What is the Creative Process and what does MY creative process look like?
April 8, 2023
For anyone who has subscribed to my email since Feb. 28, 2023, you will have received an email that touches on the creative process–BUT here I am going to be focusing on what my creative process looks like.
What is the Creative Process
While each artist may experience the creative process differently, I think it is important to be aware of each phase in the creative process in order to understand how you experience the process so you can continue to cultivate your skills as an artist.
Oftentimes, with social media, it can appear as though the creative process is a linear line. In reality it looks a little more messy like this graphic shows...
The pressure for massive numbers of likes and shares on social media can distract artists from the real creative process.
It is easy to feel like you need to churn out art content in order to stay consistent. You may also feel like you do not have the freedom to spend the amount of time you would like on your art. The deadly combination of the pressure to provide an endless stream of content at such a fast pace paired with sacrificing the time you would ideally like to spend on your art can quickly lead to burn out. So if the creative process isn't as concise as we might think, what exactly is the creative process? This graphic will give you a better idea as to what all the creative process entails.
My Creative Process for Finished Art
INSPIRATION: For non commission work, I typically gain inspiration from nature - clouds, plants, landscapes, animals, insects, etc. If this is finished art for a commission - then the inspiration is the commission request itself.
PLA NNING: There's actually a lot that goes into the planning phase, which may surprise some of you. If I am working on a commission piece, the client has already picked the art medium of choice and the size. But, for commission pieces, I plan out a sketch to provide for the client to review and approve before moving on to the color scheme. For some commissions, the color scheme is based on a photo provided, while others, I had full freedom to choose. In both cases though, I provide a digital color mock-up so the client can review and approve or request changes. I ALWAYS work digitally for the sketch and color mock-up so that it is easier and more time efficient to make changes for the client.
If this is not for a client, my art medium of choice tends to be either gouache paint or digital. Gouache is one of my absolute favorite art mediums to work in when I am creating art for myself. While I have also used alcohol markers before, they are not lightfast (a measure of light resistance), so I mostly use them for practice pieces. I've noticed that since most of my commission work is typically 8"x10" or larger, I tend to gravitate towards creating art that is closer to 4"x6" or 5"x7" when working in a traditional medium for myself.
For some pieces, I create thumbnails, which are smaller, quick sketches, to work out the composition of a piece. Sometimes the sketches are very rough, to the point that anyone else looking at them may not be able to tell what exactly it is. Other times, the thumbnail is a little more detailed like this one for my Desert Dreams paintings.
As you can see, I did not stick with the original thumbnail for the final painting. I still like this thumbnail, but it just wasn't hitting right for my intended purpose - a 2 page painting spread that each page could stand alone as their own individual painting, or could work together as one cohesive landscape painting.
One of the many benefits to creating thumbnails in the planning phase is that you may discover that your original idea is not the strongest or best suited for what you are trying to create or convey, as I noticed with the prior example.
STARTING: You actually start your refining your sketch or being painting on the canvas, paper, etc. that you will be working on for the final art piece.
Due to my perfectionist nature, I have grown quite fond of sketching digitally. I love being able to work in multiple layers as I refine a sketch to get it to where I want it to be. Sketching digitally removes a layer of stress that can sometimes come when sketching traditionally. I think I often feel a sense of stress or dread when sketching traditionally because with every mistake, I have to erase, and sometimes a trace of that mistake is still somewhat visible - on display to show that I didn't get it right the first time. For me, digital sketching removes this nonsensical pressure I unconsciously put on myself from time to time.
If I am not sketching digitally, I will almost always sketch on a separate sheet of paper. I shy away from working out a sketch on the actual paper I will be doing the finished art on because I do not want to damage the tooth of the paper from erasing multiple times. If the tooth of the paper is damaged, it may not take the paint as I want it to or it will not be able to take as many layers of color pencil. There is also a risk of my sketch marks showing through the finished artwork, even if it was erased. If I happened to push down too hard while sketching and damaged the tooth of the paper, an indentation of sketch marks would be left behind. For some artists, this isn't a problem because they are light-handed when they sketch. I, however, have always been pretty heavy-handed when sketching - just ask my brother, Anthony.
After the sketch is refined and finished, I can transfer the final sketch to my paper by either using a light box or by using transfer paper, and thus begin rendering.
THE UGLY PHASE: All artwork goes through this phase, and let me tell you, sometimes this phase can be really disheartening while you are working on the piece. You wonder if the piece will actually turn out ok or if it is going to be a complete disaster. This phase can happen at any point in time, but I find that it typically happens closer to the beginning and middle stage for me.
For this black cat painting, it happened more in the middle stage of the painting. I had more than two layers of paint down on the cat's fur, but I still had many more layers that needed to be built up. At this point, the orangish-brown paint on the right side of the cat was looking like I accidentally dipped my brush in the wrong paint color, and it was making me question if keeping this detail from the reference photo was a mistake or not.
For these two Boston Terriers, it was probably a little over halfway through the beginning phase of painting the fur that things were looking rough. I remember thinking, "Oh no. Did I go too strong with the blues on this dog on the left?"
And with this gray and white cat, it happened at the very start of me working on the fur. I just thought to myself, "This was a mistake. I know that I wanted to play with the undertone colors in the fur, but this was obviously a mistake. I should not have put these colors down. How on earth am I going to get this to work? Am I going to have to scrap this and start all over? I don't want to do that though. I love how the orange background looks. I really hope this pulls together in the end."
Now, I don't know what your opinions are on this piece, but I honestly think the fur on this cat turned out so well. I absolutely love the undertones in the fur. At the beginning, I was so freaked out that this cat was going to look like a rainbow cat because I thought I had made a huge mistake laying those undertones in. I am so glad I stuck with this piece and pushed through to the end because the final result was a painting that I was proud of.
COMPLETION: One of the most satisfying parts for me is putting the finishing touches on a piece. It's like the icing on a cake. The whipped cream atop a hot chocolate. That delicious first sip of hot coffee. I know what you are thinking, but the answer is no - it is not like a cherry atop a sundae since I am not a fan of maraschino cherries.
I get to sit back and look at the work of love and passion that I just finished. I get to reflect on my process and how it felt to make it. How often did I lose myself in this piece? Did I struggle with getting lost in the process? Was it hard to reach that place of mindless creation where my hand just seems to move on its own while the sense of time has completely vanished? Was I fighting the art every step of the way?
And let's not forget, if it's a commission piece, the final photo has to be sent off to the client for their review and approval before framing and/or packaging the art to be delivered. I'm not sure if that small sense of fear of the client hating the final piece will ever go away, but it has certainly lessened over the past year thanks to some amazing clients I had the honor of working with.
Oh, and there's always a mess to clean afterwards. My desk seems to always look like a little gremlin came through. I am a messy creative, but somehow, my mess is organized to the point that I know where an item I need is in that chaotic mess on my desk. I tidy it all up only to do it all over again. Some people might call that insane, but I call it part of the process.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, the creative process happens, even if you don't fully recognize it. I think there are benefits to understanding the process as I believe it can help you grow as an artist. You may think a piece is a lost cause because you do not realize it is simply in the "ugly phase." If you give up there, you will never know what the piece could have been, and you will struggle to improve your art skills if you constantly give up every time.
Thank you for joining me in the exploration of my take on the creative process. Whether you are one who has fully embraced their own creative process or one who is trying to discover their own experience with the creative process, I hope you were able to learn a few things for your own art journey.
And if you are not a practicing creative, I hope you enjoyed this behind the scenes look at what goes into the creative process and a small glimpse of mine. We are all creative, even if we are not actively expressing that creativity.
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