I was asked to draw quick sketches while livestreaming—did I learn anything from the experience?

For those of you who know me, you’ll know I’ve loved to sketch and draw for a very long time, but that I’ve also become rather slack at following through on the delivery of anything of recent times. There are a host of reasons why this has eventuated, but chief among them are my perfectionism and fear of failure keeping me stuck in an unhealthy creative rut. Well, my viewers on my livestream certainly love to challenge me, and when it was requested that I add a channel points redeem to draw something while streaming, my anxiety spiked.

Yet, I did it anyway.

As Kody would remind me: we’re not looking for a masterpiece. We’re going to get you drawing again and breaking down these barriers of perfectionism. It sounds nice in theory, but when put into practice … the overwhelming need to abruptly end stream was high (especially when the first request while live was to draw my friend Kieran White).

Since then, most streams have had at least one redeem to “Draw Something”. Some of the requests have caused me some confusion, some have reduced me to shouting at my chat, and all of them have brought laughter—which has been wonderful for putting me at ease. I’m not supposed to be creating masterpieces. I’m supposed to be drawing. Anything. Badly, preferably.

So … have I learned anything? Well, for one thing, I need to take myself less seriously. I’ve never been an amazing artist, and creating something is never perfect. It’s a process. Sometimes the fun, the laughter, the sheer ridiculous outcome … it’s part of the creative process. This thinking can be applied to any creative form I suppose. Sometimes the best creations are discovered from creative play and happy accidents. I feel childish talking about “creative play” in terms of being an adult, regardless, it is part of the creative process.

I’m looking forward to taking on more requests in my livestreams from viewers and sharing more drawings here for you all to view after!

Thank you all for joining me on my journey trying to bust apart my creative block!