And so, I draw again.

Build routines

Last Christmas, I received a gift: it's a book called Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad by Austin Kleon. I never really got to start reading it until last week, though, but man was it such an awesome read.

The book is a self-development-focused one, which tells of things I kind of knew deep inside, but wasn't able to realize by myself. Just because it says "stay creative" in the title doesn't mean the book is intended solely for artists or writers. It fits everyone else!

To quote:

I wrote this book because I needed to read it. This book is a list of ten things that have helped me. I wrote it primarily for writers and artists, but I think the principles apply to anyone trying to sustain a meaningful and productive life.

And, somewhere in the book still, it said:

There will be good days and bad days. Days when you feel inspired and days when you want to walk off a bridge. (And some days when you can't tell the difference.)

A daily routine will get you through the day and help you make the most of it. 'a schedule defends from chaos and whim,' writes Annie Dillard. 'it is a net for catching days.' when you don't know what to do next, your routine tells you.

I was relieved. Last year, when I went back to school as a graduate student while working full-time, I made it a point to schedule my day. Sure, I couldn't guarantee that I would perfectly follow the blocked time periods, but it worked wonders for me. I got to build a routine. I got to see how I can make the most of my day.

This year, I vow to continue it. This time, I would want to insert a few hours of drawing every week, as much as I can.

Something different from the usual.

I don't think Wednesday will be my drawing schedule, but I was definitely not feeling my A-game at work today. Instead of insisting to go about my tasks half-assed, I decided to do something I might actually like -- drawing!

For this, I used this Pinterest as reference. I truly enjoyed working on it because I tried a different Medibang brush this time.

It's pretty ironic how I've built a routine in my drawing process, and that I said I would continue building routines, but today, I swerved from what I normally do and tried out flat brush on Medibang. I normally work using the watercolor brush only, so this is a first!

I find that I actually quite like the texture of Medibang's flat brush. However, I'm still not sure how to work around it, so this will take some getting used to.

I have also always wanted to paint something in a way that won't make me want to obsess over details. Something a little rougher. Something that's not very 2020 erangvee. I think using flat brush will make this little dream come true somehow!

Notes

I hope to build a routine of coming up with drawings this year... perhaps every week? Every two weeks? Let's see, let's see.