Achieve your 2025 Art Goals with an Art Process!
January is now halfway through, and some of us might have already abandoned those New Year’s resolutions. If you’re like me, you might have noticed that a resolution might not be the best approach to reaching your goals, especially ones like improving your drawing skills.
Consistency is key, as is building sustainable habits that get us closer to the art we want to create. This is where focusing on an art process in 2025 might be what you need to help you stay consistent and reach for those larger creative goals. You should set goals that extend throughout the entire year and beyond.
Drawing from my art book Treasure Found: An Art Journey, we’ll look into methods to help transform your artistic journey, helping you set up a process that gets you closer to your art dreams.
Why Bother with a Process Anyway?
I get it; the word "process" sounds so restrictive and uncreative. But hear me out. Having a reliable creative routine is a supportive foundation that gets you creating even when that inspiration spark doesn’t show up by passing the creative rut and blank page stares.
Here’s what I know:
My process helps me increase consistency. Creative blocks are a rarity now, and I have many ideas and previous sketches/thumbnails I can draw from if I’m not in the mood for a larger project.
I am way more confident about experimenting and exploring. It sounds counterintuitive that a process could provide creative freedom, but that is what mine does. I changed up my style at the end of the year, and I am further experimenting with what my portraits and patterns might look like this year.
I no longer worry about, "What should I do next?" This frees up more time for actually creating art.
Your 2025 Art Process Roadmap
Define Your Goals Outline your goals. What would you like to achieve by the end of the year? What do you want to have accomplished within the next 3 months? Is it a new technique, taking a course, or creating specific pieces for your portfolio?
Develop a Concept What’s the narrative? Think about the story you want to tell before you start creating your work. It can be the overall idea for your style or a story for each piece or project. As an example, my overall concept moving forward is “People Wearing Patterns,” and from there I might narrow down a more character-driven story if my piece or project calls for it.
Key Word Lists My go-to idea-generating process. Jot down whatever words pop into your head about your project, and try to associate those words with other things and/or combine them together to come up with a fun drawing prompt.
Analog Inpsipiration Make it a point in 2025 to hunt for inspiration offline. What do you notice during your morning walk? Go to the exhibit you’ve been thinking about. Go to Artisianal Markets and look at the packaging design, etc. Remember to keep your phone or a camera on hand to snap pictures.
Mood boards Moodboards are tried and true tools to help you achieve an aesthetic around your work or project, and they can with cohesion if you are working on a series of works. Use programs like Pinterest or Cosmos. You can also create a mood board from the images you took from your offline inspiration.
Sketching is key It helps with improving your linework. It makes ideas visually tangible, and by drawing multiple thumbnails, you can use the sketches you did not finalize for other works or for those days you just want to draw a pretty picture.
Let’s Go Digital This doesn’t necessarily mean becoming a digital artist like myself, but rather utilizing digital tools to either enhance your work or keep note of your process. Type up your key word lists and expand on them from time to time. Put them in a program like Microsoft Excel and randomize word outputs as your drawing prompts. All my moodboards are digital these days.
Reflect on your work Look at the work you've created and see what parts of your process you love and what you can step away from. What do you want to improve? What would you like to incorporate into your next piece? This reflection helps you get inspired for new work and look into materials to further the study of your craft.
Growth Over Resolutions
What I love most about having a solid art process is that vague statements like “I should make more art” turn into an actual, well-rounded portfolio. It’s not about being rigid or putting up all kinds of rules; it’s about having key go-to activities that keep you drawing, exploring, and studying.
Toss out those intimidating New Year's resolutions. Instead, focus on building a creative practice that grows with you, making you excited to show up for your creative self every day.
Want to dive deeper? Check out my book "Treasure Found: An Art Journey" for more insights and inspiration.
Here's to making 2025 your most creative year yet!
Drop a comment below; I'd love to hear about your creative plans for the year ahead.
I am wishing you all a Happy New Year!