I sometimes too wonder how I went from one to the other, so every year I like to remember a bit of the process.

I liked drawing since I could grab a pencil, but never had the patience with it, or myself, to "tolerate mistakes".

I focused more on the outcome instead of the process.

I tried copying other drawings, from TV shows I liked, and when they didn't come out perfectly, I got frustrated, angry, made a ball with my sheet of paper, yeeted it in the bin and didn't try again for a long time. On and off.

Fast forward about 20 years to 2018. That’s when I found Affinity Designer and gave it another shot.

8 years ago, I created a little pair of Twitter and Instagram accounts called "@creatinglightly".

Since then I got my bachelor’s degree, adopted Kiwi (our youngest cat), married my girlfriend, went through the pandemic, uprooted my life and moved continents, amongst other things.

What remained constant was the fact that I stayed creative.

I had no idea what I was doing, so I started simple. If you have been following for long, you probably have already seen this:

This illustration is very important to me, and not only because it is my brother’s favourite car of all time, but because I could see I was definitely not ready.

I couldn’t do details or understand a lot of things. But it got me started. It showed me in retrospective, that things don’t need to be perfect to be enjoyable. It got me out there, brought in some love and encouragement.

So I continued. And little by little I kept on getting better.

I made friends with mistakes. Understanding them as points to improve.

Every time you notice a mistake in your work it's not a failure, but a learning opportunity.

You are literally getting better.

So I kept pushing and this is the second illustration that came out of that.

I was still exploring and finding a style. This was just one of the few images I actually used gradients for.

I didn’t fully understand how they worked. Or lighting, for that matter. So some things still look weird. But at the time, this was a huge achievement for me. Just compare it with the one immediately above.

It was probably, to date, the biggest leap in understanding and skill I had at any given point in my career.

I did not only create automotive artwork, but definitely it was my main focus point, and still is today.

Here are some, probably never shared with you (but they're in my very old area of Instagram) inspired by the amazing TV show Gravity Falls (watch it if you haven't, even if you’re an adult).

The above shows already a glimpse of how my art style would look like for a lot of time later, with the more cel shaded look.

But I started exploring some more abstract things too, enjoying the process, and basically discovering.

I had my old, first logo too.

Fun fact: looks like a crescent moon and a bird of sorts, but it is a C and L from Creating Lightly. The more you know!

I was never very good at backgrounds, and still I'm not.

I just embrace more abstract things now and be ok with it (although the more recent "Lamborghini Miura in Tokyo" artwork shared at the beginning has a background I can definitely be proud of).

This is the last of the "first year deep cuts". Not on my website either.

Then came the Dowsett Classic Cars Comet here.

This is both the first artwork you can actually find on my website, as well as the first one I did completely on the iPad.

Before it, I only worked on my laptop with the trackpad.

And honestly, a lot of times I still do. Vector art is cool like that.

This brings us to the “and finally…” (hi friends of The Motoring Podcast!): the last illustration of my first year.

Compare this with the Ford GT without wheels I shared above. I am always in awe about how far I could come in just 8 months.

Imagine everything I learned in 8 years!

I want to take a moment to thank and appreciate each and every one of you.

Some are reading, some I lost in the "Twitter meltdown", but I think everyone who decided to click the "Follow" button in social media, and especially those who joined this newsletter, are truly special to me.

Joining a newsletter is deceptively simple. Deciding to do that though, is a hard choice. Our inboxes are constantly flooded. Space and attention are at a premium. So we usually try to keep that to a minimum.

The "Lightly" part of the name is related to “creating without pressure”.

I mainly "create for myself" in a somewhat selfish manner.

Not because I am, but because it is sort of a byproduct of "what I want to bring to the world". Something I need to do. It's hard to explain.

Is like "channeling the inspiration" into something created. And it can be anything.

Illustrating, photos, writing...

I honestly even let it go wild with stuff people would not think as "creativity", like when I cook and have an intrusive "what if" thought.

As I like to say: "the thing didn't exist, I happened, and now it's there".

That's how powerful creation is.

I'm rambling, so let's wrap it up.

Thank you for being there.

For 8 years or 8 minutes.

It doesn't matter.

I love you 🫶

To many, many more years of Creating Lightly 🍻

There’s a waitlist you can join within the “Living Cars” newsletter if you are not in yet.

People in there have a behind the scenes look at the development and process of creating my upcoming book. The book’s topic is “Homologation Specials”.

If this is something that interests you, I invite you to join the waitlist with the button below.

You will receive the regular newsletter articles and also the extra ones, specific for the book. I have it set up like this not to overwhelm people with details on the book if they don’t feel like it.

If this sounds like something for you, join by clicking the button below:

If you’re still not convinced you will like it, read more about it here.

And if you feel like gifting yourself or someone else something original and made with love from the Creating Lightly store, you can see the current physical things available in the button below:

As always, thank you so much for your support.

I hope you have a great rest of your day.

Juanma