Art/Work – Life – Balance

Now that I’ve spent a whole weekend with this motto and listened to two talks (by Jennifer K. Mann and Kirby Larson), I want to share some of my notes and thoughts with you on this topic.

• Acknowledge that your Art = Work.
• Your Work matters.
• Harvest “hidden pockets of time” (Mann), for example, while you’re commuting, at night, when your kids take a nap, …
• Try to find useful things (like information/ inspiration/ people/ material/…) everywhere you go
• Make your art/work portable so you can work everywhere! I try to carry a sketch pad with me at all times, and most of us are never without their smartphone, with which you can take pictures, take notes, do research,…
• Be aware of your needs, self-care is important!
• Keep a journal (whatever works best for you, a notepad, sketchpad, a digital note file on your smartphone, even Instagram is a journal!)
• Look for memories and experiences in your life that are worth being told and shared
• Engage friends and family to get some fresh ideas/ inspiration/help you get the time you need
• Establish (good) habits/rituals/routines, that help you start the day/your work  (like making tea or taking a deep breath, easy things. If you already have a habit you can try to add a new one to that)
• Enter competitions and take classes, be brave and learn! I submit to “draw this!” by the SCBWI every month and I’m always looking for opportunities.
• Disregard advise that doesn’t feel right or that doesn’t work for you.
• Life happens, be attentive! Everything has its time.
• Find someone that supports you (this can be family & friends, but it can also be a critique group/partner, fellow artists, …)
• Make it easy on yourself, let go of a clean house – it’s not worth it if it stops you from creating
• Build connections! Go to conferences, workshops, events, … talk to people and stay in touch
• “Don’t be afraid to make crap!” (Larson), in art quantity makes quality, you will always learn something (even if you draw the same apple a 100 times)
• Be a “Flaneur”, that is “a part of this world, but apart” (Larson), observe your surroundings, take notes of things you see without analyzing them
• Stop thinking, start creating
• DON’T QUIT !

In short: be good to yourself and others and never give up.

Don’t Quit!

Keep creating!

Corinna

 

 

 

 

Advertisement

SCBWI Monthly Meeting September 2018

Today I got up a bit early and headed to the Seattle Public Library in Downtown Seattle.

Every time I get there it takes me a bit to orientate and focus, as the architecture is just so intense – I love it there. After a few minutes I went to the Auditorium to check in and get a good seat. The different organizers of the SCBWI monthly meeting talked about their agenda and future events (like the “weekend on the water” in November) and then Jolie Stekly came up to the podium and talked about the publishing world and some basics when it comes to publishing children’s books (& young adult literature) and included a little get-to-know-your-seatneighbor activity.

I had a lot of fun and I learned a lot, I also took lots of notes of books to read, things to research and ideas how to become better in my art and what to do with it.

I can only recommend the SCBWI to everybody that wants to write or/and illustrate children’s books.

Jolie Stekly

Seattle Art Fair

Seattle, the beautiful emerald city in the Pacific Northwest isn’t just home of delicious food and breathtaking landscapes, it’s also the place where you can spend many days wandering through the Century Link Event Center, admiring art of all kinds and talk to lots of people from the creative industry.

This year the Seattle Art Fair impressed with a huge selection of galleries, museums, and cultural institutions, interesting talks and art walks.

I spent more than 2 days at the fair and its additional program and my head feels like it’s overflowing with all the things I’ve seen an learned.

I wanted to enjoy the art and not worry about taking notes or preparing anything (as I was in the middle of a move), so I will share some of my impressions with you.

 

On the lookout for great art and nice people

Welcome Wacom!

Yesterday my new and very first graphic tablet was delivered!
It’s a Wacom Intuos Pro – Paper Edition.

 

(I also thought about getting an iPad Pro, but the $$$ was a factor that needed to be considered.)

I’ve never worked with a graphic tablet before, so I’m sure I will need some time to adjust and even more trial and error, but I am sure it’s going to be a lot of fun! So far it’s meeting all my expectations and I’m looking forward to playing around with it some more and then create digital art on/with it!! It is even easier than I expected to draw on the tablet and see what I’m doing on the screen.

Right now I’m using the free program Krita, which works very well for me. I just need some time to figure out where I can find the different tools, how they work and so on. I’m very curious to see what I will do with this and I like trying out all the possibilities!

If you have any recommendations for brushes, tutorials, or other things I need to know or try; please let me know!