Stop feeling badly about yourself

Lately I have not felt like myself, and have not had much motivation to blog. Right now I’m in one of those ruts where it’s very difficult to motivate myself to do anything, especially school work. I’m burned out.

Art school is demanding. No matter how creative you are or how much you love art, you’ll reach a point that you will feel like you’ve been sucked dry of imagination. It’s not that it is hard, but you’ve crossed the line between something you used to do for enjoyment to something you are now doing to make money. Then there is the criticism that makes my eyes roll so far back into my head. It’s not that I can’t handle constructive criticism. I feel it is necessary in life so that we can grow as people. Yet, I do not believe we should change who we are to meet the approval of others nor should we change our artwork to suit the likes of others. There have been several times I’ve had to scrap projects and do them all over again just to meet the satisfaction of a Professor even though I put a lot of effort into my project. Art is subjective, or so I thought. So I began to question myself and if I am doing the right thing. Is my artwork good enough to not be bad, but not good enough to be great? Then my confidence goes out the window and I start doing things the way other people want them rather then what I want to do.

Then comes the peer comparisons. There will always be people who are better at something then you are. As an Artist you must acknowledge and accept this from the beginning. Comparing yourself to others is discouraging. Competing with others is unproductive.  Being pretentious and full of yourself is ignorant. Admitting that you make mistakes, learning from them, and continuously working to improve yourself is honorable.

In times of frustration it is important to remember this.

Review Too Faced Country Nashville Nudes Eye Shadow Collection

After months of wanting to get my hands on the Too Faced Nashville Nudes palette, my Husband purchased it for me as an Easter present. The colors are light and very feminine. As with any Too Faced palette, it does not disappoint! The quality and pigment of colors is excellent. My only complaint is that all of the colors are shimmery. During the work day I prefer not to look sparkly and usually pair a matte shadow with a shimmery one to balance it out. Regardless, this palette is one of my new favorites!

Friday Favorites

1.) The Body Shop Body Butter, Blueberry – $14.50 – Several months ago I mentioned the Strawberry scented Body Butter in a favorites post. When I was almost out of it I visited my local Ulta, but it was sold out. In fact, every scent that I’d actually like was sold out. So, I went on Amazon and low and behold I found a blueberry scented one! Amazon has several other scents too that I have not seen in stores. Anyway, I love this just as much as the strawberry. It has a very light blueberry scent that is not over powering.

2.) Nyx Cosmetics Butter Lipstick in Little Susie – $5.99 -This product came in last month’s Ipsy box (that I did not review). At first glance the color looks like a light pink/coral, but once I applied it I was surprised how bright it actually was. It went on very smoothly and was not sticky. I felt it was more similar to lip gloss, but not as sheer. This isn’t a color I’d typically wear, but maybe I’ll throw it into the rotation.

3.) OPI Nail Color in Bubble Bath – $9.50 – This is a very, very soft nude shade. I was concerned that it would require more then 2 coats to actually look like the color in the bottle, but two coats was plenty!

Review – Too Faced Sexy St. Tropez Eye Shadow Pallette

Too Faced has a really beautiful selection of palettes available. The Natural Matte, Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar, and this St. Tropez palette are just a few. This is my most recent purchase from Too Faced. The color selection is bright and tropical and as always heavily pigmented. Along with these palettes Too Faced includes a step by step tutorial on 3 different looks you can obtain with the palette. I feel that the color selection in these palettes are interchangeable. Meaning, any of these colors work well together and you don’t necessarily have to follow the recommended looks.

The shadows glide on and blend very easily. This is a super cute palette to pick up for spring/summer looks. I no longer see it on the Too Faced site, but it is available at Ulta.com for $36 and on Amazon for $28 with free prime shipping.

P.S. I’d love to do some swatches, but I can never ever get the lighting right! I’m open to some suggestions or tips on swatching!

Design Tip Tuesday – Where to get free fonts, graphics, & other design assets

It’s been forever and ever since I posted some design tips on the blog. I’ve learned so many little tips throughout the past year while taking classes that I really want to share and believe any blogger could benefit from!

If you don’t have the software or experience to design pretty graphics, fonts,themes, etc. look no further! Check out the Creative Market website. Creative Market is a website that offers thousands of design assets created by talented designers all over the world. Since most of the Designers are independent, they do charge a small fee to download their designs. Although, each week Creative Market offers a variety of amazing freebie downloads.

I’ve downloaded some freebies and paid for a few fonts and themes. Every Designer that I have dealt with was great and some even offered more of their designs for free after I purchased a set.

Take a look at some of the designs featured on the site:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bonjour! Typeface with Extras by Nicky Laatz

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Watercolour Tribe&Flower DIY+Bonus by Graphic Box

Marema Typeface by AF Studio – Free this week!