Creating New Portfolio Work for 2024
& how my art slump just disappeared one day without my permission
We’re back for another art date!
Let’s address the obvious: I launched a newsletter and then disappeared for over a month. Turns out, writing about why I love Adobe Fresco had me preparing an entire thesis, and we do lighthearted art dates here, not argumentative essays, so we’ll revisit that another day.
Do you ever draw a stupid, little sketch and you instantly know it’s going to turn into your new favourite illustration? For me, it was this scribble of a kid in a lawn chair:
And almost overnight, I turned it into this:
I’ve had pretty bad artist’s block for a while when it comes to my personal work. Looking through my documents from this year, I found a lot of client work and experimental studies, but zero new portfolio pieces. But let me tell you, this one awakened something in me.
I’ve been watching a ton of Cecilia Blomdahl’s videos lately. I discovered her on TikTok during the pandemic and only recently realized I could watch her long form content on YouTube. She lives on Svalbard, an island between Norway and the North Pole, with her loveable Finnish Lapphund named Grim. Think northern lights, polar bears and chilly ocean views.
So I did what any artist does when they have a new hyper-fixation: draw it obsessively.
I gathered reference imagery and then sketched some assets on their own, rather than jumping straight to roughs and compositions. Seems obvious, but for some reason the idea of focusing on little character studies rather than a whole image was really blowing my mind as I was pulling myself out of my slump.
This illustration came together like a puzzle, placing all the little pieces from my sketches until it made a bigger picture. Normally I refine a rough over and over in a group of 15 messy layers that I refuse to merge. Turns out, shaking up your process can be a great way to kill the block!
I felt really good about branching out from my warm, earthy palettes and working with new subject matter - something I’m typically too stubborn to do. I had so much fun that I ended up expanding the narrative by drawing a spot with the same characters:
And just like that, I have 3 new pieces to add to my portfolio. Only took me 10.5 months to figure out what to draw.
If you’re experiencing artist’s block, please be kind to yourself! Have a treat. Get some rest. Indulge in another creative hobby just for the fun of it. A slump can seem endless and trick you into thinking you’re talentless, but that is a lie! It’s all temporary and I promise, one day the inspiration will return and hit you stronger than ever.
What a lovely art date! And the sketches of the dog!! 😍 😍
I love tour illustration with the kid in the chair !! I can feel that you had really fun doing it
And tanks for sharing your creative process it really resonates with me ☺️🫣!!