Last week I attended a class on how to be a professional illustrator led by a woman who is doing pretty much what I want to be doing in a few year’s time. The most important thing I learned from her is so simple: make drawing part of your daily routine.
So often, we forget or push aside our creation process to make way for answering emails, running errands, writing blog posts, or cleaning the house. While it may seem more productive to handle the ‘business’ side of your business, in the long run, you’re doing yourself (and your business) a grave disservice.
As an illustrator, you need to have a solid body of work in your portfolio to attract clients and get jobs. It’s the same for any creative business really. Without new jewelry lines or sets of stationery, you’ll never attract new customers (or get your old customers to buy again since they’ve already seen all you have).
Plus, the best way to improve your skills is to work at them daily. Also, everyone knows that better skills means a higher price point for your work.
That’s why my big goal for the new year is to draw for 2 hours daily. But you know what, I’m not waiting for 2013 to arrive because most goals started on the first of the year don’t stick. Thus I started my 2 hours of drawing the day after my class.
While it’s only been a few days, I already have dozens of new ideas flowing through my mind. I know I’m going to create an amazing amount of work in this new year, which is perfect because I intend to make 2013 the best year yet for my business.
Will you make your creation process a daily habit? I’d love to hear what you plan to do each day for an hour or two to improve your skills.
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