My cute Moleskine Watercolor Journal

Every now and then I lose a little creative-confidence.  I was feeling more like I couldn't do better.  Doubt, which sucks the creative out like an annoying tiny (but so powerful) mosquito, was trying to be the boss.

I like to stay on the path of 'better and better' when it comes to my artwork and I can end up deflated when I do something that I'm not entirely pleased with.

I wanted to work on my hand-lettering and had found some really lovely handwriting styles online.  After trying to replicate them I found that it wasn't as easy at it looked.  I needed to practice.  A lot.

Slow down.  Repeat lines and angles.  Use a favorite pen and smooth paper.

I began writing out the alphabet, a whole line of 'a  a  a', then a whole line of 'b  b  b' etc.  Soon I found a style emerging, some letters weren't working (k, p, q) so I had to change them up a little.  I began writing out long pieces of scripture in the 'fancy' writing and working on perfecting it.  Keeping consistency in letters, shapes and angles at the beginning was really hard work, but I kept practicing.

I'm still a little way from being 100% happy with this new style, but I am improving and liking what I see.  Maybe being not 100% happy is the best place to be, right?  That way there's always room for improvement.

These artworks were done in my Moleskine 3.5 x 5.5" Watercolor Sketchbook with a Staedtler pigment liner 0.1 waterproof pen, and my favorite Faber Castell Watercolor pencils.

xx