Art Before Breakfast: A Zillion Ways to be More Creative No Matter How Busy You Are

It’s ironic that people speak of artists as dreamers. I think they are the most grounded people around. Conscious and present. As an artist, you really see life, connect with its beauty, and create something that shares those observations with others. You notice things.

Mistakes are lessons in disguise and accurate reflections of your true state. Maybe you need to slow down. Maybe your initial expectation was actually what was wrong. Maybe you need to draw more often.

Creativity isn’t a luxury. It’s the essence of life.

Life is just a long succession of small epiphanies.

bear in mind that interesting art doesn’t come from trying to slavishly turn a photo into a drawing. Try to add as much as you can of your own to the image.

Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life.” -Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

Time is short. Don't waste it beating yourself up.

Keep your eyes on the things you are drawing 80 percent of the time and on your page just 20 percent.

These voices — the inner critic, the inner nag, the inner pest, the inner jerk and all the other monsters who try to talk you out of moving forward— are the part of you that is threatened by change and progress. We all have them. They are trying to protect you from new and scary things, but they are out of sync with you right now and not helpful. They hate what you are doing, but that doesn’t make them right,

Contour, negative space, and measurements. You just learned the three important lessons in drawing and saved yourself four years of art school.

look before you draw and believe what your eyes, not the rest of your head, tell you.

Read this book when you are stuck. But don’t read it instead of drawing.

Art with a big “A” is for museums, galleries, critics, and collectors. art with a small “a” is for the rest of us. Art is a business, an industry, a racket. art is about passion, love, life, humanity— everything that is truly valuable. Art is sold, resold, put under the gavel, and insured up the wazoo. art with a small “a” is not a product. It’s a point of view. It’s a way of life. Art is made by trained professionals and experts. art is made by accountants, farmers, and stay-at-home moms at restaurant tables, in parking lots, and laundry rooms. Art takes Art School and Talent and years of Suffering and Sacrifice. art just takes desire and 15 minutes a day. You may not be an Artist. Big whoop. But I know you can make art— with a wonderful, expressive, teeny, tiny a.

7. Get a drawing buddy. Or join an online group like Everyday Matters on Facebook.

Imagine if you signed up for a drawing class and from day one, the teacher hung over your shoulder and harangued your every move. Imagine if she told you you can't draw and will never be able to, told you to just forget the whole thing. Imagine if she constantly chipped away at your confidence, your personality, your self-worth, turning a simple drawing exercise into a judgment on you as a person. You'd drop the class and ask for your money back, right? Your inner critic can be just that sort of nightmarish voice in your head. And the fact is, that voice is wrong. Every drawing you do has some value. It teaches you new and valuable things. And it is vital to realize that the moment when you finish a drawing is not the time to judge it, not the time to learn the full value of the lesson.

Every day contains a thousand little servings of free time you might just have overlooked. And each moment contains beauty, wonder, and models you never need to pay.

Get used to eating cold toast. Draw your breakfast every day. Then eat it.

Don’t go crazy with art supplies at first. Just get a sketchbook and a pen that’ll fit in your bag and keep them with you for when a moment opens up.

Skip perfection. A lame drawing is better than no drawing.

creativity isn’t a luxury. It’s the essence of life. It’s what distinguishes us from the mush. And it’s why our ancestors survived while other less adaptive critters perished. They responded to change by being creative in some way, by inventing a new answer to the chaos.

Making art will show you how much you already have. Your real treasures. A brand-new Maserati is a lot less beautiful to draw than a rusty old pickup.

The most beautiful things have character and experience built into them.