When I started my art journey, I was lucky. I had a mix of knowledgeable art individuals around me to help at different stages. That got me thinking about the people who do not have the same privilege.

So what about the people who want to start making art but don’t have access to teachers or mentors? What about you?

Are you someone who just started your own art journey by yourself? Then let me give you a little support. No more getting overwhelmed and ending up as a sushi roll on the sofa eating your productivity and overthinking.

I want to share 5 things that I wish I knew at the beginning of my art journey. It is a combination of things I didn’t know and things my students have mentioned over the years.

Here we go:

1. Always explore and develop your ideas.

As simple as this sounds, we are stubborn creatures and we tend to get stuck on that initial idea. You might feel that your idea is perfect and that there is no way you can improve on it. Maybe you are scared that if you develop it you may ruin it.

This is not the case.

When you take the time to explore ideas you open up a world of possibilities. You might even stumble across a solution for another drawing you gave up on. While developing your idea you are also drawing more which is development of your skill.
Practice makes perfect right?
Right!
In art this is really true and no extra drawings that don’t work out should be seen as a waste.

2. Share and collaborate with fellow artists.

I know when I started art, I was very self-conscious about what I was producing. Probably because I knew the art was not to the standard that I wanted it. Because of this I thought I had to keep my art hidden.

This defeats the purpose of growth and improvement.

If you share your work with a fellow artist you leave room for constructive criticism and help. The artist you choose to share with can be a friend, mentor, or even a family member.
If you don’t have anyone in your immediate circle to do this with, you can join our community. There you can get feedback from me and other artists in different stages of their art journey.

Keep in mind that the purpose of feedback is not praise. It can feel great to hear words like “wow” and “perfect” but we want to grow and improve. I want people to tell me what they like but ALSO tell me what they don’t like. An excercise my students were very familiar with was One good-one bad. In the exercise they had to share one thing they liked and disliked about each others pieces. This makes them used to hearing something bad about their art without taking it personally. It also teaches them how to give critique without it being rude. You do not have to be rude when giving criticism.

With this said, if you share your work on a public platform like Instagram, you are likely to get rude comments. Sometimes I like to read these comments to see if there are valuable points to consider. At the same time, I don’t fuss about these comments. People are very brave on social media and some people will try anything to break you.

There is no point in worrying too much about bad comments when you can spend that time being creative.

3. Your art is only as good as its weakest parts.

Even though we are taught to focus on the good instead of the bad, humans are a peculiar species. We like seeing what is different and we often get stuck on the things that stand out. We don’t see the white page first but rather the black spot that makes up the smallest part.

If something in your drawing is off, unfortunately, the human eye will spot it immediately.

Things that could help in the long run are focusing on proportions, color combinations, and composition. These go back to the fundamental Elements of Art that you should know as an artist. This could be the difference between good and great.

If you are a Digital artist you can save some time in the sketch phase. Fix anything in the sketch before adding color and shading. If you are doing traditional art, learn to love the pain in the process and have a cookie.

Asking for feedback is a good way to approach this as our eyes get tired. We stare at the art for hours and see doubles sometimes.
You don’t need glasses Becky, you need a nap!

4. Do drawings that you do not plan to show.

I never thought about this when I started my art journey and it might seem like it defeats the purpose. Get a private sketchbook or folder. Here you can try new things without the fear of judgment hanging over your head.

When we have this freedom of just creating for ourselves, we come up with the most amazing ideas. You have to make art for JUST yourself as well. Doodle, finger paint, try a different medium.

Just for YOU!

5. Take time for yourself.

Lastly, I have a little analogy. We are like water jugs, when we create we pore this creativity from our jug like water. We give and give and give. It is important to remember to refill your jug before it goes empty.

Everyone gets inspired by different things, so you should do something that inspires you and gives you ideas. Read a book, garden, watch a movie, listen to music and dance, cook, or go for walks. Anything as long as it is for you and your heart. Artists are emotional, meaningful beings and not a factory.

These are the 5 things I wish I knew when I started my art journey. I’m going to end this with one last thought;

Never stop creating!
Nothing will grow, nothing will improve and no dream will come true if you stop. If you enjoy something, go for it and do it always.

XOXO
Em