This lesson is just as important as learning about the colouring itself.
In our Facebook Group, I get to see a lot of people sharing their colouring and read a lot of comments about how we each perceive our own work. Sadly, I read all too often the comments where we don't think we are good enough, as good as others, or that we've made a mistake, rather than appreciating the progress we are making and how we are each growing on our own path, in our own time.
How we speak to ourselves and about our work directly influences our motivation and ability to learn. Even though you might not realise, negatively speaking about your work constantly is not constructive - this is so harmful to our confidence as if you do this regularly you are just enforcing to yourself that you "aren't good enough" or have failed on a task. We need to enjoy just colouring and learning new things without being so caught up on what the end result is like - that is counter productive to learning and we forget the fun is in the process, the making mistakes, the achievements that come after learning - not in holding a pretty colouring at the end. Take the pressure off and let yourself know you are doing a good job - you are growing just by trying
<3 and the more we try, the quicker we will get to the results we want.. but it doesn't have to be today. So let's look at how we talk about our work so we feel encouraged to continue learning on our journey to grow.
CRITIQUE STEP 1 - CHANGE YOUR PERSPECTIVE
So let's talk about how we critique our work, which is usually first done when we assess our work ourselves. Firstly, it's important not to judge a half finished technique - it's always going to look a little wrong or stand out to you until your entire piece is finished. Resist that urge to keep restarting - it's not doing you any favours in learning and progressing with your colouring. If you are really unsure though, pop a message and photo over to me so we can chat about the next steps.
Secondly comes how we speak about our work. When you've finished your colouring, take a step back and look at your entire piece - not just upclose looking for mistakes. Changing our perspective to appreciate our work as a whole allows you to have a greater understanding of how techniques come together to create a finished piece, and allows little mistakes that no one is looking at, fade into the background.
CRITIQUE STEP 2 - POSITIVE TALK
Then the wording we use when we look at our work is very important. Firstly we need to take the time to point out what we've done *right* - it's a step that is missed so often but it is crucial in critique, confidence, and motivation. I guarantee on every single colouring there is a lot of good that deserves celebrating. Try pointing out two things you feel you've done well or improved upon from last time - it shows you that you are learning and achieving each time you colour. When you share your colouring online, consider sharing these two things and notice how people's opinion of your work changes - we celebrate your achievements with you which is so much more uplifting than others looking for the mistakes you have just pointed out to them
:) CRITIQUE STEP 3 - HOW TO HANDLE MISTAKES
We are *all* going to make mistakes when we colour. It's the nature of learning new things and they should be embraced as they mean you are learning and growing - in fact, we can't learn without them. We need to face these constructively instead of negatively so we still feel motivated when we make a mistake. A good way to do this is to point out what you could try differently next time to get a different result - eg. Instead of "I messed up the wings", try something like "next time I'm going to work on leaving more gaps between my strokes to emphasise texture". It takes away that negative emotion so you haven't done anything "wrong"- but you are still needing practice on your colouring journey (as we all do).
This should be done privately or with myself as you are keeping these growth lessons your personal achievements. All of a sudden you have taken what you felt was a negative attempt at colouring and made it a positive step forward - showing you that every single time you colour you are improving and learning and it is important to have these challenges to learn from.
Don't let fear of making mistakes stand in your way of learning - Be afraid of never trying and being exactly where you are now next year as this is the time you cannot grow. Achievements require first a challenge in all areas of life so don't deny your chance to be challenged because you might make a mistake or you feel nervous. Colouring is not about comparing with anyone else (that includes your classes) but is instead about where you are on your journey only and how you are growing each time you take that challenge - take the time to let yourself know how well you are doing just by jumping in.
Don't lose the love of your hobby through putting pressure on yourselves or being nervous about making mistakes - you "can" do this...it's time to start believing in yourself just like I believe in you xx
ps. A little colouring from me today - I've been working on this cute image from Lee Holland and practicing my black hair with Prismacolor Pencils. If you want to learn with me, check out our colouring classes at www.kitandclowder.com :)
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