In a recent post about creating content, I discussed imposter syndrome and trying to work towards goals and producing things to my own standards and expectations.

After that I slowed things down a little. Not intentionally but more so because my brain was feeling a little frazzled and for once I acknowledged that and didn’t want to push through and end up with burnout and making everything worse. Balance is key.

One thing I have been doing the last few months, and during my little week away from writing content or doing anything ‘visible’ on social media, is line scratch art. They are all pre-done designs, some with flexibility to make the design your own, others a lot more rigid in terms of the way the design is on the ink layer. It is something that I enjoy and is a good thing to do as a deep focus activity or for a short amount of time between other tasks especially as they come in varying levels of complexity. You can also get design free versions of the cards to make your own… maybe one day!

These are a great idea for anybody that finds themselves fidgeting a little and needing to do something whilst sitting around or finds having something where they need to be able to breath, center themselves and focus. They aren’t the sort of project you can be aggressive or agitated with as you need to get the angles right and be gentle with the card/paper or you dent it or go through it rather than just taking the top layer off.

Every time I finish one I pop it onto the side of the bookcase that I walk by every time that I head to my desk and whilst they are simple it serves as a reminder of completed projects and accomplishment and it feels good. Being able to bring something to life and see it through is always wonderful.

Line art in general is wonderful; Creating line art with fineliner pens is actually my favorite thing to do and the thing that I was best at during my younger days of doing art class but also something that now scares me the most because if you go wrong you can’t just erase it. Doing scratch art like this, or something like a paint by numbers, is a good way for me to ease back into all of that of building confidence and also feeling relaxed in the process.

Extra bonus: Being lefthanded means you might end up with some of the “ink dust” on your hand but at least you cannot smudge anything you are working on! In fact the only real downside is if it something like the tiger one I am currently working on, where the background is foil and the lines you are targeting to scratch away are fairly precise, is that in certain lighting or positioning it can be really difficult to focus in on for a long period of time without it making your eyes a little sleepy.

If you happen to be looking for a new project this might be something to consider. A lot of pre-designed kits come with the basic tools you need and in a variety of sizes, difficulty and price points; Some of the ones I have came as a set from Five Below and others from Hobby Lobby/Michaels type stores so you can go in as gently or hard as you desire to dip your feet into it. I would also suggest them to be a great gift to somebody, perhaps a teenager, that is into creative projects and has the patience and focus to work on them for a reasonable length of time; There are certainly ones that would work for children probably 8+ but if they don’t have a great attention span or eye for detail it could easily be cast aside or cause more frustration than relaxation.

I would really love to see or hear about some of these sorts of projects you might be working on or have worked on in the past. Feel free to pop a link below or reach out to me through some of my social platforms.