Healthy Creative Habits: 5 Steps Towards Becoming an Artist

1. Introduction: Hey, want to feel better about yourself and your art or your clicks? Led you to the right video. Let's go. In this class, I'm going to help you prioritize your well being, boosts your confidence as an artist, and help you overcome the most common hurdles to creating art. Who am I? You might ask, Hi, I'm Simon. I'm a digital content creator, illustrator, and top teacher on Skillshare. I'm currently living in Copenhagen, Denmark, where I completed my 100 days of happiness. A personal project where I did pick sweet moments of my everyday life. I'm here to help you get back into your art practice. Well, throughout this class, I'll help you complete your own creative pyramids of needs in five easy steps. That means that we're going to discuss together the importance of taking care of yourself, finding your safety haven where you can create freely, boosts your confidence as an artist, and help you create and set different types of goals to become a happier person and better artist. By the end of this class, you will have set healthy habit goals to create art consistently. You'll be reminded of your worth as a person, and as an artist. With some self-reflection, that means that you'll get better at setting boundaries at work and discussing fair compensation as an artist. This course is for anyone who's creative, and we'd like to get back into their art practice. Professional artist, aspiring artist, people that do not see themselves as artists yet, born definitely creative, and you sitting in front of your laptop watching this video. No time to lose, wake up your inner artist and help define your best creative selves. Let's go. [MUSIC] 2. Your Project: If you're watching this video, you're probably a creative person. Perhaps you have great ambitions of becoming the next big thing. Have millions of followers on Instagram, become the next Banksy, who knows? Or you just want to get back into a consistent drawing practice. Well, before you can even start, define your best creative self, you need to follow a few steps, and that's why I'm going to guide you through your pyramid of creative needs. In the class project and resources, you will find your template to complete your own creative pyramids of needs. You will also have access to my own pyramid of need that you can review if you need any guidance. The pyramid is divided into five rows that we will cover throughout each video lesson. It starts at the bottom with health, all the way to the top on how to identify yourself as an artist. Your project is to write on each row what you will do to commit to better yourself as an artist, as a person. Since this is a creative exercise, you're also welcome to go to Coolors and pick different color palette in order to make your pyramid more aesthetically pleasing. I also welcome you to redraw into writing, or maybe you have a combination of both. Along the way, I'm going to guide you through each video lesson, and we will complete each row together. No need to worry about that. Once you are done, remember to upload your project in your project gallery and make sure to also comment on your fellow classmate's project because you never know, you might broaden their days by doing so. I'm super excited to walk you through the next five steps together and to help you become an artist. Let's go. 3. Your Health: One of the stupidest advice I've received was, if you're an artist, just follow your passion and that's all you will need. The rest will be taken care of. This is absolutely not true. I think this is just the way we romanticize being an artist. In this video lesson, I'm going to talk about health and how to really focus and prioritize your own well-being. I've always loved drawing and when I was a kid, I used to lock myself in my room and doodle on the floor for hours on. It was great because I wasn't really good at sports, so I didn't miss much by not going outside and playing soccer or whatever. When it was time to apply to university program, I got in medical illustration at the University of Toronto. When I got the accepted letter, it was really something fantastic because I thought that my whole life will be traced from me and from now on, my passion of being an artist were really paid off and I wouldn't have to worry a day in my life. As I started my first job as a professional artist, I became quickly disillusion from the corporate world. I realized that my hand has just become tools from people who have no creative vision, or for aesthetic and it was killing me to have to help them. I think I was also very young and I didn't take criticism well. If a client didn't like my work, I would take it very personally. I started to accumulate a lot of stress from the industry, and I started resenting drawing altogether. That was crazy because drawing is something that I love so much and it was my dream to enter the industry and be paid as a creative artists. Yeah, I actually wanted to get out as soon as I started. So it really impacted my well-being. As a consequence, I also stopped drawing altogether for many, many years. Just put aside this big part of me, because I wasn't ready, I guess. I really went against the advice I was given because I followed my passion and I feel like I did everything right. I even got a good degree in order to start working in that field and it didn't work out. I wasn't happy, I was miserable, and I didn't understand why. Let's get into it a little bit step-by-step. First of all, step back. The first step that I did in order to gain back my sanity and take care of myself was to take a step back. I did a career change. I went into corporate communication and branding, and because of my science background, I focus a lot on company that had already a science focus and a patient focus interest. Step 2, build up your foundation. When I mean foundation, I'm talking about the foundation, the base of that triangle that you can find in your project section. A few years ago I moved to Copenhagen and Copenhagen, if you don't know, is one of the happiest country in the world, probably because of its great work-life balance. I was able to reprioritize my yoga practice and go back to the gym regularly. I had a fantastic work-life balance, and this really helped me put my creative mind into the right place. Financially my needs were met, and that's also something that I think is really important when we talk about health and the non-negotiables is mental health, physical health, but also financial stability. I then splurge on an iPad Pro, I downloaded Procreate. I started very quickly, and I embark in a 100 day of happiness journey. I used to put a lot of pressure into my creative practice in the past, it was really all or nothing. Everything I made needed to be perfect and liked by everyone. That's why I burned out, because this is not a sustainable way to look at your art and to think about your art. By starting drawing on my iPad and dedicating myself off drawing a 100 illustration. Not every day, but most days for myself focusing on the thing that made me happy really helped me put together two things I like, drawing and also gratitude. Gratitude is extremely important for your mental health. At the bottom of the pyramid, these are the three non-negotiable. It's really taking care of your mental health, your physical health, and also your financial stability. Step 3 is to focus on yourself. Think about the question, what will you do to better take care of yourself? It could be to dedicate yourself to sleeping eight hours a night. It could be to just take one minute a day to meditate. These are my takeaway points. Being passionate is a story that we tell artists just to really romanticize the field. I think as artists also we really tend to put aside our own needs. You really need to take care of your body and take care of yourself, and know where your limits are before it's too late. My key takeaways are to make sure that you are physically healthy, mentally healthy, and you have the financial stability before focusing on creating art. Your well-being is really the foundation of your art practice, because I think that if you're always in survival mode, you won't be able to go to the next step of the pyramid. You won't be able to go all the way up to self-actualization. You need to make sure that you have enough food, sleep, money to survive. Then you can start thinking about how to be creative, because this part of the pyramid takes the most space and it's read the non-negotiables. Once you feel really good about yourself, that's how you're going to start gaining confident as an artist. Grab your pencil because the next step is going to involve a lot of drawing. 4. Your Safe Haven: Do you find it hard to find some peace and quiet? [NOISE] I'm filming. Do you find it hard to find peace and quiet to create freely? This is why we're going to talk in this video lesson all about finding your safety haven. [MUSIC] I come from a traditional Chinese family who immigrated from China then to France where I was born then to Canada. I saw this tweet recently talking about how our immigrant parents were too focused on survival and now my generation because we have the means and a better life, we are refocusing on self-actualization. Here's the story I want to tell you a little bit. When I was a kid, I told you in the previous video lesson, but I really loved drawing and my parents were very encouraging to me when I was a child. They thought it was good that I was actually not spending too much time in front of television because this is a completely waste of time. But they became concerned as a teenager because I was just locked in my own room drawing a lot and they were afraid that, God forbid that one day I will become a professional artist because that doesn't repay the bill. It's not [LAUGHTER] as glamorous. I mean, it doesn't have the status symbol of being a doctor or an engineer or something else. I remember that created a lot of conflict with my dad where we would have a lot of tense moments where he actually did not approve of me just drawing. When I would have to start building my own portfolio for applying to art school, I would go to the shade or it's like a separate garage that we had because we live in Canada, so we have a lot of room and I would just go and bring all my art stuff and work there for hours without being interrupted by a parent because I was always so afraid that my mom or my dad would just walk in and yell at me and tell me that was wasting my time or ask me to help in the kitchen or do something else. Once I was there, they usually left me alone.It was messy, it was cold, it was dirty, but I felt safe and this is what I want to talk to you about. About finding your own safe haven. Though my definition of a safe haven is a place, a time, or a mindset where you can be and create freely. It doesn't have to be a fancy separate room because now I live in Denmark and we don't have that much room. I don't have a safe haven where I have a whole big studio. My safe haven is basically that table behind you where I would go and start drawing after work. It's important for you to find this safe haven because by finding or creating that safe haven for yourself, you will also prioritize your drawing practice and you will also tell people around you that this is your time to create and that you do not wish to be interrupted. First, let's talk about space. Growing up in Canada, we had a lot of room, we had a lot of space, and that's why I was able to create in a completely separate shade or garage. Here, now that we live in Copenhagen, we don't have such a big house, but at least I have this test behind me. This is my safe haven. This is where I go and create. I try not to draw in front of the TV or my bed lying down because I really want to focus my attention and being dissolved whenever I draw. This helped me to produce work and be not distracted for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour. This table is also enough for me because I also have little drawers [NOISE] right here where I leave my drawing material overnight and this is the place where I can always go back to and start drawing. A little tip is to make sure that your created space is usually uncluttered, so then you can easily go back to it without making sure to clean it up or to get rid of the mess. It's extra time that I need to take out the clothes and put it on the floor. We all lead busy lives and I had no doubt that you are in the same situation. I always tell people to dedicate a small amount of time towards our drawing practice but make it consistent. For example, you can start with five minutes a day and dedicate to five days in a row and be consistent with your time. It could be, for example, I do it after work around 8:00 PM, right after dinner, but it could be waking up a little bit earlier and doing it in the morning or during your lunchtime. You can even tell your family members, your partner, your friends that during this time that you put in your calendar, it's dedicated to your drawing practice and you don't want to be interrupted. I felt that people are usually very supportive and they will encourage you and they can also remind you that this is your time to draw. There's also an accountability factor in play. Now, the biggest distractor is usually not people, but it's your phone, it's your social media channel, it's your electronic device. My tip for you is whenever you are ready to draw it is that you throw your device from across the room and you don't look at it for the whole period. That will help you. [LAUGHTER] That helps me at least stay focused on the task. In the project, I can write that my safe haven is my beautiful $50 table that is in the corner of my bedroom that I use to draw on. If you want to focus on time as you have safe haven as well, it could be the time I dedicate after dinner while my partner is watching TV and I can just relax a little bit before we go to bed. To wrap up, remember to create a safe haven where you can create freely without any interruption and that means a safe place, a physical place, a mindset, a time during today. It could be your favorite coffee shop, it could be the library, it could be this beautiful $50 table behind me, and start drawing. Make sure also you have a clean, a clear space and that you get rid of all the distraction and that includes the biggest distractor of all, your cell phone. Now that we have a safe place to produce, Let's get into drawing. [MUSIC] 5. Building Your Confidence: This is boring. All right, this is the tough love part. If you want to gain confidence as an artist, there are no shortcuts. You need to start drawing a lot. Now that you've dedicated some time to draw regularly, a beautiful table where you can start drawing as well and your mind is at peace, your internet bills are paid. What is holding you back? One of the biggest pitfall is actually waiting to get inspired. A lot of people are seeking inspiration in order to get started with their drawing practice. It's actually quite the opposite. You need to start drawing in order to get motivated. The more you draw, the more inspired and motivated you will be. I think something that we struggle a lot as creative people is to find focus in whatever we do. We always see the possibility we get distracted by the next big shiny ball. Actually, the best advice I've ever received was to draw the same thing every day. Then whenever you sit down at your desk, you don't have to spend 5, 10, 30 minute trying to look for inspiration. You just know exactly what you're going to do. In my case, I embarked on a 100 day of a happiness project. I told myself that for the next 100 days I will draw something that made me happy. To have this project in the back of my head was really a great way to motivate me to draw, to not have to deal with a type of creative block or changing my assignment every day. This is the thing that was committing to doing. Always favor quantity over quality, because that's how also you will start developing your own style. Style is something that you as an artist consciously decide to do. My style has develop into creating character with beady eyes, sharp shadows, especially under the neck, and simple line work. You will only start developing your style after putting hours and hours into your practice. Don't worry, your style will also change as you go along. Meaning the style that you have today will probably not be the same in six months or two years, but it could have similar elements. They say that you need to put in 10,000 hours into your practice in order to be deemed an expert. 10,000 hours, that's 27 years and a 142 days. I've done the math. That's considering 27 years and 142 days without sleeping and constantly working on it. I cannot deemed to be an expert at drawing. I'm not an expert at anything. I'm good at it. I'm not an expert, but that's the definition of being an expert. Do some. It's putting the 10,000 hours. I am aspiring to put more hours to become better in my practice reading for myself. Something I realized is that with a lot of creative people or people who really enjoy drawing, is that they've always enjoy drawing. They put these hours since they were little kids as well. That's why I would say don't dismiss all the work that you've done in the past as well. It's not only drawing, it's also if you're a good observer, if you understand what's happening around you. If you've been taking photography or looking at the world with a curious mindset. These type of exercise also go into your drawing practice hours. In their practice sheet, you can start answering your question, what will you do to commit your art practice? For example, you can commit to doing five minutes a day for the next five days. I think that's a great accomplishment, that's something to look forward to. You can also commit to doing 100 days of happiness. The assignment is yours. You also don't want to put a goal that's too unrealistic and feel disappointed if you are not able to reach it. Break the game so you win it, start with five days, five minutes. When you complete that set another goal, complete an art project gallery, watch my videos. In conclusion, make your art an extension of your personality of who you are. Put the hours, there's no shortcut if you want to gain confidence as an artist because I don't want to give parts of the patient price to everyone, but I think that confidence is really earned. If you're really into your art practice and you doing the work and you're drawing, there'll be some days where you don't feel a 100 percent and you'll hear that inner voice sound to you that you suck. Well, I'm going to give you some tips on how to muffle these voices. What are you going to do in order to commit to your drawing practice? 6. Your Ambition: I want to do what I love and I want to get paid for it. I think that should be everyone's dream. That's what my dad used to tell me whenever I was impatient and I felt like giving up. Along the way, you'll find many obstacles that will make you doubt yourself going into this beautiful creative journey. I'm here from the future to tell you not to give up. If you're putting the work and you don't feel like you're improving fast enough, I'm here to tell you not to give up. One tip is actually to seek a North Star in order to have something to look forward to. For me, the North Star is my longer-term ambition. Do you know what this really dreaded interview question where people ask you what you would like to be in five years. I actually started to see the purpose behind this question is really for people to understand in which direction you'd like to go. It doesn't mean that in five years you really need to be at this point. Because I think that goals change constantly and situation change constantly. But it's a way to get motivated and to see in which direction you like to continue to follow. Five years for me is a quick period of time because it's long enough in the future to help you continue and maintain your long-term goals. It's short enough that you can visualize yourself being there. Well, at least for most of you guys. In order to build my creativeness and not feel demotivated along the way, I like to ask myself these following questions. The first one is, what do I like to do? What do I really enjoy doing? If I were to retire with infinite amount of money, money wasn't a problem, what would I do in order to fight boredom? What will bring purpose to me? While completing my 100 days of happiness, I fell in love with drawing again. I think that was also the time where I was in healing mode. Understanding that drawing has always been a part of my life and this is something that I really enjoy doing. At the beginning of this class, we talked about follow your passion and the rest will follow. But I actually don't think that's true. I still don't think that's right. I told you earlier. I think it's more do what you like to do and you will inspire others. That's how I perceived my journey to be. The second question that I'd like for you to answer is, what can you do and get paid for? In the first video lesson, we talked about financial stability and, yes, it's important to be financially stable because it is at the base of your pyramid. I see a lot of creative people that shy away from the idea of talking about money. Well, when I started engaging in this whole new journey of creating 100 day of happiness, I also started dabbling into creating video lessons like this one for Skillshare, and I soon became a top teacher. I realized that I can share my knowledge, talk to a creative community and get paid for. That was a great incentive to me as well to continue doing so. I really love creating content, first of all, and if I can get paid doing so, that will be the sweet spot. If we go back to the question, what I'd like to do in the next five years, it would be to continue to inspire a creative community and doing it full-time. Full-time means getting paid for it. Paid enough that I can make a comfortable living. This goal may change in the future, but I want it to be my North Star for the next few years in order for me to continue towards that direction and not stop drawing. Now that we've laid down the different layers of the pyramid, let's go to the final one, the biggest one. Well, actually not the biggest one, it's the smallest one, but it has the most impact. It's all about you. 7. Your Identity: Repeat after me. I'm an artist. I feel like a fraud whenever I say this. I want to talk about identity and how it's super important as well in order to reach your goal, to identify yourself as this type of person. For example, it's much more impactful to say that you're a runner versus that you are only training for a marathon, because once you say I'm a runner, it's part of your identity, and you're more accountable to yourself to make things happen. I don't know I've always find it super difficult to claim to be an artist. I think it's the same way with a lot of creative people that we find it's such an arrogant, pompous title and maybe we're not good enough in order to consider our self an artist. But in this video lesson, I want to change your perspective on how you view yourself and read to start feeling confident to call yourself an artist, because if you are dedicating yourself into your practice and creating a lot of art then you're an artist. When I was young, I decided to run for class president in sixth grade. I was not the most popular kid but I was very well-liked I would say. I remember creating this giant poster to tell all my fellow classmates to vote for me. I don't remember what the slogan was, it was probably something cheesy when you're 11 or 12 year old, but I just remembered that it was a nice poster even to my adult standard. I must have used a lot of different colors, but tastefully, of course. Surprise, I won. But that's just to tell you that I was always a creative kid and it was always part of me. That was maybe my biggest strength. So drawing was always part of my identity and I think a lot of kids are also very creative and they enjoy playing and drawing. But for some reason, when we get older, we stop playing. We stop being creative. It's not necessarily a good thing to be. This creativity is pulled away from you as an adult and you feel like you don't have to write to call yourself an artist because an artist is just someone who has the status of being an artist. It's a very pompous title. I still think it is, and I don't 100 percent feel confident in calling myself an artist. But I've learned to say, "Hey, I'm Simon, I'm an artist. I create digital content. I'm a top teacher on Skillshare" and all those wonderful stuff. What type of validation would you need in order to feel comfortable calling yourself an artist? Would you need to have a million followers on Instagram following your art-specific content? Or would it be that someone buy your print and put it on their wall? These are all external factor. As long as you put the work and you work consistently towards your art practice, then you have the right to create yourself an artist because you're creating content, you are creating art. At the top of the pyramid, I will start writing, Hi, I'm Simon and I'm an artist. Remember that if you're taking care of yourself mentally, physically, you have enough food on the table and you are being consistent with your art practice, then you are on the right path. Whatever you're doing is good, keep on putting in the hard work. If you ever feel that you're a fraud or you don't belong in the creative sphere, then write us a message, let us know and we'll make sure that you know that you are an artist. How does it feel to be an artist? 8. Final Thoughts: Right now you've completed a pyramid to help you focus on your needs and also work towards becoming an artist. Congratulations. Also, remember to put it somewhere where you can see it every day in order to stay focused on your goals. Let's summarize this pyramid together. First, you have your non-negotiable at the bottom where it takes the most space and this is your foundation. If you remember my burnout story and you don't want to become like me, then focus on yourself first, which means mental health, physical health, financial stability. Make sure that you know that passion alone is not enough to pay the bills and keep you alive and happy. Instead, do what you love and continue to inspire other. Next, on top, you have your safe haven, meaning find a safe place in your heart, in your mind to create freely without any interruption, and makes sure that you throw your phone from across the room because you don't want to be bothered. On top of that, remember to build your confidence by putting the hour, putting the time. Remember the 10,000-hour rule because it converts to 27 years and 142 days, so make sure that in order to gain confidence in your skill, that you dedicate a lot of time towards your art practice. Then on top of that, remember, your ambition, why do you want to do this? I like to answer the question where you would like to be in five years. I know it's not the most sexy question to answer, but five year is a great framework in order to have a long-term goal that still seem achievable and within the distance. Focus on what you love to do, what you can get paid for and there you go, you have your five-year plan. Finally, on top of the pyramid is your identity. How do you identify yourself by switching the way you perceive yourself by saying that you are an artist, you are more prone to successfully continue your art practice and creating art and follow your dream and get this ambition going, etc. Of course, you cannot claim to be an artist if you do not under steps below. I talk a lot about when I was a kid and I used to love drawing, you get that, but this course is really rooted in identity and how we identify ourselves. For me, being a creative person has always been an integral part of my identity. This important part of this class is really to check in with yourself, to make sure that you know what's part of your identity and how you can continue developing yourself. Hey, remember to upload your completed pyramid into your project gallery. If you want to learn more about my happiness or just get updates on my live, make sure to follow me on Instagram. If you like this type of class, make sure to give me a review and also, follow me on Skillshare if you want to learn more about drawing and inspiration classes like this one. Thank you so much for watching. Make sure that you take care of yourself and I'll see you in the next class. Have a lovely day. Bye.