What helps you get motivated to practice your craft?

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Permalink Reply by Roy Simmons on October 13, 2009 at 2:25pm

Well, You could make yourself a SimmTrace, the software is free, lots of people are now using it. Admittedly I am biased as I came up with the idea!

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Permalink Reply by Roberta D'Achille on October 13, 2009 at 3:18pm

When I'm having trouble I break it down into smaller more easily digestible size pieces. You could pick a theme for the week, say "fruit". and then just steal 5 minutes each day to sketch one piece of fruit...an apple a day so to speak. Soon you will do something that you love and your Muse will be back.

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Permalink Reply by Patrick on November 24, 2009 at 6:06pm

A lot of times I look at other people's work in magazines and such. Most of the time it inspires me and encourages me.

Patrick

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Permalink Reply by Deby Dearman on December 2, 2009 at 8:57am

Listening to great music usually inspires me and gives me a jolt of creativity.
Sometimes though . . . it's just pressing through; the tough work of creating in the
midst of the mundane. You may not create your most impressive work, but it's the act
of 'being' an artist through the good, bad and ordinary days that brings a rhythm to your
creativity. And . . . ultimately brings you to the place of creating a masterpiece!

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Permalink Reply by Jonathan Casillas on December 5, 2009 at 8:49am

I do spoken word. when i cant get inspired i sit and write about not being inspired. Doing that for a a couple days brings back the insperation. Hope it helps

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Permalink Reply by Dawn Blair on December 7, 2009 at 2:26pm

I'm going to round this back to Deby's discussion on Do It Afraid.

Since writing this, I realized that most of my problem is that I'm afraid to do this. I know I have to practice if I ever want to get better, but I'm still afraid of having people judge what I'm doing and telling me that I'm not getting any better. There's nothing worse than practicing and practicing only to be told you're no good. I've realized this is my own fear of judgement I need to work past. I need to make the decision and love that I get to practice drawing. There are so many others out there that wish they could do the same but aren't. It all comes back to choice -- you can either obsess about not doing something or you can just do it. Feel the fear and do it anyway.

I've been taking baby steps and making sure that my "ducks are in a row" so that I can easy into this comfortably while knowing my goals. I'm proud to say that I've finished drafting the script for my graphic novel. I'm not editing and making thumbnail sketches in the margins. It's a slow way to build up my story, but I feel like I'm moving forward with it. I've always known this story would be my life's work. I am still nervous about drawing it myself, but I'm compelled to do it so I have to grow my skills. There's no way around the work. I'm certain as I start actively producing pages and seeing it progress along, I'll overcome a lot of my fear. As I said in my reply to Deby's discussion, it's a matter of loving your decision to do something and loving while you're doing. This story is my deep passion. I don't want to mess it up, but is that even possible when I know I'm growing along with it?

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