Have you dealt with inspiration blocks? Have you feel super eager + excited to create some fashion work, but when you take the time to do it nothing happens? Or have you had tons and tons of ideas, but can’t decide and you don’t do anything anyway?

This was me every time I wanted to start creating my personal projects and the products of my new shop at www.heartsoulme.com, and every time I ended up frustrated + overwhelmed +  burnt out. But, over the last couple of weeks, I discovered this kind of blocks has nothing to do with a lack of talent, creativity, or passion. And I found out the cure to moving past any inspiration + creativity block.

So, if you’ve ever felt inspiration kinda hates you, keep reading 🙂

Last week, I told you I’d begin a new collection of fashion illustrations and surface pattern designs, and I couldn’t be more excited about it. I just finished my little research, created a mood board, and picked my color palette – and I’m LOVING the theme!

I’ve wanted to do this, for years! A collection out of pure joy, for myself (not my freelance clients), and to be featured in (drumroll please!) a gorgeous calendar and maybe be sold as separate art prints as well (also something I’ve envisioned for three years!). OMG, OMG, OMG I’m so excited, can you notice? 😛

But, why it took me so long?

Well, the short answer would be:

I’ve been super busy, with lots of client work, creating courses, and creating free content.

But, the truth is that I had months all for myself without client work, and weeks I spent over thinking about this project. And over thinking led me to feel overwhelmed, and that drained my will + my desire to make this happen.

So, the more thoughtful answer would be:

I was paralyzed, yeah, I wanted to find the perfect theme + the perfect colors + the perfect ideas + the perfect subjects + the perfect compositions + the perfect E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G, and I missed my own advice 🙁

All this wasted time could’ve been saved with a little dose of courage + bravery, and a bit of trust in myself + my intuition. I refused to the joy and fulfillment just because I was too worried + afraid, but worried + afraid of what?

Yeah, it’s silly, but it was worry + fear of being rejected, hearing crickets while sharing my work, and messing up. And, if you dig deeper, at the end I was just avoiding GROWTH. I wasn’t putting myself in a safe place, but putting myself in a stagnant situation.

The cure to moving past an inspiration block + getting started?

Gather courage + trust, pick your favorite inspiration theme, and just take action.

You don’t have to wait another day to come up with the perfect idea because we both know that if you’re super stressed about that, it won’t happen.

You don’t have to wait until your skills are on point because if you don’t create anything, you won’t improve anything, you won’t grow, and your skills will remain the same.

And you don’t have to wait until you feel confident about your work because practice claims confidence. The more you create, the better you become. And the better you become, the more confident you feel.

Seriously, this is what worked for me. It took me three years to finally begin this project, and I just had to take some courage and trust myself – believing that no matter the results, they’d bring me experience + growth + a deeper understanding of myself as an artist and my work.

Your work is not supposed to be perfect; it is supposed to take you somewhere new.

You aren’t supposed to feel afraid + stressed + overwhelmed about creating your fashion work, you’re supposed to feel free + happy + energized. You’re supposed to enjoy every second of working on your art.

I SEE you, and I FEEL you!

I know how hard it is to get rid of the worry + fear dementors, but you can do this. You can stop being stagnant and you can start creating with joy + freedom + confidence. You just have to decide it.

Coming up with my inspiration theme

Once I took some courage + decided to trust myself and my intuition to take action, I jot down a few theme ideas. I was writing the third one when I saw it clear.

• We’re all diminishing our skills + talents + strengths. We’re all looking at everyone else, and comparing ourselves, our lives, and our everything with them – minimizing our progress + wins + uniqueness. We’re all suffocating our true self, our dreams, and our improvement.
• We’re living a life full of worry + fear + uncertainty thinking and asking ourselves: will I ever make it happen? Will I ever be good enough? Will I ever be happy?
• We feel we’re running out of time to make our dreams happen, be fitter + look prettier, and demonstrate our worthiness.

But, it doesn’t have to be that way.

We’re all talented + beautiful + worthy. We all deserve to acknowledge that to be happy and create a life we love. And we all can unstoppably + unmistakably become the best version of ourselves.

How?

Owning ourselves. Embracing who we are. And celebrating our progress through our life journey.

Let me tell you once more (because if you’ve been here for a while, you’ve heard me say it a lot):

• You are UNSTOPPABLE
• You are BEAUTIFUL
• You are TALENTED
• You are SMART
• You are BRAVE
• You are WORTHY
• You are SPECIAL
• You are CAPABLE
• You are MORE THAN GOOD ENOUGH
• You are VIBRANT
• You are WONDERFUL
• You are STRONG
• You are FREE
• You are DIFFERENT (and that’s actually something good 😉 )
• You are SO MUCH MORE THAN THAT!

And that’s what I want to remind you + evoke you with my new collection.

I want you to know you’re already everything you’ve ever wanted to be, and everything you’ll ever need. Only you can be you, and that’s FANTASTIC!

Own yourself – All year round

 

 

This is my mood board + color palette. Man, I can’t get rid of these deep blue + bright pink + gorgeous lavender, they’re becoming kind of my signature colors because they remind me to be mindful + joyful + strong without forgetting who I really am. I LOVE them!!

The women are the inspiration models for my illustrations (and there are more), I believe each and every one of them is just as different and unique as we all are. And although, I know they don’t represent the vast beauty of this immense world, I hope they bring you the message I wish to spread: Owning yourself all year round to be yourself + live a life you love + feel crazy happy!

Lately, I’ve felt drawn to abstract paintings, so I want to experiment with my acrylics to create the backgrounds and surface pattern designs that will accompany this collection.

And the navy blue dishes are a reminder that even though we’re not perfect, we’re still beautiful.

At this point all my inspiration + research + reference images are all ready to use. Now I’ll start sketching and creating some color explorations. After that, I’ll create the final illustrations in my authentic (and re-discovered) style, mixing it with the abstract painting experiments (can’t wait!). And finally, I’ll put it all together in Adobe Illustrator to create a beautiful + physical calendar (ptss, which will be part of my new shop 😆).

So, this is the first post + update of this project. I’m super thrilled + eager to share the whole process with you. And can’t wait to know your thoughts!

To Finish…

My hope for this post, and actually my whole new collection is to encourage you and motivate you to:

• Create something.
• Start today.
• Get some courage + trust yourself.
• Leave behind the door all fear + worry, and let your intuition help you grow
• Own yourself, your life, your progress, your talents, your journey and everything you are + have + do. All you and all that are valuable.

And, if you’re ready to move past your inspiration block + start creating some work + learn while you grow and improve your skills, I have some resources for you:

• If you’re struggling with fashion figures, this is the course you need. It comes with a comprehensive workbook + step-by-step videos + cheat-sheets ready to use. You’ll learn how to create fashion figures the easy way, and you’ll build your brain muscle so that drawing figures becomes second nature to you.

• If you want to give life to your designs + illustrations with texture, in Fashion Markers I teach you how to render 46 different fabric textures. Your designs + illustrations won’t look flat and dull anymore 😉

• If you want to start using watercolors, but they’re kinda scary, Watercolors for Fashion Illustration is a step-by-step course that shows you how to get started with watercolors to create your fashion designs + illustrations. You’ll learn 24 techniques, how to illustrate clothing + accessories + skin + hair in 34 videos!

• Or if you want to get a glimpse on fashion illustration, and get started with the basics, then this course is for you.

From the 10 of October, all courses will have access to a private community to get all your questions answered + share your progress + keep you motivated!

With LOVE!