This week marks the shift from completing the daily artwork post challenge from 365 days ago to starting a new year with new goals.
I’m super proud of what happened this past year. It all started with an original goal to post every day in order to get more comfortable sharing my work and figuring out my visual style. In light of that goal, this year was a great success; however, so much more happened.
I learned what needed to be in place to begin selling physical products and finally opened an Etsy shop (and actually sold some stuff!). Additionally, I started this website, which included weekly blog posts, as well as completing my first commissioned job as a handlettering artist.
As lovely as all of that is, I’m not even close to where I want to be as an artist, which brings us to the beginning of the next chapter.
A new year bursting with potential can feel exciting, however, it can also feel overwhelming. One thing I have found that helps is setting goals for myself. They can be short-term goals,long-term goals, or a combination of the two.
Putting together goals aids in focusing my attention. For this new season, my goals are a combination of continuing what is working, plus stretching in new ways.
The single greatest decision that I have made is committing to create something every day.
As I compare the artwork from the early days last year to what I am creating now, the difference is staggering. Not only has the style of the lettering improved, but also my use of color and composition; even the tone of the content has grown and matured.
On Day 365, for the first time, I created thin letters to go with the stylized, thick letters I’ve been in the process of refining the past year. That decision, to incorporate a new style of font, opens up many new possibilities and as an artist I’m excited to see where that leads.
So, I will continue last year’s goal of creating every day because I need my skills to be strong and ready to take me to the next level.
Now that I’m feeling more confident in the work I am doing, this next year is about stretching myself further in how I use social media to share my work and how to bring more value to the table.
My posts up until this point have been pretty similar, a straight forward photo of the word or phrase that I have created. Sometimes I would include more environment in the photo, but overall I cropped the shot tight on the artwork.
This next year I want to shake up what my posts look like. For example, I’ve already started playing with using video posts like this and this.
It can feel scary trying new formats, but stretching ourselves helps us grow as artists.
Don’t feel like you have to become an expert, just experiment and see what that new perspective brings to your work. Plus, see how it impacts your engagement with your audience.
Continuing to create every day and focusing on strengthening my use of social media are two of my goals for the coming year. I’ve got more ideas brewing, but since the purpose of this blog is sharing the journey I’m taking, I’ll continue sharing more insights as the weeks go on.
I’d love to hear from any of you who are setting goals for the new year. What do you find working for you that you plan to continue? What scary new things are you thinking of trying, or have already put into action?
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