When I'm Not in a "Creative" Mode (A Throwback Post)

Image by Petra from Pixabay

I remember when I moved to a new place in mid-May of 2020 where my month consisted mostly of packing and unpacking In that kind of situation, I found myself not being able to work on any creative projects. It’s not a valid reason but it really wasn’t conducive for me to have a moment to draw or craft.

Prior to moving, I had so many ideas I jotted down in my notebook on what I’m going to do with the new place in order to turn it more into a “flow” space. However, two weeks in, I was still suffering from some sort of gloominess that I believed it was most likely due to weeks of lockdown (no thanks to Covid-19.) Somehow, it seemed to be a good excuse to not getting anything done hey?

On the bright side though, my commitment to document my artistic journey pushed me to at least engage in some exploring and learning. I think having to be productive at all times keeps me going all these while. Hence, what I did back then to "procrastinate" was....

Learned about Paintings

I don’t think I’ll ever get into painting for real… right now… maybe ever… I don’t really know. But, it’s no harm learning about the art of painting and how I can appreciate paintings more. I truly enjoyed binge-watching the documentary on Curiosity Stream called How to Look at Painting.

Digital Drawing

I owned a Wacom Intuos Art for almost a decade now. I bought it for ease of editing in Illustrator. I took it out and use it more for sketching to give digital drawing a try. Although I’ve used it for editing before, to sketch and draw is quite a different experience. The feel of the pen/ pencil on paper and a plastic board is obviously different. It took me a while to get used to it. I would most likely wear out the Command+Z keys (my virtual eraser.)

The Art of Mike Mitchell

I wouldn’t call myself a comic book fan because I don’t really read them that much. I do, however, enjoy watching animes and other superheroes animation. So, occasionally, I have this guilty pleasure of browsing and appreciating fan arts online. I came across some Marvel and Star Wars portraits in Pinterest. It turned out to be the work of Mike Mitchell, an artist in Austin, TX. I spent an hour or more looking through the works posted on his website. It was mesmerizing. I love his work so that’s one reference added to my list of artists who inspired me.

Creative Podcasts

I subscribed to all the design and creativity related podcasts in Spotify. There are so many of them that I couldn’t catch up with all. At that moment, my favourites were Creative Pep Talk and Creative Boom.

This post was originally published on June 2nd, 2020 on my lifestyle turned gaming blog. Some of my throwback posts contain resources and good references so I have edited and updated. As I'm updating it, I get to reflect on my thoughts at that point of time.