CONSISTENCY
Consistency is key - or so they tell me.
I’ll be honest - being consistent in daily drawing is a hard habit for me to maintain. Being an artist is not my full time job and when I get home after working all day, creating art and blogging about it isn’t always at the top of my list. I love nothing more than zoning out on YouTube and watching all my favorite artist vloggers make art (I know, this seems ironic). A recent video from Apple Cheeks reminded me that the hardest part to maintaining a daily sketchbook or daily drawing practice is getting started. She did a ten minute daily drawing challenge and it was a good reminder that drawing skills are like muscles - you have to train and retrain them daily to see any improvement. So here I am vowing to myself do better with my daily practice. I know I won’t be perfect, but I can’t let that hold me back.
As most drawings/paintings start I was excited about the subject - florals are always in my wheelhouse. Then during the coloring phase (aka the dreaded middle phase) the “wow this is so ugly” comments came out. It wasn’t until I added the black outlines that I realized I actually didn’t totally hate this spread and that the black gave it a comic/graphic quality that I actually really love. This page is really a reminder for me that the middle phase is just that - the middle. You have to keep on keeping on to get a result you will be happy with (moderately or otherwise). It’s also a reminder that you don’t have to love or even like every piece you create - as long as you keep creating.
How do you keep yourself consistent with any practice (art or otherwise) while also being kind to yourself when you aren’t? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!