Last month, I started a Creative Challenge series. As I get older, it’s become harder to find the time and motivation to be creative. My idea for this series was to force myself in a semi-public setting to regain some of my old creative spark.
My first self-imposed challenge was to recreate an old drawing using a program on my iPad called Procreate. I chose a cartoon I made of a ship facing multiple dragons at sea. Here was the original drawing:
And here is my result:
I’ll admit this isn’t my finest work. I procrastinated until early this week to finish this drawing. If I’m going to continue and ramp up these challenges, I’ll have to be better about my planning and more consistent in working on these projects.
But overall, I’d say it was a success. My main goal was to stop procrastinating and making excuses, and start creating instead. I gave myself a deadline and followed through.
So what’s next? This month’s challenge is to learn a song on piano from sheet music.
Although I’ve played piano for many years, I’m pretty poor at reading sheet music. I spent most of my practice time growing up learning to play by ear — making up my own melodies or playing for my church off of chord-sheets — and neglecting my regular lessons.
For a while, however, I’ve felt like my abilities to play by ear have plateaued. Perhaps playing from sheet music and observing how a song is composed can provide some fresh new ideas.
I’ll keep the song I’m learning a secret for now. My deadline is September 30th. Feel free to join!
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