Creativity Tips Blog Entry #1

Hello there! I am going to start Kazlo Crafts’ Blog with some revitalizing tips that I found in my sketchbook from years ago. Sometimes you need to be reminded that you have to keep on track to see progress. It is so easy to let life take over with the day – to – day routines.

A creative’s way of life is always changing. Sometimes your being super productive and other times you feel you’ve left your creative life behind you. Here’s some tips that I have used to make sure I don’t let an important part of my life dissipate.

-Prime your creative pumps with an easy task, a project that only takes 20 min.

-Don’t stereotype yourself, Be Positive!

-Work in new environments

-Create to music

-Work during your prime time

-Start as soon as you get up

-Write down specific measurable goals

-Celebrate success, analyze failures, and never punish yourself

-Know when to quit. Find a good teacher and follow their advice.

1. Priming your creative pumps with an easy task that only takes about 20 minutes is a great way to keep ideas flowing. Not only that, but to see some progress. It is so easy to have a great idea and then let it float away by not taking action on it. Through time, you’ll see how much you can get accomplished and what ideas can actually become something great.

2. Stereotyping is definitely something that hung me up for a long while. I loved dark, Gothic themes yet, in my artwork, it just wasn’t working out. When thinking that you have to stick a particular style because that’s what you expect from yourself, it narrows your scope of concepts that you may be very good at.

3. Work in new environments. Trust me, you will most definitely create different artwork when sitting out in a park gazing at moving life with fresh air breezing through your hair than you would sitting in a cold, dark basement. Get out and free your thoughts.

4. Creating to music helps to get you out of your head. Don’t allow the self-critic to come to the party, let the process work with you, not against you.

5. Working during your prime time boosts your confidence because it proves that you can concentrate, you do have good ideas and you do create and you create well. The more you prove it, the more you believe in yourself and others believe in you.

6. Start as soon you get up. Maybe there is something that prohibits you from using your creativity as soon as you wake up, however, as you are preparing for your day, you can meditate on the things you’d like to accomplish. I tend to, at the very least, visualize in my head, what I want to see. What tools, what colors, what fabrics, what textures are going to work for this idea or project? When you first wake up, what are your first inspirations?

7. Writing down specific goals will get things moving. What will help you to gather the concept? I’ve never been good with writing lists and checking them off, however, sometimes just making a step toward the goal can get things rolling in the right direction.

8. Remember to celebrate your successes! Post it on Instagram or Facebook. Let others join in and see what you’re excited about, even if it’s just a work in progress! And don’t allow yourself to stagnate just because a project did not work the way you wanted the first time around.

9. Seeking advice can sometimes be difficult. Hearing criticism is not fun when it is something that you really struggled with but that is often the time you need direction. Don’t allow yourself to not learn because of your unwillingness to see from a different perspective. Also, don’t forget, you don’t always have to agree with your critic, wink, wink.