Week 2 // Making Art Everyday // Year Two • Bardot Brush

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 going to know exactly what to do every day.

You’ll look at a prompt and draw a blank. My advice? Draw the most literal interpretation you can think of, in the most obvious way possible. The act of getting started is the biggest challenge in art, and as you progress with your drawing, you’ll be surprised at what new ideas might pop into your head. And even if it doesn’t, you still would have spent valuable time sharpening your drawing skills.

You aren’t going to like everything your draw.

You spend time working on a piece only to be unsatisfied with the outcome. This is, in fact, incredibly valuable. Learning what you don’t like is critical in learning what you DO like or what areas you might want to work on. Observe your piece and if you don’t like the colors, you’ve learned you should spend time experimenting with color palettes. If you think the shading looks off, you’ve learned you might need to focus more on how light affects objects, or maybe you can try a different visual style like flat illustration.

You aren’t going to feel inspired by every prompt.

Some days you’ll look at a prompt at think it sounds boring. This is a perfect opportunity to incorporate something into the prompt that you DO love and think is exciting. You don’t have to take the prompt literally, and you can interpret it any way you want. It’s a fun way to push yourself creatively!

You will end up comparing your work to others.

We ALL do it, and there are two ways to approach it. You could compare and feel despair that other people’s work is “better” or “more creative.” OR you can observe the way someone else approached the same prompt and feel inspired. Ask the other person questions about their process. Identify what aspects of their work you like, whether it’s the colors or art style, and see how you might incorporate into your own work in your own way.

And my last guarantee: The more days you spend making art and the more times you draw something you think is difficult, the better you are going to get at it. Keep up the good work!

What to Do

Continue to focus on consistent and sustainability with your habit. If you found yourself spending an extraordinary amount of time on a piece, see what you can create in even less time. It’s a great way to force yourself to think quickly and commit to ideas without over-thinking it. 10-15 minutes per day is a really great starting point.

Remember to look at the next day’s prompt ahead of time. Just having it bouncing around in your brain for a day can help inspire an idea.

January Prompts

FOOD FUN

Week two is a bit less healthy…we are drawing desserts! Anyone else have a sweet tooth like me? If you were on a new year’s diet this week, I apologize in advance. 🙂

I’m still not giving you an official “plus” this week, but I am loving seeing what you all have been coming up with on you own. I’m seeing tons of creative interpretations of last week’s healthy foods prompts. Some of you turned them into characters, or drew ingredients, made them into repeat patterns, incorporated lettering, and so much more! This week, keep on drawing the literal prompt, or see what fun element you can bring in from your own personality!

Week 2 | Jan 6-12

Desserts

Mon: popsicle
Tue: pie
Wed: cupcake
Thu: ice cream sundae
Fri: macaron
Sat: s’mores
Sun: strawberry shortcake

You can access each week’s prompts at makingarteveryday.com

Making Art Everyday // Bardot Brush

We’ve got a Facebook group just for participants of Making Art Everyday and all things Bardot Brush! Come join our group of supportive artists of all skill levels, share your work, ask questions, and be a part of the community!