Welcome to a new season of Art for All, the Sketchbook Skool podcast. I'm your host, Danny Gregory. I am the founder of Sketchbook Skool and I'm also a sketchbook artist. I'm the author of a dozen or so books on art and creativity from the creative license to art before breakfast, how to draw without talent and a bunch of others. Okay. So this podcast is called Art for All. And I mean that literally. Art for people who've always thought of themselves as artists. And art for people who never have. Art for people with talent. And art for people who think that they can't draw a straight line. Art for people with degrees, from art or design school. And art for accountants. And pastry chefs, baseball players. And Chiropodists. Yes, even you, chiropodists, art is for you too. Art for people with loads of time on their hands and art for people who are rushing around, dealing with work and family, and who knows what? Bringing home the bacon and frying it up in a pan. People who just barely have time to even listen to a brief little podcast, let alone making art. What are you talking about? Alright, well, case in point. This new season of this podcast is going to be primarily episodes that are shorter. And more frequent. Shorter to leave you more time to actually make or look at, or just think about art. And more frequent because, well, we all need a pep talk now and then. Usually more now than then. So okay. At this bright and hopeful moment at the beginning of a new season, I am full of bubbly ambition. So my plan is to release a new episode of Art for all every week. We'll see how that plays out. Today. I want to talk about creative slumps, those horrible dry patches that don't respond to a moisturizer or alcohol. Or whining to friends or posting on social media about how wretched and hopeless and worthless we are. You feel like a six-year-old on a rainy day? Staring forlornly out of your bedroom window. You can't think of anything to make or draw or paint or right. Blank pages terrify you. Your art supplies gathered dust it's hopeless. And it's been going on for awhile. You figure that maybe downloading a podcast called Art for All might help. Or at least pass the time. And you're right on both counts. Okay. So, how do we get out of a slump? Here are a few ideas. First of all. Keep it simple. Do something small and easy. Light the pilot. Have some art supplies handy. Don't make it a big deal. Just keep your sketchbook and your pen nearby. And whenever there's a minute or two of dead time,pick it up. Draw something simple. It doesn't matter what you make. It doesn't matter if it's pure genius. Or utter crap. What matters is getting past that perfectionist who's blocking the road. Tell that little ogre that you were just experimenting with something it's not, it's not really art. Or work or anything serious. It's just a game and experiment. A silly little amuse bouche. The essential thing is to keep cool. Suspend judgment. And dirty paper. Think of your first drawing. As a copy at tracing. Look at your subject. Like this gentle, all-knowing teacher who is 100% on your side. Look at it and then draw one line. And then another. Repeat. Even if you suck, draw.. Even if you're an idiot, draw. Even if you trash everything you ever do. Draw and recycle. Bear in mind that even very great artists, trash 90, 95, 99% of their sketches. It's true. Check it out. Your fear is not, you. It is diminishing you. It's fighting you. You invented it. A little silly Frankenstein. Punt it aside. And draw that first line. The trick is to get back into it. Alright, let me spark your engine with a few specific little assignments. Here goes. Get out a pen. And some paper and write. Write as much as you can about why you can't draw, you can't create, you can't get past your obstacles. Every possible reason and excuse. Then Reread it. Isn't that a little nuts? Draw with a friend. Challenge each other, meet on zoom. You don't even need to show each other what you do, but just say, Hey, we're going to show up and we're going to do this at. 3 o'clock on Thursday, meet me. Let's just draw for half an hour together and have fun. Go to a life drawing class, even one online will do. Again, just fill some pages of that horrible newsprint paper with some charcoal lines. You don't need to look at it with anybody else is doing in the room. You don't need to worry about them looking at what you're doing. Just check out a naked person and do some drawing. Or take a break. A finite break and say, okay, I'm not gonna do anything for a while. Again, a finite while. And then get back in the saddle and maybe draw the saddle. It's all right. To step away. Regroup. ANd step back into it. Here's a simple thing. Every Thursday on YouTube at noon Eastern time. I have a thing called draw with me. Bunch of people get together for 45 minutes or so we have fun. We draw something. Whatever you make might be great. It might be bin worthy. But it's still going to be fun. Join me. Pick a number between one and 10. Let's say seven. Okay. Then open a dictionary or any book at random. And pick a word. Now, put that word into Google images. And pick the seventh image or whatever number it was you picked. Pick that and select it. And say, okay, I'm going to draw it. No matter what it is, it might be a screwdriver. It might be somebody's foot. It might be the Pyrenees. It might be in historical figure. It might be in some kind of a diagram. It doesn't matter. Just draw it. It may suck. It may be weird, but you're getting ink on paper. More ink, more paper, more grease on your creative machine. Draw your left hand. With your righty and then swap. Draw 10 squares slowly. Perfectly. If any one of them is a little bit off. Draw 10 circles. Then draw 10 noses. If they're all perfect, then draw 10 more. Divide a sheet of paper into a grid with a few dozen boxes. Do a little drawing in one box. And now doing other, just a little teeny tiny one. move on to the next one. Keep going. Stop thinking. Keep making. And don't look back. Well, that was fun. I hope you liked it too. I'll see you next time till then. Keep making stuff.