I planned to work on the Photoshop painting I started yesterday, which I’m sure I’ll get back to sometime, but instead I made this. I got somewhat set up to do my Photoshop stuff today, but I just wasn’t feeling it. I’ve enjoyed working on paper with these pens and pencils more than I realized. Using my drawing tablet and fiddling with the tools in Photoshop just didn’t feel right. Not to mentioned that I just don’t have anywhere super comfortable to do my digital drawing.

What is this a picture of anyways? I’m not entirely sure. Sometimes you just get inspired by something, and your brain starts coming up with neat ideas. I felt like I needed to draw this. Maybe it’s just an interesting design. Or perhaps a spaceship?

So, the last couple days have marked the half way point towards completing my year of creative habits. I have to say that these 186 days have been a total blur, and the end feels all the closer because of it. I don’t see why the second half wouldn’t be just as speedy.

These last couple weeks have been a bit rollercoaster-like as far as my feelings go. Some day’s I feel really confident about my work and my future, while other times I feel that I’m not nearly talented enough to compete with any of the other artists out there. I usually go back and forth trying to figure out which way of thinking is more productive.

The answer is both really. Well, there are positives I can see in both ways of thinking. When I’m feeling confident I tend to read/research more often, and I notice that I produce better creative work. Probably because I feel like there’s a demand out there for my artwork.

When I’m feeling down about my work and my future, I start to think about how I just need to work harder than those super talented artists that I look up to in order to find at least some success. You know, spend an extra hour a day dedicated to doing that little extra.

I would much rather feel confident about my work though! If I ever start getting a steady stream of likes, shares, comments, and purchases from strangers, then I will consider my year of creative habits a complete success. Not to take anything away from all the support I receive on a daily basis from my friends and family. I think they understand how important they are in keeping me motivated, but I’m looking to make this something I do for the rest of my life. I’m going to require a lot more people from across the interwebs to help support me.

On the other side of the coin, if that doesn’t exactly happen in my first year, that doesn’t automatically make the year a failure by default. It just means I’ll have to adjust some expectations and press on.

I’m still young. Early 30’s and all that. I’m always reminding myself that if I continue to create artwork and share it online, while still learning along the way from other artists, I’ll hit success eventually. I expect to still be working hard on creative ideas for as long as I’m still breathing. And as long as I still have arms. And my sight. Yeah…. all of those things are preeeetty important for what I’m attempting to accomplish here.