Learning to love revision
Process post behind new artwork for the Red Envelope Show
I don’t know about you, but I really struggle with revision.
Whether it’s with writing or drawing, I prefer to operate under the delusion of the first try being my only try. I love the act of loosely capturing an idea through a sketch or journaling a stream of consciousness about a certain topic. This initial spark is the life, the magic! It’s when I feel the most inspired and in flow. Does it look a bit wonky—or straight up unintelligible? Yes, but that’s perfectly me.
If we never wanted other people to see our art, the process could stop there. We understand our own sloppy ideas (for the most part) and the unorganized trappings of our brain. But art is meant to be seen, and so we must accept the drudgery of reshaping our work. The first draft or sketch is our island, and the editing and refining is our bridge so that others can be called to our island and stay for a while.
My ideas and sketches don’t care if I dread revision. They yell that I need to sculpt and refine them so they aren’t left to rot as fragments of their full potential. So I try to find ways to love this part of the process.
Art Process for Red Envelope Show
Recently I made some new art for the Red Envelope Show, a group exhibition in NYC curated by Grumpy Bert. Every Lunar New Year, 100+ artists are invited to create artwork on red envelopes. Many of the artists use the zodiac animal of the year as inspiration for their pieces. 2024 is the year of the dragon, so despite never having drawn a dragon before, I set forth on making some dragon-themed art.
First things first: learn to draw a dragon 😳 And just my luck!
wrote an excellent post last year on this very topic of learning to draw dragons for her children’s book, 100 Mighty Dragons All Named Broccoli.
Per Lian’s suggestion, I found a bunch of dragon references and drew them in my sketchbook. Though the dragons in my finals ended up simplified and stylized, I still needed to try drawing a bunch of them using varied references to see how I wanted their final shapes to look.
Once my dragons looked passable, I started sketching rough ideas. I wanted my envelopes to impart my personal intentions for the year—to rest, to be creative, and to feel liberated. I also thought I could try incorporate lettering into my art, given the horizontal format of the envelopes. I chose the words “rest” and “free” to make up the shape of the dragon’s body.
Rough sketches complete—now time to revise. One thing that helps me through resistance at this stage is to go from analog to digital, or vice versa. I took photos of the red envelopes and of my sketches, then overlaid the two images to envision how the final might look. Then it was time to improve on my initial sketch for better readability and consideration of how a dragon’s body might wind and curl.
After refining my initial sketch, I also did a color study in Procreate before getting out my paints. Colors are soooo easy to change in Procreate (and a total pain in the ass to change with paint), so having a good idea of the desired result prepares me to have a confident “I got this” mindset once I begin painting.
Back to analog! My refined sketches were on my iPad, so I needed a way to get it onto the red envelope. If the paper is thin enough I’ll usually transfer directly from the iPad by using guided access mode, but these envelopes were so opaque that even my lightbox wasn’t going to work. Instead I used transfer paper, which was a refreshing change of pace.
From the beginning, I knew I would only make two final pieces so that I could reserve one envelope for testing paints and pencils. After making sure of the right paint consistency, I knocked out the two paintings. I was shocked by how relaxed and chill I felt, contrary to the absolute despair I felt painting during Peachtober. I was used to experiencing a lot of blockage when working on final art, but all the repetition and refinement unlocked the capacity for this final iteration to be easy.
Though the process felt easy, there was still plenty of room for spontaneity. After riffing on how to adorn the dragons’ bodies, I added stars and clouds to tie in with each of the words. The result isn’t immaculate and I had to fix a bunch of improperly placed stars along the way, but that’s part of the fun of art making!
Paging New Yorkers!
I will be at the Red Envelope Show opening reception next Saturday, February 10 at Harman Projects in Lower East Side. I haven’t been able to attend many of the group shows I’ve been a part of, so I’m quite excited for this one!
Red envelope artwork from 100+ artists around the world will be for sale—check out last year’s work to see the range! Full details below, and if you’re able to come, don’t miss the lion dance at 6:30 PM.
Tips for embracing revision:
While making this envelope art I discovered that refining my work through multiple stages helps SO much with the final piece. It’s easier to change lines or colors or scrap concepts entirely before you put paint to paper. I may not love revision yet, but I’ve grown a lot more appreciative of its purpose. Here are my tips for revision, ones I will keep returning to whenever I dread this part of my practice.
Give yourself lots of time to simmer and rework. Do not rush this process! I started jotting down ideas for the envelopes early December and completed the project a month later. Ostensibly I could’ve gotten this done in less than a week, but I would not have been as pleased with the end result.
Try a different format. Move from analog to digital, and back again. This goes for writing too—print your draft and mark it up. You can even get your manuscript bound and imagine it’s a real book already. Our work can feel wildly different in different contexts.
When in doubt, ask a friend. If I am really stuck on a WIP, I text my sister to see what she thinks. Getting an outside perspective is crucial to get out of our own artist brains and see what is and isn’t working. Asking for feedback is a delicate dance—you don’t want to do it too often thus distancing yourself from your own intuition, and you don’t want to ask the wrong people. If you’re pulling out your hair because you don’t like how your art is going but you aren’t sure what’s wrong, that’s a great time to take a break and let a trusted person see your work.
Think of your art as a service. What do you want your viewer or reader to take away? Are your lines or concepts comprehensible? Does it arouse any feelings? Are they the kinds of feelings you want to conjure?
Leave room for spontaneity. Revision isn’t a perpetual whittling down of the original idea. You’re more than welcome to add new things or ditch what’s not working. Sparks will continue to fly far after our initial draft, and these can all be integrated into our work!
Now you tell me! Are you great at revision? How often do you iterate on your work before you share it with the world? Have any helpful tips to share with other readers?
Thank you for the reality check in the artist process. It has helped me to see revisions are not an admission that I can’t draw but a natural part of the creative process for showing work.
Great dragons!! I'm not an artist, but word processing makes revisions faster and easier than back in the day. 2nd, 3rd and subsequent edits really smooth out the bumps.