My dear readers, if you’ve missed out on what the 30-day challenge was, here is the original post. You can view the sketches itself here on our Facebook page. Do remember to ‘like’ us if you want to follow future creative challenges that I take on đ Below I’ll be showing you my favorites and wrapping up the MOST important takeaways about creativity and inspiration that hopefully would help you in YOUR journey of creative self-exploration.
What works and important things I’ve learned:
- Limitation works; create imaginary boundaries: limit the color palette, limit the medium (pen, pencil, etc), limit the topic/concept.
- Free association works, just draw blobs and doodle till something comes.
- Practice, practice, practice. Do it everyday, even if nothing special comes to mind. If nothing, the sense of accomplishment at assessing your body of work at the end of the challenge will be powerful in itself.
- Draw from the heart and not seeking approval works. It’s hard at first to ignore that I will be exposing my little naked sketches to the world and its judgment, but really, vulnerability is the only way to be truly creative. It HAS to come from the heart, if not, it’s not worth it.
- Draw what moves you, learn to emote; for me, evoking a mood or emotion through my little sketches was important and I thought about how to do this every single time.
- It’s true, ‘Clarity comes from engagement’-Marie Forleo.
- Again, I can’t stress enough that having something to show for your efforts at the end of a challenge is enormously fulfilling and will inspire you to make and create more! Definitely one of the best takeaways from the exercise.
So did I achieve what I set out to do with this challenge? Yes, it was a tremendously enlightening exercise and I highly encourage everyone to find a 30-day challenge for themselves. I’ve learned so much and surprised myself in the process at how little it takes to create a body of work by just doing a little bit day by day and practicing even when the muse is on vacation. Have I found my voice? I think it’s still early in the game yet, but I’m very encouraged and excited, right now I’m conjuring future spins on this challenge, perhaps in different themes!
Forward this post or share it on twitter if you think someone you know might benefit from starting a creative challenge! And stay tuned for our next 30-day creative challenge, simply titled “Imagine..”