How to find your creative style and voice

Tips and tools to get your creative side flowing, plus a sketchbook tour!

Welcome to another issue of apartamento 710, a newsletter about living a creative life outside of the walls of the Internet. If you are new here, I invite you to explore my interview series, Sobremesa, my most recent corner, Reference Library, or one of my favorite pieces, my rules for making.

My rules for making

Today I am very excited to let you into my sketchbook archive. I have been making art, expressing myself through different art mediums, since I can remember. It was only in the past four years of my life though that I began finding my creative style, without even realizing it. This is my first time sharing it with the world, and I feel it is the beginning of great things for me as an artist.

This journey to find my creative voice and style began when I moved to Canada in 2021. I arrived here with a 25kg bag and very little savings in my bank account. It's the biggest bet I have ever made, hoping to find a better future for myself. I put all my energy and money into going back to grad school. I worked part-time to be able to afford it, and in the little time I had in between classes or work, I drew, painted, collaged, dove into the world of ceramics, and essentially tried as many techniques as I could, searching for my medium.

Every day for the first year living in Vancouver, I questioned if I was making the right choice. I felt very lonely, and that first winter was brutal. Making art through these times not only saved me but gave me the motivation to continue dreaming even bigger dreams. This summer, I found a couple of sketchbooks from these past years, and I was very inspired to share them with all of you.

Notes to self, reminders if you will:

• What drew me back to art making was the need to let out all my emotions and cope with loneliness, fear, and depression. Since I didn’t have the means to buy art supplies, I reused the back of all the sheets from old essays from grad school. Most pencils I used were gifted by kind friends, or crayons from the dollar store. When you are starting, it’s not about the instrument; it’s about downloading the feeling, the emotion, the idea onto paper. Remember that everything is a canvas. I used to paint (and still do) in paper bags, receipts, napkins, the wall, Post-its.

• Something that is highly underestimated when it comes to art making is office supplies. I leveraged the supply room at my first job and took home fresh paper sheets, neon stickers, envelopes, and glue to make my art and experiment.

• To this day, I have never bought an expensive sketchbook; all of them have been gifted or from the dollar store. The day I invest in a nice sketchbook is close, because I already spent a few years learning the type of paper I like, and the quality I am looking for. But when you start your journey of making, it is important that you test all types of styles, techniques, and materials. For that same reason, you don’t want to go and invest in the most fancy supplies if you don’t really know you are going to enjoy that medium. I mean, if you have the budget, of course you can! But borrowing, thrifting, sourcing at the dollar store, or leveraging your office supplies room is how you get started.

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Now, the promised sketchbook tour!

• You’ll find a compilation of scanned work below. I scanned dozens of drawings this week at the library (I bet the library staff is annoyed to see me coming haha).

• If you prefer a video, I recorded a tour showing you my most recent work. You will see that it is a little bit more developed than my first sketches from 2021.

Please enjoy, and if possible, experience this issue on your desktop : )

  

A two page drawing, mixed media: acrylic, drawing, collage.

The top drawings were a result of a stream of consciousness session right after waking up and having very vivid dreams. The drawing of the table was the first thing I drew after my sister gifted me a set of Prismacolor that her ex-boyfriend gave her hahahahaha

These make me feel very nostalgic, as they were the very first drawings I made with some supplies my friend Chihiro gifted me a few years ago! I feel lots of compassion for this version of myself, too. I was really going through it.

This was my first try ever with watercolors! To this day, it is one of my favorite drawings I have ever made. It was so innocent and came from a place of wonder

Brainstorming the apartamento 710 logo back in 2022-2023!

It wasn't until 2024 that I started drawing my interpretation of humans around me. I really like this drawing that I made with my favorite purple pen.

‘Quick’ sketches of strangers during my commute

I really loved this color combination. A mix of crayons, Prismacolor, and Posca markers.

A drawing I made at the park of a mercado bag my mama gifted me this summer

My favorite thing about this drawing is the horse t-shirt

The drawing in the top left is inspired by one of my favorite illustrations by artist Maxine McRann. I have been playing with pastels in the past few months, and I am really enjoying learning the technique

In case you prefer video:

Thanks so much for making it all the way to the end! Let me know if you are interested in more sketchbook tours like this ✏️

Thinking of someone who might find this inspiring? It would support me greatly if you could send it to them

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Catch up with Sobremesa

apartamento 710 is a reader-supported publication. I don’t use AI at any point to create this newsletter. The design, the words, the interviews — everything starts and comes from my brain, heart and soul. Many hours go into bringing it to life. If you enjoy it or find useful or inspiring, the best way to support me to continue growing this garden, is by becoming a paid subscriber or sharing it with a friend who might enjoy it.