Over the years, positive messages have become a big feature of my work. When I began my illustration journey and was trying to figure out my style, I was mainly drawing nature scenes. I made the mistake of trying to restrict myself in order to produce work of a consistent style, however, this meant that I didn’t allow myself much experimentation, which is an incredibly important part of the creative process.
As my illustration style has changed over the years, my methods of producing artwork has changed as well. When I first started illustrating, I was working in watercolour. But as my style changed, I transitioned into producing line drawings, scanning them into Photoshop to add colour to them that way.
I have always preferred to hand-sketch my initial ideas for an illustration, but transitioning to mainly digital work allowed me more scope for experimentation with less equipment. After a while of scanning and importing drawings into Photoshop, I made the decision to invest in an iPad to allow me to draw digitally. I found that working digitally allowed me to experiment faster, which pushed my style further. I realised that the best thing for me to do creatively was to look for inspiration everywhere, and not just restrict myself to looking for inspiration within the boundaries of whatever style I was working in at that time. Between the beginning of my illustration career and now, there is so much I have seen and been introduced to that has influenced my work and contributed to the evolution of my illustration style. Keeping my mind open to new ideas keeps me inspired to create, and helps to pull me out of creative blocks.
I now produce a lot of printed products, and positive mantra illustrations have become a huge part of my work that I always enjoy the process of creating. This is an aspect of my artwork that people can really relate to, and through this book, I hope to teach others how to use mantras to evoke certain emotions that they themselves want to be reminded of, and to create pieces to uplift themselves, or share as a gift.
What is a mantra?
A mantra is defined as a positive phrase or affirmation that you can say to yourself for the purpose of motivation or encouragement. Mantras can be a useful tool to help calm your mind and bring relaxation. By finding mantras that you connect with, and repeating them to yourself when you need that reassuring message, you will begin to embody them and use them to effect positive change in your life.
Why draw your own mantra?
There are many benefits to drawing – in addition to releasing your creativity, drawing can help to relieve stress. Completing a piece of artwork that you feel good about is also a great confidence booster. Combining drawing with positive mantras is a great way to improve your mood, creativity and skills, and to create something empowering that you can frame and see everyday.
Be the energy you want to attract
We all possess our own unique energies, and the power to use positive energy to invite the positive things that we want to bring into our lives. We attract what we put out into the world, and this mantra is a great reminder to take some time to think about the things you wish to receive in life, and how you can practise radiating the energy you wish to receive in return. While working through this project, I invite you to take this opportunity to check in with yourself – reflect on the energies you are putting out into the world right now, and think about whether this is the energy you want to be welcoming into your life. If the answer is no, I gently encourage you to use the time spent working through this project to think about what changes you could make to realign yourself and take steps towards removing those negative things that may be affecting you. Remember to be kind to yourself, and that taking small steps towards change is totally okay.
How to find your aura
To begin planning and creating your piece, you’re going to select the colour or colours you’d like to work with based on your aura. Your aura is a combination of colours that are affected by your moods and emotions, and could be seen as a visual reaction to the energy you radiate. As your mood and emotions are changeable, you may want to choose colours to inspire emotions that you would like to feel more (for example, if you want to feel more confident, you could choose yellow), or you may want to pick things that describe your character in a more general sense (for example, if you are generally a caring person, you could choose pink).
To help you figure out your aura, here is a guide to tell you what each colour signifies. You want this mantra illustration to represent you, so include as many colours as you feel resonate with you.
- ENERGETIC/FIERY: Red
- CREATIVE/POSITIVE: Orange
- CHARISMATIC/CONFIDENT: Yellow
- COMPASSIONATE/NURTURING: Green
- INSIGHTFUL/FLOWING: Blue
- INTUITIVE/EMPATHETIC: Purple
- CARING/LOVING: Pink
- WISE/SPIRITUAL: White
This has been extracted from
Draw Your Own Mantra (£14.99, Quarto) by Phe Johnson, and is
available to order at this link.
