My Year of Art

This year has been terrible in so many ways that it collectively forced everyone to look inwards, sometimes quite literally within themselves to find some peace in this chaos. I was one of those people who were capable of getting lost in a blank canvas for hours, provided I actually managed to pick it up.

At the beginning of the year, I was in the most picturesque place I had ever seen, my campus. And I thought 'Let's make good use of this' and started painting a few times a month enjoying the golden hour in my hostel room as the setting sun's orange rays flooded in through my window. Soon enough we had to come back home and there was little to do which did not involve a screen of some sort. And here begins the story of how I rekindled my love for art in the middle of all of this mess.

In April 2020, Kesh released the prompts for his 100 Days of Sketching Challenge that was supposed to start from May 1st. But I had way too much time and I knew my new job was scheduled to begin sometime in May so I started early. Around the same time, I started to explore Photoshop and tried to find ways to merge my watercolor artwork with some photoshop tricks to create something unique. It was not easy and if you know me, you know I am a huge advocate for online courses but this is the first time I felt they were lacking. I learned a lot just by doing and consulting my trusted friends, Google, and Youtube. For some prompts, I tried to create ads or stop-motion videos to play around with my creativity more. Note to self - Do more of that. Towards the second half of the challenge I also tried out some comics and you know how they say, draw what you know? The only thing on my mind then was my beautiful college experience and I poured my heart into some of those comics. If you see my Instagram, you will see it has been a journey.

I will not say I loved all the prompts or had amazing ideas every day or was super on track. Even though I started a month early, I did fall behind and completed the challenge a few weeks after it was scheduled to end. But what is important is, and it took me 25 years to understand this, I did complete the challenge and that is what matters. And it got me to make 100 drawings. Actually, I posted 100 drawings but I made way more. I sketched just to take a break from the prompts. I started another challenge midway through the original challenge just to mix it up. I made mandalas by the dozen to clear my head. It got me into this habit of drawing on the weekends and I love that right at the start of my career I made this sacred space in my weekends for something that makes me feel truly like a person. Do you know what I mean? When someone asks you who are you? I can happily say I am an artist. By that, I mean someone who enjoys practicing art. I am not a master in any field of art by any logic. I just love being a student of it.

This was also the first year I completed Inktober. 31 days of back-to-back artwork however I did not adhere to the 'INK' part of it for the most part. I enjoy making monochrome artwork and I feel like most of my audience likes that as well but I am not that adept at pen work to do complete justice just with one color. Maybe that is a challenge for next year's Inktober, this year's challenge was just showing up. During this time, work was challenging and there was also Durga Puja in the last week of it. There were definitely distractions and hurdles but I had made up my mind that I will do the simplest of drawings but I will complete Inktober on time no matter what happens. And I am so proud of myself that I did! Again, the whole thing is up on my Instagram so have a look. At the end of October, I felt like I should finish up one more challenge sort of revolving around prompts. the A - Z challenge and then move on to more creative ideas. That is still in progress I should be able to close that one off soon, fingers crossed.

This journey has taught me a lot. Not just in a way of styles and techniques but mostly in a way of self-discovery. I needed those 150+ days of prompts so I can get back my confidence to be more expressive and creative in my art. I needed to plan ahead and think about the prompts and the concepts in advance to have a regular upload schedule. I also created art for the sake of it. I did not really pay attention to the likes and follower count once I had uploaded for the day. I figured my job was to create art and at the end of the day I did it for me, so as much as I would like for people to look at what I create it was not a prerequisite to creating in the first place. The interest is an unlimited free resource but that does not mean everyone has sound advice to offer or rather everyone's advice will suit you. Be smart, listen selectively. Google, Pinterest, and Youtube are as useful as they are distracting, be wise with your attention real-estate. Audiobooks make for great painting partners but they might spark more ideas so have a rough notebook handy. I learned that sitting down every day with your sketchbook and set of paints and stare at the blank piece of paper can be intimidating but also necessary. That first basic idea, the first pencil outline is the hardest but then you can pretty much go in all directions from there. You know how they say you need to learn the rules to break them like an artist? They're right. Art has a bunch of rules and good art follows those rules. Good artists study those rules and live by them and know it like the back of their hand but great artists learn them and go beyond the limitations of these rules to create something amazing. I want to be that person, who can make a piece of work that leaves everyone speechless. And I know that kind of art does not come from following some template, it comes from the journey that you take to discover what it is that moves you. And like all artists before me, I have to take that journey too. This year has just made me feel excited about it again.

Okay, that got a little cheesy. But this story started about 8 months back and I am so glad I could find my way back to a blank canvas and find the stillness in this madness to get lost in it one more time.