#Creating

[ssavaart]

Sometimes You Have to Make 100 BAD Drawings To Get 1 GOOD One

(Earlier this year, a publisher asked me if I'd be interested in writing a book on art. As we discussed it... they asked me to "give it a try" and this is one of two tests I did. I don't consider myself a writer, really, so this is just "in my own voice". I wound up turning down the offer... but would love to know your thoughts on this. Thanks)

Drawing something good. Something you like. It’s… elusive. Especially when you’re just starting out.

But, here’s the thing. You have good art in you. I promise. You just have to get to it and it’s stuck under a bunch of bad art. Really bad art.

When I was younger, I would draw every day. Filling up sketchbooks with doodles and sketches and I hated ALL of them.

Page 01: Crap

Page 02: Crap

Page 03: Crap

Page 04: Worse than Crap

Page 05: What even is that?

Page 06: Ugh

And it was just downhill from there…

But… somewhere around like page 100… I made something that… “wasn’t crap”. I actually didn’t hate it.

And that gave me courage to keep going. That one drawing made it all worth it. I was cured. I was now an expert. All of my art would be great from now on.

Oh… if only.

The next drawing was worse than any other drawing before it.

How??? I just made ART! like 5 minutes before that. I got all the bad drawings out! How did my art just go from Van Gogh to Van NO???

Honestly? I… got lucky. That one good drawing? Total fluke. Dumb luck. Sheer Happenstance.

Doing 100 drawings didn’t suddenly make me an expert. It couldn’t.

Have you ever heard of the saying “If a million monkeys type on a million typewriters for a million years, they’ll eventually write Shakespeare”?

I was those monkeys and that drawing was my Shakespeare.

I just pooped out enough bad art that eventually sheer luck was going to mean I may make something really good.

And I’m TOTALLY okay with that. I was 11. I’m not a prodigy. I don’t have any special gifts. But what I did have was… a taste for how making good art felt.

Seeing that one good drawing made me want more. Like my first time tasting chocolate ice cream. I was hooked.

So, I made 100 more bad drawings. Maybe more. And, guess what? ANOTHER great drawing emerged!

Another Shakespeare from this 11 year old monkey!!!! Huzzah!

From then on… I knew that all I had to do was keep banging away at that typewriter (I’m still on the million monkey thing… bear with me) and I would get rewarded with another masterpiece.

Week after week. Month after month. I would fill up my sketchbooks with the most horrific, amateurish, incomprehensible art… and, sure enough, 1 of every 100 drawings would not suck.

I would show it to my mom and she would say “Oh! That’s wonderful!” and when she tried to turn the pages to see more, I would quickly SNATCH it out of her hands and run back into the shadows like Gollum hiding his “Precious” from prying eyes.

I dare not let her see the monstrosities that came before the work of genius.

And… this went on. For years. Predictably. Rhythmically.

Until, one day… my 75th drawing was really good.

How? It was 25 drawings early! That’s not how it was supposed to work. That wasn’t the plan.

But there it was. A really amazing drawing of a spaceship I came up with out of my head. It had lasers and a cockpit and wings and…It was glorious. And it was totally unexpected.

Maybe NOW I was an expert and I no longer needed to make bad art? Would today be the day I would only make masterpieces?

I quickly turned the page and began to draw what would soon be my second greatest work of art and… NOPE.

Still crap.

Hm. But… something was different. It was still crap. But… it wasn’t as “crappy” as the other crap.

I grabbed my previous sketchbooks and looked at the bad drawings from previous years and… guess what? My older bad drawings were WORSE than my newer bad drawings!

Apparently, the more I drew… the better my BAD drawings got too.   

Okay. So. I drew 75 more “not as crappy” bad drawings and… predictably… I made another great drawing!

I was… IMPROVING.

This went on for years. I went to high school. Then art school. I hated MOST of my art… but as I practiced… the number of BAD art I had to make to get to the GOOD art got lower and lower. Soon it was 50 bad pieces for 1 good one. Then 25. Then 10.

It took decades when I noticed… I liked my art more often than not.

It was a complete surprise. I was in my 40’s when this happened. I was SO conditioned to just accept I was going to hate my art that I hadn’t noticed that I had made 5 paintings that didn’t suck. IN A ROW!!!

Unheard of!

But, there it was. 5 good paintings. One right after the other.

The 6th one was complete trash. Tossed it in the garbage.

But, the 7th one? I liked. And the 8th. And the 9th.

I’m now 54 and I know I still have SO much bad art in me. I can feel it. Always ready to pop up and ruin my day.

But, I “pooped out” so much bad art over the years that I’m not really worried about those pop up bad art surprises. I know it’s just temporary.

I like my art now. And that’s because I got MOST of the bad art out of me and into those old sketchbooks.

I know it may seem daunting doing 100 bad drawings just to get to 1 good one. But… if you love that feeling of making that one GOOD piece of art… you need to be patient and get the bad ones out. They’re blocking the good ones. Keeping them deep inside you.

So, crack open that sketchbook. Poop out those bad pieces of art and never look back.

You’ll thank me in like 40 years or so. I promise.

(Oh. And sorry for all the poop references. I’m still that 11 year old when it comes to humor)

Poop.

[shisasan]

I am going to make everything around me beautiful - that will be my life.

Elsie De Wolfe

[fortokeep]

vintage stickers from the collection of @stick-by-me!

(Made transparent by me)

[theambitiouswoman]

Hobby Ideas 🎨💻🎵🧁🪴

💰 Hobbies to Make Money:

Freelance Writing

Photography

Graphic Design

Web Development

Online Selling (e.g., Etsy, Amazon, eBay, Shopify)

Blogging

Stock Trading

Real Estate Investing

Affiliate Marketing

Freelance Consulting

💪 Fitness Hobbies:

Running

Yoga

Weightlifting

Cycling

Swimming

Martial Arts

CrossFit

Hiking

Rock Climbing

Dance (e.g., Zumba, Hip-hop)

☀️ Outdoor Hobbies:

Camping

Fishing

Birdwatching

Gardening

Geocaching

Kayaking

Mountain Biking

Backpacking

Stargazing

Horseback Riding

💻 Technology Hobbies:

Programming

Robotics

3D Printing

Virtual Reality (VR) Gaming

Home Automation

Drone Flying

Cybersecurity

App Development

Electronics DIY

PC Building

🎵 Music Hobbies:

Playing an Instrument (e.g., Guitar, Piano)

Singing

DJing

Music Production

Songwriting

Music Recording

Karaoke

Music Theory

Joining a Band or Choir

Vinyl Collecting

📚 Brainy Hobbies:

Chess

Sudoku

Crossword Puzzles

Board Games

Reading

Learning a New Language

Brain Teasers

Logic Puzzles

Math and Mathematical Puzzles

Astronomy

✨ Other Hobbies:

Cooking and Baking

Painting and Drawing

Pottery and Ceramics

Woodworking

Knitting or Crocheting

DIY Home Improvement

Model Building (e.g., model trains, airplanes)

Collecting (e.g., stamps, coins, vintage items)

Volunteer Work

Meditation and Mindfulness

[elonomhblog]

hobbies

a hobby is an activity done for enjoyment, often in someone's spare time. hobbies aren't primarily pursued for financial gain or profit, although you can earn from a hobby.

fun fact: the name hobby originated from the small toy, a 'hobbyhorse'.

there are some general guidelines as to how many hobbies a person should have. it is good to have 2-5 hobbies, with 2-3 that you stick to semi-regularly. your hobbies should range across these four areas: physical, cerebral, creative, and community.

now, here are some idea's: ♡ reading ♡ martial arts ♡ jewellery making ♡ cooking or baking ♡ outdoor activities ♡ puzzles ♡ music ♡ painting and drawing ♡ geocaching ♡ fermentation ♡ bee-keeping ♡ gardening ♡ scrapbooking ♡ blogging ♡ birdwatching ♡ dancing ♡ singing ♡ calligraphy ♡ archery ♡ rock climbing ♡ coding ♡ sewing ♡ mentoring ♡ volunteering ♡ photography ♡ writing ♡ hiking ♡ cycling

remember that you can try as many hobbies as you please,, and that hobbies are meant to make you feel joy and peace.

❤️ nene

[mrs-trophy-wife]

The Creator is your own wonderful human Imagination. That is God.

—Neville Goddard

[thepursuitofunderstanding]

The act of creation is an attempt to enter a mysterious realm. A longing to transcend. What we create allows us to share glimpses of an inner landscape, one that is beyond our understanding. Art is our portal to the unseen world.

Rick Rubin

[myfandomrealitea]

The problem with trying to irrevocably tie what we create to who we are is that it then completely voids the freedom of being able to create things.

Fiction is not meant to be our reality. Its meant for all the things we can't do. For the things we shouldn't. For the things we want to do but will never get the chance to. Fiction is for being more than our reality.

What is the point in fiction if you want it to be intrinsically bound to who we are? To what we believe in? To what we dictate we must obey?

How much of our own history would we lose if your demand that we must only create what is sound and 'right' comes to fruit? What lessons will we fail to learn in the future because the fiction that taught them to us in the past no longer exists?

Those who huddle in a barren shelter will starve but those who venture forth might find a bounty.

[chadirahshannon]

[of-ether]

the worlds most powerful manifest-tress

~~back in ig, building a website so I can sell my herbal products, working on my podcast, back in my movement medicine self ~~ the post break up portal is so strong 🍵

[mergulhadorideias]

✲ ₊₊ ❲ 🃏 ❳ ❛matching bios ideas ! . . . ₊₊ 🐳 ྉྉ

🐳 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

﹙★﹚look how they shine for you. . .

. . .and all the things that you do. ౨ৎ

and I shouldn't cry, but I love it, star b★y. . . !

. . .i just want to see you shine 'cause I know you are a st★r, girl !

call me babydoll. . . ι 🧸

. . .come break down these walls. 🧸 彡

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --🐳

if you liked it, like the post and republish it! thanks!:))<3

[traegorn]

I was thinking about that OC post.

I'm terrible at judging my own work. Literally everything I've ever made I have a thousand criticisms of.

But, also, strangers at cons have walked up to me and told me how moved they were by something I wrote. And it will inevitably be something I felt like I failed at executing fully.

But it doesn't matter. Because it meant something to them. I shared something and they loved it, even if I didn't.

Don't be embarrassed. Share what you've created with the world.

Let it live in more heads than just your own.

Give them a life beyond yourself.

[fortokeep]

Vintage Fuzzy Snails (Great 7 brand)

[furiousdinosaurdestiny]

[layla4567]

Adorable things your character can do

Unconsciously pouting

Stick out your tongue slightly when concentrating

Clap happily in a childish way

Jumping when impatient or cold

Wrinkle your nose when making a wish

Be kind to animals and pet and greet a dog/cat as if it were a person

Getting crazy (in a good way) every time you dance like spinning and raising your arms

Wrinkling your face when you taste something bitter or acid

Jump on the bed and sing at the top of your lungs like no one is watching.

Making puppy eyes while eyebrows wrinkle up and saying Ohh～ at something sad

Swing your feet when sitting in a high place

Sway slightly back and forth when standing with your hands clasped behind your back

Kiss innocently on the cheek when greeting each other or on any occasion

Cover your face when you are embarrassed to cover your blushing.

Approach the seashore and retreat quickly when the water approaches

Resting your head on someone's arm or shoulder when you are sleepy/bored

Put your hands on your chest or interlace them in the form of a prayer on your chest and close your eyes when listening to music, shaking your head slightly from side to side, just vibing

Help someone, whether it's teaching a child to read or healing an injured animal.

Smearing your nose or upper lip area when drinking hot chocolate with cream

Kicking the ground forward with arms crossed and frowning when angry

Laugh with your mouth open, eyes closed and a nasal laugh (they really are cute if you laugh like that please don't be ashamed, there is someone here who loves you!)

Eating something from the refrigerator secretly and then being caught turning around quickly and having your cheeks full of food like a squirrel

Dance shyly

Open wide eyes and mouth in surprise at a gift or something exciting

Biting the pencil when they are studying or making strange and funny faces when they don't understand something

I know some are very childish, it's just my opinion of what I consider cute.

[teal-sharky]

I LOVE CREATIVITY

Creativity is so cool. You can just, think of a thing, and make it reality. Just like that. Born into the real world, woven out of your imagination, your thoughts, and your heart's life power. The best thing is; the sky is truly the limit.

Work references! Medical exams! Certifications! Academic credentials! You can have them all with just a bit of creative soul and some elbow grease.

Hell, even federal documentation and financial records, if you're really good.

You can make anything real and true, with just a little bit of