Transcripts
1. Welcome to Class: Have you ever been ready to
create something beautiful, But every idea that emerged
felt far from perfect? If you've ever found yourself struggling to find that spark of inspiration or grappling with creative blocks,
you're not alone. Hi I'm Yifat, an artist and
illustrator based in North Texas. I'm so glad that you're here. This is my most personal class. It's a treasure trove
of my tips and methods for staying consistent and
true to your creative goals. You'll be getting the
inside scoop on how a pro artist thinks
and stays consistent. Idea development is not a
one size fits all process. It's highly personal and can vary from one artist to another. I've been there and still am
every day when stepping into this studio with a desire to
get into the creative flow. Whether I'm working
on clients projects, my personal creative work, or when I'm producing illustration classes
for Skillshare. In this class, we'll explore
techniques to unblock your creative flow and keep
your artistic flame alive. Discover ways to overcome
creative blocks, Sustaining motivation and unlocking your
creative potential. Best of all, get inspired by practical strategies to keep your creativity and motivation thriving. To make the creative process more transparent and accessible, I'll do my best to demystify
the creative process. I'll walk you through the
evolution of my creative ideas. From rough concepts to
polished illustrations. explain what software I use. And talk about the Why, the decision making process
that moves projects forward. I really want you to finish this class with a
stronger grasp of the art process and a fresh confidence
in your own skills. That way you can push through those sticky moments when
you're feeling stuck. Join me in class and
let's get started.
2. Your Project: For your class project, take one of those ideas
you might have considered ugly or not fully formed.
And give it a shot. Your project doesn't
have to be polished. Think of it as a rough sketch. Keep in mind that as
you go through class, you might come up with new
ideas to make it even better. Feel free to share
your creative journey and the challenges you tackle along the way, check
the class resources for the attached PDF with a summary of all that
we cover in class. And with that, we're
ready to begin. I'll see you in the next lesson.
3. The Creative Process: Let's talk about those
early stages of a project. When it comes to
idea development, it's essential to
understand that it is not always smooth sailing to me. Those early stages
of a project always feel like I'm wrestling
with creative ideas. You may have experienced
those moments when you're ready to create
something beautiful. But every idea that emerges, whether in a rough sketch or during early
color exploration, feels far from perfect. It's a common frustration
that many artists feel too. This is where the
creative flow begins. It's perfectly normal
to feel a bit lost. You need to trust the process. The key is to keep going, keep trying, and keep
pushing forward. Idea development is not a
one size fits all process. It's highly personal and can vary from one artist to another. Some find inspiration in nature, while others draw from personal experiences or
express their emotions. You'll need to discover
what works best for you, that's part of your process. Experiment with
different techniques, whether it's sketching on
paper or your favorite app. Brainstorm ideas in
lists or simply, that's my favorite way in your head while going
about your daily life. There are no right or wrong
ways to develop ideas. It's important to realize
that creativity is not about achieving
perfection from the start. Every artist, regardless
of their skill level, starts with ideas that may
seem flawed or incomplete. Instead of striving for
perfection right away, give your ideas time to mature, make adjustments, and
refine them as you go. Remember, a rough idea is a
starting point, A dead end. Best of all, developing ideas is all about embracing
the imperfections, trusting the process, and allowing your creativity
to evolve naturally. In the end, you'll discover
that wrestling with ideas can lead to beautiful,
unexpected outcomes. Think about your own
sources of inspiration and what is your preferred way of
developing creative ideas?
4. Case Study 01: Rough Beginning, Illustration in Procreate: Every wonderful project
starts awfully rough. Let's be real. Ugly,
work don't get exposure. As I mentioned before, I like to try out a
variety of ideas and go in different
creative directions when I start a project. But when I experiment, things start to take shape. To illustrate this process, I'd like to share examples
of my own work. We'll examine how ideas
can transform from their raw initial stages to
near completed illustrations. Let me show you my
work and how it evolved from the rough beginning to a finished illustration. This illustration took
a while to complete. It was inspired by
beautiful fall day. I walked out into my yard, was inspired by the light and the leaves that were
moving in the breeze. I was in a mood to create
a digital painting. The software that I use for
this purpose is Procreate, and this entire
painting was made on my old and clanky ipad Pro. Initially, I was trying to
work more like an artist and a painter and capture the
light and the textures, but pretty soon I figured that I need to build
more structure and create a draft or a rough sketch to follow
along on my painting. Since I like using women
as my main subject, I introduced a character
and I tried to create an interesting composition of the character and the
trees and the yard. I drew a diagonal
for the line of the yard just to introduce
more dynamics into the scene. Try to capture the movement. I grappled a lot with
the composition. I tried to connect with the
piece through the texture in the trees which I illustrated
with pencil brush, but that was not enough
to keep the scene. I tried out different
approaches for the character. I even drew it in my
sketchbook and then took a picture and brought it onto the ipad and
work with that, I did several, several tries
to get the character right. The problem in this composition
is that it's very narrow. It doesn't allow me a lot
of space for the character. It's compressed
between the line of the yard and the top
part of the canvas. I was really trying
to bring a lot of ideas into this composition. The dynamic movement of
this girl on a skateboard. Maybe she's holding
a coffee cup so I can create a theme
and tell a story. But as much as I
tried to compress the character into
the composition, it was really not working. Trying a different
approach through color. I really love color. That is my main motivator
and inspiration. Instead of working with
just the pencil marks, I chose to work with colors to connect with the character. Another approach was to
illustrate the hair. The hair is a device
that I'm using here to emphasize the
movement of the character. Going back between sketchbook sketches that were scanned to the ipad and line work in
procreate with the color. I was really making a huge effort to make
this illustration work. I even use my special brush
that has leaves on it. Just to throw in some movement
to inspire me and keep me motivated not to leave this work and just go
into something else. I really, really
wanted to create a scene that has a
seasonal theme in it. At this stage, I did
some research and found some photos of
women on skateboard that really spoke to me and
I tried to figure out a way to incorporate their
poses into my composition. I had to tweak the
picture a little bit to fit the image
that I had in mind. But that was really a huge step forward and from this point on, the illustration really
started to take shape. The character is
completely made up, but it's based on a photo. My initial thought was that
there will be layers of more detailed work and
layers that are more in the background and
they'll be less focused. I was working to sketch out the leaves and flowers so that they'll create those
interesting elements in the foreground
of the composition. Color in this illustration
is based of real life. Sky is blue, ground
is brownish gray, the character's skin
is somewhat natural. I still wanted to maintain some of the original
pencil textures, so I kept them in the
trees and the skateboard. It's just something
that I really enjoy. By the way, this is the
six pencil in Procreate, one of my favorite brushes. I was basing off the colors
off of my initial color rough. And working with that,
because starting from scratch is
really difficult, it's a great idea
to throw colors on the canvas and then just work
with them and tweak them. Instead of starting completely
new layers for the sky, and the ground, and the leaves. I think it's really interesting
to create a tension between the finely drawn
details and the rough details. When we create a
picture or a drawing, we can't really make
everything as sharp. So we want to create a tension between the farther part
of the composition. So the trees are going to be less detailed and more
in a rough shape, but they still need
to look like trees. Then the ones that are upfront, we can see the trunks that are more detailed and I'm
very interested in that tension between these
two aspects of the painting. Another thing that was
really challenging, or a goal that I set for
myself in this illustration, was to capture the light. I was working to
create the shadows and make the color of
the layers really blend. The shading layer is
blending with the one underneath so that
all the colors will work well together. And I tweaked it and tried it in several different ways until it started to look just right. I think that getting
the composition right, the way the ground is shaped, the way that the character is riding and the hair is
going backwards behind, everything needs to work
before I can feel like it all sits well on the canvas and I can move on to create
all the fine details. Once it all feels just right, I was able to go back to the details of the
fall leaves that have these nice orange
and brown colors and add more of the
leaves that fly in the wind and that would enhance the shape and the movement
in the illustration. I was really wanting to recreate that first
feeling of walking into my backyard and feeling the breeze and listening to the leaves that
move in the wind. That was my main
inspiration for this piece.
5. Understanding and Overcoming Creative Blocks: Let's talk about overcoming
creative blocks and some ways to stay
motivated to create art. When we think about
the term block, it often brings to mind a
solid and impassible image, like a huge wall or a
fence with a stop sign. But what if we change the way we describe our
creative struggles? Instead of saying I
have a creative block, you could express it as, I'm not feeling very motivated to create
anything at the moment. I'm not in the mood though, I wish I were or even I'm not sure what
to create right now. By using these
alternative phrases, you can paint a different
picture of your creative state. That said, I want
you to know that creative blocks are
completely normal. They're not something to dread. They're actually
an essential part of the creative process. No artist can expect to
be consistently prolific. You can't expect yourself to be super productive
all the time. Blocks are part of the process. Think of these blocks
as turning points in your artistic journey
rather than obstacles. Turning points, because when you take a break from your artwork, you'll come back to it a little different than when
you left it out. Taking breaks when you're dealing with those
creative blocks, actually plays a role in
the creative process. These breaks aren't just for
chilling out and recharging. During these breaks, we
allow ideas to incubate. It's during the
timeouts that you can come up with some
fresh and cool ideas. When you return,
you might just have that creative spark to
overcome your block. When you get back to
your creative groove, you might feel inspired to explore something
new and exciting. Maybe it's a whole new art
style or a different theme. For instance, if
you've been struggling with motivation to work
on character design, you might come back
to your art with renewed interest in creating the scenes around
those characters. Instead, you might even want to experiment with
new artistic styles. It's all about keeping things interesting and fresh in
your creative journey.
6. Strategies for Maintaining Motivation & Creativity: Now I would like
to share some of my personal strategies for maintaining motivation
and creativity. Identify your creative passion. So let's talk about knowing
what you enjoy creating. For me, it's drawing
people, especially women. You might have your
own preferences. Starting with what you love
can be a great motivator. Ask yourself, what
do you like drawing? Make this your starting point. Keep it up. Keep trying. Keep going. Wrestle with ideas in the rough
and ugly stage. Don't give up and
keep pushing forward. Ideas will emerge as you work
and you will make progress. If you don't have
the necessary skills just yet, don't worry. Dedicate time. Learn and
improve your skills. When I wanted to get
into figure drawing, I had to put in some
serious effort to build up those skills that became
my driving force. And what motivates
me to this day, I used my fine art and
design background to practice figure drawing and experiment with
different styles. The results are a
series of dancers and two illustration
classes dedicated to dynamic character drawing. It's amazing what you
can achieve when you push through your limits and follow your
creative passion. Keeping few projects
simultaneously in different stages of development is another
way of staying in the game. Juggling multiple projects means that there will always be something
interesting to pursue, something to work on. I often find that I
am much more prolific when there are a number of illustration ideas
waiting on my desk. Lastly, remember that artists
don't live in a vacuum. Following on what
other artists are doing is a fantastic
source of inspiration. It's important to
keep an open mind. Stay curious, Explore
other artists, work through social
media videos, visit museums, or browse
through online portfolios. Don't be afraid to
follow other artists, you're not trying
to copy their work. It's pretty hard
to achieve that. Anyway, just watching
their creative process can be incredibly motivating, provide fresh perspectives,
and inspire new ideas.
7. Case Study 02: Illustration in Photoshop: Sometimes your best
strategy out of a creative rut is to step
outside your comfort zone. In the following example
from one of my projects, I want to share my
wrestling process with an illustration and how eventually it
started to take off. This illustration started
off in Photoshop. I wanted to work with
this big screen. I use my ipad as my drawing tablet and connecting it to
Photoshop with an app that is called Astroped
that enabled me to really work with the fine
details that are harder to notice
on a small tablet. My initial intention
was to create this image of a woman dancing. I was very interested in
the movement of her jacket. I knew that I wanted to
project something out of her, so that would create
some kind of fun scene. I was really trying to create this fresh style in my sketch. It doesn't look too bad, but I was really not
connecting with it. So I brought in some
reference photos and tried to see if I can get
inspired by those photos. Initially, I worked with
two dancing ladies. I thought that the
interaction between two characters will
be very interesting. But then I felt that in order
to create something fresh, I really want to focus on just maybe one image
and see where it goes. Because creating two images, it could be more complicated. It's an interesting composition, but I wanted to
focus on something else than the relationship
between two characters. I really wanted to focus on creating an interesting
style of illustration. The pose, initially
is very lifelike, but I wanted to play
with a perspective so that the upper body
will be closer, the front leg will be closer
to the front of the canvas, and then everything else
will be pushed back. And that would create
this intense composition. In this work, I
bounce back and forth between Photoshop and
Adobe Illustrator. Let's go to the Photoshop and I'll show you my basic colors. Something that I really
enjoyed working with was the hair and skin tones. I just really connect
with this blue lately. It's one of my favorite colors. I used it for the
pants and the hair, and I created highlights
at the hair as well. This is where when
I bring in color, it really helps me
connect with the image. This is something
that I really want to bring in as quickly as I can. The sketch was the first
step in creating this piece. The second stage is the colors. It took me a while to figure
out the background color. I started with this red one, and then I changed
it to purples. Then I moved back
to Illustrator. I started creating the jacket. Now remember that I
talked about learning new skills as a device to
boost your creativity. Well, I was taking a few Illustrator classes
because I was really curious about Adobe Illustrator and its capabilities
for Illustrators. And I wanted to advance my
style using Adobe Illustrator. And basically, right now,
I'm in love with this app. It's freaking amazing. I started working with complex gradients
in circle shapes because I really
like the circle. I use it a lot with my
character illustrations. I usually like to create
like a halo in a portrait. But this time around, I figured that the jacket
for the character that I planned out on creating
in the rough sketch phase, The jacket will work really nicely using these gradian
shapes in illustrator. When I do something
that I really love, it's a huge boost forward. I know that, yes, this
is working and I want to move with the
illustration, move forward. I brought this element
back to Photoshop. After I had the bubble jacket, I went back to the Carter and started to refine the colors. I introduced Gradian
to the pins, I added these hearts. Here's where the
inspiration came from. I was basically
dropping my husband off at University where works, and I saw students wearing the jeans pins that I had
in mind for my character. She had these big
embroidered hearts. They were white. But I
really love the element. I say, oh yes, this is
a great inspiration. I want to do this for
my character as well. There will be an opportunity to hand draw something rather than create elaborate shapes
in Adobe Illustrator. This is where the
inspiration for the hearts, for the pins comes from. Another element that I
brought from Illustrator was the fun smiles that
I created there. Then I used the bubble
jacket to create a design that I use later
in the final presentation. I call it Keep it up, it's actually an image
on my phone as well. I added the element
that I've created in Illustrator Yellow smiles
to the composition. Since it's a smart object, I can resize it as
much as I like. I also use it as a fun element for the earrings going back and forth between the apps
really help me stay fresh. Because sometimes when
we're just working on one type of tool, we kind of forget to bring in new ideas and it's
just too linear. I really like to spread
out when I work. So I work in different apps and different elements combined. All right, and this is
what it all came out. Some elements are
flat graphic motives like the sunglasses, and some elements are
three D, like the smiles, and some elements are gradient shapes that form
this abstract jacket. I really love how everything
comes together in one work. The final thing that I did
was create a presentation, something to put in
my portfolio and show potential clients where this illustration
work can be placed. I created this mock up in Photoshop for my
final presentation. It's all in my
portfolio now on hands and my personal
portfolio, That's it. This is how this
illustration came to be.
8. Actionable Steps for Nurturing Creativity: Setting achievable goals, seeking inspiration
from diverse sources, and fostering a
supportive community of fellow creatives can be incredibly helpful in sustaining motivation and unlocking
the flow of creativity. Here are some practical
strategies for keeping your motivation
and creativity alive. Connect with like minded people. How about drawing with a friend? It's not about
creating masterpieces. It's about having
fun and relaxing. Some of my own illustration
projects started this way. Embrace imperfections. Adjust your expectations for
immediate perfect results. It's okay not to create a
masterpiece every time. Embrace the imperfect work, because it's a step
toward improvement. Embracing ugly work is a necessary step toward
improvement and growth. Use diverse creative tools, experiment with different drawing media,
Use a sketchbook, pencils, watercolors, Digital pencil
brushes are really fun and flexible tools for
sketching rough ideas. Switch between apps
such as Procreate, Adobe Fresco, Photoshop,
and Adobe Illustrator. Keep things fresh, experiment with colors and keep
your ideas flowing. Keep the momentum going. Try to create as
often as possible. The longer you stay away
from your creative practice, harder it is to get
back into the flow. Stay in the creative
flow and work on your projects continuously
until they're completed. Take time to refresh
and make sure to recharge and
refill your creative. Well, explore nature. Visit a park or just
go for a walk to reconnect with a natural
world. Read a book. It's my favorite thing
after drawing and listen to music to spark your
imagination and emotions. Lastly, stay curious. Keep an open eye and observe
the world around you. Paying attention to people and their interactions will help you with character inspiration. I love people watching. Remember, stay curious.
9. Case Study 03: Embracing "Ugly" Ideas: Ugly sketches are the starting
point of every project. That early stage is the
right place for rough, in my case, very rough sketches. These sketches are a way to
begin forming your ideas on the page without the pressure
to create something nice. They are placeholders
and trailblazers and set the general
direction for each project. The thing is you usually
don't get to see these initial stages of artists work because
they're not presentable, they are rough,
sometimes hard to read, and deeply personal sketches. I think that the project
that I'm about to share with you
demonstrates this well. It took numerous twists
and turns to develop. When starting the project, my personal goals were to create a portfolio piece in a
fresh and exciting style. The brief that I decided
on was a beer can design. My goal was to showcase how my illustrations may be
applied to commercial work. So I really like this
sketch, actually. It's not a bad one.
It shows intent. It has a subject and all sorts of elements
zooming out of the subject. And I'm basing it on a photo that I'll
show you in a minute. In the same way as I did in
the other case study where I developed the character
eventually in several apps. I really wanted to push
boundaries with this project, but I didn't have a clear
idea how to do that. All I knew is that I wanted
to use Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, And
I wanted to create something fresh and interesting that will be exciting for me. And eventually
something that I will be proud to place
on my portfolio. This illustration,
if you're wondering, was made in adobe Fresco. I really like adobe fresco
because I like the interface. It really speaks to
anybody who is used to draw digitally may be
familiar with Photoshop set up, but it's very different
than Photoshop. It's more intuitive and easy and has a very
clear interface. I'm actually thinking of creating a few
classes in fresco. Please let me know if you're interested in the
class discussion. Here is the photo that
I use for inspiration. I think I really liked her pose. I love her hair, I
love her attitude, and that flower that
she has in her mouth. So I was trying to
create blocks of colors, like well defined shapes in
fresco to get me started. I love the circles. I worked with circles as
motifs in the background, trying to create some
kind of texture. It's really isn't the bed start, but somehow I think what got me stuck and
wanted to explore other ways to create this
project was that I just didn't like the way the portray facial details
were coming along. And it doesn't look too bad now, but while I was working on it, it was just not going
in the right direction. I moved into another app. I moved into Adobe Illustrator. I started with my
main motivator, which is colors, And I created the background for the piece with the colors
that spoke to me. That was the foundation. Then I brought in the
image, the reference photo, and blended it in with the background just to
see how the color works. Because I was hoping that
somehow that might spark an idea or a direction of
where to take this piece. Basically, I was just playing around and playing with colors. Playing with placing the
photo in the composition. However, that really
didn't work well for me. I took it back to Illustrator. I played with the elements, just developed them further. These are all the circles
that are supposed to go in the background
of my main motif. Like I said in the early
stages of this class, if you get stuck
working with your idea, it might be a good strategy to develop other aspects
of your project. In this case, I was
not really sure how my main motive is
going to look like, but I had a pretty good idea of how I wanted
the background to work creating these different
elements made with circles. I did that in Adobe Illustrator. Then I brought this background into Procreate because it's an app that I feel
very comfortable with. I could have done it in fresco, but I just wanted to play
around with another app just to see if it will open
up a new direction. The procreate process was rough. I mostly played out
with blocks of colors. I let myself explore very freely any idea
that came in mind, whether it's the
color of the hair. I really enjoyed drawing
with six B pencil and went into details of the
character's face, all that. Just to see how far I can take this illustration and maybe I'll hit a direction
that I really love. I tried some crazy things. It's okay because
we're just exploring. At this phase, I had an idea to create something
very crisp and modern. I was not really feeling
very inspired to do any of that while
working in procreate. It just felt like the
same old process to me. I was really challenging myself to pull into a new and
different direction. I took the work into
Photoshop and created a very rough sketch in which I was basically pulling away
from the reference photo. I was thinking of lots of elements in the
background with the plum, which is the fruit
that looks like a heart shape that the
character is going to hold. And I started building up a
color palette in Photoshop, again, because I connect with
my work through the colors. This is a more
refined color option. Now I'm working with
all the elements that I previously
created in Illustrator. Now you can pretty much see the foundation of the
finished illustration. Here the character
is actually in a profile and it has bees flying around because
I really wanted to add movement with insects. I don't normally draw insects, but I thought it would be fun
to try. Here is what I did. This is how it came
to be in Illustrator. I'm actually going to demonstrate the second character that I created for this project, but you can basically see how this character in the profile
looked like in Illustrator. I often use a sketch
book to start off for this image I had that
I created in my sketchbook. I placed it by me as I was working just to have a
general idea to guide me. I really don't like to work in a void having nothing
as a visual reference. It should be a
photo or a sketch, but there should be some visual in the background
as a reference. I call it my anchor. Let's take a look
very briefly at the process for creating the main character
with gratian shapes. I really like this style. It's a new one for
me and I definitely want to explore more
for this project. I wanted to create two
variations for beer can or soda can design because they usually come
in different flavors. One of my characters
is in a profile, and the one that I'm working
on now in Illustrator, is facing the front. This project is still in
process. I haven't finished it. That's actually another device
to keep something going, always in the background. Because I know that once I finish editing and sharing
this class with you, I have something
to fall back to. There's no void. No vacuum. Nothing
waiting for me. There's some waiting
after a project. That's why I'm always
juggling a few projects. Because I know that I'll
have something to fall back to and to keep going, and something that I need
to develop as an artist. That project is still in the
making for this project. I was going back and forth now between Adobe Illustrator
and Photoshop. I was creating the
main elements in Illustrator and exporting
them into Photoshop, because I use Photoshop
for the textures. Although I thought it was really interesting working
with two apps, the work process was creating the shapes in Adobe Illustrator, then exporting them as smart
objects into Photoshop. The process that I
eventually worked with was creating the shapes
and the main elements in Adobe Illustrator
and then importing them into Photoshop file where
I constructed the project. What I love about
Photoshop is that I can bring in all the
textures that I enjoy working with and adding them to my illustrations in Illustrator to add character and warmth. That's what I was doing. I added some highlights in textures in Photoshop to the
shapes that I've created. In Illustrator, I really
love this little dragonfly. I'm very proud of myself for
being able to draw that. The idea behind bringing in the dragonfly is
to create a story. When you have two characters, or you have a
character in a pet, or a character and
another animal, or another living thing, there is an interaction
between them. And that creates a story and helps us connect with
the illustration. Finally, I added more elements
that help with creating movement and energy to
the sole illustration. I really enjoyed playing
with lots of elements. Here I created a fruit, which is the flavor
for this beverage. And there is a
color palette that is all in the blues and purples. And I introduced all these
elements that add movement. Last thing that I
did was creating this poster that shows how the entire illustration
looks like and what it would look like on a
mockup of a beer can.
10. The Art of Time Management: Let's talk about
time management, something we all struggle
with in our fast paced lives. We all strive to find that
balance between work, health, family, and pursuing
our creative passions while following a
rigid schedule. Works. For some, it's not a
one size fits all solution. But I've got some good news. Making small
progress can be just as effective as
following a strict plan. In a world driven by
deadlines, commitments, and endless to do lists, sticking to a schedule can often seem like the path
towards productivity. I too, have attempted to create
and follow a rigid plan, only to discover that my
flow is more organic. Scheduling apps,
colorful sticky notes, well ordered lists,
I've tried them. All. The constraints
of a set schedule didn't always align with my creative process or my
responsibilities for my family. Instead, I've learned
to embrace flexibility. I still meet my deadlines, whether it's for clients work or creating
illustration classes. This approach has enabled me to make small consistent process on my projects rather than wait for a perfect time to create,
to write manuscripts. To illustrate, when
my daughter was still a baby set your goals. Small steps will eventually
get you where you want to go. It can help you make
consistent progress rather than feel overwhelmed
by larger tasks. In conclusion, the path to creative time management is as diverse as the
individuals who walk it. We would be wise to
acknowledge that not everyone can thrive within the confines
of a rigid schedule. Embracing flexibility and
finding your own unique rhythm is essential for harnessing your creativity
and productivity. Embrace your individual flow, and appreciate the value of
small consistent progress.
11. Finding Your Creative Muse: Let's discuss what's in the
heart and center of every artist finding inspiration
for your creative work. It's a topic near and
dear to my heart, and I would love to
share some thoughts and experiences with you. Let's start with the
concept of the muse. It's a romantic idea, isn't it? That a mystical source of inspiration will strike us
like a bolt of lightning? But the inspiration is not just a gift that
magically appears. It's a result of
consistent hard work. It's about putting in the
effort day in and day out. The more you work, the
more likely it is that inspiration will
strike Henry Mattis, whose painting, The Dance, inspired many artist and
illustrator to this day said, don't wait for inspiration. It comes while one is working. I remember my art teacher
once told me a story. He was talking to the class
about the subject of music. Some students were
wondering if they should even be looking at
other artists work. They wanted to be
original and authentic. They thought that maybe by distancing themselves
from influence, they'll be able to
find their own voice. My teacher, a famous artist said that whether
you like it or not, art and influences
are all around us. If you try to disconnect
from social media, you'll see art on T shirts and advertisements,
It's everywhere. Creativity doesn't
thrive on isolation. It feeds the world around you. Inspiration can come
from unexpected places. Keep your eyes open. Be attentive to the world, and be ready to capture those fleeting moments
of inspiration. One practical way to stay
inspired is by following interesting people
and saving projects that pick your curiosity. I often find inspiration on
platforms like Instagram. I've saved projects and
images that resonate with me. It's like curating a personal
gallery of inspiration. It's just a few clicks away. But in this age of constant information and
digital distractions, it's crucial to limit your exposure to things that
don't truly inspire you. There's so much information and engaging content out there. So be mindful who you
follow and what you consume online and follow
accounts that distract you, that don't contribute positively to your creative journey, and instead curate
your digital space to align with your interests. Museums are another treasure
trove of inspiration. Whenever you have the
chance visit, one, wander through the exhibits with an open mind and allow
the art to speak to you. Street art is yet
another source of inspiration that's
often overlooked. Take a walk through your
city or any urban area, you'll find an ever
changing canvas of artistic expression. It's a reminder that
inspiration can be found in the most unexpected places.
It's all around us. Learning new skills is another way to keep the
creative fire burning. Challenge yourself
to step outside your comfort zone and
try something new. It might be a different artistic
medium and new software, or even a new hobby. These experiences
can open doors to fresh perspectives and ideas you might not have
encountered otherwise, I started playing the guitar
a couple of years ago. It's very new and
exciting experience for me and I'm still learning. Lastly, remember that your path and goals are not set in stone. You might find yourself drawn to unexpected places and ideas. It's all part of the beautiful process of
finding your own voice. In conclusion, the
elusive muse is not a fleeting spirit
to chase after. Instead it's a result
of your hard work, curiosity, and the
choices that you make. So be flexible and
keep an open mind. Keep moving forward. Trust the process and you will find your creativity
along the way.
12. Final Thoughts: Congratulations, you
finished this class and thank you for
joining me today. I hope you come out of this class with a
new understanding and reinforcement of
your artistic journey. I hope that you understand
that ideas start very rough and they're
not easy to develop. So we need to adjust our expectations and push
through those sticky moments. I'd love to see your
project for this class. Share an ugly phase
in your process. And by that I don't mean
something really ugly. It just can be anything
that is rough, authentic. I want to see your voice. Then if you feel
motivated to develop it, share the next step
in your process, or even your final work. Remember to upload
your project to the class gallery so
that we can all see. This is a community of fellow students and we all
would love to see your work. Please take a moment to leave a short review at
the end of class. It really helps the class to get discovered by more students. Follow me here on Skillshare and follow me on
Instagram as well. Thank you for joining me today and I'll see you next
time. Bye for now.
Yifat Fishman, Artist & Illustrator
