What I am learning through daily drawing.
The ups and downs of forming a creative practice.
Hey there!
I hope you’ve had a great week and have exciting plans for the weekend!
Last Friday, I started a daily drawing project where I post a drawing a day. So far I have been successful at staying consistent and have posted here on the Substack platform, and on YouTube. Here are a few things that I am learning:
Process over Perfection
I have talked about this to friends before, but I am slowly breaking the perfectionist mindset. With a daily drawing, I have to force myself to post a drawing even if I don’t like the end result. That isn’t to say that I don’t try to make the best drawing that I can, but sometimes the drawings just don’t turn out the way I would have liked. Take today for example. I had spent a lot of time on a sketch that I really loved only to immediately spill ink on it and being forced to create a quicker, less detailed drawing. I was bummed, but I couldn’t afford to recreate the sketch with all the other tasks I have for the day. I like the drawing I did, but not as much as the original idea that I had. Still, posting something that is not perfect is better than not posting at all when it comes to developing that process mindset. Again I am not aiming for trash drawings, but neither am I aiming for a perfect rendering or composition.
I have to like what I draw
This seems like an obvious statement, but as an artist trying to make a living, its easy to get sucked into trends on social media, or draw something because it will appeal to more people. And it’s soul crushing when you are making things that you don’t enjoy making. Of course when it comes to business artists have to make things that people want. Part of the process of drawing every day is helping me explore topics that I am interested in, and helping me develop a style and way of thinking about the world. In this way I hope to find topics (or some form of niche) that both resonates with people, and satisfies my creativity in a more meaningful way.
The metric of success: does it make me smile?
I would love if my work resonated with thousands of people and made their day, but if I am not making myself smile or laugh, then any other metric is meaningless. Making stuff that I am proud of is the first metric because if I don’t love what I made, then how can I share it authentically with others?
Here are the drawings from the past week. Which one is your favorite?
Have a great weekend!
Stephen