Inspiration and assignment

I know that most of my readers are creative souls who love to be inspired. I also know that I get things done if I have a deadline. Starting now, I will provide you with a creative brief that you can modify as you choose. It is a starting point if you want to do something but don’t know where to begin.

Cloud creatures

We have been on the road quite a lot the past few weeks. Travelling through the flatter areas of Germany and the Netherlands you can see the clouds for miles. I love to watch them change shape and morph from cute fluffy bunnies to dragons.

I hope you enjoy this little assignment to get your creative juices flowing. I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Drawing challenges

If you have been following me for a while, you will know that I love a good drawing challenge. In the past years I have done “30 days of birds in different styles”, gone through various prompt lists and finished a project “100 days of coffee with milk”. In my last email I shared my ambition to participate in #The100DayProject again this year. As I am writing this, I am well into the third week of the challenge and already have some insights to share. 

The perfect sketch book

Shortly before the start on February 18th I began to hunt around the house for the perfect sketchbook. I was even considering binding one myself. One was too small, the next was too heavy but tucked into the back of my art supply closet (yes, I have a whole closet full of goodies), I found the perfect one for this project. The brand is Flexbook and it is approx. A5 size and has a soft cover so it is small and light enough to carry around with me. I guess it will look pretty worn by the end of the 100 days but that is perfectly fine.

What should I draw?

Then I started fretting about the fact that I didn’t have a theme. What should I draw every day? Did I need to define a subject? Looking back, it would have made things easier. Almost every time I sit down to create, I have to first think of what to do. Having a ready prompt list helped me in the past to because I would think about it during the day and when I sat down in the evenings, I would already have a picture in my head. Then again, without a list to draw from, I can do whatever comes up at that moment and see where it leads.

To share or not to share

The first few days I posted my work every day on Instagram. Then while I was uploading post 8, I realized that I had forgotten to share the art I did on day 7. Looking back, I can say that I didn’t want to post it, because it didn’t come out as I wished. That was when the shift happened. I went back to my WHY and realized that I was holding myself back because I wanted only to create work that I was happy to share.

Free to explore again
I had lost sight of my original goal. Posting my work was keeping me from doing what I wanted to do. In preparation for this challenge , I decided to explore my style by trying out new mediums, new techniques and new subjects, but I ended up doing what I was comfortable with to make something “pretty”. I immediately stopped posting and felt the weight lift. I was free again to have fun and not think of the outcome. So, if you were wondering if I already gave up, I have not – I am just not sharing my art at the moment.

Of course, I still have a long way to go and I can’t wait to fill my 100-page sketchbook with inspiring and fun drawings. I am having fun and that is all that counts.

Exploring my personal style

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I have a very distinctive style. This way of drawing comes naturally to me. But what if you don’t really “like” your own style? Yup, that is what I am facing at the moment. A personal style is always evolving, and I feel that it is time to evaluate and try out new things.

 On February 18 2024 the next round of free, global art project #The100DayProject starts again. If you have a project that you have wanted to tackle for a long time and never got started, this is your opportunity! I will be participating again and will dedicate the 100 days to style exploration.

 Do you have a style that doesn’t feel right, or do you think you don’t have a style at all? Well, I can assure you, that almost all creative people struggle with this from time to time. The best cure is to just create art, explore and enjoy the process without getting too caught up in the outcome.

 Some things that can help:

Try a new medium

Do you usually work digitally? Think about going wild with all the art supplies you have lying around at home. You don’t need to get anything new

, just use what you have.

Mix and match

If you haven’t yet, try mixed-media. In this technique, you combine literally anything you can get your hands on. Try collaging, painting over it, stamping – the choices are endless.

Color play

I know life is easier if you have a set color palette, but why not explore new color combinations? See if you like pastels or bold colors or try expressing yourself using only one color.

 The most important thing is to have fun! There is no right or wrong when creating art.

 If you do need inspiration, you can check out Pinterest and maybe create a collection of art that you would like to explore. But don’t go down the rabbit hole of endless scrolling. Another thing to keep in mind is that you are only getting inspiration. Do not copy other artists’ work unless you are doing it to study their style. Never show the work you copied and if you keep it, make sure to mark it, so that you don’t forget that it isn’t yours.

Since style is such a big topic, I will be sharing more about it in my next newsletter, along with what I have learnt from the first few days of the project. I will be sharing my process on my Instagram account @simplysommerdesign. 

My 100DayProject 2022: Coffee with milk:

Daily drawing

Did you participate in one of the October drawing challenges? I was pretty consistent and had fun with #facetober and #theydrawandcook. You can check out what I came up with on my Instagram account @simplysommerdesign. I kept it really simple since I was travelling and didn’t want to spend too much time per day on the drawings. I know that the more complicated I make it for myself, the less likely I am to have fun with it. You can see some of my drawings below.

If you did get started with a sketchbook and want to keep it up or want to get into the routine now, I have you covered. I created a prompt list with fun ideas. These are not mandatory and if you have other ideas or projects, feel free to go ahead with those. Click on the button “free download” to get it. I would love to see what you create! If you share it on Instagram, please tag me @simplysommerdesign and use #sommerprompts.

Thrilled to announce that my business idea was picked by Spoonflower as a runner-up project! 

When I started with surface pattern design

, I always dreamt of seeing my creations on products. After half a year of designing, I decided to take action. I sat down and made a list of things I would like to see my patterns on. In the end I put together a sustainability kit for the kitchen with a foldable shopping bag, two vegetable bags, a bread bag and two beeswax bowl covers.

As sewing is not a passion of mine, I contacted a local workshop that supports people with disabilities. They were very interested in my project, loved my patterns and the fabric, and started sewing some prototypes for me. With these sample products, I visited a few local stores and found three that would like to sell my sustainability kits.

In my Spoonflower Grant application, I explained my motives and added photos of the prototypes. When I was contacted by them, I was over the moon! I am so grateful that Spoonflower believes in my project and is supporting me in creating the first few products.

Here are a few pictures of my products. The name of the product line is “wieder und wieder” which is German and means “again and again”. My hope is that people will love the products and the designs on them so much, that they will use them for a long time. This will help to reduce plastic waste in particular.

On the Spoonflower blog you can find the other winners and their projects and cheer them on:

https://blog.spoonflower.com/2022/05/spring_2022_small_business_grantees/

How to create patterns and so much more.

I was working in customer support for a software company that specializes in events. Due to Covid I had a lot of time on my hands and wanted to learn a new skill. I have been designing flyers and simple websites for friends on a regular basis. I always thought that you couldn’t earn a living as a creative person without formal training.

When I found Bonnie on Skillshare I knew I needed to go through all her courses. Then I heard of Immersion and immediately knew that was the road I wanted to take. I didn’t really have an income at the time, so I scraped together what I had in my savings account and signed up. I have not regretted it!

Suddenly, all the drawings I was making had a purpose and I saw inspiration for patterns everywhere. I was obsessed with pattern-making from the very beginning – it is so addictive! I have to admit, that I still don’t use all the Illustrator-Shortcuts. Illustrator and I weren’t close friends before Immersion but now I can’t live without it! I thought I was proficient with the Adobe programs before the course, but man, I had no idea – Bonnie has amazing knowledge and is great at sharing it. I would be lying if I said it was all fantastic.

Sometimes I was really overwhelmed by the amount of things to do and not knowing where to start. The Flourish Membership helped to get on track and the peer group was great to stay accountable. I actually found a close friend in the group and we still chat once a week to catch up, celebrate wins and motivate each other. My patterns have sold Spoonflower and I started with POD. In addition, I am having products sewn and postcards printed to sell myself.

The main thing I took away from the course, apart from knowledge, was a lot of confidence. I would never have started my own business as a Webdesigner with SPD as a side hustle if it hadn’t been for Bonnie and Immersion. I hope to get a few licensing deals in the near future and will continue to design fun patterns to use on various products.

To anybody looking for a great possibility to boost their creativity with the idea of generating money – Immersion is definitely a great starting point. Just don’t forget – you have to do the work!

If you are interested in the course but have some questions, I am happy to answer them from a participant’s perspective. Just contact me – I would love to hear from you!

My feedback was also featured on Bonnies Celebration Page:

https://bonniechristine.com/celebrate/annina-sommer/