The magic of making mistakes during your creative process

Have you ever created an illustration (or riso print) and found that a color was slightly off, or a smudge ran across your design? Rather than being frustrated, that's precisely the moment when the work becomes exciting. In this blog post, I'll explain why making mistakes during riso printing and in your creative process is actually a good thing, and how you can use them to help your work grow.

Making mistakes is growing creatively

Mistakes aren't just okay; they're valuable. They stimulate your creative process :

• New Ideas: Sometimes a misprint leads to an effect you never imagined.

• Experiment: You dare to try new colors or techniques because perfection is not the goal.

• Letting go: You learn to be less critical and play more with shapes, lines and color.

During my riso workshops, and especially during the courses in Utrecht, I often notice that people experience exactly this: once they accept that it doesn't have to be perfect, they start working much more freely and creatively. It's often very clear in the first course session who struggles to unleash their creativity and just get going. And yet, that's always my first tip: just start making something!

How to consciously use mistakes

1. Make something "ugly" on purpose. Just scratch with different materials, close your eyes and make a self-portrait, or tear up some paper and see if you can create a crazy collage. Illustrate something ugly first: it will naturally become beautiful again.

2. Embrace imperfections: See an unexpected stain, a crooked line, or a misplaced color as an opportunity instead of a problem. What can you do with it to transform it into something "new"? Instead of turning over a new leaf, try to incorporate the mistake into your process. It brings your work to life and makes it more personal.

3. Combine and reuse: Old work you find ugly can inspire new combinations, collages, or techniques. Take something you find truly ugly from your sketchbook and turn it into something new! This can be done by cutting it out, reworking it with new material, or recreating the same idea in a different way.

4. Collage and paper: Add bits of misprints, recycled paper, or other textures. You can literally give mistakes a second life. I'd rather not give this tip (hoarder alert!), but: save everything 😂

5. Throw your eraser out the window! The death of any drawing is the excessive erasing that beginners love to do. Always try to make your lines with precision and don't constantly adjust too many small sections. Don't like your line? Ignore it and go over it with a new one. But erasing? No!!!

   
   
   

   
   
   

Making mistakes in your digital designs

Even with digital designs you can simulate or use errors:

• Shift the layers just a little bit, so that they don't overlap (like with riso!).

• Go through all the options in your digital programs. What happens if you apply a strange filter, or if you start working with your layer options? Try them all out.

• Play with transparency and color overlap.

• Make imperfect lines deliberately and use textures from scanned paper.

  
  

This way you learn to let go and create designs that come to life in the end result.

Why riso printing is so inviting to experiment

A risograph printer isn't a digital printer that makes everything perfect. It doesn't exactly match what you see on screen. Every layer, every color, every registration makes the print slightly different. This often results in small shifts, light spots, or unexpected color combinations.

And that's precisely where the charm of riso lies for me! It's precisely because you see imperfections that the work feels vibrant and unique. No two copies are ever the same.

How I consciously use errors during riso printing

1. Make test prints and reuse them: I always make tons of test prints to check the colors are right. But this also results in a lot of unusable prints! Instead of throwing this paper away, I reuse it to make something new. A sketchbook, buttons, or earrings—I can do anything with it!

2. Combining layers: I experiment with different layers of color and often try out different colors before deciding on my final print. It can be difficult to choose. See an example of the same print in different colors below!

3. Paper shifts: I sometimes shift my paper slightly on purpose. Sometimes it's just really beautiful to see that tiny white line, or when the colors have shifted slightly. That's what makes every print original.

   
   

   

   

Finally, dare to experiment

Riso printing is an invitation to play, make mistakes, and discover what happens when you let go of control a little. The result is always surprising, vibrant, and unique, just like you and your creative process!

Want to experience experimenting and turn mistakes into creative opportunities? During my workshops in Utrecht, you'll learn step-by-step how to work with the riso printer , from digital files to colorful prints. You'll also learn how to make mistakes! The Creative Kickstart course, in particular, teaches you how to illustrate in a playful way.