We all get it from time to time.

That little spark that used to fire you up when you got creative fades away…

 

When this happens, you need to take action fast!

 

All Creative people lose their spark now and again.

Great Creatives are just good at finding it again, quickly!

 

Here’s 5 quick ways to regain your Colouring Mojo!

 

1. Embrace the wildcard!

Colour something COMPLETELY different to your usual type of colouring picture. If you usually colour nature scenes, try a typography book. If intricate geometrics were your thing, give some big bold florals a shot. The idea is to embrace something that is alien and new and see if that sparks a new interest for you!

2. Swap Shop.

Ask some friends or fellow colouring group members if they fancy doing a colour swap. You each package up some of you colouring materials and swap for a week or so. You could swap pencil sets and see if you prefer Polychromos over Inktense or ‘specialist tools’ and perhaps exchange a blender pencil for a glitter gel pen. This is a great (and inexpensive!) way to try out some new tools and have fun experimenting.

3. Learn a new trick.

Hop onto YouTube and search for ‘colouring tutorial’. There are SO many great ones. I’ve posted a list of a few of my favourites here and of course there are my ones on my website. Learning a new skill is so exciting and will open up a whole new world of possibilities, so why not give it a shot? You could learn how to add sparkle to treasure, how to colour the scales of a dragon or some cool techniques for skin tone.

4. Declutter.

This is my secret weapon when I’m feeling a little sluggish in the studio. A good old clean up and declutter of my work space is so refreshing. Organise your pens and pencils by brand, wipe down your desk, water your plants, clean your erasers and blending stumps, empty your pencil sharpener. Soon you’ll have a colouring kit so inviting you’ll want to dive in and get going again!

5. Share your work!

Creativity can be lonely, so it’s nice to get some feedback every now and again and also have a bit of accountability. Post a WIP (work in progress) picture in a Colouring Facebook Group, show your best friend your book, upload a snap to my Colouring Gallery or take your work along to a local Colouring Group. It’s easy to shy away from a project when there’s no one asking how it’s going, but if you share your work and put yourself out there, it makes the process less isolating and you are more likely to charge ahead and complete the picture so you can share the final piece. You can do this!

 

Extra Ideas!

And if none of these tickle your fancy, you could try these ideas. 

I think the thing to remember is, Artists have been battling this issue since time began.

We all suffer from it. You are not alone.

And you will find you spark again, you just need to keep fighting for it!

 

Be bold, be brave and go create happy!

Johanna x

 

Before you go…

If you like this, then you should probably sign up for my weekly Inky Email newsletter. No junk or spam, just a weekly letter from me to you full of inspiration, studio sneak peeks and cool projects like this!

 

And don’t forget, my new book, World of Flowers is out now!