Monika Szczerbińska Ilustracje - It's Worth Talking About What Made Us Want to Create a Given Work (Artist from Poland)

The first step to overcoming a creative block is to realize that we are dealing with it. In my case, it's often that I don't notice it and I just think I'm having a bad day, I'm sleep-deprived and that's why the work isn't going so smoothly. And at this stage, I often intensively continue working, but the results are not satisfactory.

1. Tell us about your background and journey.

My artistic journey actually started very recently. In late 2018, I bought myself an iPad and an apple pencil - purely for studying, taking notes, etc. But while looking at tons of reviews about these tablets online, I also came across videos of people drawing on them. And very often it simply delighted me.

So of course, once I had an ipad in my hands, I wanted to try that too. I remember how much fun I had with my first drawings made this way. At that time I was not at my best mentally and I really missed having a hobby. I was very focused on my studies, so I only drew sometimes. I also put a lot of pressure on myself to create something completely new and creative.

And as a person with no experience, of course I couldn't meet my own expectations. It wasn't until the winter of 2019 that I had a bit of a breakthrough. Somehow I decided that this is it, I don't want to hold myself back and I just want to draw - better or worse, but draw. And since then, drawing has actually become my everyday life.

In January 2020, I created my Instagram account. A year and a half later, in May 2021, I already have 55,000 followers, I have created illustrations for 3 children's books, I have my own Etsy store and I have participated in a very large number of great projects. And above all: I am happy.

2. How did you decide to pursue art illustration?

Drawing was the thing that calmed me and gave me satisfaction. I loved looking through other artists' work, full of wonderful colors and textures. Illustration began to pull me in like a magnet. I knew from the beginning that I wasn't interested in realistic drawing.

I have great respect for artists who create in this way, because I can only imagine how much work they must have put into their development. However, I didn't feel drawn in that direction. I preferred to draw what and how I felt, and not worry about how something "should" look.

Initially, when I started my Instagram account, I absolutely did not assume that my future would be professionally related to illustration. However, the more people came to my account, the more comments mentioned wanting to buy my illustration, it started to seem more real.

Additionally, I started receiving various commissions fairly quickly and saw the potential in all of this. My decision was also influenced by the fact that the end of my university years was looming on the horizon, and so was the prospect of deciding what to do next, what to do for a living.

Since my teenage years, I couldn't think of any job I wanted to do and it was a scary feeling for me - it got worse the older I got. So I really wanted to pursue my artistic journey so that it could be my future. A future that for the first time I was not afraid of and that I wanted.

3. What kind of themes inspires you?

I am most inspired by flowers, which I like to add to most of my illustrations. I'm also very inspired by people, more specifically art photographs that emanate emotion. And the third area that strongly inspires me is simply everyday life.

Small pleasures, a favorite mug of tea, beautiful rays of sunshine coming through the curtains. These are all things that evoke certain emotions in me, which I then try to reproduce in my illustrations.

4. How do you overcome creative block?

The first step to overcoming a creative block is to realize that we are dealing with it. In my case, it's often that I don't notice it and I just think I'm having a bad day, I'm sleep deprived and that's why the work isn't going so smoothly. And at this stage I often intensively continue working, but the results are not satisfactory.

Only after some time I take a step back and notice that I'm probably dealing with a creative block. I don't like to give up, but in this case it really is best to let go and take a break. I then try to occupy myself with something completely different and, for example, watch a series or play something.

But I also often want to feel productive, so I do other tasks that don't require creativity, like invoicing. Only after some time, I start to feel that I want to draw something again and then work goes much better.

6. Which is your favorite artist and why?

I have a number of illustrators whose work I admire, and it's growing all the time. I don't think I could name all my favorite illustrators, the list would be too long.

But definitely somewhere in the top would be Monika Kister, Tina Naß, Daria Solak, and Satsch. I follow all of these lovely artists on Instagram, and their work always makes me remember why I love illustration so much.

5. What message would you give to aspiring illustrators?

Maybe it's a cliche advice, but I think that above all it's worth being yourself. Social media brings together such a huge number of people that everyone can find "their" people there. It's worth creating and writing about what really matters to us, so we can be authentic. It will also be easier for people to identify with us if we are honest with them, tell them our story.

It's worth talking about what made us want to create a given work, what our thoughts were during its creation, how we evaluate the final effect, whether there's anything we'd like to change. This often allows viewers to look at our work from a different perspective and see not just a pretty picture, but an expression of our authentic feelings.

When it comes to maintaining social media accounts, I think it's also a good idea to often take the perspective of the recipient and think about what might be interesting to them, and what might not necessarily be, what might be annoying or discouraging. It also never hurts to simply ask your followers for their opinion. There is a very simple way to conduct polls on Instagram, and as we know, people like to share their opinion.

Last but not least, I can also advise you to take it all not so seriously. You have to remember that Instagram is based on complex algorithms and if your work receives few hearts, it does not mean that it is unsuccessful. There is no point in spending masses of energy trying to "outsmart the algorithm." I think it's better to spend that time developing ourselves and simply making sure that the account we run is authentic, interesting, and just "ours."