The Artist’s Panel: Routine

For this week’s post, I want to talk about switching up your medium. Lately, my eyes have been killing me from staring at a computer screen for so long, as I work almost entirely on the computer. Zoom fatigue is real, and let me tell you, so is Wacom-Tablet-And-Adobe-Suite fatigue. When I was recently assigned to complete an illustration for one of my classes, I knew I had to make a change in how I worked. 

I found a pallet of water color paints while searching through my drawer of miscellaneous art supplies (you know the one) and I couldn’t resist the temptation to use them. I spent the rest of the evening sitting on my porch with a glass of sweet tea and my paints. After touching the illustration up in Photoshop, I was pretty proud of it! Fine art and painting are by no means my specialty, but it was a needed change to my daily routine. 

After completing this illustration, I felt completely reenergized and inspired to approach my other digital work in a new way. There is no “command Z” when you are painting, so using watercolors forced me to relinquish some of my control and trust my instincts. It brought to my attention that I have been caught up on the very small details instead of looking at the bigger picture of the assignment, and I would have never had the opportunity to reflect on this habit if I hadn’t switched up my medium for a day. It can be very easy to get lost in your daily routine, but breaking the cycle every once in awhile can do wonders for your work — and your motivation — moving forward.