A look back at 2018

Submitted by Teoh Yi Chie on

Happy New Year everyday!

It's that time of the year again. The time to look back and reflect on what happened and what has been accomplished. I wrote something similar last year as well.

I was counting the number of book reviews and videos I've made in 2018 and found out that I wasn't as productive as last year. I still did a lot of work but it was not as crazy as 2017. I made 220 videos in 2018 compared to the incredible 316 videos from 2017. There are now 1,016 videos on my Youtube channel currently.

If you're an artist or a content creator, don't be too caught up by the numbers. Sometimes they mean something, sometimes they don't. What you should takeaway from what I've written is, it's important to be consistent regardless of how much work you're putting out. When you get into the habit of producing work, it's becomes easily to produce work.

Tiffany

The biggest thing for me in 2018 is the birth of my baby girl Tiffany.


She is so cute! I can't get enough of her.

So now my time is split between blogging, making Youtube videos, my job, and taking care of Tiffany. Thankfully my parent in laws are helping out with caring for her so that frees up significant portion of my time. But when you have a kid, you'll want to be with your kid all the time. It feels good even if it's just watching your kid sleep.

Making online courses


I've also put out a new online drawing course called Perspective Drawing for Beginners. It certainly was not easy making that course. Most of the difficulty comes from overcoming the procrastination to do the actual recording. It's strange to have to deal with procrastination because I don't have any problems with making Youtube videos. But when it comes to recording tutorials for the online courses, I procrastinate.

I've plans for more online courses in 2019. Nothing concrete so far but I'm thinking of making courses on travel sketching and Procreate. Those are the two courses that I really feel like making.

New Year resolutions

I actually don't believe in New Year resolutions. I used to make resolutions but I don't stick to them. If you have New Year resolutions but don't stick to them, then there's no point to making them.

Anyway, developing a positive and productive habit is more useful than setting goals. When you write down your goals, you have a target. When you develop a habit, you're actively doing something. That's the difference.

If you really want to know my New Year resolutions, well, it's to create content. Yeah, it's that boring.

Another thing I want to do in 2019 is to read more books. Not art books. Self help books. I love those books. These are some books on my list:

I'm already strapped for time so the only time I can read would be on the public train while I'm commuting to work. Hopefully I can develop the habit of reading. I shall start with the habit book first.

Onwards to 2019!

3 Comments

Hi Teoh. I've been a

Submitted by Tom Costick on

Hi Teoh. I've been a subscriber to your YouTube channel for about 18 months and I find your rate of output is about right for me. There was a time when I had unwatched videos going back two or three months, as I was in going through a phase where I didn't have time or mental focus to watch and enjoy what you produced.

I'm a late developer, art-wise, being in my late 50s and only now moving into watercolour, inspired by what you do.

So, keep up the good work (as they say) :-)

And, you're right, Tiffany is very cute. I recall when my son was her age and, as you say, every moment in his company was a joy. I particularly enjoyed reading stories at bedtime.

All the best for 2019.

You have shown great

Submitted by Tina Koyama on

You have shown great restraint in not showing more photos of that cute little girl on your blog! ;-) Happy New Year, and thanks for all the useful content you offer all year long!

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