The creative process can be a messy one; Full of half-baked ideas, random thoughts, mistakes, imperfections. It is the definition of “work in progress”. At least for me!

For years, I’ve judged this process and the mess it leaves behind.

My drawings never feel as good as what my peers are doing. Does this mean I am less of an artist / designer / illustrator?

My sketchbook has never looked organized and I have multiple sketchbooks on the go at once. Does it mean my ideas aren’t as good as THEY could be, had I only had one sketchbook to work in?

Sometimes I use pen. Sometimes I use pencil. Other times I use brush pens. Who knows why!

Judging (& Fearing) the Process?

I’ve not shared my process because of that self-judgement and fear. Fear of it all being true if I did share.

What I’m slowly coming to realize is that these beliefs are untrue, whether I share or not. And the process is nothing to fear.

I don’t have to have the perfect drawings or the most organized sketchbook to have valuable ideas or be “good” at what I do. I simply have to accept this mess as my process - and embrace it. Celebrate it. Own it.

If anything, the sketches - the mess - is required. It is my journey to reach the destination of the final illustration.

So to honor that journey, I have decided to share a rare glimpse into my sketchbook to show how the Mushroom a Day May started and the story of how it all came to be.

The Birth of a Self-Driven Project

One night, while watching the Good Doctor, I was itching to sketch. So I pulled out my sketchbook, picked a subject (whimsical garden), and let my pen do the rest.

I had no plan and no purpose. It was simply a think-free doodle session.

For this purpose and in this sketchbook, I draw with a pen; It prevents editing aka thinking.

Mistakes and imperfections live as they are. If I want to fix it, I must draw it again. This process helps to not only refine the drawing but my ideas too.

At this point, I really had no idea what I was drawing and why; Swirly trees, a phonograph horn made from a flower. Then the mushrooms started to appear and I got excited.

Sometimes, you can get a “feeling” about something when you’re creating. Like butterflies in your tummy. An internal giggle. A hop, skip, and a beat of the heart.

That’s what happened when these mushrooms started taking form.

I wanted to really exaggerate the shapes, forms, heights, angles of the mushrooms - as if they had their own personalities.

I was loving the ideation process and the conceptual nature these were taking on.

But I wanted to take it further.

As I continued, the mushrooms started to get a little more creative. On page 2 (left), I was really starting to push the idea of giving each mushroom its own personality.

Stories started to form in my head of what each mushroom’s purpose was and thought this would make a great illustration project!

Since a new month was approaching, I decided to create 30 mushrooms that was inspired by a specific theme (space, garden, country, lamps, landscapes, desert, ocean) and post one a day for the month of May.

Mushroom a Day May was born.

A couple of evenings a week, I’d spend 30 minutes to an hour sketching new ideas before taking them into Illustrator. I find evenings the best time to get creative since the pressures of the day aren’t hanging over you and you tend to be more relaxed. This is also a habit I formed when I worked full-time elsewhere; The evening was the only time TO get creative.

As the illustrations continued, they got a little more abstract and almost ceased to look like mushrooms. I was straying from my own brief which meant I had exhausted ideas (for the time being) and it was time to switch gears.

Luckily I was near the end of the month anyways so it was good timing to call it a day on this side project.

When looking at what was created, I can’t help but feel proud and happy. Not only because these mushrooms gave me so much joy to create but because I stuck with a process, consistently, and didn’t judge anything along the way.

I also learned something important.

Dive deep!

When I have an idea in mind, I tend to stop at the first couple of revisions. Or take it straight to Illustrator without really thinking it through which tends to chew up time thinking on the fly.

However, this project reminded me that when you take an idea and work it out on paper, the ideas are easier to execute. Additionally, when you focus on a concept or a creative brief and rework it, each time coming at it from a different angle, you can get some really creative results.

So if you’re considering a self-driven project or are working on actual creative work, see your process as a beautiful thing. It is yours, and only yours. That makes your final pieces as unique as you.

How do you feel about your process? Share your experience in the comments below.

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