My Creative Process

A Peek into my Creative Process

July 4th, 2025 By Pauline Tang

Here is my preliminary sketch, part of the *Hidden World* series, I’m working on this year.
My nerves are kicking in—I hope the final piece turns out well. Fingers crossed!

I think many artists can relate to this feeling—or at least I hope they do, so I don’t feel alone. For me, the creative process isn’t linear. It comes with highs and plenty of rough patches. There are times when I’m just out of ideas, too many ideas that are not working harmoniously, or what I’m drawing isn’t what I envisioned in my head. Sometimes, my creative blocks set in. These dry spells can last for months, and I would do anything to get myself out of them. Self-doubts. Frustrations. Pressuring myself to draw makes it even worse.

Bumps On The Road Help Me Grow

From a kid to my 20s, I was always striving for perfection. I learned the hard way that never works. As I become older, I have finally realized that the bumps aren’t just nuisances. I look back and find that a lot of the uncomfortable times in my life are lessons I have to learn—the hard way. They have helped me to get to where I am today. I need them because it’s the best way to learn. Keep going, and eventually everything will make sense and all into place. I just need some time to realize it.

Stan (my mentor) always tells me that you should have plenty of paper on hand. Don’t give yourself too much pressure. You can always have a do-over.

And oftentimes, it’s ok to take a break to get reinspired again.

You should watch Kiki’s Delivery Service if you are having a creative block. It’s available on Netflix.

Good Things Take Time

Another realization I have is that I might be stuck on an idea, but the execution is not fully there. I have been going back and back again to create a design, but one that I’m not super satisfied with. It takes some time to take an idea into what you always wanted it to be.

For example, when I got married many years ago, I created a cute little button, Hooray for Today, for our guests to wear so they could celebrate with us on our big day. I wanted it so that they can still use it after our wedding—a cheerful note that greeted them every day. It was good at that time, but I always wanted to redesign it in order to improve the design.

This was a small button I designed for my wedding.

I later redesigned it with my husband, with whom I collaborate for digital art, to celebrate my first time participating in the Eastside Culture Crawl. This time around, I feel like the execution was much better.

This is a redesign of Hooray for Today that was designed for my first Eastside Culture Crawl back in 2023.

I also have a sticker and a magnet version
available for sale on my Shop.

My Happy Place

I’ve found that I work best when I can focus on one art piece at a time—it lets me give it the attention and care it deserves. Once I choose a piece to work on, inspiration tends to show up in the little moments—on a walk home after dropping off my daughter, in the shower, during a nap, or even while watching TV. It feels like the ideas have always been there—I just needed the right moment to see them clearly.

I like to incorporate different media into my art. Here’s a closer look at my mixed media artwork, where I created sprinkles with polymer clay.

When I’m drawing, I want to get in the zone. It’s my happy place where I can stay up until 4am drawing, and it’s one of the best feelings in the world for me.

Looking Ahead

This is my third year preparing for Vancouver’s Eastside Culture Crawl that’s happening in November. I’m super excited and feel very fortunate to be able to participate again. As I continue to prepare for this year’s show, I hope I can show you more sneak peeks into my creative process on my blog this year, which I haven’t done in previous years.

The countdown is on! Almost only 4 more months until November! Stay tuned and remember to come back often to check up on me! 🙂