Tag: creative block

My Recommendation – Sketchbox

My Recommendation – Sketchbox

by ehueston ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

As all of you lovely readers know, I hit a bit of a wall at the start of the year. I have been doing everything that I can to get the creative juices flowing. One of the suggestions that other artists have for getting things going again is mini challenges. There are so many out there. There are Instagram/Twitter/Facebook/Pinterest daily prompt accounts. There are “Draw this in your style” challenges, which I am going to look at next. There are challenges where you limit yourself somehow, either through time, number of colours, supplies you can use etc. One “tool” that I really enjoyed on this line last year was Sketchbox.

I fell down a crazy subscription box rabbit hole last fall. I quickly subscribed to a couple and immediately cut myself off haha. One of my favourites was Sketchbox. There are multiple ways to subscribe, one month, three months, six months, and there are basic and premium boxes available depending on your level of interest. There are also unboxing videos for each box which will show you all of the contents if you can’t wait for your box to arrive, but will also go through different ways to use the tools in your box. So, if you get something that you have never used before, be not afraid, there is guidance to show you how to start using everything.

When I signed up I bought three of the past boxes, and signed up for the six month subscription. Each box had a different medium collection in it. One was marker based (my favourite), chalk based, water colour based, mixed media. All kinds! I really like this because a lot of my art is mixed media, I rarely do something start to finish in just marker, or just digital, or just pencil crayon. I am always mixing something in and the more I have at my disposal, the more opportunities I have at my finger tips.

This is a great subscription box for anyone who is looking to learn a few new mediums, looking to expand their knowledge on mediums they are familiar with, and challenge their way of working. It has also been a great way to try tools I have been interested in, but didn’t want to commit to a full set of just yet, in case the tool wasn’t for me. Each box suggests that you create a piece using only the contents of the box. You can obviously do whatever you would like, but I tried that with my first few boxes and I came up with some really interesting projects.

Some of the great tools that I discovered with this subscription are:

  • TCW Watercolour Sparx Powder
  • Kuretake Zig Ink stick
  • Edding Soft White Patel Pen
  • Ecoline Watercolour Brush Pens
  • Higgins India Ink Softliner Brush Pen
  • Irodori Kobako Kit
  • Molotow Liquid Chrome marker

I have all of my boxes now from my first round of the subscription. I did put my subscription on hold, but only because when I was in that creative rut earlier I didn’t create with the boxes, and they were starting to overwhelm me. Now that I have a clearer vision forward, I am going to pop each one open, one at a time, and start creating. Once I am caught up I will start my subscription again.

My next box is focused on ink, I am very excited for this one. Please keep an eye out for the finished piece on my Instagram and my Facebook pages.

Creativity

Creativity

by ehueston ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Creative Block

I am willing to bet that a lot of people who claim to not be creative are more likely experiencing some sort of creative block. “I don’t know what to paint, so I can’t paint”. Having creative block right off the top, I am sure, would give anyone the wrong idea and discourage any notions of creativity.

Creative block is deadly to a good groove. It makes me frustrated. I know that my art is good for me, that it will balance me, but I don’t know what I want to draw so I don’t, and I get frustrated, etc etc etc.

My creative block can come from a lot of things. The main one is mostly exhaustion. After a long work day, my brain is fried and I don’t want to work through the muddy ideas I have in my head. The ideas don’t come as smoothly when I am tired or stressed out. There’s a lot of other things that impact my creativity: my mood, my surroundings, life events, my environment, and how long I have to sit in the studio. I definitely work better if there’s a rough amount of time in the studio, but not a hard line to stop working. Getting productive sketches while I am constantly checking the clock on my lunch break is just not a thing haha.

Now, as there are million causes of creative block, there are a million more ways to work through it. Here are a few that I use regularly:

  • Go for a walk. Sounds simple because it is. Going for a walk, for me, is an opportunity to really clear my head of anything that might be blocking my creativity. I’ll pop on a podcast or an audiobook and walk off any lingering stressors in my day. That really frees my mind up to be open to inspiration.
  • Listen to music. I am at my most inspired when I listen to music. I get some of my best ideas from different songs, lyrics, and artists. When I listen to music I let my mind wander, when it does I usually come up with some great visuals or scenarios. Some of the time they don’t have anything to do with the song I am listening to, more what I think about when I listen to it.
  • Go through your sketchbooks/journals/photos. I try my hardest to get ideas down on paper as soon as I have them. I might not need them right now, but I will later. Sometimes now isn’t the time for idea, it’s waiting for the perfect creative block moment to strike.
    I also take a lot of photos of book pages. If I read an amazing line that sparks a bunch of ideas (Erin Morgenstern anyone?) I like to write the quote down, but usually don’t have a pen, so I take a picture. My phone is full of book page photos. Now, if I could remember to go back to them right away so I remember what book it was haha.
  • Switch up your routine. Maybe you’re trying to be creative when your creative bones aren’t ready. I know I tried to be doing my studio time over lunch for part of February, and I was getting so frustrated. None of my ideas were flowing as I had come to expect and none of my sketches came out to anything I liked. It turns out, like I mentioned above, that one of the problems was that I was limiting myself to that half an hour that had a hard stop on either side. I didn’t let myself get absorbed into any ideas because I knew I had to get back to work, to that meeting, to answer this email, to contact that person. It was just no good. I put studio time back to after work and things started running a little smoother.
  • Scroll through things that inspire you. Pinterest search something that interests you. Go through Behance. Visit the sites or read the books of those that really inspire you. Does something stand out? Why? Dig into that a bit.
    Be careful here though. You don’t want to steal any ideas or risk plagiarism. I have a post coming up on this as well. Just use these things to get the juices flowing and then close them all to workout your own ideas.

These are just some really simple things that I have found work for me when I am trying to be creative but I am just not feeling it as much as I would like. Don’t give up, power through, take a break, feed the interest, and you’ll get there. I have a lot more in-depth ideas to share here too, but I thought I would start somewhere simple, and not write a novel for us all on this Wednesday morning.

What do you do when you hit a creative block?

February Update

February Update

by ehueston ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

This month was a bit of a creative struggle. Is anyone else really tired? I don’t feel the frustration that a lot of people are feeling that is directly pointed at COVID, but I think that I have overwhelmed my brain a little bit. This month, coming off of a “full steam ahead” January, I lost a bit of momentum. Not to worry, I recognized this pretty early on and I have been taking in some self care and relaxing, only doing projects when I am excited about them and able to take them on without frustration. Creating is my hard reset, and I have mentioned in previous posts, that I am never more frustrated than when I can’t create how I want to. I have a few tips and tricks to work past that coming here shortly. Now, the month was not a complete loss, I was still able to get almost everything done that I wanted to, just in a different way than I had originally planned.

Knitting

I kept up with the theme of socks this month. I finished some, some are waiting patiently for me to want to knit heels, and some are waiting in the wings for the 9″ circulars to be done knitting other socks. More to come on some of these projects as they are finished.

I was able to finish off a gorgeous Ambah wrap just the other day. I cast it on at the start of the year with Boxing Day purchased yarn. I am so happy with how it came out. There will definitely be a spotlight for this beauty coming soon.

Ever since I took myself off of my “no yarn” hiatus I have gone a little crazy. At least it looks that way. I have bought quite a bit of yarn, but all of it has some plans. The yarn I bought was either from a dyer I was looking to support, or for a project that I planned out during the hiatus. I think I have to go back on a diet now though haha. One of the things I did buy last weekend was my first set of sock tubes from Full Moon Fibres. I have never used a sock tube before, and the thought of cutting already knit up yarn makes me stressy haha. I am excited to try those in March and see where that new adventure will take me and my yarn plans.

The Studio

Here is where the struggle has been real. Sigh. I am still not on track for sketching everyday. At the start of the month I should have tried drawing with my non-dominant hand, something better might have come out onto the paper. Sketch after sketch came out completely different from what was planned, but not in a great way. Don’t worry, I listened to my advice and kept them all, no erasers here. No one will ever see them though, those are for me haha.

Knowing that there was something not quite working, I made a few adjustments. I listened to where I might be limiting myself. So, I changed what time of day I would sit down to create, I moved my most used tools to be more accessible, and I changed what I listened too when I was in the studio. I would also try to use any creative energy when it would hit, I don’t want to lose the stores while I am replenishing. Sometimes it’s something little that’s just not working for that minute, and I was able to work out a few of the kinks.

Despite all of that I have been able to work up to another Behance beauty. I was worried for a minute. She is in progress right now and coming together nicely (knock on wood) to be ready for Monday.

Whew. It feels like a lot of energy has gone into not a lot of output, but I know the climb. I’ve done a lot this month, just more internal than January.

Other

Here is a list of a few things that I have been enjoying this month in between knitting stitches and sketching masterpieces. Some fun ideas in case you’re in need of some inspiration.

  • Yellowstone on Prime – OBSESSED!
  • WandaVision on Disney+ – … yes, still. I am all in for this.
  • The Great on Prime (you can never go wrong with a sister recommend – different sister this time ;D)
  • The Push – Amazing story, proceed with caution though. Lots of potential triggers.
  • True Crime Obsessed Podcast