Improving Your Art Creativity 101
Building habits takes time. And while art and creativity come naturally to some people, it is still possible to work on learning about art and getting inspiration to improve your art at the same time. To create good art habits, you only need to apply the right strategy. The first step, of course, is setting goals, or in this case, art goals. You need to hold yourself accountable to these goals and use them as a measure of progress. Next, you will need to develop a realistic; we don’t this to become a chore, but more of a free time. Because obviously, if you want to improve your art, you will need to practice, practice, practice! Don’t worry about perfection, if you are improving, you are heading in the right direction. You can take inspiration from other artists and learn from that. Of course, if you want art to become a habit, you are going to have to push yourself. You see, taking up new habits can take anywhere between weeks to months depending on how invested you are. It’s not just about watching you tube tutorials and following art groups, it’s about picking up that pencil or paintbrush and starting it. Don’t think, just do! A simple continuous line can be all you need to get started. Here are a few things that will help you get there:
#1 Identify Your Art Goals
Before any habit-forming, you will need to set goals. This ensures that you start with a purpose. You know what you want to do, and you’ve established how you’re going to do it, so the next step is simply to start! For example, your objective can be something as simple as completely filling a sketchbook within 2 months. But whatever it is, make sure to write your goal down and measure your progress over time. We suggest you start small and gradually increase the time you invest in art in order to form proper, long-term art habits. The point is to dedicate some time to practicing and learning about arts every day, even if it’s just 30 min a day!
#2 Keep an Art Idea or Journal
This one is very important! If you don’t have one already, go get one now! Inspiration can come from anywhere. In fact, it is all around you. So, if you need a creativity boost, we recommend carrying an art journal with you. Use it to record all sorts of ideas, kind of like an art diary. Like writers have “Swipe files”, you can use your art journal as a source of inspiration. However, plagiarism is not an option. The purpose of this journal is only to capture ideas and draw inspiration. It will only save you some time when you’re experiencing a block. You can just refer to these ideas to decide what your next project should be. You can also get crafty and put up an art bulletin board with all these ideas. You can post all sorts of quotes and pictures on the board so that you can come to them if need be. And, of course, you can use them to get inspired and improve your art skills. Another option to take pictures! No need for a professional camera, just grab your phone and take pictures of interesting textures, weird angles, color combinations of flowers that you love, sunsets, anything that you love and find inspiring.
#3 Use Daily Drawing Prompts
Another way to tackle art blocks and boost your creativity is to get yourself a list of drawing exercises or drawing prompts. Just like in writing, these prompts are meant to set off the artist within you. They merely provide a starting point for when you ‘don’t know where to start.’ This means that when you don’t know what to draw, you can simply skim over these ideas until you find one that inspires you and then start creating. You won’t have to waste any time racking your brain for some sort of new idea. And the best place to find daily writing prompts is Pinterest and, of course, Google Images.
#4 Create a Treasure Chest for Your Ideas
Remember how we talked about maintaining an idea journal or bulletin board? Well, this is like that but much more fun! You can collect postcards, images, quotes, and snippets from magazines in a box. You can later come back to these ideas to rediscover the treasure chest of art inspo. It’s almost like opening a gift, plus it’s easier than having to mentally recall your ideas. With everything else we must manage in our lives, it’s nice to have the inspiration box ready when we need it. Having written them down ensures that you don’t forget them. And you might even be able to see new connections when you revisit an old idea. And that’s exactly the kind of thing that can help you to improve your art! Memories are powerful things and usually help up paint a picture in our minds. Hint Hint.
#5 Use a Calendar & Habit Tracker
When you’re trying to work on your art by working on developing art habits, you will need to track your progress. Using calendars and habit trackers can be an excellent way to measure and monitor your overall progress. These tools are freely available on the internet, but they can significantly improve your productivity. Additionally, you can achieve your goals more effectively if you hold yourself accountable. Also, some days are bound to be unproductive, and that’s okay because you deserve a break every now and then. Nevertheless, you can find motivation by reviewing how far you’ve come, and so, you can ensure that you won’t steer off track by one unproductive day. However, we suggest that you don’t take more than two consecutive days off because anything that’s not done in 2 days, will probably not be done for the next 3, and that’s already a week of progress lost. No one wants that!
#6 Split Bigger Projects into Smaller Ones
Although for this one it may be hard for some because once you start, you just want to see the finished product, BUT, sometimes it’s a good idea to take a step back. Big art projects can often seem terrifying, but these same projects are so much easier to execute if you divide the workload into smaller portions. When you do this, you can achieve small goals faster and feel a sense of accomplishment that will keep you going. It’s really the same amount of work, just more organized and seemingly easier to do. It’s like telling yourself you can do this because 20 minutes of a lecture is just 5 minutes 4 times, right?
#7 Value Progress Over Perfection
A lot of artists are guilty of chasing after perfection (myself included!). But let’s be honest… what is perfect? Every artist has their own perception of what perfect is. Even the artist you think is perfect doesn’t think that they’re perfect! If you’re trying to create perfect art, you will end up not creating any art at all. And in fact, the best part of art is that there’s no going wrong. And sure, your idea didn’t turn out exactly the way you initially planned, but it might turn into something different, or even better than your initial idea. But please understand that you can’t force art or creativity. Find your inner rhythm to increase productivity, and if you change your mind about a project midway, you can always steer it in a different direction. Do what works for you, because as long as you keep going- that’s progress! The whole point of learning about art is to allow yourself to experiment and just have fun! And if you want to improve your art, you can do it by practicing regularly!
#8 Challenge Yourself
If you want to improve, there’s got to be a challenge. And luckily, the art community is big on challenges and competitions, you can easily participate in different challenges to stimulate the artist within you. Keep an eye out for challenges in Facebook groups, Art shops in your area and even competitions. If you find one that suits your vibe then go with it. Just remember, it’s not about winning (Although that would be awesome!) but it’s about getting exposure to other artists, learning from them and improving your own art.
#9 Take a Break Every Now & Then
It’s okay to take a break every now and then, especially when you find it hard to focus. I sometimes spend a couple of weeks not looking a piece that I started because I have been staring at it for so long. You tend to not see the mistakes after a while. So, I flip it over so I can’t see it and wait a few weeks. There’s my break! I can go about my day, for a few days, not thinking about it, and then when I do, the inspiration and creativity all comes back like a flood. Take a break! It might be the best thing that you do for that piece!
#10 Collaborate with Other Artists
Collaborating with other artists is a great way to create a wholesome community. They know exactly what you’re going through, so you can relate to their situation as well. You can even use their work as inspiration for your own- again, inspiration not plagiarism. Working alone will only get you so far, and as they say, “two is better than one.” So, get yourself an accountability partner to connect with and encourage each other. Share ideas, criticism, and creativity, and improve your art together! There’s no competition here, just creativity, passion and working towards a common goal: Being the best artist that you can be. 
The Bottomline
Art is a very therapeutic hobby, but sometimes you just don’t know where to start or what to draw- but that’s okay! If you learn about art and other artists, you can get inspiration for your own ideas. You can also record these ideas in a journal, bulletin board, or a treasure chest to refer to when you’re experiencing a block. Also, don’t forget to track your progress, so you can actually reach your goals. And once you’re through with this article, we can guarantee that you’ll never run out of ideas for artistic ventures, and you can definitely put the points into action to develop healthy art habits and improve your art on day at a time.