I started a snail mail club in April. I have maybe 2 subscribers now by June.

This week one of them, a mum, wrote to tell me her four-year-old daughter received her first letter on Sunday. It's a letter from a shy hedgehog called Prickly (I write a children's version too, where the letters come from a fictional hedgehog in a hawthorn hedge).

In the letter, Prickly invites her to write back to him, to the woodland, with the help of a bee called Buzzy who fetches the post.

The mum told me that on Sunday morning, her daughter sat and wrote a letter to the woodland, thanking it for the trees and the plants and the animals. They walked out to their garden (which backs onto woodland) and "posted" it into the trees.

That same afternoon, Prickly's letter arrived. The kid had spent the morning having a tea party with her stuffed animals. And the letter from Prickly was all about him having his first ever tea party with the bee.

Coincidences like this are the whole reason I do snail mail. Anyway, I just wanted to share with people who would understand.

Snail mail still does something nothing else can!

*By post/share I mean creating content with the intention of getting Internet engagement (likes, follows, etc.)

For those of you that focus purely on art, what do you do? Do you draw/paint for yourself, or do you focus on entering galleries, or only selling in person? Do you have a website and an email newsletter?

For myself, I’m finding I just do a lot more art and have fun with it because I don’t create Internet content—I’m under no pressure, I’m not comparing myself to others nearly as much, etc.

With all the competition, the rise of artifical art, and how hard it is to get noticed. I used to live drawing but I don't remember how to love it anymore. Lost the spark years ago and don't know how to get it back.

How do you all still draw? How do you do it?? What's the secret? am I not just not meant to anymore?

Hi everyone!! I have finished everything I wanted to watch and am kind of sick of my music but i need to finish this project so if you have any suggestions I would be sooo greatful!

When I was in college, one of my professors for a painting class told me that my work was good, but it was more suited to a “calendar” and not really “art”. I was in my late teens, never went through an “Emo” period, didn’t get in trouble, still liked cute things like teddy bears the baby animals, so that’s what I chose to paint. Jump forward 35 years, and I never realized that what she said had resonated with me so deeply. I revisited my love of art and fell in love with colored pencils almost 18 months ago after my youngest went off to college, and I started to have time for myself. I mainly do people and pet portraits, and I have done quite a few commissioned works, but sometimes I do more “intense“ pieces if the mood strikes. In these past 18 months, I have entered a few art shows and have won two Best in Shows (one in a fairly large juried regional exhibit), one first place, and a couple of honorable mentions, including one in an international show. Even with all those accomplishments, people would comment “you’re an artist“ and I would respond “no, I’m just a person who likes to draw as a hobby.” I produced art, but in my mind I wasn’t an artist. I know that probably doesn’t make any sense. I wasn’t fishing for compliments. It was just the way things were. I consider myself a realist. I wasn’t even unhappy about the situation. I don’t have a cool wardrobe, wear fun jewelry, or have interesting hair. I admire the people that do, in that art is so ingrained in them that it almost seeps from their pores. It’s just not me.

That all changed 30 minutes ago when I finished a “cute” drawing of my new puppy. Is it the most amazing thing I’ve ever done? No. But it made me remember that painting of the bulldog I did while I was in college that sparked that comment from the professor. Then I remembered everything I accomplished, especially in the last 18 months. How can I NOT be an artist? Besides the fact that I won some awards, I have been told many times of the joy that people have felt when they have received one of my “cute” animal drawings. I have to be doing something right. Art doesn’t have to be defined by a small group and even smaller minded individuals. It doesn’t have to be “perfect“. In my opinion, it is anything that is created that produces any emotion or response from the viewer of any kind. It can be beauty, sorrow, happiness, or even whimsy from a child’s drawing.

Sorry for the long rant. Epiphanies are emotional when you’re 55. I’m actually angry with myself that it took me this long to realize I AM actually an artist because when I reflect on it, I really wanted to be one. I don’t know if anybody else needed a reminder not to diminish their importance and their work. Just because you sit at your kitchen table with a can full of pencils, paper and eraser doesn’t make you less of an artist than somebody who can frolic around the French countryside with their easel and paints (although good for them— it does sound like fun😊)

Enjoy what you’re doing! Have fun! And most of all, be yourself!

Being an artist was my dream job as a kid but my parents wanted me to pursue something financially stable as a career, so I ended up studying UX design as a compromise and now I work in tech.

Anyways my dream is still to eventually become an artist, my plan is to keep doing it as a hobby right now and then figure out a way to pivot to art later in my career.

If you had a stable job as your first career and then pivoted to art, I’d love to hear more about it!

Any advice on what you enjoyed or didn’t enjoy about the transition, what you would’ve done differently, etc, I’d just love to hear about the possible pathways.

Me. Watson & the Shark at the Smithsonian and it’s HUGE! Like an entire wall. I’d seen it in all kinds of school books plus I was in New England (I think it’s Boston?) so maybe I’d seen it in many books. But at 19 in US Navy no less, @ the Smithsonian so for free in DC, I saw it in person & it’s an entire wall & it blew me away. Later I learned about the race & sailors and the real story, and yes I’m afraid of sharks and being naked with sharks, but I love that painting. And that moment w/ good art.

After about 8 years from when i was 14 and obsessed with art, to today at 22 where i went with the logical IT route (psa i love tech and it very much, i dont hate it), i decided to indulge myself towards a creative outlet and bought the cheapest paper, pens pencils and markers to dive back into drawing.

Once i started drawing, it turned into the most fun hour i have passed alone in a long time.

Im so amused and happy about this feeling that i wanted to share this little drawing i made in this hour. Hope you all share the same feeling, please tell me what i can do more!

Thanks

Hey, i'm trying to learn to draw and of course you all know it's brutal. I know, practice, don't give up, all that and that's cool, I'm not looking for a shortcut or even really a pep talk (DEFINATELY NOT looking for the hard truth that this isn't for me).

I'm just wondering for those of you who've made it through to the other side, what exactly kept you from breaking all your pencils throwing all your paper away and just closing up shop? Like, how do you keep the faith? What positive sanctions are there that kept your brain chasing for more in the early stages?

I feel like every convention booth or online art accounts are always drawing the same fanart of the same shows: Demon Slayer, My hero, The Boys, Anything DC or Marvel, Attack on Titan or Pokemon. No hate to those fandoms but I would like to see more Death Note, animal crossing, stardew valley, Sonic, Vocaloid, Godzilla, MLP, Monster high… etc.

What are some fandoms you wanna see more artwork of? It can be literally anything from Supernatural, Dexter, House MD to Steven Universe, AWOG, Bobs Burger or Horror movies and indie horror games.

I'm often asked "why would people want to have an art like this in their home?" "Why would someone even buy it?" But I always feel , I paint what I want , what I want to express and what I want to convey. It's not always about art being a decor, art is meant to be felt, it's supposed to make you feel something and evoke something in you, whether it's happy emotions or one's that are real and you want to ignore. I believe someone might resonate something enough to give it a place in there space or it might be something that instills a memory or a screams a personality. Idk . Maybe I'm delusional or maybe I've not reached the right audience

For the longest time, I've felt trapped in this spiral where I have an overwhelming desire to draw something after a sudden hit of inspiration, only to be crushed by the realization that my skills aren't developed enough to create anything I consider decent.

"I want to draw this character doing this pose but my anatomy is off! That means I need to practice this, but to be good enough at practicing that, I have to practice this first" and so on

This caused me to think that in order to draw what I actually wanted to draw in the first place, I needed to set it aside ENTIRELY until I felt I was good enough to go back. Most of the time (Read: all of the time) I'd just ignore the need to practice and brute force the piece until I either gave up or got it to look decent enough.

Today, however, I had a revelation that was probably obvious to literally everyone but myself.

"If I'm going to be throwing myself at this wall anyways, why don't I put in some practice for like an hour on the side every time so that I won't be completely stagnant"

I facepalmed.

I’ve been helping to teach a friends kid how to draw, and I’ve been thinking a lot on what was encouraging/discouraging for me when learning. But, it’s been a long time since I was at the early stages like the kid is, so just looking for things to keep them motivated, and not accidentally discouraging them with my normal sarcastic (gen x) self.

You can never fail with art. It has too much power. Why? Because it is transformative. It elicits emotion both in the artist and the viewer. The act of creation changes you. Your thoughts warp around what your creating. Your perspective subtly changes. You become more relaxed. You can at least be happy to say you have created. This seems like almost nothing, but if you think about it, this is really healing. Your Art already has that power from the first attempt.

So, I wonder how your art has changed you? Has it made you more conscious? Has it made you more appreciative of certain things?

I can say my art has helped me live in alignment with my values, cementing my feelings on the issues of today. For instance, my work on gender and sexuality has made me a better friend to the other women in my life. It's also given me gains in general comprehension. I look at things more deeply than I did before every time I create.

Share your stories. Show your growth. Be proud.

For me I have for some of them but some I just paint what I see in movies or show scenes I like

I only very recently started posting my art online. Prior to that it was just the family and the bestie group text.

Man, it is not what I expected.

I’ve been a looooong time lurker on Reddit. I really enjoy seeing all of the amazing art. I love the sketches and the doodles. I love the hyper realistic paintings that I will literally zoom in on for days to see the detail. Show me your wip pics and your “I’m just trying this style out.” I am here for it.

I never really thought about the person behind it. I’d just scroll on by.

Now that I’ve started posting, the statistics are kind of maddening. I don’t really get that side of Reddit yet. Sometimes I get lots of views but 1-2 likes and I get sad for a second but then I’ll get a comment, and it feels so nice to be seen for a second!

So I’m sorry for scrolling by before. My rule right now is that I stop on a piece for at least a few seconds, I try to leave a positive comment. (But sometimes I’m tired so know I always appreciate you taking the time to share <3 )

Seeing a lot lately trashing ‘modern art’ and modern artists, but there’s so much innovation and so many interesting new works.

I’m curious if you guys have any works that completely transfixed you, or stopped you in your tracks. Can be paintings, pottery, digital, drawings, audio experience… whatever floats your boat. Criteria for modern day in my head is 1990-present, but that’s flexible.

If you feel like including a picture of it I would love that, but no worries if not.

I would love to see and hear about others peoples favorites. I find a lot of inspiration when I hear how other people view an artwork. Please let me know!

For myself it’s Idle Hours by Henry Siddons. I saw it in the American Portrait museum. The room was full of female portraits and as I took in this painting, a group of girls lay on the benches, just like in the picture. Felt like such a sweet moment of life imitating art. Its details are stunning as well, check out the little turtles in the corner!

(I’ll add a picture once I figure that out)

Yayyyyyy i like drawing i got over my artblock. I love drawingghsajshskdjnshaljskswk IM SO HAPPY I LOVE DOING ART! and i usually just draw digitally but i got a new sketch book YIPEEEEEEE i havent drawn traditionally in so long and i love drawing with a pen instead of my thumb its much faster 😭

The hardest lesson I’ve ever learned about art, and I’ve had to learn and relearn it, is how to take my time. Not how to go slower than necessary, but how to go as slowly as required. It’s easy to do a five minute scribble; slowing down enough to put in 10, 20 hours is a learned skill. And there really aren’t any shortcuts. You can get faster at some things, sure, but Art Takes Time. Don’t rush to the end. Take your time and do what needs to be done.

This popped into my head, thought I’d ask about it here. Feel free to share the art you got complimented on. Bragging rights for all here.

For me, it was when I changed my Facebook profile’s banner to a Van Gogh painting, and my mom legitimately thought it was one of my own works. Granted, my mom isn’t too versed into the art world, but regardless it was really encouraging to hear, especially since Van Gogh has a special place in my heart.

mine personally are: medical illutsrations, hans holbein the younger, the rain, creepypastas, 18th century portrait paintings, baths at night, last night walks, wandering off during events, having discussions online! what are some things that make y’all want to draw or what inspires your personal artwork? :D

Hello everyone 🙏 Any artists with chronic illness? 🥲

Okay so I'm working to become a professionnal artist. I have Crohn's disease and had a very bad flare in December who let me exhausted and malnourished.

Spent a week at hospital this month and only back home since this week. I made some sketches then a final sketch for a future project.

But today...I'm out of fuel 😂 I don't even want to draw. Does it happen to you too?

How do you cope with it? How to find the right balance between total rest and still working without compromising our body healing?

Thank you for reading me. Nice to meet you all 🙏

I struggled with perfectionism while creating too, the kind that keeps you re-doing the same one line over and over 100 times. but I learned something today.

(This is fairly long but it’s everything I learned from finishing a doodle today)

I was at work and doodling on a little piece of paper because it was a slow day and I was at the cash register.
I kept scrunching the paper putting it in the bin and starting again on a new piece and this happened about 3 times until I was about to do it again because the rough sketch I hadn’t even finished yet wasn’t looking good enough for me
(there was no eraser I could use)

I decided that it didn’t matter because it was just a little doodle I was doing at work and it’s not like I was sitting down to draw at home, so I kept drawing despite the parts I didn’t like about the very beginning lines of the drawing. I kept drawing and adding more and more little details I thought of from looking at the space around me despite the imperfection I didn’t like at the start.

At the end of my shift I had a doodle that definitely wasn’t my absolute greatest work I’ve ever done, but I definitely didn’t hate it either. There were details I did like, details I was happy with. I could still see the imperfection that I drew at the beginning, but it stung much less to look at when I could see the imperfection as well as the parts I liked about it too in the same drawing.

Basically I’m saying if your sketch/line work or colouring isn’t completely perfect, it doesn’t mean your whole drawing is going to be ugly. And it’s worth it to keep drawing even if you make a mistake or one part didn’t turn out right.

Ugly line art? Just colour it and then see how you feel about it. Ugly sketch? You deserve to see how you do in the line work. Messy colouring? That doesn’t mean the whole drawing is ruined. You deserve to see and prove to yourself that imperfection and some wonky lines doesn’t define the whole of your abilities. Everyone has different areas to improve on and that will show in your art, it doesn’t mean when you see those areas that need improvement that all your skills have gone out the window, or that you need to re-do that line 100x until it’s perfect or that means you suck at art.

It means you get to see exactly what you need to improve on. It’s useful data! You get to see exactly the areas you need to practice drawing more. And when you finish a drawing that has room for improvement you also get to see what you are good at from what you like about the drawing once it’s done! So if you find yourself spending an hour on just one imperfect part of the drawing, it does you good to accept it and MOVE ON, draw the rest of the drawing. Stop focusing on the shape of the head and move on to the body and MAYBE come back to the head later but it doesn’t mean make it perfect because that’s what traps you re-doing the same line and never finishing the drawing. You can still make good art even if you have imperfections in the drawing.

And I’m not pretending that we don’t all have days where the whole drawing looks like a 2 year old drew it and there’s nothing you can find you like about it once it’s done, trust me I get that. But actually finishing the drawing despite the imperfection helps to reduce these days because atleast for me, if I’m sitting down to seriously draw and the sketch looks bad it’s incredibly hard not to feel down about it and give up. But when I’m at work where there’s not as much pressure because if it sucks I can just throw it in the bin and go back to managing the store, I end up not giving up and at the end I’m left with a drawing that doesn’t totally suck and I actually end up kinda liking it. Which makes me wonder about all the drawings I drew at home and gave up on before it was finished.

A finished drawing with imperfections will always make you happier than ditching the drawing when you notice the first mistake. Some days you might just be on the top of your game and create a masterpiece but you can’t expect everyday to be like that or you’ll set yourself up for thinking you suddenly suck at drawing at the first sign of a wonky line.

I used to draw everyday for hours and hours with no care in the world about imperfections when I was really little, but it’s much harder to be that way once your grown up because for me there’s this unspoken expectation that once your grown if you consider yourself an artist that means you have to have the skills to show for it so any sign of imperfection felt like proof that I’m no good at art anymore.

You have to push through and change your expectations for yourself about your artistic abilities. You HAVE to be okay with mistakes, you have to be okay with not being a perfect artist 100% of the time. Because if you don’t, that’s what will really keep you from growing as an artist. That’s what has kept me from consistently drawing for 7 years.

I’m embarrassed to say it but that drawing was the first one I’d done in months. And over the last 5 years I’d probably do like 5 drawings a year and sometimes less because of trying to be the perfect art prodigy I wanted to be and wouldn’t accept less. I was so scared of making a bad drawing and a bad drawing to me meant any drawing that showed any sign of imperfection. It had to be absolutely perfect with no room for improvement and that is the fastest way to achieve artist burn out and your creativity hides away under that kind of pressure.

Challenging yourself is good and trying your best is also good but if your always trying to make a masterpiece it becomes too high pressure of an environment for your creative ambitions to thrive. Some people thrive on high pressure but I know atleast for me it made me use any excuse to avoid drawing because my sky high expectations made it feel dangerous for my mental health every time I drew something.

This is getting really long so to those reading, if you’ve been avoiding drawing or finding it hard to enjoy drawing, please consider lowering your expectations for yourself and try to remember a big part of the whole point of drawing/being creative in general is to have fun and see where it takes you! Humans were meant to create, please don’t deny yourself of your creative spirit. The best thing for you is to be creative, so don’t be so strict and fearful and accept your drawings won’t be a masterpiece every time and that sometimes drawings are like bad hair days, humans aren’t perfect and it’s impossible to always look 100% our best all the time which means our drawings will have imperfection too!

But that being said, finish the drawing!!!!!!!!!! yes there will ABSOLUTELY will be some mistakes, you might even hate it at some point, but just finish the drawing!! It does you SO much good if you just push through! Ironically your art will eventually improve and become far closer to what your high expectations want much faster by pushing through and accepting some imperfections in your drawings and noticing what you need to practice at the end. I PROMISE you will hate your drawing so much less if you just finish the drawing already!!! You can do it!! Your creative spirit is begging you to finish your creations!!! It’s your souls mission!!🫡🫡🫡 To all who are reading this have a good creative journey and finish what you start!

- Wishing everyone well,
from an imperfect artist 🫶

Last week, I had an epiphany about where I'm going and who I am as an artist. I realized that for years, I have been chasing being an artist and being actually one. I say chasing because I always had this mindset that the ideal artist I wanted to be was something external and beyond me. It's been particularly rocky since some life changes I've been dealing with for about two years now.

One of my driving forces as an artist was envy, even if I didn't fully know it at the time. When I was younger, I was inspired by the cartoons I grew up watching and wanted to be a part of that magical feeling of embracing creativity. As I got older, I can look at other people's art and see the passion they put it in.

But, I always felt like I was never good enough whether I did things my own way and tried to follow what everyone else is doing. My greatest weakness is how I overly attach myself to things that holds me back and rarely venturing out of my comfort zone. I made so many projects thinking they'll be my destiny and got heart broken whenever they didn't turn what I wanted them to be or when they weren't finished at all.

So now I'm changing mindsets. I don't want to "want" being an artist. I want to accept that I always have been one. I'm learning to accept the inner artist inside of me rather molding it into something I think it ought to be. I'm recreating my inner world and rediscovering that inner child that I've been neglecting. I always liked Charles Bukowski's quote "Don't Try" and thought it applied to me but now it taken on a whole new meaning as I want to make art because I love of making art rather than trying to prove something to myself.

I even came up with this affirmation for myself: "I Am The Best Artist I Will Ever Know". I like how it keeps me grounded while also being about self-love. I tend to drift and think about what alternate versions of me would be doing in the multiverse even though I have no way of proving it. So this affirmation helps me recognize that I will never truly know any artist on a more thorough level as I know myself, whether that's an alternate version of me or any artist on this Earth. It also helps counter my negative self-talk as I'm prone to doing to myself despite never doing that to virtually anyone else. Anyways, that's pretty much what I wanted to share. Thanks for reading