Sparks of Creativity: How My Daily Sketch Inspired The Black Cat Sticker

Creativity really does have a way of manifesting itself unexpectedly, often when I least expect it. In this blog post, I want to share how the idea for my Black Cat stickers came to be on one of my daily sketches.

I had been trying to embrace the practice of daily sketches as a way to explore new ideas. The sessions themselves had been quite a journey on to themselves. I really want these sessions to be experimental, push boundaries, be fun and enjoyable - but most importantly, quick and achievable. It needs to be something that I can stick to everyday. It was during one of these quick sketch sessions that I actually came up with the Black Cat sticker.

I was low on time and didn't do my prompt research so I was at a loss on what to draw that day.  I went down the rabbit hole on Instagram for inspiration when one of the October prompt list popped up. The first day prompt was for "black cat" which I thought can be fun and easy to work with. I decided to look for some cat photos I could use for reference on poses and along the way, I thought about how I can make the black cat stand out.  The idea of a big shiny moon (and of course, gold leafing) popped into mind. So that was all how it got started.  I just started sketching and throwing big shiny moons in the background. I didn't give any thought to making it nice since these were all just idea sketching. I actually didn't even have the time to add in the gold leaf that day, and used my gold pen as placeholder.  No matter, it was mission accomplished.  Daily sketch was done on that day.

A few days later, as I flipped thru my sketch book, I came across the page again ... and I really like it. I thought it could make a really cute Halloween design. My next step involved translating the sketch into a digital format, refining the lines, and adding in the glittering moon! Yep, flexing my digital prowess here as I play with the glitter effect in Procreate.  And BOOM, three black cats came together for this Halloween.

This unpredictable creativity shows me that I just need to stick to my daily sketching and keep on jotting down ideas and not be afraid to experiment.  You never know when simple daily sketches can turn into fun little designs!