Art is hard and in order to get good fast we need to keep doing it all the time and in this video/post I’m going to give you some practical tips for getting started and continuing for the rest of your life easily.

Doing art daily is huge for me. I’ve built my entire life around my art and doing something every day. I live art everyday and it has changed my life for the best and I hope to change your creative life for the best as well.

I’ve been doing art every single day now for the past 3500 plus days. That is almost 10 years! Through that time I’ve completed a bunch of paintings, a massive amount of drawing and have filled my recycle bin with bad art time and time again.

Needless to say I’ve learned a lot about how to do daily art and to keep doing it for a long time.

#1 You are What you Do

Your identity is wrapped into what you do. I can’t call myself a sculptor because I never sculpt anything. But I can call myself an artist because I do it daily. 

Your identity is what you do daily. If you are an accountant you most likely do it daily, if you’re a tidy person then you keep your home tidy. You are what you do repeatedly.

Here is a great quote from James clear and his awesome book Atomic habits.

“The more you repeat a behavior, the more you reinforce the identity associated with that behavior. In fact, the word identity was originally derived from the Latin word essentitas, which means being, and identidem, which means repeatedly. Your identity is literally your “repeated beingness.’”

Identity is your repeated beingness!

How do you want to identify yourself? It’s easy to change your identity to whatever you want just by doing it.

The reason why I made such a huge commitment to do art daily for the rest of my life is because I wanted to be an artist. 

But I knew that if I was going to make that kind of commitment, and stick to it, I couldn’t complete a big painting every day and I couldn’t spend 4 hours a day on art for an extended period of time, I would burn out.

I needed to plan for those days when I didn’t have enough time, I was sick, or I just didn’t feel like it.

#2 Plan for the worst

A good example is traveling. We have all had days when you need to get up at 2 in the morning, catch a flight, fly all day then have to go to sleep when you get there. You don’t have much time at all.

Or there are days when you feel sick, maybe you have the flu or Covid-19 or you’re in the hospital. Your health isn’t allowing you to work.

Then what we face most often. We just don’t feel like it.

Come up with what your worst day looks like. Maybe you’ve had a really bad day in the past. Maybe you can imagine a really bad day in the future. 

When I started my daily art journey I didn’t know I would need a kidney transplant. But I had planned for some really bad days so I was able to continue my practice even through that ordeal.

But how do we overcome all these worst days? 

You make your art practice easy by setting a minimum.

#3 Set a Minimum

Bj Fogg in his book Tiny Habits uses an awesome model to help individuals manage their motivation and ability to move forward with any task regardless of their state.

Basically if your motivation is high, your health is good and you have enough time. Then you’re going to be able to complete hours of art no problem. 

But, if your motivation is low, your health sucks or you don’t have much time you can’t expect to complete a lot of art.

Here is where I set a minimum. This is a minimum that I must reach every single day to hit my goal of daily art. It’s simple, I do at least 30 minutes of art every day. I set this minimum because I believe I can achieve this for the rest of my life regardless of what obstacles I face on any given day.

What is your minimum? I would suggest you keep it time based. 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes. Whatever works for your life and your challenges. 

You may think that only 30 minutes a day is not going to amount to anything but then you would be wrong. It compounds over time. You’re constantly working on your art skills and carving new pathways in your brain for improvement. You are always working on something even if it’s a small sketch to pile up work for motivation when you look back. You’re constantly showing up and doing the work and building the confidence to do it even on the hardest days.

It’s much more important to continually get in touch with your artistic identity daily by doing a minimum than it is to complete a work of art that is worthy of a frame. 

Besides, if you do art daily it can lead to amazing art you love to hang.

So set a minimum, no matter how small and set yourself up for success every single day. Believe me and look at my daily art archive. These daily short sessions compound and multiply into great skills.

Check out this video for more on setting a minimum to build your creative motivation.

#4 Build Confidence and Willpower

The sketch on the left was done at 3 in the morning right before I was going into surgery for a kidney transplant. The sketch on the right was done the next day while I was lying in the hospital recovering from major surgery.

I planned ahead for this day and was able to overcome my worst day possible and show up with my identity as an artist.

I have these sketches framed on my wall so that I can look at them every day. Especially on the days when I don’t feel like doing art. 

If I can do my art on this day, all other days are super easy!

By showing up on this hard day I’ve gained the confidence and willpower in myself to show up on all other days. I look back at my 10 years of daily art and it’s like a huge rush of energy pushing me forward to create regardless of what I’m feeling. 

Through daily art you can create the confidence and willpower that will push you forward as well regardless of the obstacles in your life.

There you go.

1. You are what you do
2. Plan for the worst
3. Set a minimum
4. Build confidence and willpower

Keep the streak and habit going by doing it daily no matter what. Through this your willpower will grow, your skills will grow and you will be in touch with your true identity. Be the artist you’ve always wanted to become and create daily!

If you like this video/post please like and subscribe. If this video/post resonated with you then you will love my video on finding your purpose as an artist. You’re big why.

Thank you for reading/watching. My purpose here is to help you become a better version of yourself. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to send me a message.

Have a wonderful Week!