Rukmini Poddar didn't initially set out to teach anyone about drawing their emotions. In 2015, burnt out at the end of a graphic design degree and convinced she was the least consistent person alive, she started The 100 Day Project with no plan beyond touching the page every day. Ten years later she's the author of Draw Your Feelings, she leads workshops for individuals, schools, retreats and corporate teams, and she's built a global creative community out of people who mostly don't call themselves artists.

In this episode, Rukmini takes us back to the twenty-three-year-old who had nothing to lose and posted her drawings to a few hundred followers, which later turned into a really inspiring creative community. She also walks us through what she actually teaches: how to get acquainted with the texture of a feeling before you try to draw it, why abstract beats representational every time, and why she thinks the art you make alone is only half of the work. This conversation was a perfect fit for this creativity podcast.

In this episode, they discuss:

• The 100 Day Project that changed the direction of her life — and why she credits it for who it proved she could be, not for anything she actually made
• Obscure Emotions, the 2016 series of small pink figures that gave her language for feelings she couldn't name, and the comments from strangers that turned a private habit into something bigger
• Her ten-second timeline exercise and what people end up telling a total stranger afterward
• What she says to the person who tells her "I can't draw," plus her case that honest art matters more than beautiful art
• Life-size self-portraits, a redwood forest, and the first retreat she ran before she felt anywhere near ready

Resources & Links

• Draw Your Feelings: A Creative Journal to Help Connect with Your Emotions through Art by Rukmini Poddar (Penguin/Ebury)
• Rukmini on Instagram: @rockinruksi
• dearruksi.com
• The 100 Day Project (#The100DayProject)