Getting stARTed
general journal junk
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idealog
These are some tips I had put together for another purpose for people thinking about trying something creative, but thought I'd share.
- Watch some artistic and creative videos on YouTube to see what appeals to you.
- Check local art and craft supply sellers, art schools, and galleries to see what classes and workshops might be available.
- Check local and online art and craft supply sellers for on sale items so you don't spend more than you need to before you find out what you like doing.
- Watercolours can be wonderfully unpredictable. Learn to embrace that.
- Check your home to see what supplies you might already have.
Most importantly, don't worry about the end result or the quality of the end result. This is for personal enjoyment and exploring a process. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Many artists will tell you that mistakes are sometimes the best part. Talent is not important. Enjoyment is. Besides, talent is more of an acquired skill than you might think.
Here's some simple processes to keep in mind.
Colouring
- While colouring may seem simplistic, if you're stuck for ideas it can be a good place to start. You can colour the images in different methods using different materials, like crayons, coloured pencils, and markers.
- Materials are easy to acquire and economical.
Doodling
- Creating patterns and randomness can spur other creative ideas.
- Materials are easy to acquire and economical.
- There are informal and formal methods of getting started. Zentangling is popular, but is not the only way of enjoying patterning.
Tracing
- Using pre-existing images, such as photographs, to trace images that you can colour to learn those techniques, or create collage with.
Hand-lettering
- This process can be used to create inspirational or quote art for your walls, to enhance scrapbooks or journals, or to enhance framed photographs.
Notes
- Get a notebook and/or sketchbook to keep track of ideas, projects, progress, lists of supplies you need, lists of supplies you bought, inspirations, for doodling, and other sketching.
- Keep a swatch book of the supplies you buy, so that you can see how the colours look on paper, how different supplies react to different surfaces, to keep track of lightfastness and pigment information - if you care to. It's not required.
- Patterning and doodling with no set plan can open up your creativity.
- Non-traditional and non-obvious materials can include masking tape, sponges, spray bottle, toothbrushes, plastic sheets, rubbing alcohol, stencils, and salt.
- Make sure to do some investigating on which products are the best quality and suitability for your needs.
- While cheap is convenient, cheaper products don't always produce the best results. If you can afford better products, acquire them. That said, if you can't afford the better stuff, you should absolutely use what you can acquire. Making is the point, no matter with what.
- Don't acquire too much at first before you have a better idea of whether or not you're going to enjoy the work you're doing or the materials you're using.
- Consider the space you have for the work before you acquiring anything. If, for example, you only have a small space then large-format painting may not be the best choice. Or, if where you need to work is not well-ventilated, then oil painting is probably not the best option.