Transcripts
1. Introduction: There are so many ways to avoid getting in
touch with how you feel. You can scroll on
your phone for hours, eat a dozen cookies, fill up your online
shopping cart or think about who still
hasn't texted you back. Or you could just feel stuff. I know it sounds crazy, but hear me out. What if you could
channel your thoughts and feelings through your art. Make connections with other
people, let things go, communicate what is going
on inside your head. Hi everyone. My name is Grace Miceli, and I am an artist and author
living in New York City. I have built a successful
career creating commercial, editorial and personal
illustrations for clients like Nike, The New Yorker, Adobe,
Urban Outfitters, and The New York Times. My first book, How to Deal
was published in 2021. I'm about to begin
graduate school where I will be
training to become a clinical mental
health counselor and creative arts therapist. Channeling my thoughts
and feelings into my artwork is a great way
for me to self-soothe. It's extremely validating when I create a particularly
vulnerable piece, share it online, and then hear that it
connects with other people. I'm reminded that I'm not alone and that my artistic expression
totally has a purpose, which is something that even
the most successful artists question sometimes. If you don't identify as an
illustrator or a doodler, that is okay, don't freak out. I will demonstrate how to
translate your thoughts and feelings into a
simple graphic comic. We will also be
exploring the difference between thoughts and feelings, how to let go, and how to symbolically
represent whatever it is that you're currently
going through. I will be doing all of
these exercises along with you to show you how
to create this comic. Maybe you want to celebrate
a recent accomplishment, uncover a hidden desire or
navigate a reoccurring worry. By getting in touch
with yourself and really owning your
personal experience, you can begin creating
work that is relatable, honest and connects with
others on a deeper level. I am so excited about this class and the potential
for you to harness the power that comes from
getting in touch with yourself and sharing your
internal experience.
2. Class Orientation: The project for today's
class is going to be creating a four-panel comic that explores your
thoughts and feelings. We are going to be
externalizing the internal. It will be a chance
for you to really get in touch with yourself and either begin to develop or continue to explore your
personal artistic voice. I create a lot of my
work using the process that we're going
to explore today. I find that the
parameters of a structure really allows me to open up
and get in touch with myself. Because I don't have to
worry about the format, I can really focus
on the content. In the resources section, I have provided a
four-panel template or you can draw your own. This class is for
anyone who wants to understand how
real-life experiences can be transformed into art. Your artistic talents
can be at any level. Maybe you know how
to use oil paints, or maybe the only thing you know how to draw is stick figures. That's okay. This class is for anyone. Today I'm going to use a
notebook to journal in, a pad of paper to
make my word map, markers, my iPad,
and an Apple pencil. This project can also
be done with pens, pencils, marker, or paper. For the planning stages
of this project, you will need either
a few sheets of paper or a journal and a
writing utensil, as we will be doing
a journal entry, creating a word map in order to brainstorm
for our final project. For the final project, I'm going to be using my
iPad and Apple pencil, but feel free to use whatever your preferred way
to make a mark on the pages. Before I start in on a project, I like to use a box breathing technique to really
center myself. Let's try that together. Close your eyes and
inhale for 1, 2, 3, 4. Hold your breath for 1, 2, 3, 4. Exhale for 1, 2, 3, 4. Hold your breath
again for 1, 2, 3, 4. Let's repeat two more times. Inhale. Hold your breath. Exhale. Hold your breath. Inhale. Hold your breath. Exhale. Hold your breath. Now let it all go. Do you feel more calm,
maybe more centered? This is a breathing technique that you can practice
anywhere at any time if you're ever feeling a
little overwhelmed or nervous. During this class, anytime we're accessing those
more vulnerable emotions, feel free to pause and come back to this
breathing exercise. Set yourself up in a
quiet and calm space, somewhere where you can really get in touch
with yourself. If you're not alone, try putting on headphones to
help keep yourself focused. Let's jump in with an open
heart and an open mind.
3. Release the Swirl: Let's start by
letting it all out. The goal for this lesson
is to fill the page with the thoughts
that are currently circling through your brain and the feelings that are
coursing through your body. Maybe you're someone who
doesn't get distracted by their thoughts easily, or perhaps you don't
necessarily have anxiety. Journaling can still be
totally beneficial for you. It can really help you
to get in touch with those subconscious thoughts that might be bubbling
below the surface. If you've never journaled or brainstormed in
this way before, that is totally okay. While I encourage you to definitely share
your final comic, there is no need to show anyone what you write during
your journal entry. You can keep it
completely confidential, and if you want after the class, you can rip it up
and throw it away. I hope that helps
take the pressure off whatever it is
that you write. We want to experience a
release when we journal. By writing down our thoughts, we can lessen their hold on us. There's the potential to really get in touch with ourselves and learn what really
matters to us. The most important thing to remember is do not overthink it. Write down just whatever
flows out of you. You could incorporate
free association here. Maybe you write down a sentence
that makes you think of something completely
different and random. There is no need for
a narrative here. Write everything down, even if it doesn't
really make sense. I want you to feel
able to explore whatever it is that's going
on in your life right now. But, here are a few examples of things you could consider
journaling about. Maybe you want to write about the important
friendships in your life or an upcoming challenge that you're really
excited about. You could also consider something funny that
you saw happen on the street the other day
or your daily anxieties. Maybe even that one
thing that happened five years ago that you think about every night
before you fall asleep, or just write down
whatever comes out. I'm going to suggest
that you try to fill up a single standard
sheet of paper. If you're using a
smaller journal, maybe fill out two pages. Also remember that we're
going to be going back in using this journal entry
as our source material, so try to write in a
way that's legible. Now I'm going to share
my journal entry, which is a collection
of the thoughts that I've had in my head. I've been feeling pretty
overwhelmed recently. Instead of slowing down, I'm just distracting
myself with more stuff. Once I get going, it's so hard to stop. I'm trying to not get
annoyed with myself but it's a challenge. I keep checking my phone
seconds after I put it down. Why? How come you can have
so much awareness about something but still
struggle to make a change?
4. Thoughts vs. Feelings: Let's put a journal entry to the side for the moment, and talk about our thoughts
versus our feelings. I think it can be really
challenging to differentiate between our thoughts
and feelings. But knowing the difference
has been so helpful to me. I want to note that of course, our thoughts and feelings
influence each other. If you're feeling lonely, you might find yourself
thinking about someone who you aren't
friends with anymore, and if you're thinking a lot about a test you have coming up, you might feel a lot of
anxiety in your body. Thoughts and feelings
influence each other, but they're not the same thing. Let me give a few other examples to highlight the
difference between our thoughts and our feelings. I think I need a vacation because I feel exhausted
or I feel disappointed because I think my
friend is mad at me because they haven't
texted me back yet. Feelings are often
one or two words and describe physical
sensations in our bodies. Thoughts are ideas and stories we tell
ourselves or consider true. But something that is so
important to remember is that you are
not your thoughts. This distinction is
so helpful for me because I realized that someone would ask me
how I was feeling and I would always
respond with a thought. The way that my anxiety
manifests is that I often I'm walking around
just like a floating head, totally disconnected
from my body, which means I'm disconnected
from my feelings. Journaling my thoughts
down has allowed me to clear out space in my head so that I'm able to get
in touch with my feelings and show up in my art as the most authentic
version of myself. I hope this explanation
has allowed you to better understand the
content of the words that you wrote during
the journaling exercise. If you're curious to learn more about clarifying your feelings, in the resources section, I have included a feelings chart that I referred to often. It can be really helpful
if you're looking to pinpoint exactly what
is going on with you, but you're overcome with emotion and just having
trouble figuring out exactly what's
going on with you. I love the way the
feelings chart is organized because it groups
similar emotions together and helps you sort them out and understand how
you're feeling. Now I'm going to mark
up my journal entry using colored markers
to differentiate between my thoughts
and feelings. Now I'm going to underline
my feelings in green. Now I'm going to underline
a few of the thoughts that stuck out to me
with a pink marker. As you can tell, I have a lot of thoughts in
here and just a few feelings. Again, my goal
with this exercise was to hopefully release some of those thoughts
onto the page. This really helps
me to differentiate between my thoughts
and feelings. I can see that my
feelings are one word and my thoughts are a lot longer and more complicated. Before you move on
to the next lesson, make sure to mark up
your journal entry, differentiating between
your thoughts and feelings. You can use different
colors or symbols to help mark for clarity.
5. Break It Down: [MUSIC] Now we are going to transform your
journal entry into a simplified phrase that will be the texts component
of your comic. The goal here is to
really get to the core of what it is that you were expressing while
you were writing. You can pull a specific phrase
from your journal entry or you can write something new that's inspired by what
you are journaling about. I love poetry. I used to write it a
lot as a teenager, and I know that has definitely inspired and influenced my
artistic practice today. I think that there's so
much power in a single, concise, and clear phrase. Instead of getting lost in
a paragraph of sentences, you can really dive in and
focus on a single thought. The aim of getting at the core of what it is
that you're trying to say helps make your content
relatable to more people. Or maybe this exercise is just for you and you don't
care who sees it. I really want you to take
ownership of your intent. This exercise is still valuable regardless
of who sees it. Now, you're going to go through your journal entry
and either pull out a phrase or write a new one inspired by what you expressed. This is the phrase
that you will use to build the rest of
your comic around. Make sure you choose a phrase
that you're excited to expand upon and represent
visually as well. Now I'm going to go through my journal entry and
pick out a phrase that really stuck out
to me and that's at the core of what
I was expressing. For me, it's this sentence, I keep checking my phone like seconds after
I put it down. Why? I think this is
what I want to make my comic about because I think it is an extremely
relatable thought. Many of us are
always making jokes about our addictions to our
phone or to social media. But I think that
it's a real thing. What I want to do is
distill this thought into a more poetic
phrase for my comic. The phrase for my journal, I keep checking my phone like seconds after
I put it down. Why? The action here is, I pick up my phone, I open the app, I close the app, I put the phone down, and then immediately after, I do it again. There's this absurd
repetition to it. I think what's interesting
to me is that action, the cycle that we all find ourselves in that
we're aware of, but doesn't matter, we
just keep doing it. First I close the app. This is the first action. I love to include
playful windbreaks. We're thinking about
the experience of swiping through a
comic on social media. I'm going to have the
first line of my comic be, first I close, to leave the viewer
wanting more and wondering what is being closed. Here's where I landed with
my phrase for the comic. I'm going to write,
first I close the app and then
I open it again. What I love about this
phrasing is that it amplifies the repetitive nature and action of checking our
phones all the time. But it also simplifies it down into a singular,
more poetic phrase. Humor is definitely a very
important aspect of my work, and I think simplifying
things down can be a great way to approach
and integrate humor. By taking this thought
about obsessively checking my phone and turning it
into a simplified action, it helps me to take
the power away from it and turn it into an action
versus a repetitive thought.
6. Symbols: [MUSIC] Now it's time
to start thinking about the objects that we're going
to draw for our comic. We're still in the
brainstorming phase, so no need to start drawing yet. Now that we have the
text for our comic, let's figure out what symbols
we want to use to add more depth and really
bring it to life visually. When you read your phrase, does any imagery automatically
pop into your head? Symbols can be used in
lots of different ways. You can go the more
obvious route. If you are expressing, feeling angry, you
could draw a flame. Or maybe your phrase is about being sad and you want
to draw a teardrop. The book of symbols, which I referenced
often for my own work, explores all types of
archetypical imagery. Some types of symbols
you could explore using plants, animals, food, body parts, nature, buildings, or really
any everyday object. There are also some symbols that you might see
every day that are a simple distillation of complex emotions and
they're called emojis. You can also take a
more abstract route. My comic is going to be
about checking my phone, but I'm not going
to draw a phone. I prefer to choose
playful symbols that can be interpreted
in multiple ways. I'm going to make a
free association list full of ideas or symbols
that I want to incorporate. Now, I'm only going to use four for my final comic, one per panel, but I want
to have some options. The goal is not to
represent your ideas perfectly or even figuratively. One of the things I love about drawing is that it allows
you to represent the world, including your internal world, in what ever style you want. If you're feeling intimidated by the concept of drawing
something complicated, you can totally keep it simple. Maybe you could draw a
circle to represent feeling calm or a star to
represent excitement. When you're making the list of the objects that
you want to draw, try not to get caught up
on your drawing ability. I'm a successful
working illustrator and I pretty much never draw people or work in a realistic style that incorporates shading
and perspective. Evocative imagery can take all different shapes and styles. One of my favorite books,
Understanding Comics, talks about amplification
through simplification, and I think that's really relevant for us
to consider here. I also find that playing with abstraction really
helps me to open up. Instead of drawing
myself crying, hopeless on the floor. I might try to express that same emotion by
drawing a black hole. When I incorporate abstraction, I feel safer to open up and share my illustration
with more people. Don't forget the focus of
this lesson is to create an extensive list
of imagery that we can draw from to
create our final comic. You can be literal, abstract, or a
combination of the two. [MUSIC] Now I'm going to read one of my favorite ideas from
Understanding Comics. Defining the cartoon
would take up as much space as
defining comics. But for now, I'm going
to examine cartooning as a form of amplification
through simplification. When we abstract an image
through cartooning, were not so much
eliminating details as we are focusing on
specific details. By stripping down an image to its essential meaning
an artist can amplify that meaning in a way
that realistic art can't. Here we are seeing a progression from a more realistic
portrait of a face towards a more
simplified portrait of a face in which the more
simplified version, it's more clear what the
character is expressing. The Book of Symbols
is so amazing and basically features all
different types of symbols, and I really just like
to flip through it and learn about how symbols are
used in different cultures. If you're struggling to come up with symbols
for your work, flipping through this can be a really great way
to find inspiration. [MUSIC] Now I'm going to write my free association list of symbols or ideas that pop into my head when I read this phrase. [MUSIC] These are the symbols
that popped into my head while I was thinking about
the phrase for my comic, curtain, door, back of the head, maybe something
scary, big teeth, a meteor, a black hole, knife, lion or a tiger, Earth, moon, alarm clock. When I was thinking of
these symbols, at first, I was thinking about
stuff that closes, so a curtain, a door. If you see the back
of someone's head, you're not really seeing them, they're closed off to you. Then I was thinking about how I feel when I'm using social
media all the time. Something scary, big teeth, end of the world, meteor, black hole, something
dangerous like a knife or a lion, a tiger. Then when I was thinking
about opening up again, things that move in
cycles are always going. The Earth turning, how we see
the moon, an alarm clock, these other repetitive
actions that are always happening that we maybe don't really
have control over. Sometimes the symbols
are very literal, and sometimes they're
more abstract and I just get there in my mind, thinking about other
things and making these natural
associations in my head.
7. Make Connections: Now that we have the
text for a comic and the list of
symbolic illustrations that we want to create, let's bring both of
those elements together. Now I'm going to make
a word map connecting the parts of my phrase
with the imagery that I'm going to illustrate. This method can get
a little chaotic, so if you want to
play around with different combinations
or different options, you might want to print
out an extra copy of the four panel template
that I've provided. There are a few different ways that you can go about
making connections between your phrase and
the list of imagery that we're going to
be drawing from. As with the initial
brainstorming exercise, one way to go about this is, to make connections that
are literal and direct. You could also use
juxtaposition, which is when you pair
two items together that have a contrasting effect, which can definitely
be funny sometimes. Like if your comic is
about feeling calm, you could draw a meteorite
hurdling towards you, or maybe want to evoke a
certain mood or a memory, so the images that you're
depicting aren't literal, but can pull the
viewer in a direction. An example of an evocative
symbol might be a sunset, which could bring forth romance, melancholy, or a nostalgia. Sometimes my reasoning
for connecting words and images is hard to explain. Sometimes it's obvious, sometimes it's totally random. But you are the artist. You get to make the rules. There is no right or
wrong way to do this. I'm going to go through
my list of symbols, and my phrase, and make connections
that I think will really help bring
the comic to life. Now, it's time for you to decide what symbols you want to
pair with your comic phrase. Before we move on
to the next lesson, go through your list of symbols, and mark which
ones speak to you. Try to pick out which
symbols will really help bring the phrase
that you're going to be using in your comic alive. Now I'm going to pick
symbols from my list, and decide what
parts of the phrase I want to connect them with, so what line is going to have what symbol paired with
it in the comic panel? First I close. I think the best
option for this, is going to be drawing a door. I know that often when
I pick up my phone, and unlock it really does feel like I'm opening up a door, whether it's good or bad. For the line, the app and, I think I'm going to pick
a lion for this one. Maybe I'll draw like
a lioness embracing that wild animal
feeling that I embody when I find myself furiously, constantly checking my
phone over and over again. Then I open, I think for this I'm going
to choose the knife. For the line it again, I want to make a
reference to something that is always in cycle, and is dependable
and part of nature, so for that I'm going
to use the moon. There we have it. I think I have picked
out the symbols that I'm going to
use for my comic, which are a door, a knife,
a lion, and the moon, which to me are
all pretty simple, and straightforward
symbols to draw.
8. Doodle It All Together: Now it's time to draw. If you're not an
illustrator or doodler, that's okay, don't freak out. Because we created
a clear plan about how our comic is going
to look and be laid out. There really isn't
much left to do. This is why I love working with a clear structure or format. It really allows me to focus on the content and not worry too much about how it's
going to be laid out. I am so excited that we're
here at the final step. We get to bring it all together. Let's dive in and start
drawing our comic. I've brought out my iPad, and I'm going to open up
Procreate where I have the template that you can also find in the Resources Center, and I usually start my comics by writing the text out first. I like to use a brush that
mimics a pencil line. I really love when there's
a little bit of texture. In my opinion, sometimes digital illustration can almost
look a little too clean. I'm going to start by
writing out my line. When you're drawing, it can be fun to embrace
wobbly lines or mistakes. I think there's a line for me where something can be
a little too messy, but I do like to play
around with that. I think that
perfection is boring. Try to be playful,
try to experiment. Again there's no mistakes here. Now I'm going to
fill in the rest of the tax portion of
the comic template. I have all my texts filled in, I like how it looks. It's a little messy but still
clear and easy to read. Now I'm going to begin the
outlines of my illustrations and something that I
really love about drawing is the autobiographical
quality that it has. Because the mark was made with your hand no matter
what you're drawing, it's a self-portrait in a way. Now I'm going to draw a lion. Drawing animals or objects that are a little
more complicated can definitely be challenging. Even though I rarely draw lions, I do draw my dog, Tony, a lot. I'm going to build off of the drawing that
I do have my dog. If I'm drawing something
that I don't usually draw, I'm going to try to
sketch it out first just based on what image
that I have in my mind. But often I will take a look
at reference photos after just to make sure I have
certain markers correct. Like the color of a nose
or something like that. But the main point is just to express that this
is a wild animal. It's not so much being totally accurate
in your depiction. Also, something
that I love about digital illustration
is that you can make a messy sketch and
then just lower the opacity of the layer
and add on top of it. Here I made the
nose a little big. I'm just going to make
it a little smaller. Then I can just go back and
clear the original sketch. Also, the best practice when
you're working digitally is to do every illustration
on a new layer. It makes it really easy to remove or edit things as you go. Now it's time to
outline the moon. Apologies to anyone
who knows exactly what the moon's
surface looks like. This will not be realistic, but I'm hoping that I can get
the idea across with color, especially at the end. I'm going to redraw
the moon because this original sketch isn't
really circular enough. You can have Procreate
automatically make straight lines
or circles for you. But I find that to be a bit
too clean for my taste. I also love that when
you're working digitally, you can just move
your objects around to get them more
centered in the frame. I'm pretty happy with how
my sketch turned out, and now it's time
to add some color.
9. Adding Color: [MUSIC] When I'm adding color to my digital illustrations, I always put the color layers
all the way at the bottom, that way, you know that the outlines are always
going to be on top. If you want to change colors, which I often do because
it's so easy on the iPad, you can just drag to re-color, which is really helpful tool. I usually like to use
a different brush when I'm adding color
versus using the outline, I think it mixes up
the texture a little bit and it's just more
interesting to look at. I also think that color is a really helpful
tool if you want to make sure that your symbol
comes across clearly. Sometimes color can be
a really helpful cue to let the viewer know exactly what it is that
they're supposed to be seeing. Yeah, I'm filling in the store. Already, I think that the brown I chose
was a little dark, so I'm going to drag and recolor it and make it a
little brighter. Again, for every illustration, I'm going to start a new
layer for the colors. Now, I'm coloring
in the lioness. I actually think
this gold that I chose is a little
dark but again, with the recolor tool, I can easily adjust that. I also love using flat color
versus shading because I find the process of
coloring a shape in to be so meditative
and calming for me. That's usually my favorite
part of the process, is when I just get
lost in the zone, I know exactly what I'm doing, where I'm going and I can
just color and relax. [MUSIC] Also, if you forget what
color you just use, the eyedropper tool
is really helpful. I can pick up the
gold that I used for the lion and I'm going to
stay in the same tone, but just lighten
it a little bit. [MUSIC] Another thing I love about working
digitally is you can make changes at whatever
stage you're at. I realize here that I
want to add a tongue to the lion to make it more
obvious that she's roaring. I'm just going to go back to the original pen that
I was using when I was outlining and add a tongue
to that outline layer. [MUSIC] Now we're going
to move on to the knife which not the most
interesting colors, but I am definitely going to use bold and bright colors when I am filling
in the backgrounds. I find bold and bright
colors to be so engaging. They honestly bring me
joy and I think are such an easy way to engage the viewer and grab
their interest. Now I'm going to
color in the moon, which also has gray
like the knife. But like I said, we are definitely
going to integrate some more fun colors
with the background. I really love working with bold, bright colors, but maybe muted colors
are more your thing. I think that everyone has preferences when
it comes to color. A color that I'm really drawn to might not do much for you. But again, that is what
is so cool about just playing around when you're drawing is you can
experiment with things. Try different combinations
of color together. You might be surprised what
you find out that you like. I just realized that I
did the moon inverted so I am going to again, just easily switch those colors. The craters should
probably be darker than the general surface of the moon. But that is very easy to
edit using the recolor tool. I have my symbols colored in, and now I'm going to
color in the backgrounds. Again, remember
you want to be on the bottom layer so that it
actually is the background. I like to leave my text boxes white so that it's really
clear and easy to read. As I mentioned before, I really like to integrate brighter colors
in my background. I think I'm going to do
a pink for the door, I think pink can
be a really warm, friendly color and if you're
interested in learning more about colors and how
they function and affect us, you should look into
color theory or color psychology, it's
really interesting. You can learn about how the color green really
calms you down, how the color purple can
be linked to spirituality, and how the color yellow
can be really energizing. Another reason why I really love to utilize bright, playful, fun colors is because I think it acts as a really
good counterpoint to the more serious
or darker content that my illustrations
often incorporate. By utilizing playful colors or this wobbly, fun imagery, I think it creates an easier access point to
that more serious content. Now I'm going to fill in the
background for the lion. I think I'm going to color block here and also use yellow, but just in a different shade. I think it will make this
panel really stand out and since this is the one
illustration that is figurative, I think that I really want it to be the focus of this comic. You also can drag in color
and fill the panel evenly but I love to use
my hand because it leaves those little
spaces of white and again, gives it an analog, more natural feel as if you were working with paper,
pen and marker. [MUSIC] For me, purple can be a really hard digital
color to get right. There's just something
about so many of the digital purple tones that
just don't look right to me so often I find
myself playing around and trying out
different shades of purple. [MUSIC] I think I
found one that I like. [MUSIC] Also, if you find
yourself accidentally drawing outside the lines a bit,
maybe embrace that. I think it's fun when you notice little pops of color
outside the frame. Again, perfection is
not that interesting. One last panel to color in, I think I'm going to go with a green to balance this all out. Again, when it comes to color, you're definitely going to be working off of your
personal preference. Sometimes it's just about what looks or feels right to you and this is a comic about
your personal experience. It's about your internal world. Listen to yourself. Try to ignore any rules that you might think exist when
it comes to color. [MUSIC] I'm playing
with your expectations. When you see a moon, you're not going to assume
it's going to be floating in some green space. Again, I think that adds
some playfulness to it. I finished my comic, I love it so much. I think it's really dynamic and I think that the bright colors and the playful lines balanced
out this more serious, repetitive, anxious action of constantly
checking my phone. I think this concept is totally relatable and I hope that
when other people see it, they find themselves
connecting to it and able to laugh at something that
a lot of us struggle with. By making this comic, I do feel that in a
way I have been able to release this thought a bit, release my fixation on how I just can't stop
checking my phone. It doesn't mean that I'm
suddenly cured from it, but I do think I have
a bit more awareness. For me, the meditative process of coloring in all the panels allows me to really focus and
get in touch with myself. Now it's your turn to doodle
it all together to combine the symbols that we
chose and the text that we wrote and make a final comic. Right now, it's all about
putting the pieces into place, relax and try to-
10. Conclusion: We did it. We made a comic together. I hope you enjoyed this process of externalizing the internal. How cool is it that we turned a journal entry into
a four panel comic? You can apply these same
steps to any medium. Maybe you want to
decorate a cake, make a giant painting or create
a digital animation next. Your experience of the
world is important. Don't forget to share it. Don't bottle up your emotions. Let them go. Your story is worth
making art about. You might find that if
you start to create and share personal artwork that you are not alone
in your experience. I love to look back on
artwork that I've created within this framework
and track my progress. I noticed how thoughts
I used to ruminate on and make lots of art about just don't affect
me as much anymore. My hope is that by
acknowledging our experiences, we can begin to understand
that our thoughts and feelings are totally normal. But there is absolutely
nothing wrong with us. By owning your story, you can let go of
that inner critic and create with more confidence. Thank you so much for
joining me today. You can find me on
Instagram at @artbabygirl or my website gracemiceli.com. Don't forget to
upload your projects to the project gallery. I cannot wait to see
what you all create.
Grace Miceli, Artist and Author
