No. 28 - 2024 Q4
How Can I Make This More Fun?
In 2024 I decided to stop teaching and to start working with an agency so I could focus back on freelancing. As I’ve had a more consistent practice the last several months I’ve noticed a new thought process emerging in my work: I ask myself “How can I make this more fun?”.
Looking back I see an underlying anxiety around a lot of projects. A fear that I wasn’t good enough, that clients wouldn’t be happy with final product, or that I didn’t have the skill or talent to get the artwork where it needed to be. All artists know this is a (shitty) natural part of the creative process. Even when you’re happy with the end result, the journey is not without doubt.
But as I’ve gotten busier with projects again, I noticed a shift. I didn’t feel as much anxiety or worry about being good enough. Instead, illustrating started to feel more like a puzzle. Something I knew I could solve, a problem that I have answer to. It was just a matter of figuring out the right pieces and making the right choices to end up where I wanted to be. And I started making those choices around the idea of having more fun. Literally asking myself - Can I add fun movement with the shapes and lines I’m drawing? Can I make myself smile with some small detail? Can I push this concept into a more surprising and enjoyable place?
I started trusting myself to know what to do and I ended up having a much better time doing it.
I’m hoping to continue this in my illustration work and things like this newsletter (which historically I haven’t been great about writing consistently because it was never very much fun!). It’s nice to trust in yourself and to reframe something as a fun challenge. I wish more of that for everyone heading into a new year.
Examples
Because I realize “have more fun with it” can be a vague platitude, here are specific ways I tried to make things more fun for myself and the artwork over the last few months.
Loosen up
I have noticed my work consistently becoming more simple in things like perspective and shape and more bold in composition and line work over the years. I much prefer it to some of my older work that was trying to be overly delicate and detailed.
Create movement
The spots I do for Real Simple’s ‘Simple Twists’ section have to be clear and legible but I love figuring out how to bring movement in. That way they are fun as well as utilitarian.
Include a detail that makes me happy
I love cats and I often include them in an illustration if I can/it makes sense.
Real Simple - Pets
This is one I had a lot of fun working on. No cats, tho :)
Morning Brew Holiday Gift Guide
This one was inspired by old holiday catalogs that highlighted the products in separate frames throughout the page. One of my favorite activities is digging around on The Internet Archive and thankfully/of course they had plenty of reference material to work from.
Atlassian - Boomerang Employees
Really enjoyed working with Atlassian again. This one was about boomerang employees - those who leave a company and then later return. I wanted to use symmetry to show the back and forth/coming and going nature of the topic. Plus a little Peggy Olson energy for fun (sans cig).
Just For Fun
The annual holiday party at the fitness studio where I teach is a pizza party with pies from different spots around Portland. I made the flyers again this year so naturally the direction was vintage ballet photos with pizza added in.
I found the images digging through scans of ballet books (most from the USSR!) on the Internet Archive. (Seriously, if you’re ever feeling stuck or uninspired I recommend getting the hell off of Instagram/Pinterest etc and aimlessly wandering thru the Internet Archive for something fresh and not driven by the algorithm.)
Other than that…
I enjoyed the new season of The Ultimatum (aside from the majority of the men being 100% red flag garbage lol 🤡). I’ve been listening to Tyzo Bloom, specifically the Random Thoughts EP. I’ve been reading plenty of 3-star not worth mentioning by name mystery/thriller books. I listened to The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life which, pretty dry, but interesting nonetheless. I finally downloaded Little Kitty, Big City and it’s lovely (when I take a break from Stardew or TOTK). Planning to finish The Later Daters as I enjoy the last few lazy days of the holiday.
Thanks as always for reading. See you in 2025!