Finding inspiration in the beauty of everyday life
Yesterday, I was out and about with my daughter. We were in the park, having a rare moment of peace while she ran around playing. As I walked by an open field, the sun was shining brightly; a few birds chirped nearby. Everything felt calm and beautiful. Suddenly, a thought struck me:
What if I could capture this moment, and use it as inspiration to create art?
I know that sounds a bit crazy. But bear with me. The fact is, some of the most beautiful art I've seen has been made by people who previously had little or no experience creating art. And they did it by finding inspiration in life around them. In the world around us lies unlimited potential for beauty and meaning. And we all have the capacity to express ourselves through creative endeavors, no matter how old we are or what we do for a living.
I suspect that's what my mom was trying to tell me 25 years ago, when she gave me my first box of crayons. I spent most of that day coloring within the lines. But I also imagined new worlds, and drew images of them before they ever existed in reality.
But crayons don't come close to fully expressing what we have inside us. We need something more powerful than pen and paper. And that's where digital art comes in.
Digital art is not just for professionals anymore; it's for everyone. And with today's powerful computers, high quality tablets, and affordable drawing software, everyone can unleash their inner artist.
I've been a professional digital artist for over 12 years. In that time, I discovered that drawing is not just my career; it's also my passion. I enjoy creating works of art so much that I started teaching art to kids.
And for the past five months, I've been working on a project where I teach adults how to create their own art. It's called How to Be Creative . In this project, we dive deep into everything about the creative process and learn what it takes to share our work with the world.
But if you're an artist, you probably know this already. So instead of going on and on about How to Be Creative , let me tell you about something else.
A few minutes after that beautiful moment in the park, I returned home and decided to do a painting inspired by what I saw: a bright yellow sun with blue birds flying in the sky.
This is the result:
I titled it Waking Up . And it's one of my favorite pieces of art that I've ever created. Why? Because through this painting, I learned a lot about myself as an artist, and a lot about life in general. Here are some lessons I learned while creating it:
#1 – There's always room for improvement.
When I saw the birds flying in the sky, I had an urge to paint them. But I didn't want them to look like blobs of brown color, so I spent a lot of time on them. Here's an early version of the drawing:
I added lots more detail and expression, and colored each bird differently so they wouldn't look like clones.
#2 – Sometimes things need to change.
After adding all this detail, I realized that their wings were too small for their bodies:
I tossed that version into the trash and started again, with bigger wings. This one looked much better:
#3 – Find inspiration in daily life.
When I was coloring this picture, I looked straight up into the sky and saw birds flying. I thought about what it would be like to paint a painting of birds flying in the sky.
I knew the original drawing needed more details, but I also wanted to capture that moment so I kept working on it. When it wasn't quite right, I tossed it in the trash again and jumped back to a different version.
#4 – Explore new possibilities with color.
Before getting started, I knew that my main focus would be blue and yellow: blue for the sky and yellow for the sun and birds.
So I started with blue.
The sky looked pretty good .
But the yellow sun and birds just didn't look right to me. So I switched the colors:
And that's when it all clicked: the birds were really bright yellow, and so was the sky, so I decided to go bold by using lots of yellow on both.
See how much better it looks? And it still doesn't have all those details yet! But you get the idea…
#5 – Remember to have fun!
My very first digital painting was a bit sad because I was trying too hard. But this time, I wasn't trying to show off or to create art for a client. This time, I was just enjoying myself and experimenting. I wanted to try out bold colors, new brush strokes, and new shapes. And it was fun!
Creating art should be fun because otherwise you'll burn out too fast. It's easy to get discouraged when your first attempts don't turn out the way you expected. But you need to give yourself time to experiment and grow before you throw in the towel.
I struggled a lot when I started drawing digitally because I didn't have any experience creating art on a computer (or anywhere else). But the important thing is that I remember to have fun while I'm learning.
I hope that my Waking Up painting inspires you to try something new. And if that happens, don't get discouraged. But don't get so serious either. Enjoy yourself, explore new possibilities, and get lost in the process!
And now it's time for me to grab a cup of coffee and start working on a new painting inspired by reading this post: ________ A big thanks to my mom for teaching me how to draw all those years ago! If you enjoy art and would like to learn more, I recommend checking out my book How to Be Creative . It's a collection of interviews with creative minds about how they accomplish their creative goals. I also make hand-drawn art every now and then, and I post videos of them on my YouTube channel . If you'd like to stay up to date, you can follow me at @nadege_everywhere or on Instagram . Take care! :)
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posted by Nadege at 8:10 AM NO COMMENTS: PLEASE slap me if I do something stupid. I know you're dead serious when it comes to digital illustrations. So please don't be too harsh if I make a mistake...I'm only human after all...
Conclusion From The Perspective Of A Non-Digital Artist Dear digital artists, I want to start by saying thank you for creating such beautiful pieces of art. I'm an artist myself. I draw, paint, and sculpt. And I respect the hard work you do every day to create your art digitally. But...I'm also a non-digital artist. And here's why: My question is why would you spend so much time on creating artwork that only a few people are going to see? That's an incredible amount of time spent on creating something that only exists in digital form! If you're wondering how this all ties back together at the end...expect for the end...I'll explain it to you in a second.