In this solo podcast episode, Jason Nicholas shares a practical creativity tip aimed at overcoming creative blocks across any medium. He explains how self‑criticism can become a barrier, but by turning critiques into specific action steps and simultaneously noting the aspects you love about a piece, you can build a personal “creative library” that fuels future work. Jason illustrates the approach with a live‑stream sketch of abstract cows, highlighting color choices and abstract animal forms he enjoys. He emphasizes loving the creative process itself and frames creativity as a positive, shareable practice. The episode concludes with a call to visit his website for tool recommendations and to subscribe to the podcast.
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Hey guys, this is Jason Nicholas Nicholas from The Inkspired Life. Welcome, hope you had an awesome, awesome week. This week I want to share with you a tip about creativity, a tip that actually can help get you past blocking yourself or preventing yourself from creating something, whether it's a sketch, a painting, macramé, it doesn't matter, sculpture, whatever you like and whatever creativity means to you. So for me, as you know, it's sketching, painting, ink wash sketches or mixed media sketches are my favorite. Um, if you're watching the video, you can see an example right here that we just created on my Inspired Life Facebook livestream today. So if you ever find yourself looking at your artwork And criticizing yourself and just finding things you hate and don't like about what you're making, that could be dangerous. That could lend itself to building a block or barricade from your brain to the paper, right? That barricade could stop your creativity. So if I'm looking at this, for example, I could sit here and find things I really don't like. Which can be good and bad. Let's talk about the bad thing. If you're just sitting here looking at a sketch, self-criticizing and saying, oh, I hate the way my cows look, this scarecrow is horrendous, this tree looks like a pear, it's not really great at all, and then leave it at that. If you just self— if you just critique yourself and put bad thoughts in your head and stop there, that's the danger. That's where that barrier starts building and blocking your creativity. Now, to make that a positive thing, I could go back and say, okay, you know, I really don't like the Scarecrow because his hands aren't big enough, or the body shape is wrong. So maybe next time I sketch that scarecrow, or sketch a scarecrow, I'm going to change it. I'm going to focus on the hands. I'm going to focus on the body. So that's the difference. I'm critiquing, but then I'm giving myself an action step to move that forward, to learn from it and move forward. Creativity is a learning process. It's a skill we can always continue to develop. So that's one thing about critiquing yourself I think can help you to keep moving forward with your creativity. Another thing is looking at a sketch or painting and finding the things you like about it. So, for example, as I look at the sketch that we just created, some of the things I really, really like about it are the colors. I love the color schemes happening. We have some pinks and yellows and oranges and aquas going on. So I love the colors. So that's my one plus. Now that I know I love those colors, I can build that into like a library, either physically jotting it down, making notes, or a mental library, and use that tool set again. So Maybe another thing I like about looking at this is maybe I like the abstract idea of these cows. I'm— I've always been afraid to sketch animals. I'm really not great at it. But I'm finding a way that I can express or show animals. And these abstract cows I like because I think it's getting the point across. So I like that about this. So maybe I'll continue doing abstract animals in future sketches. And the thing I always, always like about creating, no matter what the end result, is the process. I love the process. I've said it many times, it's like a broken record, but it's true. It's the act of creating, putting pen to paper, watching colors mix, watching lines be wonky and sketchy. Um, watching how the color dries on here, I just love the process. So those are two different kind of mindsets when you're creating artwork, is if you're going to look at it and see what you don't like about it, critique yourself, but come up with action steps of how you can use that as a lesson and move forward. And the second thing is write down, make lists of what you do like about what you're creating so you can continue to use those in future sketches or paintings. But more importantly, you can actually use those and teach those and share those with other people. Right? For me, creativity is about positivity and sharing. So that's this week's podcast episode, guys. I hope you liked it. I hope you found some good tips here today. Feel free to check out my website at theinspiredlife.com. I have a list there of the tools and materials that I like to use when I'm sketching. So if you want to know what I use a lot, please check that page out. Also, if you're listening to the podcast and you like it, I would love for you to subscribe either on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. If you go there, find it, subscribe to it, follow it, even if you could leave a comment or rating, that would be so cool. Something new I'm trying is trying another format just to get good stuff out there. Alright guys, thank you so much for listening today, and I appreciate you all so, so much. Have an amazing week. Do something creative, spread some positivity, even if it's a simple smile or hello to somebody. Just keep doing good things, guys, because that's what it's about. That's what keeps life going, right? Alright, thank you so much. Take care, everybody. Have an awesome, awesome rest of your week. Peace and live creatively. I'll see you guys real, real soon. Take care. Or, or you'll hear me soon on the podcast, whatever medium you're watching or listening to. All right, guys, take care. Have an awesome, awesome day.
