Finding balance between personal creative practice and paid work can be a challenge. Our jobs may not give us 100% of the creative fulfillment that we need, and we also may have our own inspiration and ideas we want to follow. Personal practice is an excellent way to stave off creative burnout, and it helps us keep our skills sharp and develop our unique style. In this episode, I offer tips how to justify spending time on creative practice, and incorporate more spontaneous creativity into your life. Video & Transcript: http://neladunato.com/blog/balancing-personal-commercial-creativity-cat-painting-process/ Music from filmmusic.io“Beauty Flow” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) License: CC BY (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

We need to talk about how creatives can support social change, and why we should. Our talent and skills have power. We can use those powers to uphold the status quo, or we can use them to inspire and enact change. If you already aren’t convinced why we all need to take a more active role in our society, I hope this episode will make you at least consider joining me and thousands of creatives across the world in this effort. Video & Transcript: http://neladunato.com/blog/creatives-have-social-responsibility-colorful-portrait/ Music from filmmusic.io “Beauty Flow” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) License: CC BY (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

There are positive and beneficial sides to comparing our work to that of other artists, and there are also plenty of drawbacks. In today’s episode of Nela’s Art Chat I’m drawing a magical winter fairy colored pencil portrait while talking about how to productively compare your art with others’ so you can learn from it, and how to change your mindset so you don’t fall into the black hole of hating your own work because it’s not “good enough”. Video & Transcript: http://neladunato.com/blog/stop-comparing-your-art-to-others/ Music from filmmusic.io “Beauty Flow” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) License: CC BY (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Sometimes you put in a ton of effort into an artwork and in the end you realize that it just sucks. It doesn’t look anything like you’ve  envisioned it, and you feel like you’ve just wasted a lot of time on  something that wasn’t worth it. In today’s episode of Nela’s Art Chat  you can watch me paint a mermaid that did not turn out the way I wanted,  while I talk about 4 different ways you can deal with similar “art  fails” of your own. Video & Transcript: http://neladunato.com/blog/coping-when-art-turns-out-bad-mermaid-painting/ Music from filmmusic.io “Beauty Flow” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) License: CC BY (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

What if you don’t want to be a professional artist? What if you want to remain an amateur forever, or at least at the moment? There’s a lot of  pressure on creatives to earn money with their skills, and I can tell you from personal experience that sometimes it’s not a wise thing to do.  I’m much happier keeping my drawing and painting practice personal, and in this episode I’ll tell you why I made this choice. Video & Transcript: http://neladunato.com/blog/art-just-hobby-creepy-portrait-drawing-process/ Music from filmmusic.io “Beauty Flow” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) License: CC BY (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Inktober, Mermay, Drawing August, 100 days project, 36  days of type... there's no shortage of art challenges, and many of us are asking ourselves "Should I do one this year?" If you've never done an art challenge, in this episode of Nela's Art Chat I give you some of  my tips on how to decide, and how to prepare if you do end up doing one. In the video (link below), you can watch a time lapse of my ink mermaid drawing from start to finish. Video & Transcript: http://neladunato.com/blog/should-you-do-art-challenge-mermaid-drawing-process/ Music from filmmusic.io "Beauty Flow" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) License: CC BY (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)