I work a soul sucking day job so to help my mental health, I bring a small sketchbook and a few Tombow brush pens and some fineliners and give myself 10 mins on my last coffee break to create something. I have been doing this for a couple months and it really has helped me feel like I get to have some creativity in my work day. Thanks Amy for your content!
Thank you for this. I've been using colored/watercolor pencils lately and usually copy things for a while each evening, sometimes for longer than 40 minutes. My husband died last year so this is a relaxing time for me. I will keep it up even tho it's just for me.
Canson XL multimedia notebooks are a great and inexpensive notebook to use for a sketchbook. You won’t be able to cross the gutter because they are spiral bound. They have a printed cardstock cover with the name of the product on it instead of a casebound cover. I find that format helps people feel a little less precious about ruining a sketchbook.
This is such a great advice! I was doing something similar when I got burned out in college. I was studying art and design. Creating so much stuff, but nothing that I enjoyed. I think that technique was the only reason that I got back to creating art and enjoying it. Edit to add this: Art Creation sketchbooks are the best! I use them for multiple years now for practice, sketching and journaling.
I enjoyed this video and can relate. I do hope your shoulder is feeling better ❤ This past June I picked up my brushes and paints for the first time in about six years. I made a promise to myself that I would paint every day, that I could. As of today I’ve missed five days since the beginning of June. Yes I kept track, lol. You see I’m disabled and am mostly bed bound. I figured a way to paint while in bed with tv trays, clamp lights and all of my supplies. It works! My creativity and mood have improved tremendously. Thank you for sharing your story as well ❤
I decided to learn and watercolor every day in November to try and wake up the spark. Well, the spark is awoken! I’ve already progressed from wc to mixed media portraits and it feels so good to create, again! 🎉
I commit to doing something (drawing, painting) every day. Sometimes that’s a couple of hours, sometimes it’s a few minutes, but it is a commitment. It helps ,y mental health enormously.
Yep, me too! It's been rough here lately and I know it's my daily practice that's keeping me in a decent frame of mind! I am so glad you've found a daily practice!
I appreciate that you mention some may think this process would be easy but I struggle creating repetition habits. I need all the help, tips and tricks I can get. 😂. Thank you ❣️
Something I have done to get out of the internal pressure to create a ‘perfect’ output is to force myself to focus on the process of painting. I selected a photo, and then everyday for a week painted that same photo. I painted for however long I felt for each day, but when the session was over the ‘painting’ was done. This process allowed me to explore different ways of representing the same thing. It made it okay if it wasn’t perfect because the product was limited to the single session - sometimes that session was 15 minutes, sometimes that session was an hour or more. Ultimately what this did was allow me just to remember to enjoy painting, and feeling the paint on surface, to explore different uses of color. Using the same reference removed any pressures regarding composition. I didn’t use a sketchbook. I wanted to force myself to paint big so used 16x20 to 18X24 pieces of paper.
Its funny i never used to like working in sketchbooks untill subscribing to your channel a few months ago. Now i find sketchbooks are my go to as im learning my art again after years. Im having fun and rpyal talens are my go to for this aswell as a couple cold pressed watercolour sketchbooks. So thank you.
That's awesome! It feels so freeing to work in a sketchbook. Like you know it's meant to be practice or playtime subconsciously,. I'm so glad you are enjoying it!
Healthwise, 2024 has been an endless struggle for both me and my wife - with some more medical 'treats' to come for both of us before the year is done. And it's definitely had an effect on production levels in my 'scribble' factory - which have shrunk to almost nothing. However, with 2025 now starting to come into view over the horizon, I'm wanting to break out of this slump and I really like your idea of easing back into things with a short daily run-out with a sketchbook (intended for my eyes only, to keep the pressure at bay). Your persuasive recommendation has encouraged me to try and make a start even before I can (gladly) wave goodbye to 2024. So thanks for that and hopefully I'll soon be wreaking various kinds of havoc on any number of blank pages in my chosen sketchbook! Kind regards, Brian.
This was a fantastic video. I keep buying supplies wanting to create, but due to the arthritis in my dominant hand I put it off. I am going to use this method to get myself back into drawing. Thank you so much for posting💕💕
Mine are really for sketching and playing and whatnot. A lot of them I never show on here because it's important to have that place just for yourself! Thank ypu for watching!
My daily art practice is to copy art from other artists, via books and photos, mainly books. I try to reproduce my copy in a different way or a similar way using the same medium . Sometimes I used watercolours to copy oil paintings and acrylics to copy watercolours.
I really love to make Neurographic Art with watercolor pencils, ink pens, and watercolor paints. I'm just getting back into my art after being so busy making craft fair goods. The idea is to just get comfortable with the art supplies again, and not have any pressure in terms of the image quality. These are just warm-up doodles, but then I will find myself painting something a bit more complex.
Wow! I just found you and subscribed. You are an awesome artist! This is good advice. You inspired me to try and do my art at least 20 minutes a day.Thanks!
Love the ideas in this video! What you said about have too many choices rings true with me. I get overwhelmed by all the different mediums, paper, etc. sometimes just a pencil is your best friend.
I agree, sometimes it's best to keep it simple! I've been keeping a sketchbook, a 2b pencil and an eraser by my chair tin the living room and am finding I am drawing way more than I used too! Thanks for watching!
Thank you for all your videos. i struggle with art block alot i tend to jump from craft to craft to get past it. I've always wanted to do a sketch pad but hate when something comes out wrong, but im going to try and not rip out the pages lol Thanks again, i find watching your videos great for my art block ❤ oh and your hair looks lovely
If you have a page that really bothers you, just turn it into an art journal page and paste some pretty paper over it. that's what I do! Or paint right over it with acrylic! Thanks for watching and commenting!
You do inspire me, I've started a swatch book thanks to you and your advise for doing a sketch book is spot on - thank you! I will do it! I've become a patron of yours and look forward to everything you share! Pat
I'm watching you for the first time, and this for the support to do what I have been thinking about doing instead of just paintings...Starting each day, first thing, with art in the sketch book., which I am new to, for freedom, loosening up, and practicing drawing skills. I recently got the micron pens and a book, ready to go! Thanks!
Welcome! It's great to have you here! And what a great idea for a practice! I hope you love it like I do! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!
Loved this video. I plan to do this! I have been working hard to sew up unfinished projects to be able to move my art into my sewing room but it’s taking me forever!!!! and I miss my watercolor time. Maybe the 20 minutes a days will help while I continue weeding through sewing projects! Thanks! I always look forward to your videos.
Thank you. This has helped me to stop procrastinating and just do something. Even if it's only a small time it will benifit greatly me greatly and to try to no longer get hung up on perfection any more. Thanks again for the little push i needed. 😊
I'm a multi-medium artist, but I'm a painter and haven't focused on my drawing skills. I desperately want to be skilled at drawing, especially portraiture, which I know nothing about. I've got all of the classic drawing books and plenty of supplies, and now, with your advice, I'm ready to begin! Any advice for a newbie sketcher? Thanks, Amy! 💜
Yes I have a few of the inktense blocks and I mean like four, that I use for underpainting with soft pastels. Someday soon I'll try a bigger set! Thanks for watching!
Hraphatont actually have graphite mixed in and are like watercolors. Inktense is basically bright bold inks that are dried. When you activate them with water and then let them dry, they become permanent and canot be lifted from paper. Hope that helps and thanks for watching!
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I work a soul sucking day job so to help my mental health, I bring a small sketchbook and a few Tombow brush pens and some fineliners and give myself 10 mins on my last coffee break to create something. I have been doing this for a couple months and it really has helped me feel like I get to have some creativity in my work day. Thanks Amy for your content!
Ohmygawd, soul sucking, my heart goes out to u. Art is a beautiful escape!
I love that you've built that into your day! You're doing amazing! That little mental health break is SO important! Good job!
Why? Why stay? There’s about a million other jobs out there…
Thank you for this. I've been using colored/watercolor pencils lately and usually copy things for a while each evening, sometimes for longer than 40 minutes. My husband died last year so this is a relaxing time for me. I will keep it up even tho it's just for me.
Canson XL multimedia notebooks are a great and inexpensive notebook to use for a sketchbook. You won’t be able to cross the gutter because they are spiral bound. They have a printed cardstock cover with the name of the product on it instead of a casebound cover. I find that format helps people feel a little less precious about ruining a sketchbook.
This is such a great advice! I was doing something similar when I got burned out in college. I was studying art and design. Creating so much stuff, but nothing that I enjoyed. I think that technique was the only reason that I got back to creating art and enjoying it.
Edit to add this: Art Creation sketchbooks are the best! I use them for multiple years now for practice, sketching and journaling.
Did this last night!!! Was at it for 40 minutes during a major slump!! Huge thanks!!
I enjoyed this video and can relate. I do hope your shoulder is feeling better ❤ This past June I picked up my brushes and paints for the first time in about six years. I made a promise to myself that I would paint every day, that I could. As of today I’ve missed five days since the beginning of June. Yes I kept track, lol. You see I’m disabled and am mostly bed bound. I figured a way to paint while in bed with tv trays, clamp lights and all of my supplies. It works! My creativity and mood have improved tremendously. Thank you for sharing your story as well ❤
I decided to learn and watercolor every day in November to try and wake up the spark. Well, the spark is awoken! I’ve already progressed from wc to mixed media portraits and it feels so good to create, again! 🎉
I love hearing that! It's so rewarding to rediscover that spark, isn't it? Thank you for sharing your journey!
I commit to doing something (drawing, painting) every day. Sometimes that’s a couple of hours, sometimes it’s a few minutes, but it is a commitment. It helps ,y mental health enormously.
Yep, me too! It's been rough here lately and I know it's my daily practice that's keeping me in a decent frame of mind! I am so glad you've found a daily practice!
I appreciate that you mention some may think this process would be easy but I struggle creating repetition habits. I need all the help, tips and tricks I can get. 😂. Thank you ❣️
Something I have done to get out of the internal pressure to create a ‘perfect’ output is to force myself to focus on the process of painting. I selected a photo, and then everyday for a week painted that same photo. I painted for however long I felt for each day, but when the session was over the ‘painting’ was done. This process allowed me to explore different ways of representing the same thing. It made it okay if it wasn’t perfect because the product was limited to the single session - sometimes that session was 15 minutes, sometimes that session was an hour or more. Ultimately what this did was allow me just to remember to enjoy painting, and feeling the paint on surface, to explore different uses of color. Using the same reference removed any pressures regarding composition.
I didn’t use a sketchbook. I wanted to force myself to paint big so used 16x20 to 18X24 pieces of paper.
Its funny i never used to like working in sketchbooks untill subscribing to your channel a few months ago.
Now i find sketchbooks are my go to as im learning my art again after years. Im having fun and rpyal talens are my go to for this aswell as a couple cold pressed watercolour sketchbooks. So thank you.
That's awesome! It feels so freeing to work in a sketchbook. Like you know it's meant to be practice or playtime subconsciously,. I'm so glad you are enjoying it!
Healthwise, 2024 has been an endless struggle for both me and my wife - with some more medical 'treats' to come for both of us before the year is done. And it's definitely had an effect on production levels in my 'scribble' factory - which have shrunk to almost nothing. However, with 2025 now starting to come into view over the horizon, I'm wanting to break out of this slump and I really like your idea of easing back into things with a short daily run-out with a sketchbook (intended for my eyes only, to keep the pressure at bay). Your persuasive recommendation has encouraged me to try and make a start even before I can (gladly) wave goodbye to 2024. So thanks for that and hopefully I'll soon be wreaking various kinds of havoc on any number of blank pages in my chosen sketchbook! Kind regards, Brian.
This was a fantastic video. I keep buying supplies wanting to create, but due to the arthritis in my dominant hand I put it off. I am going to use this method to get myself back into drawing. Thank you so much for posting💕💕
❤oh yes! Play and mess and discoveries in my sketchbooks daily! Keeps me sane and joyful
Having a messy sketchbook is such a relief, it gives me an excuse to let loose and get weird without having to worry about the outcome!
Mine are really for sketching and playing and whatnot. A lot of them I never show on here because it's important to have that place just for yourself! Thank ypu for watching!
My daily art practice is to copy art from other artists, via books and photos, mainly books. I try to reproduce my copy in a different way or a similar way using the same medium . Sometimes I used watercolours to copy oil paintings and acrylics to copy watercolours.
I really love to make Neurographic Art with watercolor pencils, ink pens, and watercolor paints. I'm just getting back into my art after being so busy making craft fair goods. The idea is to just get comfortable with the art supplies again, and not have any pressure in terms of the image quality. These are just warm-up doodles, but then I will find myself painting something a bit more complex.
I have to try it! Thanks!
Starting today!! Thank you, Amy!! No more excuses!! ❤❤❤
Sketchbooks really are the best! Though I’m so comfy in my sketchbooks now that I get scared to use loose paper 😂
Wow! I just found you and subscribed. You are an awesome artist! This is good advice. You inspired me to try and do my art at least 20 minutes a day.Thanks!
Great post…lots of information! I’m motivated! Thank you❤️
Love the ideas in this video! What you said about have too many choices rings true with me. I get overwhelmed by all the different mediums, paper, etc. sometimes just a pencil is your best friend.
I agree, sometimes it's best to keep it simple! I've been keeping a sketchbook, a 2b pencil and an eraser by my chair tin the living room and am finding I am drawing way more than I used too! Thanks for watching!
Thank you
Thank you for all your videos. i struggle with art block alot i tend to jump from craft to craft to get past it. I've always wanted to do a sketch pad but hate when something comes out wrong, but im going to try and not rip out the pages lol Thanks again, i find watching your videos great for my art block ❤ oh and your hair looks lovely
If you have a page that really bothers you, just turn it into an art journal page and paste some pretty paper over it. that's what I do! Or paint right over it with acrylic! Thanks for watching and commenting!
@winterwoodsstudio that's a great idea thank you 😊
You do inspire me, I've started a swatch book thanks to you and your advise for doing a sketch book is spot on - thank you! I will do it! I've become a patron of yours and look forward to everything you share! Pat
I'm watching you for the first time, and this for the support to do what I have been thinking about doing instead of just paintings...Starting each day, first thing, with art in the sketch book., which I am new to, for freedom, loosening up, and practicing drawing skills. I recently got the micron pens and a book, ready to go! Thanks!
Welcome! It's great to have you here! And what a great idea for a practice! I hope you love it like I do! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!
Very good advice! I try to sketch something everyday too, but I do it on my Samsung tablet.
Your are an amazing artist ❤❤❤❤❤bravissima
Loved this video. I plan to do this! I have been working hard to sew up unfinished projects to be able to move my art into my sewing room but it’s taking me forever!!!! and I miss my watercolor time. Maybe the 20 minutes a days will help while I continue weeding through sewing projects! Thanks! I always look forward to your videos.
It is so much easier to just do a little bit everyday. I hope you can get that watercolor time back soon! Thanks for watching!
Thanks!
Thank you for the great advice and inspiration!
You're welcome! I'm glad you found it helpful!
Thanks Amy.
Will try this ❤
Fabulous advice!
Really good idea!! 👍 Thank you for sharing your sketchbook choices with us!! 🤗😍
You're welcome! I'm glad you liked the sketchbook choices!
@winterwoodsstudio 🤗😍
Thank you. This has helped me to stop procrastinating and just do something. Even if it's only a small time it will benifit greatly me greatly and to try to no longer get hung up on perfection any more. Thanks again for the little push i needed. 😊
You are welcome! I am glad if it helped even in a little way! Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment!
I'm a multi-medium artist, but I'm a painter and haven't focused on my drawing skills. I desperately want to be skilled at drawing, especially portraiture, which I know nothing about. I've got all of the classic drawing books and plenty of supplies, and now, with your advice, I'm ready to begin! Any advice for a newbie sketcher? Thanks, Amy! 💜
💜💜💜
Did you have to repost from this morning? ( dont5 have to really answer) but will play again and comment to help out.😊
I agree! 👍
Yep. I'm having a bad day. At least it's up and working now... thanks for helping!
thanks for shaeing this tip. Have you every tried the derwent inktense range?
Yes I have a few of the inktense blocks and I mean like four, that I use for underpainting with soft pastels. Someday soon I'll try a bigger set! Thanks for watching!
What’s the difference between grafitint and inktense? A very helpful video, thanks so much! X
Grafitints are more earthy and desaturated whereas Inktense are bright and bold!
Hraphatont actually have graphite mixed in and are like watercolors. Inktense is basically bright bold inks that are dried. When you activate them with water and then let them dry, they become permanent and canot be lifted from paper. Hope that helps and thanks for watching!
@ thank you, it sounds like the grafitint might be more to my liking. Xx
@ thanks Sam x
Graphite is colored graphite lead. Inktense is water activated ink in pencil form.