Sketching 101: Nurturing Your Courage to be Creative

In this Sketching 101 journal entry, I want to share what I’ve learned about nurturing your courage to be creative and some of the creative game-changers that have helped me along the way. 

If you’re new to sketching, believe me, that in just a few minutes anyone can be creative, regardless of your skill level. We all are born creative! Please don’t let the fear of not being good enough keep you from exploring your creativity.  

One of my top sketching tips? Don’t take yourself so seriously, but be serious enough to work. 

With just a few minutes a day you can build muscle memory, improve your sketching skills, and be proud of your progress. This approach is an effortless way to get you in your creative flow and start sketching!

3 Tips for Nurturing Your Courage to be Creative

One of the top ways you can nurture your courage to be creative is to pay close attention as you track your time for an entire week. Notice how much time you waste and where you may fit in a few minutes of sketching. Take advantage of this once wasted time to sketch something, anything! The idea is for you to quickly sketch anything anywhere while you are waiting (not a masterpiece). 

Another way to build up your creative courage? Have what you need with you at all times. Look carefully, study the shapes of your subject and make a line, connect them, and then add color, and before you know it, your lines look like something recognizable. And there you have it, a sketch! If you’d like to know what tools I use you’ll enjoy this journal entry where I share 15 creative tools for the beginner artist. 

 

 

My final tip to nurturing your courage to be creative? Start sketching NOW! Don’t make excuses and don’t think that you have to go off and buy tons of stuff before you begin sketching.

All you need are the following five items EXCEPT the Peerless watercolor paper, those are a bit high end and I personally like them because they are conveniently suited for my creative needs. I suggest using any watercolor set that is compact and that you can take with you anywhere easily. 

 

5 Creative Game-Changers for Sketching 

1. Pick a notebook; I like to use Moleskine blank sheet notebooks. These won’t break the bank, will keep all your sketches organized, and are lightweight to carry with you. They are great for sketching with a pencil, colored pencil, and if push came to shove a modest amount of watercolor, plus they are lovely to write in. My Moleskine Journals from gloria battista collins on Vimeo.
2. Colored pencils are extremely forgiving while offering quick, no mess color. I use them now all the time, mostly to sketch people. Nude shades are forgiving and less visible when mistakes occur especially on faces.
3. When that unwanted line does go on the paper, I use white gel pens, to cover up. Indispensable also, for adding another bit of realism to a sketch. I use them to juice up lips, adding highlights to hair and noses, and anything that needs a glow to it. 
4. My favorite “in my bag” watercolor is Peerless watercolor swatches. The reason why I like them so much? They fit flat inside of my journal and each vibrant pigment (that comes in a 2inch x 2inch paint chip) releases their color when activated with water. 
5. Watertube brushes come in all brush sizes and are perfect because they come with the water source built right in. Don’t forget that you can add a sharp definition to your sketch by using pencils. 

I hope that my tips and favorite creative game-changers help you nurture your courage so that you too can discover the joy found one sketch at a time. 

If you haven’t already, be sure to sign up for my monthly email newsletter where I share a behind the scenes look at how I’m working things out in life and in my garden. You can also follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter. I also hope you’ll join me on my Mighty Networks group Flowers. Art. Life.