22 Creative Tips to Improve Your Skills in 2022

End 2021 learning something new with expert tips for crafts, illustration, photography, marketing, and more

With a new year on the horizon, many of us are keen to learn new things, challenge ourselves, and grow our creative toolkits in 2022.

Luckily, over the last twelve months, we’ve been collecting an inspiring array of tips and tricks, for all sorts of creative disciplines and hobbies. So whether you want to learn a new way to paint with watercolor, or master the dos and don’ts of Instagram reels for your art content, here are twenty-two videos and articles packed with tips that are sure to spark some creative joy.

How to Paint with Unconventional Brushes

Thought you needed a paintbrush to create beautiful ink illustrations? Illustrator and artist Laura McKendry (@laura_mckendry) asks us to think again with these tips, where she demonstrates how to use twigs, toothbrushes, and more to create interesting textures and line weights.

Watercolor: How to Paint With a Sponge

Berta Llonch (@bertallonch_) is a fine artist and illustrator, with a playful and experimental approach to using watercolor. By rotating her paper and using both brushes and sponges, she creates amazingly realistic shapes, lighting, and shadow with just a few deceptively simple movements. Watch the video below and learn more tips in her tutorial.

How to Use Salt to Create Textures with Watercolor

Illustrator and founder of Estúdio Luares (@estudioluares), Franncine de Miranda finds nature's colors and textures are an endless source of inspiration. But how can you recreate some of those natural textures in your own works? One surprisingly quick trick is by using salt. In this quick tip video, Franncine shows you how to use coarse salt to create watercolor textures.

How to Draw an Eye

British painter Alan Coulson (@alancoulsonartist) crafts expressive portraits using oil paints—but it can be done with other materials too. Watch the video below to see how he draws a photorealistic eye using everyday tools you’ll find in your pencil case: a pencil and a rubber, with some tips for how to achieve different effects.

How to Get a Book Published: 4 Tips for Aspiring Authors

Often opaque and shrouded in secrets, the publishing process can be daunting for new and seasoned writers alike. In her article, author, book coach, and Domestika teacher Courtney Maum (@cmaum) shares some of her tips for getting the most out of your writing and how to navigate the world of publishing.

Learn How to Create a Chain Stitch in Just 25 Seconds

For those keen to crochet this holiday season, watch this super speedy video from crochet and upcycling expert Emma Friedlander-Collins (@steelandstitch). Once you have this foundation in place, you can get creative with the many techniques she shares in this tips post.

How to Kintsugi: The Art of Repair

Kintsugi is a Japanese technique that means "gold repair", where a broken bowl, vase, or other object is repaired using a lacquer dusted with gold. Not only is it beautiful, it also celebrates the "story" of an item. Clara Graziolino (@claragraziolino) is a ceramic artist and kintsugi expert who can show you how to recreate this technique easily at home, using resin.

Dyeing with Plant-Based Pigments

Did you know you can get started making your own dyed fabric using plants and spices at home? Anabel Torres (@anabeltorres) is a fashion designer and textile artist who sells sustainable items dyed with natural pigments. Here she shares a tip for creating bundles of flowers and seeds that transfer color to fabric.

How to Make a Macramé Square Knot

Learn to make a simple square knot that can be used to make all sorts of macramé designs. Sara Moreno’s (@fruto_samore) brand specializes in home decor and interior design, including loom tapestries and macramé, and her course lays out the process for making a vest using cords and knots.

How to Cut a Paper Garland

Karishma Chugani (@karishma_chugani) is an illustrator, writer, and designer who teaches how to tell stories with paper in her course. One of the techniques she shares is how to create a paper garland using a concertina fold, which you can get started with by following this video tip.

Bubble on Ceramics

Have you heard of bubbling in ceramics? This intricate pattern can be transferred onto tiles using a jar, paint, and a straw. Pottery maker Paula Casella Biase (@paulacasellabiase) shares her method in this video, and even more tips and tricks for pottery making here.

How to Make Lifelike Paper Petals

It’s amazing how quickly you can turn crêpe paper into a delicate-looking petal, with these quick tips from Eileen Ng (@eileen_handmade). Eileen is an artist and maker focused on paper crafts, who is inspired by natural shapes and textures—as you can also see in this other tip for creating a daisy petal.

Eco-Friendly Gift Wrap

Instead of shop-bought wrapping paper, why not add a personal and environmental-friendly touch to your gifts by creating your own fabric gift wrap? In this video, textile designer, illustrator, and founder of Atelier Karak, Marta Afonso (@martajmafonso) teaches you quick tips to create stamps and handmade prints to liven up your designs for sustainable wrapping.

Night Photography Tips: How to Create a Light Painting

Looking for new ways to experiment with your night photography skills? Learn a fun new photography technique and shoot your own artistic light drawings with these step-by-step tips for light painting from UK-based photographer and educator, Debbie Castro (@debbiecastrow).

Tip: How to Add Personality to Your Photos with Everyday Objects

Whether it’s recording memories, or creating posts for social media, it can be a fun creative outlet to experiment with photography techniques that you can easily create at home. Carol Peña (@misshedwig) is a photographer and art director, and has a few secrets for taking engaging and unique photographs using just a few props. In her course, she outlines how to create emotive photographs with a range of techniques, but in the video below shares a tip using a pair of glasses to make a rain effect.

How to Crop a Photo

Cropping is an important step towards a dynamic-looking photo, depending on how it will be shared, and on the composition you want it to have. Self-portrait photographer Laura Zalenga (@laurazalenga) specializes in intimate, interior photography that has an almost therapeutic element to the process. Watch this video to learn her tips for using Photoshop to find the perfect crop.

10 Tips for Selling Your Digital Artwork on NFT Marketplaces

NFTs have been the talk of the Internet over the past twelve months as stories of artists selling their work for substantial sums of money have hit headlines. If you’ve already tokenized your works, you might be wondering how to maximize your chances of making a sale. In this article, discover ten marketing strategies for promoting your digital art from the pros.

Create Engaging Video Transitions For Tik Tok

Arnulfur Hakonarson, aka That Icelandic Guy (@arnulfur), is a content creator and photographer who creates striking content for a range of platforms including Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. Take a look at his tricks for creating memorable transitions in this video, and discover more of his foolproof tips for creating great TikTok content in this tutorial.

Dos and Don'ts for Instagram Reels

Using Instagram Reels is a great way to grab your audience’s attention with fun and punchy bite-sized content. But how can you make your Reel stand out from the crowd? Social media specialist Nathalia Koutia (@nathaliekoutia) shares three dos and don’ts for making every sixty seconds of your videos count. Find out more here.

Dos and Don’ts of Client Presentations

Whether you work in an office or for yourself, client presentations are a part of almost every professional’s life. We all need to know how to get our ideas across, clearly, concisely, and, most importantly, convincingly. An expert at teaching businesses how to present themselves, Katya Kovalenko (@katyakovalenko) shares some dos and don’ts of client presentations to make your next presentation a success.

Behind the Scenes: Food Styling Tricks

Even if you’ve got the perfect lighting and backdrop, if the presentation of your dish looks off-balance or that perfectly sliced orange wedge sinks to the bottom of the water glass, your food photography might not turn out as delicious as you envisaged. The team at food stylist studio Espacio Crudo (@espaciocrudo) knows how to present a dish for food photography that leaves an impression. In this video, they share some behind-the-scenes tricks.

8 Tips to Create a Healthy Workspace

In some ways, the spaces we live in, live in us. The office, home, and places we go to relax do much more than fulfill a purpose or look nice—they often influence our cognitive processes and shape our performance. Neuroarchitecture and bio-construction specialist Ana García (@anagarcialopez) is a go-to when it comes to creating spaces designed with well-being in mind. In this article, she shares top tips for creating your own healthy and stimulating workspaces.

Did you like these tips? Tell us your favorites in the comments below. And if you want to discover more ideas to exercise your creativity, stay tuned to the Tips section of our blog.

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