Are you constantly spinning your wheels as a creative?
Do you have all the creative ideas but struggle to actually bring them to life?
For the longest time,I struggled to take action on my creative ideas.
I had countless doodles and project ideas scribbled across various notebooks and journals.
But year after year, there they’d stay.
I had plenty of excuses for why that kept happening:
“I don’t have time”
“I can’t create because I don’t have art class every day like I did in high school”
“I don’t know where I wrote that idea down”
Today, I want to give you a few tips and tricks for how I:
Brought those ideas out of my journals
Got organized, and
Started creating art again
If you want to get back to creating, and doing what you love, read on!
Digging Down to the Roots
If you really want to know how to get back on track with your creative practice, you should examine your excuses and dig down to the roots of the problem.
What do I mean by that?
As humans, we like to blame our problems on other external factors, while in reality, we are causing the problem ourselves.
Here are examples using my excuses from earlier:
My excuse:
“I don’t have time” (aka blaming my school schedule)
At the root/the reality:
“This is not my top priority”
My excuse:
“I don’t have art class every day like I did in high school” (aka blaming lack of space or resources)At the root/the reality:
“I’m not making space in my life for my creative practice”
My excuse:
“I can’t find where I wrote that idea down” (aka blaming my tracking system)At the root/the reality:
“I’m disorganized”
Take a minute now to think about your own struggles and excuses as a creative. What might be lurking just beneath?
Knowing what’s beneath the surface-level complaints is key to finding sustainable solutions!
Hack 1: Put your creative ideas in the bank
In the summer of 2020 I religiously listened to the 3-Point Perspective podcast. I loved what these guys had to say about the ins and outs of becoming an illustrator.
One piece of golden wisdom I received from an episode was to create an “idea bank” - one place to hold all of your creative project ideas.
For me, that looked like a spreadsheet, but it could take many formats based on how you work best.
These are the things you want to consider when creating your idea bank:
The bank should be easy to populate
It should be something you have easy access to or have on hand often
The list should not have to be transferred constantly
It ideally is somewhere where you can see it every day
You could use a spreadsheet or Google Sheet, a large sheet of paper tacked above your desk, your phone’s notes app or website like Notion.
As an extra tip, I’d recommend a cloud-based service for your bank, so you can access it when you aren’t home or don’t have your laptop.
Hack 2: Get organized
Now that you have your idea bank set up, don’t let it become a digital (or paper) graveyard!
Here are the steps you should take to make sure you get even more organized and put yourself in a position to actually take action:
Take a look at the ideas you have listed, and mark the ones that excite you the most.
These are your “Hell Yes” projects - the things you’re still amped about creating even though you wrote it in a notebook two years ago.
When I first went through this process, I had about 10 Hell Yes projects.
As your priorities shift with time, you may find that even some of your Yes projects are left unfinished. That’s okay!
Choose one (or two) of your Hell Yes projects to focus on for this season
Depending on what you’re working on it may not matter, but if you’re trying to create a product to sell, keep in mind key shopping windows.
Want to create a calendar for 2023? Keep in mind you will probably need to start marketing it in October at the latest!
Break the project down into quarterly (or monthly or weekly) benchmarks
It’s going to be really helpful to break down your project into smaller, bite-sized tasks, so as not to get overwhelmed by the entirety of the project.
And of course, assign deadlines to those smaller tasks so you know what needs to get done and when.
Hack 3: The power of intentional personal projects
Personal projects are an incredible way to start taking action on your creative ideas.
The keys to a successful personal project are creative constraints and project parameters.
Some examples of project constraints include:
Duration (ie - a 100-day span of time)
Check out #inktober, a yearly drawing challenge during the month of October
Color scheme (ie - pink, green and black)
Quantity (ie - this project will have 8 images/tracks/graphics/products total)
Check out #100dayproject and #the100dayproject on Instagram for some takes on a popular project comprised of 100 pieces in whatever medium you choose
Topic (ie - I’m only drawing doughnut shops in North Carolina)
Rather than simply having the goal to “learn to watercolor”, turn it into a project of 10 watercolors of house plants (quantity and topic)
That way, you know what you’re working towards and will be able to see noticeable progress.
Or let’s say you’re a designer who wants to work in the music industry. Instead of just creating without intention, why not turn it into a series with measurable goals and outcomes?
Create a set of merchandise for your favorite band’s next tour or put your own spin on a former tour!
Use the Topic, Duration and Color Scheme parameters to build out an entire suite of physical (or mocked up) pieces.
Now you’re creating with intention!
Let’s Review
Do you feel more empowered to get out there and start creating?
I hope these three hacks (which are really 3 sequential steps) are helpful.
The game really did change for me as an illustrator once I:
Utilized an idea bank, where I could visually see all of my ideas
Honed down to a handful of projects - my “hell yes” list
Set deadlines and turned my vague creative ideas into a tangible project
That level of intentionality I took with myself made me start taking my ideas more seriously, and when you take yourself and your creative practice seriously, I think you’ll surprise yourself at what you can create!
It took a long time for me to get on track with my creative journey, so if I can help other creatives who have the same struggles, I’d love to do so! Comment below or DM me @lucyman.draws on Instagram with questions or comments.