I’m a firm believer that artists may have talent but it’s only through hard work that artists get better. Just like athletes, writers and other artists can only get better by practice, practice, practice!

NaNoWriMo

To that end I have challenged myself over the years to practice my limited talents and skills with the help of online challenges. In 2015 I participated in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and completed 30 days dedicated to completing 50,000 words on a NEW novel. You can read about my exploits here.

Now that Ilene and I are full-time RVers one would think I’d have more time to dedicate to my artistic activities…and you’d be wrong. It seems like the more time I have, the more time I don’t seem to have. I still have a home to take care of, this one on wheels. We do a lot of sightseeing since we travel more. Oh, and I seem to ADD more hobbies as time goes on.

What started as being interested in watercolor painting last November has morphed into pen & ink drawing, urban sketching, plein air painting and drawing, blog posting on three sites, working as a voice talent, and building an RV inspection business. And yes, I saw City Slickers—but I can’t seem to do just ONE thing!

Inktober

This month I’ve been making an original pen and ink drawing every day in October as part of the Inktober challenge. This goes right along with my goal since April of this year to draw, sketch, or paint each and every day. Guess what…it’s working! I haven’t missed a single day since I started of at least doing some kind of drawing. Yes, I’ve had some late nights, but the repetition has been helpful and practice is making me better.

The nice thing about Inktober have been the daily prompts provided by Inktober’s founder, Jake Parker. Some artists use the prompts, other do not. Some use the prompts to stick to a theme. For example, much of Jake Parker’s art is based around aliens and space creatures so each of the day’s themes will have a space creature or alien in the work. Some use a Halloween-based theme with the prompts.

Other artists, like myself, try to use the prompts to stretch our art. There are certain subjects I have avoided over the years, portraits of people, people in crowds, and animals for example. Instead of avoiding these subjects, I’ve embraced them in regards to the prompts and it’s helped my confidence. I’ve also learned to love the process and not worry about the final outcome thanks to one of my art heroes Steven Reddy.

The prompts also challenge me to think “outside the box”. I tend to take things at face value so when I see the word “poisonous” I think of a snake or spider. By sharing our artwork on social media, Instagram for example, I see how other artists see these words and interpret them through pen & ink. This encourages me to do more brainstorming and give more thought to what I want to draw. Hat tip to another art hero, Alphonso Dunn and his YouTube video.

Challenges, artistic challenges like NaNoWriMo, Inktober, and The Writing Cooperative 2018 Writing Challenge are great ways to push my envelope and hone my talents. If I add in a writing contest or art contest no and then, I REALLY stretch my artistic abilities.

Embrace Artistic Challenges

No matter where you are or what you do, embrace artistic challenges. Use them to get better at the things you love and enjoy.

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Filed under: Art • NaNoWriMo • Pen & Ink • Writing

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