Natalie Groves (my new amazing illustrator and amazingly local friend) and I were talking on Monday about failing at designs (or illustrations in her case). We realized that too often we rush just to finish something, not giving the design or illustration proper time and care. Natalie knows illustrators that will do dozens of initial drawings before they will choose the best draft. Accomplished authors write several drafts before publishing a book. As designers, we tend to have tight deadlines and likely rush our designs before properly giving each concept time to become more successful. Right now I do one sketch for a design and execute it. Pretty lame. My goal this next year is to spend much more time refining my sketches before they hit the computer.

The above little cotton candy illustration was a failure. I didn’t spend much time thinking about the proper way to execute this concept. I rushed through it and ended up wasting time and not even using it in the end. But that cotton candy illustration (and plenty of others) is teaching me a lot.

Speaking of creativity: I’ve read one book on creativity that I LOVED called “Bird by Bird” and am currently reading another book called, “The Creative Habit.” They are written by an author and a choreographer, respectively, and they are incredibly inspiring. They both teach how important it is to simply practice creativity. Don’t be fearful…just make something.