Monday Musings: Keeping Your Creative Bucket Full

Last week, I went to my local writing group and, since the person who introduced me to Inktober was there, I shared my first few Inktober drawings with the group. One of the other writers asked how doing a challenge like Inktober affected our creativity.

For me, having a creative outlet that differs from what I might think of as my "main" art form (i.e. writing novels) actually fuels my creativity as a whole. It's why I picked up watercolors this year -- to give myself a place for art to spill over when I didn't have the time/drive/energy to sit down at a keyboard.

This was the short version of the answer I gave in group.

But as I thought about it, I realized that the deeper topic was actually not how does pursuing one art form affect another, but how do I keep from draining my creative well/bucket dry?

So here are some of the ways I do that.

Consume Other Art

This is one of the most common pieces of advice for artists struggling with keeping their inspiration going, but it's common because it is true and helpful. Read a book, watch a movie, flip through other artist's work. Whatever your medium, you can't make art if you don't consume it.

Try Something New

This is what Inktober is for me this year (more Inktober drawings below). I've been drawing and sketching more this year, but doing an intentional, month-long challenge like this is something I've only done with NaNoWriMo before (about which more later). Trying something new -- whether it's within your typical art form or a new one -- is a good way to stretch your creative muscles and stir the waters in your creative bucket.

Try Something Old

You can find the pattern for this hat on Ravelry

Revisit an old story, an old art style, or just a favorite topic that you haven't revisited in a while. This is more personal, and probably more likely to be more "for you" versus something you put out in the world (neither this nor the "something new" has to be for you or for others unless it's a challenge like Inktober where the point is to share it; use your own judgment). For me, I picked up an old novel that needed an ending and knitting/crocheting, which I haven't done in over a year. I've crocheted myself a wizard's hat for Halloween (standing on its own above, modeled by yours truly below) and I'm knitting a new pair of socks. (I'll try to get pictures of these posted once they're done; I'm only about halfway through sock 1.)

Sometimes you need to dip your toe in other waters to get yourself fired up for your preferred art form, and sometimes you need to come back to the aspect of your art that you love the most.

Here are the rest of my first 8 Inktober drawings, along with some bonus sketches that I'm placing here because Watercolor Wednesday is already going to be overloaded. (September was a good painting month for me, it seems.)

A comic about my friend Stuti, who uses puns the way others use memes.

Panel 1: "So how would you deal with a gym-goer caught w/marijuana?
Panel 2: I guess I'd . . .
Panel 3: Weed them out.
Panel 5: This is Stuti. Stuti uses puns in job interviews. Be like Stuti. Spread light and laughter.

One last thing to say. I (finally) finished my NaNo novel from 2 years ago, There's No Place Like Home? It's a cyberpunk-ish retelling of The Wizard of Oz and I'm so glad that it's complete after wallowing in the mires of my to-be-done files while I finished edits for Albion Academy and wrote Albion Apparent. It's going to need some work to be *done* but draft 1 is step 1. On to other things (in this case, finishing "Paper and (T)horns"). I won't be doing NaNo this year, mostly because I have found it does not help me as much as it should in my goal of finishing manuscripts and it tends to pop up when I should be working on other things (which is why TNPLH? wallowed for almost 2 years). However, I know many people who love NaNo and I am ready to cheer them on!

So, how do you keep your creative bucket full? Are you doing Inktober or another drawing challenge? What's the most useful thing you've found to keep your drive strong?