5 Hacks to ACTUALLY Start ✏️

Let me start by asking you this -

Have you ever felt... paralyzed?

Like, you’ve got these incredible ideas in your head, but the gap between your vision and execution feels SO big, you end up doing... nothing?

Or maybe you do start working - but that little voice kicks in:

“This isn’t good enough. X or Y designer would do it better.”

So you try to fix it. Tweak it. Overthink it. And before you know it, the project is abandoned. Again.

These thoughts don’t always come daily - but when they do… they stick. And they rob us of SO much time - the one thing we never get back.

I know them well. Because I’ve been there. And no matter how far along we are, that sneaky inner voice still shows up.

But now - I’ve learned what quiets it.

And today, I want to give you real, practical ways to move past that fear and start creating with freedom, not perfection. As you’re reading this, I’m sketching an eye-popping design moodboard inspired by the Pantone pink color palette - right on my iPad! 😍 And that’s where this all begins 👇

iPad creation.

Switching to the iPad was one of the biggest creative shifts I made back in design school. I loved the conceptual side of interior design - but every sketching mistake felt expensive. Literally. And you know this: creativity doesn’t thrive in scarcity.

It was the iPad that unfroze me.
It let me explore, mess up, search for my style with joy.
It made me fall back in love with my work.

Recent example: my sketch of a Vitra interior (ok, my obsession with this brand has no boundaries lol). First, I tried sketching it on paper. I loved the feeling of it… but something felt off. The texture, the size, my patience - gone lol.

Next day, I sketched the same interior digitally - and WOW. I enjoyed every stroke. It became a quick sketch in a marker technique, and I LOVED it. And how do I bring that “paper feel” into digital?
Easy - I print it.

I’m about to order a small printer with watercolor paper, and oh boy… I already see my work reaching a whole new level.

Before we move on to the next practical hack, I’ve got a drawing resource for you too - to help you get started designing on your iPad.

Inside my free drawing workshop, we create a full interior concept in Procreate - as your first quick win. Register here if you haven’t attended yet!
In this session, we design and draw textures and interior moodboards. If you're an ASDB student, you already have all the drawing hacks inside the full course 😉

Hack #2: "Don't start the piece - start the practice"

Start with the mindset of creating something for 10 minutes - not 10 hours.

I’ve been there too - imagining how my next project will take multiple days, and my brain already thinks: "this is a trap." So I end up not even starting. Solution: just 10 minutes. Sketch lines, loose shapes, shadows. No goal. No pressure. Just movement.

Why it works?
Because it bypasses the ego.

You're not “making art” - you're showing up.
And keeping promises to yourself builds crazy confidence.

Hack #3: Use someone else's idea as a springboard

We’re not copying - we’re developing. There’s a difference.

Take a project from one of your favorite artists or designers as a starting point and evolve it into your own.

Yesterday morning I started my day with my “inspiration hour” - reading my favorite design mags - and saw a dreamy collage-style painting. So I decided to try that too. Now I’ve got a folder full of pieces I want to use for my own version.

Hack #4: AI = literal goldmine for ideas

Create from scratch. Merge images. Use it to fully develop your own concept. Let it do the heavy lifting. If you’re still unsure about AI - I wrote a full newsletter about it RIGHT HERE.

Hack #5: Read more than just Pinterest

Open a design book. A newspaper. Even a random article.

My latest art print started with an article I found on the New York Times website - something about the history of color in interior design. One sentence in, boom. I had the idea.

So, which one are you going to try today?

And most importantly - put at least one of them into action.
Because if you don’t use the inspiration, it fades.

Happy creating ✨

xo,


at @andshedrawsbig