Your Inner Critic Is a Big Jerk

possible to spend years thinking about what you should be making. The desire for perfection is sometimes paralyzing. Start forcing yourself to make at least three or four quick pieces every week, even if you think they are “terrible.” With this production schedule, you will see the light at the end of the tunnel.

h hello, back brain, nice to see you!

9.Screw art supplies; head to the grocery store instead. Work on any kind of cheap, readily available surface you can find (paper plates, paper cups, lunch bags) and draw, paint, write on that instead. If it’s not a traditional “creative” surface you might be less likely to get tripped up on your usual hang-ups.

8.Flip it around. Forget the white page with a black pen. Use a black page, white pen. Draw the negative space. You’re not drawing the vase, you’re drawing where the vase isn’t. Oh hello, back brain, nice to see you!

7.Collaborate. Ask someone close to you (a friend, a coworker, a kid) to make the first mark. Don’t watch or try to control it in any way—just let them scribble, draw an actual object, write a word. Then say thank you, and you take it from there!

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5.Pull a sentence from a random place (Twitter, the newspaper, an overheard conversation) and make that the first sentence in your story/poem/song, or make a piece of art inspired by that sentence.