My Art Block- How I crushed it! And so can you...

As creatives we all understand, and have probably experienced 'that' horrible feeling. You know the one, ‘Nothing I do is going to be good enough, BOLD enough, why doesn’t my hand do what I’m telling it to! AHHH I CAN’T DRAW!!!' Yes it's the old and familiar artist block and the horrible feeling that followers...doubt in yourself. 

We all have or will have it at some point in our creative journey (and if you haven't so far consider yourself extremely fortunate) and hit the road block that is artists block. 

So what is it? Why does this horrible thing happen and how can we avoid it. And why the heck am I writing about it?

My artist block last week 

Being blocked creatively for a creative person is seriously debilitating. Our creativity is our power, our voice and our way of making an impact on this wide world. When we can’t express what we need to, we feel like we’re getting hit in the face with Lucille, Negan’s bat... (Don’t know Negan? that’s cool, it’s a bat with wire on it basically. ow ow ouuuwch!) 

But why does it happen? Most of the time I find it's overthinking what we need to do. Letting the left hand side of the brain take over and not listening to the right side. But there are many reasons for all types of people. Here is a link that will depict it better then I could. 7 Types of Creative Block (and What to Do About Them)

What I did... 

I knew I had to paint something to go on my YouTube channel for the week. But last week I had this feeling. Everything I tried wasn’t working for me. Luckily I record everything; pretty much, so I have a few pics and a vid to show on how I struggled.

So I started with an acrylic painting,

 that seems to be my go to a.t.m .

I decided portrait. 

That’s cool. 

Then I tried to paint the position 

I wanted. And that is where it started

 to go downhill. 

 

Here is the video, now I look back on 

it, I could have forced a painting out,

 but I was trying to paint something from

 my head, no reference, and wanted the 

girls face in a certain way, and it 

wasn’t helping. 

Where I left it...

I got quite frustrated at this point. BREATHE! So I took a walk... 'That could help ‘I thought. And so I did. When I got back I tried these. 

Here is Rapunzel I jumped into this 

one with no lines, I just wanted 

to get painting! Anyone..... Can 

you even see what I painted here?

I think I was trying to paint some kind

 of galaxy here... I don’t feel I was 

successful. Nope! Just wanted to get stuck in 

there with the pigment but... nope! 

In the end I gave up. A walk usually does me good but for some reason it just wasn’t working. That was my Sunday gone. I tried to paint something on Wednesday, and was slightly more successful. However I knew that I could do better so I was disappointed in myself. 

So how did I overcome it?

In 2015 I really struggled creatively and I knew I didn’t want to go back to that place. I developed a few hacks to try and get out of that negative head space. So here are my tips and tricks to shove away those artist blues. 

Drink a tall glass of water. This may sound un-impressive, but sometimes the brain needs a drink to keep going! Stay hydrated, using brain power uses more then you may think. 

Take a walk. This is my go to tip/trick. Usually it’s all in the head and airing out the cobwebs in some fresh air does you wonders. Take a trip to the park, cafe if it’s raining, even a museum if you’re in a really difficult head space. Bring along a sketchbook and try some observation drawings. No need to think just copy. 

Instagram, Pinterest, YOUTUBE! |These are great places to see other artists going through the mill. These are my favourite sites to check out because I follow some amazingly talented artists, and I am ever so slightly competitive. (⊙.⊙(*ₒ☉)⊙.⊙)

But you have your own vibes and interests! What sites do you like to scroll through? Just make sure you are looking at images, or reading articles that pertain to your type of work. 

DO NOT COMPARE YOURSELF!!! I can’t stress this enough. You are amazing in your way, there amazing in their way. If you try to be them, you can’t be yourself! It’s very easy to fall into the trap of trying to be like other artists and not being able to get out of this habit. Try by all means, but stay true to yourself and your art work style. 

Inspirational wall quotes. There are lots of good quotes out there. Find one with meaning for you and pot it into a picture frame where you will see it often. 

And lastly I would like to recommend grabbing a very cheap and ugly sketchbook. Why? Because you won’t care how badly you draw in it. It’s a fudge ugly sketchbook! (If you’re like me you like pretty ones!)

Get a sketchbook that you have no attachment to. What do I mean by this? Well if you’re even a little bit like me, when you see or think of stationary or art supplies, you give birth to a little unicorn! It's that amazing.  ∩(︶▽︶)∩  

So try not to make such an attachment. Hard I know, but I find if there is less pressure on you to create something wonderful; with wonderful pens and beautiful sketchbooks, it is a lot easier to get into the flow of creation and create something fabulous. 

So, go check out your nearest pound shop. Buy the cheapest book you can find, one that you can stomach working on, and then dive in. And the great thing is, you don’t care if your drawings are good. All you are doing is filling up the pages to get your creative brain into gear. 

Shamefully I must admit. It was new paints that got me out of my week’s rut. I know this is bad but don’t you just love new paints?! ❤(ˆ‿ˆԅ)

~~~

And those are my tips! I will probably suggest a few more tips in the future but those are my main go to tricks to get my creative juices flowing again.

What tricks do you use? Do you have a way to get out of the horrid artists block? Leave a comment and let me know! I sure would love to hear what other ways there are out there that I could try next time this happens.

Until then, stay beautiful my beautiful readers.

~Chow4noW~

Live Drawings from 2016.

Yel’lo!

It’s Friday, and I’ve found out this is my Blog posting day! Technical terms are coming in here, be impressed…. Heeehh.

And today I have another video for you my dearies but also some close up pictures for you to, well, have a closer look at! And the topic today is live drawings!

I’ve been working hard on my human anatomy over the last year, and if you have joined me this month, or you have been recently reunited / introduced to my blog, you will know that I am posting what my art life was like through 2016. And today is no exception.

I have made a short video of myself talking and flipping through my sketchbooks, I’ve got some pictures and I am also going to post some helpful videos to help you get in that anatomy practice.

First here we go, my sketchbooks from 2016.

~

Hope the sound quality was ok for you guys? First time recording this way so let me know if all was clear for you! This way I can improve for next time and not make you want to tear out your hair because you can’t understand what it is I am saying. Teehee! 

~

Next I have a little time laps of my drawing in said sketchbooks. Here perhaps you can see and understand a little better how I create my forms and capture gesture... I hope. =P 

A few more studies of different types

 

Negative and positive study

Rembrandt Study @ Kenwood House

Detailed study shadow & light

My last instalment will be a couple of Youtubers videos that I relied upon heavily last year. These guys are fantastic to draw along with and I learnt so much. If you are looking to improve your anatomy, check out Sycra and Draw with Chris on YouTube. Invaluable.

How to Draw the Male Torso.

 

Live Drawing with Chris.

So Seriously check these guys out! Go now! I'm finished anyway. :p

Until next week my lovies!

Chow4noW

x

P.s Appolagies for the font this week for the font this week, its doing what ever it wants and this was me trying to make it all one, so Arial this week.

 (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

Favourite Drawings from 2016

Yes, HELO!

And I’m back and as promised another post similar to the last, this time I am showing you my favourite drawings I created from last year. 

These drawings and sketches were my attempt as an artist to try and figure out where my love and talents were.

Result? I LOVED IT ALL! So helpful right? (Don’t worry I’m seeking professional help) No but seriously, I found out last year that the more traditional the better suited my talents were. This led me to my live drawing classes; which will be presented in a later post, and these guys love the traditional mediums.

What do you guys think about me creating a video for the techniques I learnt? Would you be interested in my findings, or should I jump strait into a tutorial for sketching? Let me know what you think in the comments bellow, or hit me up via email, twitter or comment on one of the many social media links (to the right). Click whichever is most convenient for you!

Until next time my sweet cheeks,

Chow4noW

x 

My Favorite Paintings of 2016

Hello, and here I am so happy to show you my favourite pictures I did last year.  And for your convenience I’ve popped them into a dinky little slideshow.

OH! You’re most welcome my dearies. =P 

Please do join me in my next post where I'll be presenting my favourite drawings from last year. 

I am also gathering together images of my live drawing studies but wouldnt you know it, there are just so many! So i may just do a video going through my sketchbooks so you can see them all. Let me know if have any thoughts on this, how would you like to see my drawings presented? Do you have any creative ideas that you would like to see? Let me know in the comments bellow! 

Untill next time my lovlies! 

Chow4noW

x

My little Zombies!

So Last week and this week I have uploaded a couple pics of cute little zombies in the UK. And what do we do in the UK really well? DRINK TEA! But of course. So In honor of the new series of The Walking Dead I decided to draw these guys!

I stared in my sketchbook drawing the assets all separately. Pencil then pen, rub then scan. 

Then I started to colour! My Fav

And before you know it that was one done! Tada! 

After this one I couldn't resist drawing more. 

And here is my second one! 

I have one more idea... "in a hoard of zombies? Dress up tea party!" ...Its morbid.. but in a cute way. Ha..haha... ha. 

How about you? Are you any better at trying to rhyme then I am? (Dont need to tell me i'm terrible, even on poet week! ) Let me know if you have any ideas that I can draw in this little series of mine. 

Also Check out my Facebook page  to see more updates on, "The Zombie Apocalypse in The UK!" 

Or check out my Instagram page to see daily updates on what i'm drawing and all the other creative stuff I get up to that isn't on my Blog! 

Until next time my lovelies!! 

~Chow4noW~

Art on Holiday!

Holiday art, because an artists work is never done! 

👾🎭🎮🎨🎬🎧✒️📜👍

So many emoticons! 

My (work) holiday began in Córdoba where most of my sketching took place. With so much fantastic structures, courtyards and cultural influences; of course there's a lot to draw! 

So here are some of my architecture studies....

With a few shots of me sketching!

I also had a lot of fun photographing a lot of what was around me, here are some of those shots. 

If you would like to see more of my pictures from my holiday, here's my instergram page (you might see some of these pictures there too!) 

And that was just Córdoba! 

Here are the few sketches that I made in Torremolinos... 

And I felt like it so I drew a sanuritaaa! 

Well that took me awhile to upload! 

And that was my holiday folks. And yeas, it was awesome. =P

Until next time!

~Chow4noW~

Drawings I'm likely not going to finish...

Title pretty much says it all.

So as you can probably see allot of these pictures have similar shapes and tomes which is why I think I'm not so keen on them. I want to get some differences between my images and these are all too samie.  So here They are, shared because this is probably the only light of day they are going to see. 

Sketchbook From Holiday

Theres no better excuse then a holiday to sit down with a yummy beverage and sketch away at what your seeing. So I took my sketchbook out with me to Spain, as an artist should, and sketched whenever I got the opportunity. Which mean whenever I put down my camera enough and stood stationary for longer then 5 mins for me to sketch!

And this is what I produced. I would have loved to got more,

 but I'm happy that I at least got these done. 

At the airport.

Town shop. Mijas. See pictures from my photos, you might recognise. 

Might recognise this too. Promise it was not copied. =P

I just loved this place, SURROUNDED BY BIRDS!!!! So Manny BIRRDS!!! hahahaha!!

Sketches from the road. Obv's I wasn't driving.

Sheep on a feild

BIRD!

More from the road.

I tried. I didn't do him justice. 

And there we go. A few sketches to share. 

Until next time,

~Chow4noW~

Chana!

x

Past W.I.P (Work in Progress)

As you can see, I few thumbnails of my little match stick girl in progress.

Drawn by hand and then coluored with Photoshop. I also tried some particles from After Effects, still not sure about those ones. BUT here we are.

Chana! 

X

A walk into the Autumn

                  Few! This feels weird, writing in my blog. I've been concentrating most of my efforts in my portfolio recently so my blog unfortunately has been suffering. But you don't want to hear me prattle on with my excuses do you?

No, so what do see in this post? AUTUMN! Because its that time of year and I happened to get some great shots and sketches made from Finsbury Park. Theirs a lovely old train track walk that we took to get there and it makes for some really lovely pictures. Also the park was pretty good for taking some snaps too. Here are a few pics that I took that I think highlight the day.

If you like my pics you can also now see more of my work at www.flickr.com/photos/128483985@N03/

 I fed some birds too, word of advice: If there are pigeons wear clothes that you don't mind flees on.  I wont go into detail but I'm sure you can imagine.

I also happened upon a scene; a fight between a gull and a heron for, what I think was a slice of bread. The pictures aren't ALL the best, some blurry and what not. But you get most of the action. So i intend to make this into a little animation... of some kind. I'm not sure how with the focus jumping at times.  But i'm trying a few things out a.t.m and will update with some of what I came out with. 

But I did do some more arty things, I drew a picture. Hold me back. 

Until next time folks. 

Chana 

X

And dont forget to visit my web site and FB page to see what else I've been up to!