Hey! Hi!
So, a bit has happened since my last post. I was exposed to someone who tested positive to COVID-19 at work. Thankfully, while I had some symptoms over the course of a couple of weeks, my test results came back negative.
Not soon after all that was cleared up, on an early Sunday afternoon, we decided to do a quick grocery store run and pick up lunch. Great. Nothing out of the norm, right? Well, while we were away, our house was broken into. Thankfully, the amateur robbers didn’t take anything other than our TVs, my Xbox 360 and the laptop I was using primarily for gaming and work (sans the charger).
Jokes on them, that laptop will run for about 35-45 minutes without the charger, depending on what they’re doing.
I know, I know – they probably hawked the thing as soon as they could.
Honestly, I’m just thankful our pets were fine (we’re sure the puppy enjoyed the surprise company, that traitor). They didn’t take or destroy anything else that we couldn’t replace so… small wins, I guess? In the meantime, I’m either looking at replacing the laptop with a newer laptop or investing in a new desktop PC or Mac. While I want to go with Mac (for design purposes), they’re not exactly built for gaming and… guys, I do enjoy my PC games these days. If you have any recommendations, please let me know in the comments!
So here we are – a post I’ve been wanting to sit down and write but didn’t have the mental energy to do. As usual, it’s a bit long so I hope you have some snacks and a drink handy!
Over the years, I have written (fun fact, my first full story was in the 2nd or 3rd grade and was about a haunted school where all matters of creatures roamed after hours), tried out photography, learned how to create digital graphics for websites and blogs, learned to draw and hand letter. To this day I still write (fanfiction and original urban fantasy/supernatural) and obviously do some hand lettering and illustration. Just some.
After my college graduation (Class of 2011), taking a break from design and coming back to it, I’ve learned how valuable my time is. Over the last few years especially, I’ve tried to become more mindful of the things I do, how I work and what habits benefit me, and what habits don’t.
These are the top five lessons that I’ve learned, some the hard way when taking on something new!
You may have realized this already but I’m that person who will usually dive headfirst into something that interests me. I don’t always take the time to learn the ‘proper’ way of doing the thing (if there is one) and instead I will leap first and kind of hope for the best.
For example? I didn’t start learning the proper strokes when it came to hand lettering (which is likely evident). However, the more I read and listen to other’s stories… there is a LOT of people in the same boat.
In general, I usually work off pure instinct and sheer stubbornness.
Sometimes it works and other times it does not.
If you’re like me, hopefully, these will help you, dear reader. Or, if you’re not, maybe you’ll say to yourself ‘girl, duh.’
And, if that’s the case, then I want to learn from you STAT!
A quick warning there are links in this post to friends/families work. They’re not affiliated links and I’m not making money off of them. I just love to spread the word. Check them out because they’re all stellar! #communityovercompetition
#1 – Keep It Simple!
I’m an over complicator.
Honestly, my No. 1 struggle in life is not over-complicating something that should be simple and straightforward.
I was that student in school who had to think of these grand ideas (so I can be “original”) which ultimately made things much harder than they needed to be so that I could demonstrate (mostly to myself) that I could DO it.
And, while there were times when it worked out, there were more times, than not, where it definitely didn’t. Honestly? This was usually due to the lack of planning and time management on my end.
When I started hand lettering, I knew this clearly about myself going into it and it was important to me to keep it as simple as possible. So, what did I do?
I limited myself to paper, pencil, and/or pen and worked on simply DOING IT while paying attention to consistency.
Amy Hopper / Purplescape Creative Studio May 2, 2017
I kept it at a single word a day (maybe two words at most) and didn’t attempt to practice phrases or quotes until much later in the process.
Honestly, I knew I would have better luck sticking with it if I didn’t try to do EVERYTHING right away. It was little by little that I started adding illustrations and colors.
To this day, I still enjoy lettering with a pencil or pen more often than not.
#2 – Set Aside A Little Time & Make Goals
While keeping it simple was my biggest challenge (and remains so), the one thing that wasn’t as hard (surprisingly) was setting aside a little time in my day to create. It was important to me that I stick with it for at least a week, then two weeks… if I stuck it out for a month; I’d consider it a win. I would usually do this after work while I was sitting in bed watching TV. I would remind myself that it was only five-ten minutes and ultimately, what could it hurt? It would only help me improve my lettering skills.
Now if only I would use this same mindset to get back to the gym!
For those who have little ones, according to the uber-talented Kayla from Hue & Hazel Creative Co., nap time and bedtime are the best times to get anything done! That’s when, she says, she gets the most work done for her creative business.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how little time you spend doing the thing you’re focused on, what matters is that you show up and do it. A little bit every day is better than nothing.
Goals. I found setting small goals for myself to be very helpful. They were nothing monumental (see Lesson #1) but it was something that was easy enough to shoot for and to celebrate if I accomplished it.
My first goal was to letter once a day, every day for a week. ✓
My second goal was to continue this for two weeks. ✓
Then three weeks. ✓
Then a month. ✓
Then, I thought, if I could make it to six months that would be golden. ✓
Every time I reached a goal, I made a new one. I wanted something that would motivate me to keep going and to keep improving.
#3 – When In Doubt – Use Prompts!
When I’m stuck and I can’t think of anything to write about or to letter, I immediately go to prompt lists. This was a lesson I learned years ago when I was writing on LiveJournal.
There are a ton of writing communities and websites dedicated to various writing prompts. In fact, I still semi-sort of-run a prompt community on Dreamwidth that has anything and everything that you may need to get those creative juices flowing (lyrics, one word, scenarios, locations, etc).
When I started learning digital photography, I signed up to do a 365-day photo challenge. And, when I undoubtedly ran out of things to photograph or couldn’t think of something? I would turn to photography prompt lists to get my mental wheels turning.
It was this habit of looking for prompt lists that I turned to when I made the decision of really focusing on learning to hand letter. I was sitting in Catherine’s apartment (of the Magnifique French Cat Design), hanging out during one of our “drinking & drawing” get together’s when I decided – crap, I really want to do this hand lettering thing!
I quickly found out on Instagram that prompt tables and challenges go hand in hand and it honestly wasn’t long before I decided, you know what I’d love to do? Host my own challenges! Because clearly I knew the first thing about running said challenges, right? Sure. I co-ran a states challenge with Catherine, then a King Falls AM inspired challenge with my friend Willow and then, through those challenges, I met Tricia from Chocolate Musings. If you haven’t checked her out, you need to run over to her website immediately! She’s so creative and her bujo spreads are freaking amazing. We ended up co-running monthly lettering and illustration challenges for well over a year with the purpose of inspiring others to step outside of their comfort zone and to try something new.
So, not only do they help you with inspiration when you need it and give you the freedom to try something new each day or each month but they can also help you meet new people in the community - readers or fellow artists!
Ultimately, I’ve found utilizing prompts takes some of the pressure off of needing to choose what to letter/photograph/write about if you’re feeling stuck. Especially as you stare at a blank screen with a blinking cursor, taunting you...
Win-Win-Win!
#4 – Share Your Work and Follow Others!
Yes, I know.
Pot meet kettle. Kettle pot.
Sharing your work with others can be very nerve-wracking! When I started, I only shared my Instagram with very few people from RL and I refused to use tags at first – GASP! But, it was still important that I post what I was creating, if for nothing else, as a way to document where I started and how far I’ve come.
Gradually, I started using the account to follow other artists who were either doing hand lettering or working in other mediums.
Seeing what others were doing, what materials they were using kept me inspired to keep moving forward in my lettering journey.
Eventually sharing my work with friends, family and the IG world at large was, while scary as fuck, was ultimately the best thing I could have done for myself.
At the end of the day, it’s important to have some sort of support system with others who are both like-minded and, if you ask me and my humble opinion, just a bit different from yours. Not everyone in your life will understand or get it and there will be critics. But for those you find who do understand, those who will listen to your newest plot bunny or look at your work in progress and let you know if something feels unbalanced – those are the true MVPs!
Seriously. Hold onto them. They are invaluable.
#5 – Be Patient & Don’t Give Up!
It can be fucking hard. There’s no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Creating anything is hard and can take every bit of strength out of you sometimes.
It’s not mine. I found this on the Internets.
It can be a challenge to not play the comparison game or watch the number of your followers increase then decrease and/or stagnate. That last one is my biggest struggle at times.
If this is something you want to improve on, even if your goal isn’t to make a profit from it, then don’t give up. Keep on pushing and keep growing your skills. Surround yourself with people who inspire you and whose work pushes you to do better and be better.
It’s easier than ever to see how people work and create in the days of the World Wide Internet – there are video tutorials, online classes, webinars, and blog series dedicated to a vast array of subjects. Seriously. There are SO MANY. Want to learn how to code? There are classes that will teach you CSS and HTML and basically any programming language you could ever want to learn! Want to learn how to write a novel? There are creative writing classes for that too! You can find some of these resources in my blog post – Never Stop Learning.
And because I really love to give shout outs to my freaking talented friends and family, I need to give a huge shout out to my sister (in-law) Lisa Edmonds.
Lisa is a prime example of someone who hasn’t given up pursuing her passion for writing. If you haven’t heard of her, she’s an Amazon Bestseller and is well into Book 7 of the Alice Worth series. At the start of Book 7, Lisa started a blog series dedicated to her writing process. SO, basically, what I’m saying is if you want some inspiration on writing a novel or series? You should really go check her blog series out STAT. You can start reading it here. As someone who has been doing a ton of character writing and world-building recently, every time I come upon something that stumps me I think back to all of her tips, tricks, and recommendations. Let’s just say, Lisa knows what she’s talking about!
So there you go!
My top 5 lessons I’ve learned the hard way.
Tell me, what are some big lessons that you’ve learned over the years? Either through your creative process or about how you work?
Let me know in the comments!
♡ Amy
