Week Three You don’t have to keep up. You do have to keep showing up. I hear a lot of chatter in the community about how some of you are struggling to “keep up” with prompts. This challenge isn’t about never missing a single day/prompt. I promise you, it’s gonna happen. It’s more important that…
Week Two Your healthy food drawings are looking amazing! I’m blown away at how creative all of your week one MAE artwork is. I am especially proud of those of you that are finding it difficult and trying anyway. As you continue your daily art practice with MAE, here are a few guarantees: You’re not…
Week One Welcome to Making Art Everyday 2020! Are you ready for your daily creative workout? It’s the first week of a new year and everyone is excited and full of drive to take on a new challenge. Your level of motivation is probably high right now, so let’s harness that ambition to start…
Many people have conflicted feelings toward creativity. You made be intensely passionate about it, love the way you feel when you’re practicing it, the places it takes you, and the ways it enables you to express yourself, but it’s hard to justify prioritizing time for it. It causes you fear, feelings of inadequacy, of being judged, of being vulnerable.
Creativity is fundamental, not just something to which we seldomly “treat” ourselves. It’s a means of expressing things inside us we don’t have words for, of solving problems and spreading ideas, of stress relief and self-fulfillment, of feeling passion and pride.
This is why I created Making Art Everyday. It’s a series of drawing prompts, tutorials, and motivation designed to help you establish a daily art-making practice. Developing this habit for yourself is beneficial in so many ways. Not only will you improve your artistic skills, but you will gain confidence, improve critical thinking and mental health, and embody a sense of pride in yourself. Read more about joining the Making Art Everyday challenge here.
A habit is something you do so often that doing it is no longer a question for you. It takes some effort to establish a habit, but once you do, it literally serves you. Here are some tips for how to stay motivated in your art-making habit.
It’s a lot harder to keep up with a habit if you are only squeezing it in when you have the time. Instead, make an appointment with yourself at the same time each day. This can be just before work, while you eat your lunch, or in the evening when the house quiets down. It’s important that it’s a time that can work for you and that you can keep consistent with. My best time to sit down and draw is after my kids are in bed.
Set out to draw for just 10 minutes. Knowing that you’ll only be spending a small amount of time drawing might help you feel less intimidated, and getting started really is the hardest part. More often than not, you’ll find yourself reaching the end of that time and want to keep going — that’s great! It means you are feeling motivated.
Being able to connect with others that share the same goal and are experiencing the same struggles as you can be a huge help. As MAE has grown, so has the community. It can be helpful and motivating to know that you’re a part of something big. Also, your efforts to support others will also motivate yourself! Join our Making Art Everyday facebook group to give and receive additional support from fellow MAE artists.
Life happens, and you will miss days. Don’t dwell on it. Remember that drawing 305 or 278 days of a year is still a huge accomplishment. Every minute you spend drawing is valuable, improves your skills, and contributes to your goals. If life gets busy and you need to take a break, don’t feel bad that you’ve missed out on prompts. Just join back in wherever we’re currently at. If the days’ prompt doesn’t inspire you, go back to the prompts you missed and pick one that sounds fun!
A discipline is a commitment to yourself. You are training yourself to behave in a certain way — in this case, drawing every day. You may not feel like drawing some days, but you CAN do it. Always remember the reason you started doing this in the first place.
New year, New Mae! A new decade is days away. Are you ready to become your most creative self? For the new year, I decided to add a NEW ingredient to the Making Art Everyday prompts, something special to stimulate your creativity! In 2019 we drew a lot of “things.” A piece of fruit. An animal….
Week Fifty-Two Can you believe it’s the last week of the year? We made it to Week 52, my friends! What a year this has been. For me, starting and maintaining the MAE project has been an invigorating challenge that has made me push myself beyond what I thought I could do. I hope…
What’s new in Procreate 5? How do I use the new Procreate 5 features? If these two questions have been bouncing around in your head since you heard there was a huge new update for Procreate coming, I have got the video for you. In this comprehensive, in-depth Procreate 5 tutorial, I will go over…
Week Fifty-One I would love to hear from you! As the year 2019 comes closer and closer to an end, I just want to thank you for you participation in this project and for the creative community we have built together. I’m excited to share details about what 2020 will hold in terms of the…
Week Forty-Nine I’m so proud of you! Last month, I definitely asked a lot of you with environment drawings and I’m blown away at how so many pushed yourselves out of your comfort zones to try something new and challenging. You should be very proud of yourselves! I’m also so impressed with how supportive and…
Magic Paper is my latest Bardot Brush product for Procreate. 25 textured canvases and 10 specially developed brushes that will allow you to create beautiful, photo-realistic works of art. Amazing watercolor washes, authentic paper textures, dynamic multi-tonal washes, and so much more. Created from dozens of handmade and hand painted real-life textures, Magic Paper just…
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Bardot Brush was created by California-based artist, illustrator, and all-around creative person, Lisa Bardot.
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