Motivate Yourself to Create More Art + Fantasy Watercolor Portrait Painting Process (2024)

In this episode of Nela’s Art Chat I’ll be showing you the mixed media drawing and painting process of a forest fae portrait, while sharing lots of tips that can help you create more art. I often struggle finding motivation, energy, and time to create elaborate pieces of art, so I’ve given this a lot of thought and tried just about any method under the sun.

While the personal examples I mention refer to visual art, these methods may be applied to various forms of creativity. Writers, musicians, crafters, and makers of all stripes are welcome to listen.

If you’re wondering how to motivate yourself to create art when you don’t feel like it, come join me by my drawing table and let’s chat!

Listen to audio only:

The complete transcript is below!

Tools used in this drawing:

• Strathmore Mixed Media Visual Journal (large)*
• Prismacolor Col-Erase pencil (Scarlet red)
• Roman Szmal Aquarius watercolor paint:* Cobalt teal, Gold ochre, Perylene maroon
• Royal Talens Van Gogh watercolor paint:* Quinacridone purple blue, Payne’s grey, Burnt sienna, Phthalo green
• Raphael SoftAqua 805 size 0 quill brush
• Princeton Neptune 1/4” dagger brush*
• Raphael Precision 8524 size 4 round brush
• Pentel Aquash waterbrush
• Royal Talens Van Gogh watercolor pencils: Vandyke brown, Ultramarine violet, Perm. red purple, Perm. violet medium, Phthalo blue red shade, Ivory black, Cold grey light
• White gouache (cheap local brand)

* Affiliate link. I earn a commission from purchases made through the link at no additional cost to you.

The entire sketching, painting and drawing process took a little under 3 hours. This time I decided to share cuts of real-time footage, instead of the entire process at around 10x speed like I usually do. Let me know which type of recordings you prefer watching!

Finished drawing

Transcript

For a person who loves creating art, I spend a ridiculous amount of time not feeling like creating art. I created the vast majority of my artwork during the times I felt so inspired that you couldn’t keep me away from the drawing board. But those moments don’t happen as often as I’d like.

During one of my social media sabbaticals, I thought about what I want to do with my art and wrote notes about how I work, what helps and what doesn’t. Now I’ll share some of those notes with you.

Before I get to that, I want to touch on something important.

Self-discipline sucks.

I don’t think that we have to burst through resistance by force. I prefer the compassionate approach. I like to work with resistance and find out what it’s all about.

Discipline doesn’t come easy to me, and I can’t rely on it at all to get stuff done.

After spending most of my life feeling inadequate because I couldn’t develop discipline, I realized I should embrace my strengths instead. (And then I finally got diagnosed with ADHD, which explained pretty much all of my struggles, including the lack of self-discipline.)

If pressuring yourself to get stuff done doesn’t work, feel free to explore other options. Don’t let the people around you dictate how to feel because you “lack discipline”. I get you, and I believe that if we allow ourselves to see different possibilities—which is something creatives are so good at—we’ll each find the right path for ourselves.

I hear many people say that resistance always stems from fear. Sometimes that may be true, but sometimes what you’re feeling may not be resistance at all. Maybe you’re burnt out, fatigued, or depressed and it’s perfectly natural to feel unmotivated. For more info on this, read my article: Dealing with creative burnout.

If you’re certain you’re not burnt out and are totally capable of creating art, here are some ways to approach this.

I’ve identified four steps to make creating easier:

1. Increase motivation
2. Get in the right mood
3. Reduce friction
4. Decrease distractions

Now I’ll explain the methods behind each step in detail.

Step 1: Increase motivation

Everyone has their own reasons for creating. Someone does it to receive praise, earn money, become famous, or to contribute to society. Someone does it because they enjoy the process, discovering their own abilities, or because creating has a positive effect on their mood.

Reasons that come from within (intrinsic motivation) usually serve us better long-term because they don’t depend on external circ*mstances. Artists that rely on external rewards (extrinsic motivation) tend to be disappointed if they don’t achieve the desired results.

Why do you enjoy creating art?

If you have a regular creative practice, ask yourself:

• What keeps me coming back to my art day after day?
• Why do I choose creating over other activities?

If it’s been a while since your last creative endeavor, ask yourself:

• What do I miss the most?
• Why do I keep thinking I should go back to my art?
• Why can’t I accept the idea that I might never draw, write, paint, play or compose music, dance, sculpt, or sew again?

I recommend that you journal about these questions. Writing about it can help you dig deep into various aspects of creativity that you enjoy, as well as those you find challenging. It’s important to be aware of both sides.

When you have a record of your thought process, you can read it again and be reminded of everything. Because no matter how big of an epiphany you have, we’re prone to forgetting everything quickly if we don’t write it down.

Highlight the most powerful motivating factors and write those in big, bold letters somewhere where you can see it every day.

Join a challenge or a structured course

Challenges and courses can provide external accountability that will help motivate you further. I’ve leaned on both in the past to increase my creative output, with pretty good results.

Here are some articles and videos about art challenges:

• Episode 1 of Nela’s Art Chat: Should you do an art challenge?

I also occasionally take art courses with the intention of focusing on a particular technique or project. Real-time classes with a community feedback component are much more effective than pre-recorded classes that I can watch at any time on my own. The latter are just too easy to ignore and I usually don’t complete them.

There’s always some kind of challenge or course happening online, so there’s no need to wait for the perfect time. You can also invent your own challenge!

Use your art for your other projects

Creating art for the sake of art is great, but perhaps you could weave your art into other hobbies, or even your profession.

For example: if you’re a professional game developer and your new hobby is making music, you can give yourself an assignment to compose a score for a game you’re creating. Or if you’re a visual artist that also writes, you could illustrate some of your writing, like a cover image for an ebook, or a featured image for a blog post.

Bribe yourself with new art supplies

In episode 9 of Nela’s Art Chat I gave tips on buying fewer art supplies and how to overcome art supply envy. I still stand by it. Bribery shouldn’t be abused to the point that you collect a bunch of art supplies you rarely use.

For me, this is the last resort when nothing else has worked. Learning how to use new art supplies is one of my favorite things about art. If I’m in a really dull place and can’t find any other motivation, this will do the trick.

Some folks motivate themselves with the promise of future art supplies, once you’ve accomplished the goal. If you’re a rewards-driven person, then do that.

I’m not motivated by the promise of a future reward. I need to get my dopamine fix first, and then I can perform a task. (That’s how it often goes with ADHD folks.) So I buy something I plan on using for a given artwork or a project. I’ll start working on the thing as soon as the art supplies arrive, while I’m still feeling all the positive emotion from the shiny and new.

Hopefully, at least one of the methods I described has worked, and you feel a bit more motivated to create.

Step 2: Get in the right mood

I’m a big proponent of cultivating the right mood for creativity. Some artists claim that mood is irrelevant, but I don’t agree. However, we don’t have to stay trapped in our current mood. We can change our mood with a little work.

A while ago I wrote an article called Doorways of inspiration and it’s one of the most illuminating articles I’ve ever written, if I may say so myself… I read it again and again whenever I need a reminder of how inspiration works, so I 100% recommend that you read it. It explains the impact of mood in much more detail than I can do in this episode.

So here’s a few tips on how to get in a creative mood.

Consume long-form entertainment that inspires you

This might seem like it contradicts step 4, but my experience has been that the right type of entertainment can be just the spark I need to start drawing.

We can’t be “on” 24 hours a day every day. There’s time in your week when you’re not feeling energetic enough to create, and that’s fine. We don’t have to demonize reading, watching TV, or playing games if that’s relaxing for you. But what I suggest is to choose the media carefully, and to only contain it to the time-frame when you normally wouldn’t be doing anything creative anyway(like later in the evening).

I get super inspired by visually rich, magical movies and TV shows, such as “The Pan’s Labyrinth” and “The Dark Crystal”. I do love sci-fi as well, but it only inspires me if it features visually interesting creature designs like “Alien”, “The Expanse”, “Avatar”, and things like that.

I also enjoy reading books that make me envision strange worlds, beings, fashion, architecture, etc.

Think about the media that has strongly inspired you in the past. Perhaps reading, watching, or playing the same media again will transport you into that past state of mind when you were more prolific. Or, try to find new media with similar subject matter and vibe.

Creating fan art is OK! There are legal issues regarding copyrighted and trademarked properties, but if you’re doing it for your enjoyment and not for money, there’s no harm. This might be just the thing you need to break through a creative block and start creating your own original ideas.

As you’re reading, watching TV, or playing a game, keep your sketchbook or journal nearby and make notes about any details or themes that evoke awe and delight. You’re not just passing time, you’re immersing yourself in art and researching. This will all be useful later.

Play your favorite music

I used to do this all the time when I was younger, but in recent years I seem to always be listening to podcasts instead. While I do enjoy my podcasts, I think that music can tap into the emotional parts of ourselves in a way conversation doesn’t.

Experiment with this: try different types of music, with or without lyrics. How does it affect your practice and the kind of art you create?

Daydream

I get some of my best art ideas when I’m just zoning out while riding a bus. I used to get a lot more ideas years ago when I didn’t have a smartphone. Right now, I rarely have those pockets of daydreaming time because I’m almost constantly doing something, reading something, or listening to podcasts, which occupies my mind. I had to become more intentional about setting aside time to just think and daydream. This is especially important for me because I also have a creative job.

If you’re outside of home, have a small notebook or a voice recording app ready so you can save any ideas you get so you don’t forget them.

If you have a bit of time to start working on your ideas right away, use that mood, because it’s like jet fuel for creativity!

Build anticipation and excitement

During the lead-up to your art making time, like a few days before and the morning of, remind yourself of the creative project you want to work on.

Read through your notes or look over your work in progress. Imagine the result you’d like to accomplish. Write quick short notes for yourself, like new ideas or improvements.

If you’re studying certain techniques, look up some reference images that demonstrate those techniques and see how they make you feel. If they make you feel like you can’t wait to start creating something like that yourself, that’s great. If they cause you feelings of inadequacy because your work can’t measure up, then stop it immediately. Don’t look at anyone else’s stuff. You can look over some of your own favorite completed works instead, a body of work you’d like to continue.

Hype yourself up so that when you finally have time to create, you’ll want to do it more than anything else.

Step 3: Reduce friction

Starting is the most challenging phase of the creative process. The reason for that is inertia.

In physics, inertia is a tendency of an object to keep moving at the same speed, unless we apply external force to it. In other words, we have a tendency to remain sitting on the couch, unless something (like a deadline) forces us to move to our work desk.

There’s nothing wrong with you if you find it difficult to start anything. It’s a perfectly normal human condition. People cope with starting friction in different ways. Some choose willpower and discipline, but as I’ve already said, that doesn’t work for me, so I use various tricks to get myself started.

Here are some ways you can try and see if they work.

Keep your art supplies ready

If you have a dedicated creative workspace, simply keep them on your desk. This will remind you that you’ve been meaning to make some art. It will also minimize the time it takes you to set everything up. If you only have 10 minutes to spare, you won’t waste them hunting down the proper pencil or palette knife or whatever.

If you don’t have a work desk dedicated to art-making, figure out a way to keep your tools within easy reach. I always keep my sketching kit on a serving tray and bring it to the couch, into the yard, or the kitchen table. I highly recommend having something like that, whether it’s a tray, a bag, a box, a basket… Just make sure it’s lightweight and portable.

Simplify your technique

Don’t get too ambitious and expect yourself to complete a full page color painting, or an entire epic poem every day. If you’re working or studying full-time, up to 30 minutes on a workday is plenty of time to dedicate to creative play and practice.

What is the simplest technique you can use with no setup time?

For me that’s a fountain pen or a brush pen and a sketchbook. It’s lightweight so I can carry it in my purse wherever I go, and I’m able to sketch standing up.

If you’re used to elaborate works of art this may seem like a big step down, but it’s a useful practice, and will remove any time-wasting overwhelm or fuss.

Fill your idea stash

A problem I see with beginner artists and writers is that they sit down in front of the blank page, and feel like they’re supposed to be able to create a masterpiece.

That’s not how it usually works.

There are two distinct phases in the creative process: idea generation and execution. These two phases require different skills, environment, and mood. It’s hard to do both in a single sitting.

Idea generation often occurs spontaneously. You’re going about your day, and an idea for a painting, or a story, or a melody pops into your mind. I wrote a whole post about how to keep and organize ideas. I’ll just reiterate the most important tip: when you get an idea out of the blue, make a note of it immediately. This way you’ll always have multiple ideas to start from when you’re ready.

If you happen to run out of ideas, or have a specific theme you want to work on (so none of your existing ideas will do), have a couple of idea generation sessions. Open a notebook and start doodling tiny thumbnail sketches or writing bullet points of plot ideas, as many as you can in 5 to 10 minutes. Don’t think too much, just keep your pen moving.

The goal here is not to come up with one perfect idea, but as many ideas as possible. That way, you’ll be able to pick the best one, or combine several ideas into one. This process of working on many rough sketches at once helps me remove the pressure of perfectionism.

When you decide to do the final work, you’ll have a starting point and won’t have to stare at the blank page anymore.

Always have a work in progress

This is something I’ve heard from other artists, but I’m not so good at doing it myself. The trick is to start working on another project immediately after you finish the previous one, or even to work on several artworks simultaneously. That way there’s always at least one artwork ready to go when you have a bit of time to create.

Our brains keep “open loops” for all the things we start and don’t finish, so we feel compelled to keep working on them.

Connecting to a project daily or at least every couple of days helps reduce the starting friction. But if we let a project sit unfinished for too long, getting back to it can sometimes feel just as repulsive as starting from scratch.

Once you’re done with your artwork, if you let yourself rest for too long, inertia sets back in so it’s harder to start again.

Break down a Big Project and chip away at it

I find it much easier to start drawing a sketchbook page than a huge elaborate detailed painting. Not surprising. Big paintings are intimidating and I know it will take me days or weeks to finish each one so if I don’t have the energy for something that involved, I won’t even bother starting.

But breaking down the “painting process” into steps that I can complete in less than an hour makes it more manageable. Examples of these steps for my type of work include:

• Searching for photo references or taking my own photos.
• Priming the surface with texture, colors, or collage elements (which can be time-consuming, but it’s easy and relaxing work).
• Painting a simple background.
• Sketching my subject onto the surface.
• Painting the edges of the canvas.

If I do all of this prep work in tiny pockets of time, then when I finally have more time, energy and inspiration I can dive straight into painting the subject, which for me is the most fun part of making art.

Think about what kind of steps you can break your creative process into and group them into quick tasks, easy tasks, and difficult tasks.

• If you only have a little bit of time, do a quick task.
• If you have more time, but you’re tired, do an easy task.
• If you have time and energy, do the difficult task.

By planning ahead you’ll be ready for anything.

Step 4: Decrease distractions

There’s no shortage of activities that feel easier and more fun than creating something. I don’t have to tell you what they are, all of us have our own vices that pull our attention away from art. Whether something is a nurturing activity or a distraction depends on the context. I already mentioned that enjoying media that stimulates your imagination is good—it’s only a distraction if it’s cutting into your “creative time”. And this is where we need to be honest with ourselves.

Honor your sacred creative time

There are times in the day when we feel most alert and capable. Hopefully, your job or school isn’t blocking out all of that time! If it is, and you have no control over your work or study schedule, then just pick the next best thing: when you feel somewhat rested. Perhaps the only free time when you also feel rested is on the weekends, and that works too.

Once you figure out when that is, protect that time from any other obligations or distractions. Don’t schedule any social commitments during that time, don’t do chores during that time, and most importantly: don’t get sucked into entertainment or social media.

If you only have one time slot available for creating in an entire week, you mustn’t squander it. Sure, there will be unavoidable obligations occasionally, but if you have a say in when something happens, don’t schedule it during your sacred creative time. Even if you think you won’t be in the mood for creating! (Hopefully the section on getting in the right mood will help with that.)

Set up guardrails

Because I’m terrible at self-discipline, I use tools to block certain websites and apps during the times I need to be working.

You may not want to go to that extreme, but it’s helpful to remove things from your workspace that keep stealing your attention. Close the doors, set your phone to quiet, close the browser, and whatever else you need to do to be able to focus.

Whenever I notice I have a very difficult time staying away from distracting media, I do a social media sabbatical or a digital detox. This helps me reset my habits and get into creative flow.

Set the timer and go

Use any kind of timer app or a physical device and set an increment of time during which you will focus solely and entirely on your creative practice. If you’re out of practice, set a small goal, like 15 or 20 minutes.

Promise to yourself that you’ll only be creating for those 15–20 minutes, and when the time is up you’ll decide whether to continue or not. There is zero obligation to continue past the allotted time.

If you feel like nothing is working for the entirety of your timed session and you’d rather just stop there, that’s fine. You did your best, and that is enough.

But other times you might get into the groove and happily go on for hours. That’s great too! Keep creating for as long as you’re comfortable.

Multitask? Maybe

I’m not a huge fan of multi-tasking, but there are times when it can work and I started doing that more often lately.

There’s no way I can write or paint while watching TV because those activities require my full attention. Sometimes I can listen to a podcast while I paint, but when I’m attempting a challenging technique I prefer to turn all sounds off.

But I can sketch or color with colored pencils and watch TV. I don’t need to be 100% focused on sketching since I can easily fix any mistakes. I find coloring with pencils tedious, so a bit of distraction helps me plow through it as time seems to pass faster.

Experiment for yourself and see if there is a way to combine a creative activity with an entertaining activity. Knitters are masters at this, some of them can do it while hanging out with friends in a cafe. I could perhaps sketch my friends too, but I worry that everyone would feel too self-conscious in that situation.

If you realize it doesn’t work, at least you have some valuable information now.

I hope some of these tips will work for you.

As always, embrace stuff that works, adapt or toss out things that don’t. We’re all built differently, and your life circ*mstances may also play an important role.

Do you have any tips you’d like to share with me and others?

Please write a comment with a method that works well for you. I’m always on the lookout for new things to try, and it might also help others who are watching or reading this.

Thanks for watching, and I’ll talk to you again in the next episode of Nela’s Art Chat.