Things I made this week

This week I just wanted to share a few designs with you I created that I really enjoyed.

Not only did I really love the final result, but I had more fun in the creation process than I’ve had in a really long time.

I wanted to make some animal prints, which is something I’ve avoided because I never really knew how to approach them. I take a more stylized approach to my work and I wasn’t sure how I’d go about making the print recognizable without tipping too far over into realism.

But I decided to just give it a try, and here’s how they turned out—

I made all of these in various colorways and just plucked a few of my favorites for this newsletter. Some of these I loved more than I thought I would once I got to the coloring stage. I used to struggle so much with color, but I’ve honed in on a starting palette I really love and have started to find my groove with color.

Some thoughts on why I think this week was so successful design-wise for me—

Letting myself experiment

My brain heavily resists experimentation because it likes to keep me comfortable. But once I get over that hurdle and let myself dive into experimentation, I find myself having the most fun.

I love the problem-solving that comes with figuring out new tools, new techniques, and new workflows. I love the challenge of taking an idea I’ve never approached before and figuring out how to apply my style to it.

So I’m going to remember this experience and try to remind myself that experimenting is fun, even though it’s challenging. It’s fun because it’s challenging.

Focusing on quantity over quality

Another designer I follow talks about this idea she calls “The Principle of 5” where she encourages artists to approach a concept 5 different ways before settling one.

When I first decided to create an animal print, I had planned on only creating one. But then I decided to follow this principle, and create 6 different prints.

The first couple I made were challenging and aren’t my favorites, but as I created more, I started to settle in. The last design I made is the snakeskin pattern, which turned out to be my favorite of all of them even though I thought it would be the most challenging for me.

If I had tried to create only one really good design, I think I would have fallen short, but by creating a larger volume of designs, I was able to create better ones in the end.

Thanks for reading. Until next week,

~Rachel

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