emotional health and art

Let's catch up, it's been a while.

A Conversation About Art – Goals, Projects, & Directions

Post author:Juli
Post published:2020-06-11
Post category:My Art Journey Start Here! (Featured Posts)
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What are your goals for developing as an artist? Which mediums would you like to explore/improve at? Which drawing skills would you like to develop? Where do you stand right now in your art development? Are you happy with the progress you've been making lately? What do plan to do to level up in your artistry? What ways are you hoping to challenge yourself for the rest of this year? What are some of the most recent art projects you've completed? Which projects are currently in progress? What projects do you have planned for the future? . . .

Let's address the elephant in the room. . .

The Truth About Learning How to Draw – What No One Tells You

Post author:Juli
Post published:2020-06-04
Post category:My Art Journey Start Here! (Featured Posts)Ups & Downs of Art
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Let's be real for a second here. What is it like to learn art as an adult? When you ask people how long they've been drawing for, they typically answer with "for as long as I can remember". And don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful thing to pick up on your creativity at a young age. . .

Hang in there my friends. Sending love <3

Art Amidst Social Isolation – Covid-19 Update

Post author:Juli
Post published:2020-03-19
Post category:Art, Travel, & Life (Etc.)Start Here! (Featured Posts)
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But this world is littered with imperfection. It's a shame that it takes a global pandemic for us to realize this. I've been reaching out to a wide range of people. Some I'm in contact with on a regular basis, and others I haven spoken with in a while. Tense times bring about social unity—even during a time of social isolation.

Who am I? Where am I? . . . and more importantly, what kind of artist do I want to be?

Artist Identity Crisis – “Why does my art style keep changing?”

Post author:Juli
Post published:2020-02-22
Post category:All Blog Posts Art, Travel, & Life (Etc.)My Art Journey Start Here! (Featured Posts)
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. . . I didn't feel 100% about my love for art, and was afraid to fully come to terms with what this experience meant. So before deciding to jump back into creativity, after what I labelled a moment of "artist block", I purchased a Parisian paint-by-numbers set and slowly chipped away at it. Note, that it's been about 3 months and I'm less than a quarter of the way through. . .

Feeling down and uninspired? It sucks, and happens to the best of us.

When Negative Emotions Impact Your Art

Post author:Juli
Post published:2019-07-28
Post category:Start Here! (Featured Posts)
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When the stresses of the day-to-day get to you, it's difficult to channel your "feeling down" into making meaningful art. But it's especially difficult for someone of the beginner-artist status to do so. Art can be meditative. . . when you know what you're doing. But if you're still struggling to get the fundamentals down, art can feel more like a chore when in an uninspired state. It takes a lot of energy to create. And even more mental and emotional energy to face the fact that you're not very good at art. So, from this perspective, skipping out on a drawing session when you're "in a mood" might just be the most practical thing to do.

New year, new me.

My Coming-of-Age Art Journey – From Right-Brained to Left (Part 2)

Post author:Juli
Post published:2019-07-26
Post category:My Art Journey
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For the first 20 years of my life, I managed to convince myself that I didn't have a single creative bone in my body. It just wasn't in me. Art just wasn't in me; nor was it something I'd ever wish to become decent at. So based on this context, being inspired to draw based on Miraculous Ladybug fan art definitely seems to have come out of nowhere. Emphasis on "seems".

Inspired by my secret spot on a Brazilian farm in the middle of nowhere.

Watching Your Art Improve – Secret Spot

Post author:Juli
Post published:2019-04-11
Post category:All Blog Posts My Art Journey
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Alone time is difficult to come by on the farm that I'm currently staying at. I share a room with my dad and brother, in a space that doesn't accommodate much outside of 3 beds and a dresser. My little cousins are also on holiday from school at the moment; hence, there are about 5 kids between the ages of 5-13 in this house at a given moment. Practicing art becomes quite difficult when children are constantly hovering over you while you're attempting to be creative—and even more difficult when they try to play with your limited (and expensive) art supplies, but I digress. . .

One of my favorite people on the World Wide Web (photo credit: DrawingWiffWaffles).

Finding Joy in Your Art – DrawingWiffWaffles Artist Spotlight

Post author:Juli
Post published:2019-03-30
Post category:Artist Spotlight Start Here! (Featured Posts)
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Aside from her killer personality being a defining factor, DrawingWiffWaffles' art style is unique—you can easily point out her work in a room full of illustrations. Rin sketches with the upmost flow and creativity, with her favored thing to illustrate being female characters in a cartoon-esque style. By filming her entire process from concept to color, she opens a door into what goes through an artist's mind as they create. . .

If you touch her, you'll most certainly get burned.

Learning Art as an Adult

Post author:Juli
Post published:2018-10-28
Post category:All Blog Posts My Art Journey Start Here! (Featured Posts)Ups & Downs of Art
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Especially as adults, it's mentally and emotionally challenging to begin something from square one. More specifically, it's difficult to admit to being genuinely bad at something when starting out. Young people make mistakes—it's inherent. Adults on the other hand, are supposed to have everything together. We have unlocked the secrets to succeeding in school and work (or at least being exceptionally average), that being genuinely bad at something has become a foreign concept—it's frustrating, disheartening, and it's unfortunately enough to make so many people quit before they see the slightest improvement in their work. . .