Learning Design + Illustration

How to Use Passion Projects to Find Your Style

Using Passion Projects to Find Your Style

I’m coming up on a decade of running my small art and design business. I can still remember what it felt like to finally make the decision to start living my life—I was single, had a mortgage, and big dreams. I was restless and felt my heart pulling me in a different direction. Something had to change in order for me to get closer to where I was really meant to be.

I still remember the stack of books I read about intuition, self-discovery, and intention. On a personal level I knew I wanted to get married and have kids, so one of the books was called “Getting to ‘I Do’”—laugh all you want but it’s how I met my husband (a story for a different day)! And on a professional level, I had big dreams but no clue how to actually connect the dots. Especially because I was interested in a lot of different directions and not sure which way to go.

I hear a lot of stories about stumbling across the perfect career path, or finding the perfect offering and niching down. That is not my story. My story has a lot of twists and turns. It’s about following my intuition and not the popular opinion. It’s about carving my own path and really following hard after what lights me up. When things feel misaligned, it means assessing how close I am to where I belong and course correcting. And now, nearly a decade later, I am blown away by the work I get to do almost daily. I’m finally able to embrace my true passions—professional design and fine art—and integrate them both into my career. I’m still carving a path for myself and things are always changing and evolving, but I feel more aligned than I ever have.

Maybe you can relate to where I am now. Or maybe you’re really resonating with how I felt early in my professional and personal life. Either way, I grew a lot through my journey of exploring my passions and infusing them into my work, so I want to share a few pivotal lessons I learned along the way.

3 Lessons I Learned From Putting Passion to Work

1. Embrace every part of yourself

Do not fall prey to the popular opinion of niching down. If that feels aligned, great. Go for it. But if it’s making you feel constrained, it’s okay to buck the system and do something different. It wasn’t until I finally let go of that restraint that I fully discovered my ultimate love is combining the two things I love. So embrace every part of yourself, your talent, and your passions—and don’t feel like you have to “niche down” and ignore something that lights you up!

2. Let your style be influenced by what you’re passionate about

By understanding your motives, strengths, and what you’re passionate about, you naturally attach a driving force behind what you create. That driving force becomes an undercurrent to what you are creating. When you create work that relates to your interests, it shows—people connect with it, and suddenly your style begins to emerge. So don’t forget to embrace your passions and let it guide your creative exploration.

3. Embrace failure

Failure can feel so deflating as a creative, especially when you put your heart and soul into the work. It feels deeply personal. Knowing that you are going to come up against it often and embracing it as part of the process will enable you to keep moving forward when it smacks you in the face. I still struggle with this one. Each time I’m rejected my thoughts sound something like this “What’s the point? Just give up. No one cares. Etc.” But try your best to see the opportunity that lies ahead and don’t get stuck in the cycle of self-doubt. After all, most of the success stories you hear are about someone who persevered through rejection and discovered a beautiful opportunity in spite of many “failures”.

These 3 things—embracing each part of myself, allowing my interests to guide my work, and embracing failure—have led me to where I am today. To a design style that feels uniquely me and to a career that’s more fulfilling than I ever could have imagined.

So, if you’re on a similar journey, I want to challenge you with 3 steps to take to start nurturing your passion.

3 Challenges to Embrace Your Journey to Put Passion to Work

Make a list of the top ten memories you hold and spend time reflecting what makes them unique or special.
Begin a daily creative practice—keep it simple and doable. The key is to commit to 30 days or more so that you can begin to find marks or subject matter that feel aligned with your natural tendencies.
Begin a passion project that you’ve always desired to bring to life, create time in your schedule to work on it, and set a goal for when to share with those around you!

Be patient with yourself during this process, and embrace the unexpected twists and turns. It’s a journey after all!

I hope this encourages you and inspires you to trust your gut, follow your design intuition, and truly embrace your passions. From someone who’s on the other side of that journey, trust me, it’s worth the process!

Where art meets design

How to create cohesion in your art and your brand

I throw around the word “cohesive” quite a lot—whether I’m working on a client’s brand or website, composing a pattern, or painting a composition. But what does it really mean to be cohesive?

Cohesion is “the action or fact of forming a unified whole.” I’m interested in creating a feeling that something is complete, not lacking anything. And while being cohesive is so important for creating consistency with a client’s brand, I find that it is equally as important when composing a pattern, creating artwork, or designing an illustration. In my latest Skillshare class, Watercolor by Design, I review how seven basic design principles influence my painting practice. In the last few years, I’ve worked hard to understand my preferences, both style wise and what I’m passionate about. By doing so, I’ve been able to understand where art meets design and why the two can live harmoniously together in my work. It comes down to cohesion.

By making intentional choices using design principles, you can create cohesion within your brand or your artistic style. Let’s review the seven basic design principles I share during my class and how they influence my design and artist practices.

Seven Basic Design Principles

1. Hierarchy

Knowing what is most important allows you to create a visual hierarchy to communicate a particular message, emotion, feeling, or mood. Creating a visual hierarchy guides the viewer’s eyes and allows them to land on a particular location within your composition. Scale, density, detail, and overall prominence play a role in determining where the focal point will be.

2. Contrast

Contrast is an excellent compositional tool. Adding a spectrum of color values allows you to emphasize (or de-emphasize) specific areas. It can be used in combination with other techniques to create a pathway for the viewer to move through the piece. It can apply to how we use color, fonts, imagery as well as our painterly techniques.

3. Repetition

Repeating elements, style preferences, colors, etc. can provide uniformity—or in this, case reveal your style. Recognizing and repeating patterns in your work is a great way to enhance your signature style, as well as lean into what is working for you. Repetition is also a great way to create cohesion.

4. Proximity

In design, proximity is used to create organization and cohesion within a space. When it comes to fine art, proximity can be used to create friction, breathing room, consistency, or a combination of the three.

5. Balance

Balance is also a tool that can be used to create a sense of friction or ease. Balance can be achieved by creating or placing objects, colors, or images at an equal distance from the center on opposing locations within the piece. I prefer compositions to feel balanced because it creates a feeling of wholeness to me.

6. Color

Color can evoke certain emotions and express values. Warm colors create a different feeling from cool colors. Complimentary colors can create balance or contrast when placed next to one another or cancel each other out when combined. Color can add depth, or lack of color can make it feel flat—both can be intentional choices.

7. Space

Space, like balance and proximity, is important to keep in mind for compositional purposes. Negative space, in particular, can be an excellent tool to keep in mind while you are completing a composition. Space creates a pathway or a natural shape that works as a tool alongside contrast, balance, and proximity.

When a brand is well designed and adheres to a style guide, it allows us to quickly recognize that brand at a glance (almost subconsciously) and forms a sense of reliability. When an artist intentionally moves in the direction of their style preferences, we can also recognize their work. It allows an audience to engage with that artist, builds trust, and creates a connection to the work.

If you’re interested in finding ways to use the principles listed above in your brand or your artwork, here are a couple of suggestions:

For your brand

Try listing out the above design principles on a piece of paper. Then under each item, brainstorm ways that you are currently creating cohesion in your brand using these principles. Or, if you feel there are areas for improvement, think of new ways you could begin implementing these techniques.

For your artwork

Start by creating a lot of work (or look back on a large batch of your recent creations). Then reflect on what works well and what doesn’t—what feels cohesive to you? Write down the design principles you’re using that are giving you that cohesion. Then, create a new piece of work using the style preferences and principles that you enjoy in your previous works. If you like the outcome, consider continuing to move in that direction going forward.

Just like the seasons, your preferences will change over time—whether you’re reviewing your brand or your artwork. Just recognizing those changes over time allows you to continue making intentional choices and creating cohesion within your artistic style or your brand.

My Top Watercolor Supplies

Everything you’ll need to get started with watercolor paint

The first time I painted with watercolor, I was painting a local landscape in plein air. I loved it and took to it so quickly, as it felt a lot like drawing. And it ignited my life-long passion for watercolor. So much so that when I was getting my Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts, I squeezed in a watercolor class as an elective, and then proceeded to follow my watercolor professor to paint in Italy two summers in a row.

All that to say, watercolor is by far my favorite medium, and it has been for 20 years now. I love the versatility of the paint, and the friendliness of it. You can cozy up on your couch, allow your kids to dive right in, and meanwhile be working on a masterpiece (think Andrew Wyeth!). I’ve protected this skill set of mine, sort of hid it, nurtured it, and watched it flourish over the years. Now I’m finally ready to start sharing what I’ve learned, so I created this resource to share some of my favorite supplies that I’ve discovered throughout my watercolor journey.

I’m a firm believer that the quality of the ingredients matters—whether you’re baking a cake or putting pigment to paper. So I’m going to share with you a few of my favorite, quality watercolor supplies … I know you’ll love them as much as I do!

Brushes

1. Beginner Brush Set — Cotman Set

This set is great because it comes with a range of 7 different brushes, making it the perfect, well-rounded set to get started with. You can figure out which brushes you prefer to work with by working with a range.

2. Standard Must-Have — Mop Brush

Mop brushes are a must-have for painting large washes. The larger the brush the more water and pigment the brush will hold so you want to choose a size based on the size of paper you plan to work with.

3. My Favorite — Series 7 Round Brushes

I really love these brushes because they give you a range of abilities—from fine detail to creating washes—you can do it all with a quality round brush. They are my favorite from the list. If detail is something you are interested in achieving, grab yourself a mid-sized round brush. It’s well worth the investment.

Watercolors

Winsor Newton Professional Series

I use Winsor Newton Professional Series Watercolor when I paint. The colors are great and there’s a huge variety of tones. Below are a couple different links to different sets that you can get started with. Keep in mind that you can create a large range of colors using a basic palette. I recommend starting smaller and adding to your collection as you start to get comfortable with the medium.

1. Set of 12

2. Set of 18

3. Set of 24

Paper

1. Hot Press Block Paper

This is the paper I use all the time and I absolutely love it! It’s a block of paper. The purpose of a block is to keep the paper taut. This is 140 lb. hot press paper—which means it’s a smooth sheet and thick enough that it won’t ripple. Hot press is great for scanning your artwork. Arches makes some wonderful cold press sheets if you are looking for some texture to the paper.

2. Amalfi Paper

This is an incredible paper from the Amalfi coast — I actually first discovered it when I was in an art gallery there. It’s an incredible quality paper, fun to use, and gives you a way to explore if you want something a little different!

Palette

1. Palette with Center Mix and Lots of Color Spaces

I think it’s really important to have spots to mix colors in the center of your palette, and then spots for a lot of different colors on the outer edge. There are a lot of suitable options out there, I chose this one as it is similar to what I use daily.

2. Beautiful Ceramic Palette

If you are looking for something that photographs well this is the palette for you. It doesn’t have enough color spots for me personally, but it’s another great one to start with! (Perfect if you want to show photos of your supplies or your painting process!)

Extras

Here are a few extra supplies that I recommend having on hand when you are getting started:

These supplies will set you up to dive into the medium. And if you want tips on painting with watercolor, check out my latest Skillshare class—Watercolor by Design!

NOTE: I am not an affiliate for these brands nor do I get any commission on the purchase of these products. They’re just a few of my favorites that I wanted to share with you.

Custom and Sustainable Packaging

How Packaging and Product Design can Support Sustainability:

Have you seen the viral April Fool’s Amazon prank? While hilarious, it’s also quite alarming. I’ll be honest, one of my first reactions was “wow … that’s a lot of wasted cardboard.” So it got me thinking—what are the environmental implications of our packaging and shipping? With a little research, you can see that every choice—from 2-day shipping to the physical space a container takes up—has an impact on our environment.

As the new year (and decade) approaches, I’m thinking about the ways in which my business can make a difference going forward. Choosing sustainable materials is at the top of my list. As a business owner, that means opting for soy-based inks versus petroleum, using 100% recycled paper, responsibly recycling electronics, choosing sustainable packaging, and being mindful of our overall purchases.

This year, I’ve collaborated on branded products and packaging. In doing this, I’ve learned that shipping containers and packaging produce a large amount of waste each year—especially over the holidays. One way to ensure you are reducing waste is by using a sustainably-minded company that produces ethical, environmentally-conscious materials to create your custom packaging.

One company that stands out to me—both in quality and consciousness—is Noissue. Maybe you’re already familiar with them and you’re nodding your head in agreement with me. Or maybe you’ve never heard of them, and (spoiler alert) I’m about to let you in on a little secret … they are amazing!

Noissue provides customizable and sustainable packaging options—allowing your brand to shine through while being mindful of the environment. They use soy-based inks, acid-free paper, and are FSC certified. They also created a program—Eco Packaging Alliance—which contributes to global reforestation by planting trees worldwide. Finally, they produce 100% compostable mailers! This means you can stick with your “no plastic” commitment while reducing the space that your shipping containers take up.

Like myself, you may be wondering if that means you need a compost in your yard. Then I remembered my grandmother storing food waste in the freezer, inside of an old milk carton. Once the milk carton was full she would dump it outside in her garden, cover it with soil, and then repeat the process all over again. There are a number of ways you can get rid of your compostable waste. For a few of my favorite resources see below.

Getting Started with Composting:

1. Simple Composting Methods: This article shares ways in which you can get started in your garden—much like my grandmother did. It also goes over the other ways that you can set up an actual compost—both indoor and outdoor.

2. What to do with your compost materials if you don’t garden: This article shares amazing ideas on what to do with your compost materials if you don’t have a space for them in your own backyard. Not listed in this article but also a great idea—check with your local township to see if they have a compost site.

3. Starting a compost at home: This article goes over the ways in which you can get started both small and large—indoor or outdoor. There are options for everyone.

I’m passionate about sustainability and my own environmental impact. Naturally, I was really excited to discover Noissue and to learn more about composting. I hope you can take this information and use it to make small changes that could have a huge impact in 2020—and beyond.

If you are interested in creating sustainable packaging for your business, then let’s chat! I’d love to brainstorm ideas with you.

Understanding Your Site Services

Better understand your website and what’s behind it:

One of the things I love about the web is how it changes and grows over time. It’s also one of the things that make it complex and hard to understand. While it can be confusing, and there are a lot of moving parts, there are also some constants. As a business owner and web designer, I value empowering my customers with the right terminology to understand their web services more fully. I like to compare a website to a physical space—think about your home address. The domain is your mailing address—you could have a PO Box or a mailbox at your physical location. Either way, it points to you. The hosting is the physical space that your home takes up—this would include the acreage and the square footage of your house. Security would be a security system, an added setup to protect your home, aside from your doors, windows, and locks. Since it’s all digital and not able to be seen in a physical capacity, it seems abstract. But when you break it down (and compare it to something tangible), it’s actually that simple. Your platform or CMS is like your design-build company or architect. The content featured is like the couch, coffee table, paintings, and other interior design elements—I think you get the point. Each page is a room in your home—serving a different function. The list goes on and on …

Below is a list I created for anyone hoping to understand their web services more fully:

Domain/URL: The domain name or URL is the actual address that is typed into a browser to locate your website. It’s actually pointed to an IP address but it is used to essentially brand your site by creating a name that memorable/recognizable versus sending someone to a bunch of numbers.

DNS: DNS or Domain Name System is a hierarchical naming system for devices and services connected to the internet. It’s essentially, how your domain gets its name.

IP Address: An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a series of numbers assigned to any device connected to a network that uses the Internet for communication. The IP address is where the domain actually points to, and is generated by your host.

Host/Hosting Provider: A web hosting service is where your actual website is stored. Hosting providers create a server space for you to point your domain/URL and for your site, email, and CMS to function within. They also provide extra security features and often will allow you to register your domain all in one space. If you are looking for a reputable host I recommend Siteground.

FTP: FTP or File Transfer Protocol is a file delivery system by way of the internet. Your hosting provider will give you FTP access to your site files so you can add and change it at your leisure.

CName: A CName or Canonical Name is a way of mapping domain names to IP addresses. When you point your domain to a particular IP address or hosting provider you will need the CName of the host in order to effectively point your domain.

Content Management System (CMS): A CMS is a framework that allows users to create websites and build on them over time. In terms of websites, it allows users to manage and publish information on their site within a framework developed specifically for the chosen CMS. Examples of website content management systems include WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, and many others.

Control Panel: A control panel is located on with your hosting provider. It is an online user interface that provides tools for managing a website, the web hosting account, email, and other server/hosting options.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): SEO is simply maximizing the number of visitors to your website by ensuring your site appears high on search engine results through quality content and proper site structure. Essentially increasing the quality and quantity of visitors to your site.

Responsive design: Responsive design is building your site to be flexible across devices. Ensuring your site design is not comprised by the screen size but flows naturally from one device to the next.

User experience (UX): In terms of web design UX refers to how humans interact with the site and flow from one place to the next. A good user experience would consider how users are navigating through the site and ensure they are easily able find what they are searching for.

Landing Page: A landing page is a single published page that is meant to achieve a particular goal—such a capturing a lead (or an email). Often a landing page will be attached to a marketing campaign that lives on social media or elsewhere and points users to the landing page to capture their information or promote a product or service.

Website maintenance: Site maintenance means regularly checking your website for updates, potential issues, and generally keeping it relevant and up-to-date.

Site back-up: A website back up is a copy of your website that can be used to restore your site should it be hacked or otherwise compromised. If you regularly update your site you should regularly keep a backup.

This is only a short—and growing list—of web terms. If there is something you are looking to understand better, not included above, reach out via email and I’ll update the list accordingly.

Putting Passion to Work

6 Steps to Ignite Your Creative Passion:

For the last few months, I’ve been diving deep into my own creative mission. Taking the time away from client work to focus energy on my own creative passion has been essential to the success of my creative career. Personal self-expression is at the core of every creative person—so if I’m not creating outside of work—for the sake of the process—I start to feel restless. Work fueled by my own curiosities and interests allows me to be self-expressive. In doing this type of work I end up understanding more about my own driving desire(s). Spending the time to follow my passion brings meaning and purpose to my life and work. Additionally, it naturally helps to lead my career in a direction that fits who I am in work and life. For those of you in creative careers who want to get started on your own passion projects, I’ve outlined the six essential steps to get you started below.

Step 1. Identify your Passions

In Robert Steven Kaplan’s book, What You’re Really Meant To Do, he encourages readers to take time to reflect over moments in your life where you felt like the best version of yourself. It’s important to spend time doing this, as you might not be able to recall these moments right away. As you remember events, make a list. Spending time focusing on and remembering what makes you happy will not only help you figure out what you should be doing, but it will attract more of what you love in your creative career. What were you doing during those moments? The answers might surprise you. Most likely they won’t be linear. They could easily cross over multiple fields of interest. Those moments of happiness should give you an inkling as to what interests you and what you can explore next. Kaplan explains, “Passion is the essential fuel that allows us to find a professional home, to hang in there, and to work through our weaknesses. It gives us a reason to keep fighting to get better.”

Step 2. Attach a Purpose

Next, start brainstorming possible projects related to the ideas you are most passionate about. What problems can you solve by means of visual communication? Is there a particular message you want to convey to the viewer? Who is the viewer? Decide the purpose of the project. Having a goal for the end result will help you stay engaged throughout the life of the project.

Step 3. Select a Medium.

The beauty in crafting your creative career is that you are able to choose all of the pieces. One of the most important items to consider is the medium. What type of skills do you already have? What type of work would you like to be doing? How can you bridge that gap and learn a new skill? Or is there a medium—tactile or digital—you desire to be working with? In addition to the way you will create the work, you need to think about the medium of the final piece. For example, if you were going to create a poster series to promote a local cause in your community, you might be thinking about printed posters as well as a social media campaign. How can the design be created in a way where you are able to use it for both? Outlining all of the ways you plan to bring this project to life is an essential step in the process.

Step 4. Create a Schedule.

Conceptualizing is the fun part. Most designers enjoy this process—especially when there is no monetary value attached to the end result. But exploring your own passion project takes discipline. Set the project up just like you would for a paying client or employer project. Solicit help from a project planner to hold you accountable. Give yourself time to do the work, but commit to your deadlines. Create a deadline to launch and find a way to hold yourself accountable. Share it socially, solicit another designer as an accountability partner, or reward yourself with something only once it is complete.

Step 5. Share Your Work.

Your work achieves nothing if it remains unfinished or sits privately on your hard drive or in your closet. Part of the purpose is to share your work! If it’s appropriate, share the process or wait until the work is complete to unveil it. It will resonate with your audience so don’t worry about how many people like it, or how much attention it gains—do it for yourself. Share it so that it can reach others who will also enjoy it. This could create opportunities for collaborations, springs new ideas, or may connect you with your target audience (or employer).

Step 6. Fail and Repeat.

Realize that failure today doesn’t necessarily mean your project won’t go somewhere in the future—directly or indirectly. It is very easy to fall into the self-comparison trap, especially with social media. Healthy competition can be a good thing but allowing insecurity to keep you from being your best self is a trap. Even the most successful people fail from time to time. Remember that part of the joy of being in a creative career is the process itself. Stay connected with your motives, strengths, and passions throughout the process. Try not to be concerned with a particular outcome—instead create the work in connection with yourself, using your unique vision and voice. Just when you think you are finished, start again with step one.

Conclusion

When I was just starting out in my career I made a lot of decisions based on fear of failure. I was afraid of listening to my gut and following my passions. At that time, I had not mastered the ability to tune others out and focus on the desires of my own heart. It’s amazing how many successful people—people I admire—came up against failure during their careers. Beatrix Potter was a childhood favorite of mine. Her work always inspired me and helped me to see the magic in everyday life. She explored her curiosities from a young age, studying animals and nature. Her famed book, Peter Rabbit, originated in a letter to a friend. She decided to find a publisher for it when picture books became trendy almost 10 years later, in the late 1800s. She printed the first copies herself and sold out in two weeks. Only then was she able to convince a publisher that it was worth their while. At the age of 36, Beatrix began her career as a storyteller and artist. I turn 36 in a few short months. Her story inspires me to chase harder than ever after the things I’m passionate about.

References:
Robert Steven Kaplan. What You’re Really Meant To Do, A Road Map For Reaching Your Unique Potential. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2013.

Susan Denyer. At Home with Beatrix Potter: The Creator of Peter Rabbit. London: Frances Lincoln, 2009, 6-13.