7 Tips for Being More Consistent with Your Art

Art Tips

Dec 20

Starting out as a digital illustrator, I had an initial goal of improving my art skills, so I challenged myself to draw every weekday for an entire year and let’s just say, I learnt a whole lot of lessons in that time!

You don’t necessarily need to be consistent if you just want to enjoy making art for fun, but consistency is a great way to develop your creative skills and habits.

To help you in your creative journey, I’ve condensed these lessons down into 7 handy tips that will help you be more consistent with your own art.

Tip #1 – Understand what motivates you.

The key to being more consistent with your art is understanding your motivation.

Do you want to generally improve your skills? Do you want to build a portfolio on social media?

Whatever your desired outcome is, ask yourself why this is important to you so that you can understand your purpose which will help you consistently create even on those days you don’t feel very creative.

I knew that I wanted to prioritise my art because I enjoyed creating but never made the time for it. Giving myself permission to make time for my art everyday allowed me to learn how to create digital illustrations and move towards earning a full-time income as an illustrator.

On days I didn’t feel particularly inspired, I could come back to these motivations and remember why I started on this path in the first place.

Tip #2 – Take it one step at a time.

Doing anything consistently is a journey that may take a while to reach your destination, but the whole point of this journey is to take your time learning the skills you need.

Sometimes it may feel like you’re not getting anywhere or that you’re going backwards, but taking things one step at a time guarantees you will make progress. Instead of comparing what you’re doing today to what you did yesterday, look back on what you’ve done this month to when you started on your journey to get perspective on the bigger picture.

If you’ve ever hiked up a mountain, you’ll know the feeling of looking back and being surprised by how high you’ve come in a short space of time. It’s the same when we learn a new skill. We get so focused on what we’re doing right now or what’s ahead of us but when we look back at where we’ve come from, we realise just how much progress we’ve made.

This also goes for growing your presence on social media. Followers and engagement tend to fluctuate, so you’ll get a more accurate reflection of your growth by looking at your stats on a monthly or quarterly basis rather than daily.

Tip #3 – Start small.

This might sound a bit like my last tip but it’s important to remember that the journey you’re on is a long one. Having high expectations like creating something complete and amazing every time you create can feel overwhelming and is unrealistic.

From my perspective, it’s much more important to show up for yourself consistently and create anything than it is to expect yourself to create something amazing each time.

Be kind to yourself by having smaller expectations of your creative practice and be realistic about how much you’re going to do on a regular basis.

Only have time and energy for a 15-minute sketching session with pencils? Then that’s a big green tick for that day.

This is the expectation that I started with for my own practice and because it was small and reasonable, I would show up each day and be rewarded with a feeling of accomplishment!

Tip #4 – Open your world to inspiration.

As we get older, we tend to lose some of the wonder and creativity we had as children. As adults we often have to make an effort to rekindle that creativity!

Creating anything can be difficult when you’re not in the practice of coming up with ideas, so try and find inspiration by opening your world to the beauty, colour, and excitement found in the environment around you.

You’ll find inspiration in different places depending on the time and mood you’re in, so it’s a good idea to seek inspiration in a variety of places. For me, it took a little while to work out what inspired me, so I had to open my world to inspiration, actively seeking it along with new ideas.

Now I have several things that I go to for inspiration and perhaps they can inspire you too!

Going on nature walks
Paying attention to the colours, creatures, and interesting plants found in my surroundings
Thinking of my favourite things like tea, pets, and flowers
Prompt lists or drawing challenges
Pinterest boards of photos or animals
Other artists and seeing the beautiful things that they’ve created

I also enjoy going back to things I’ve previously drawn so don’t feel like you need to reinvent the wheel every time. Simply maintaining your creative practice is progress and if re-drawing something you’ve already created keeps you consistently creating, then go for it!

Tip #5 – Find a schedule that works for you.

Set yourself up for success by deciding on a drawing schedule you have time to commit to. It’s important to remember that you don’t have to draw every day! Perhaps work or family commitments make it difficult to find time everyday so instead you commit to drawing two or three times each week.

It can be tempting to be ambitious with your schedule but if it isn’t achievable for you, then it will likely leave you feeling frustrated when you can’t stick to it.

You’re much more likely to build a successful habit if your schedule allows you to relax and enjoy the process. A little pressure from deadlines can be a useful tool in keeping us creating but we all have lots of things happening in our lives so just remember to be realistic and reasonable with your schedule.

Tip #6 – Make it easy for yourself.

Help yourself by making things as easy as possible. If you’re able to, set aside a little space at a desk or table in your home where you can regularly sit and create your art. You could think of this space as your own mini studio space!

If you don’t have the room for a permanent set up, keep your art supplies somewhere visible and easy to access so that you can quickly pull them out when you’re ready.

If you draw on a digital tablet, it’s a good idea to keep this handy with a charger nearby. Speaking from experience, if you’re comfy on the couch, in the creative zone and you see that low battery icon flash, there’s a very slim chance you’ll actually go find a charger, plug in the tablet, and get back into the zone.

Setting things up for yourself at your laziest means less barriers and a higher chance of being consistent in your habits which applies to many things in our lives – not just art!

Tip #7 – Allow yourself breaks.

Encouraging breaks might sound a bit contradictory to trying to be consistent but it can be healthy to miss a day here to and there to take a break because again, we all have lots of things going on in our lives.

I missed a handful of days during my year of drawing every weekday but overall, I stuck to my schedule about 95% of the time which in my mind is a success. Some days I simply had too much going on in my life, I was too tired, or I was just completely not feeling it. On days like this I had to learn to give myself a break so that I could maintain a positive attitude about my art and avoid burning out.

Pushing too hard can make your art feel like a chore and that is not something we want. Have a schedule you can realistically stick to, sources of inspiration you can turn to, and an understanding of your motivation for creating and you’ll do just fine!

Looking for some inspiration to help you on your creative journey? Consider joining my Patreon where you’ll get access to my drawing tutorials, monthly illustration club, and lots of other goodies I share each and every month.

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