¡Hello! I'm Cristina (Cris) and, as far as this is the first time I'm writing here, I'm going to introduce myself: 

I'm 20 and I was born and I live in Valencia a Mediterranean city from Spain. Nowadays, I'm studying a Fine Arts degree at University and I'm getting specialized on drawing, animation and illustration. So, I'm here to tell you about this artistic experience and help you in the mesure I can :)

So, I will start for the first thing all teachers say when we start a new year: BE BRAVE. 

Be brave... but why? The answer is easy: because most of time amateur artists (even somtimes professionals) are afraid of expressing ourselves, of proving new techniques, of proving different styles... PLEASE, FORGET THIS FEARS. 

I have to say that I'm no one to say this, because I still have these fears, but, from experiences, I can say that they dissapear little by little. How? Well, it is not an easy way, but I'm writing some rules I think are necessary and useful for leave them in the past:

1- Learn to enjoy what you do and to love it. Your works are like your children. Perhaps they're not perfect, but they're the result of a hard work and your creativity. Don't look down on them see their fails and their great things.

2- Take inspiration from real world and from your partners and other famous artists. Watch the world, think about it and create! Look at how people works around you, their methods for creating. You can get this from friends, partners, teachers, very near people... even from consolidated artists! The best of art is that there are always good people ready for helping the young :) And, if you don't have access to many artists, social networks are great, try to see what they're doing on line.

3- WORK. Practise, practise and practise. It's a very good idea to take a little notebook with you and draw everything that moves. Start with simple exercises like make strong lines without remarking them and then build simple structures with them and then complicate it and try things more difficult. But little by little. Try also to draw what you like, but also what you don't like. Perhaps a technique you thought you'd never use, it will open you a world of possibilities.

This way I think you would be braver every time more and more. Don't be afraid of change. Change, try... LIVE ART.

Hope you like this article and it could be a little help for you.

Have a nice day and keep walking, guys!

Cris Domínguez

Valencia, 29/09/2014