’m
hoping to read a couple of books a month.
At least one a month.
And I understand that that’s not a lot for some people, but please don’t scoff, everyones
goals are gonna be different and personal.
And I love to read, I learn so much from books, but I always find a reason not to, it’s
always bottom of my list of priorities, so I want to really commit to maybe 2 chapters
a night.
We’ll see.
Alright that was a long one, but learning really takes so many forms, and it’s really
the biggest contributor to personal growth.
That’s why it’s always one of my goals.
3 - Big Art - Next up is a bit more specific.
I’d love to create more art on a bigger scale.
Simple as that really.
Just to challenge myself and expand the possibilities, break a few of the boundaries I’ve put on
myself.
4 - Art-Journal - Kind of on the flip-side to that, I’d love to do more sketchbook
stuff.
I really wanna document my year in an art journal and fill multiple sketchbooks this
year.
My favourite things to look back on from this year are my completed sketchbooks, especially
my Mexico travel journal.
So more stuff like that would be perfect.
And I think that’s it honestly.
I like to keep my goals to a minimum just so I can really focus and keep track on each
one.
It’s kind of daunting sharing your goals with anyone, let alone… you know… however
many people will watch this video, because it means people are gonna be paying attention,
calling you out if you’re not achieving, but I thought I’d put it out there, and
just be confident in myself.
Hopefully I’ll be able to look back at this video at the end of the year and think, yep,
I did all that.
If I can do that, and work on my non-art related goals, then 2018 will have been a successful
year.
Thank so much for watching guys.
Don’t forget to check out the Skillshare link in the description.
And I’ll see you soon for the next video.
Bye!