10 tips for building creative confidence in your art | Creative Bloq

01. Personal projects

 

 

 

(Image: © Lynn Chen)

Start a project of your own. Personal projects take away all the pressure from school or work and give us some extra space to experiment, and fail and grow as artists through experience.

02. Be true to yourself

 

 

 

(Image: © Lynn Chen)

Focus on the subjects that you’re truly passionate about. Everyone’s experience, tastes and inspirations are different – that’s what makes us unique. Keep working on things you love, and the audience will feel your passion.

03. Take notes from life

 

 

 

(Image: © Lynn Chen)

Observe the beauty around you every day. A beam of light, a reflection on the table; these small moments can inspire a whole new painting. They could come from anywhere, whether you’re at home or waiting in an airport lobby.

04. Stay fresh

 

 

 

(Image: © Lynn Chen)

Here are some little 10-minute sketches that I made in the mornings, and a few paintings completed in under an hour during the evening. Getting in a bit of practice every single day gets us in the creative state of mind so we’ll be able to dream up more ideas.

05. Styles will find you

 

 

 

(Image: © Lynn Chen)

06. Break down the lighting

 

 

 

(Image: © Lynn Chen)

Simplify a scene to two or three lights: a key light, ambient light, and a third like a bounce or rim light.

07. Temperature

 

 

 

(Image: © Lynn Chen)

Push the differences in light temperature. For example, a warm key light plus a cool secondary light. Exaggerating the warm and cool contrast will push the vibrancy of colours.

08. Shadow colour

 

 

 

(Image: © Lynn Chen)

Casting shadow tends to pick up ambient light, and occlusion shadow tends to be dark but warm. This difference increases the shadows’ dynamics.

09. Paint the sun

 

 

 

(Image: © Lynn Chen)

There are two ways to paint bright light on objects: bleached highlight and saturated shadow, or saturated highlight and muted shadow.

10. Light tracing

 

 

 

(Image: © Lynn Chen)

Lighting will bleed and change the colours of surrounding objects. Track each light and paint the bounce light on surfaces to ensure lighting is dynamic and brings life to the image.