This is the first year I was able to harvest a lot of jalapeños from my garden. ON this last stream, I chose to draw one of the more unique looking jalapeño.
I recently finished a linocut print with one of my skeletons. It came out pretty great for being as rusty as I am.
It's hard to draw yourself.
After a delightful dinner, I saw that it was about the time to do my drawing stream. I had zero desire to stream or draw and had the "Why are you even doing this?" voice at a very loud volume.
It's hard to counter the "Why" when there is no real reason other than this is what I want to do. I said I'd do it and I'm the only one who cares if I hold myself accountable. It felt so easy to opt-out of this project at this point.
Then while fighting these voices, my internet went out. I thought, "Great! Without the internet how could I possibly stream?"
Naw! I'm being lazy. Let's not be lazy.
I went through the ritual of setting things up. Positioning the camera, the lights, the microphone, and so on while the "Why?" voice kept going.
I muscled through it. I shared the link on my social media accounts and hit that "Start Streaming" button.
Showtime!
The rest is history. I had fun. I talked through what I was thinking as I was drawing.
Talking through how vomit should arc, should there be chunks, how should the lid be, what is a toilet like, and whatever else came up was fun. Gross, but fun.
It is fun working through a sketchbook in the open. It is fun to talk about how I feel about drawing and creativity. It is fun to think that I can maybe inspire someone to pick up their sketchbook and thrash on a page or two.
Really though, do the things that make you happy even when you really aren't feeling it. Especially if you know you will have fun.
Don't forget that it is okay to rest.
This time last year I was on my third #100dayproject and I've missed the challenge it gave me.
Finding a thing to do 100 times without getting bored or demotivated forces you to reach corners of your brain you'd never think you'd go. It also creates new pathways to these areas to get there faster.
Instead of playing catch up, I'd create a new challenge for myself and an open-ended one at that.
I am tentatively going to be livestream once a week on Tuesday from 7:30PM-9PM MST. With one overarching goal:
To be creative even when one doesn't want to be.
During it, I will spend an hour working through a new sketchbook. No real plans as that will kill a sketchbook. I want to show how I ideate, succeed, or fail. I want to also show, it isn't glamorous and you will likely have a lot of boring pages in a sketchbook. Which is okay!
The last 30 minutes will be a more casual portion where I have a five minute drawing challenge. Which is to draw as many of one thing as you can in five minutes. One of my favorite creative exercises that I picked up.
To keep myself more challenged, I'd like to create a weekly video series that addresses creative roadblocks I encounter and interesting creative experiments I may embark on.
It will be very hard and exhausting.
I've heard and I've given many excuses. Unfortunately, that's all they are, excuses. We can work through these excuses and begin to rewire how we approach things that interest us. Or find what doesn't interest us.
I get it! I work full-time looking at code. I hardly want to do much after work. Though what I get out of some of my projects is impossible to describe through words and worth the challenge.
Pick up a sketchbook and join me next Tuesday! Let's finish our sketchbooks together and create a little more happiness around us.
Let's stop making excuses and start doing the things we want.
Draw with me on Youtube!
