A while ago, in one of our last team meetings of the year, I was telling the KCU team how much fun we had doing the “Year in Review” exercise in Kids Comics Studio.
“Oh!” said Jade. “That makes me think of the vision boards I did with my critique group at the beginning of this year! Just a sec!”
She reached across her desk and then held up this sketch to show us:
Vision board by Jade Vaughan
“The cool thing,” Jade continued, “is that I got that car that I sketched in my Vision Board! My new car looks almost exactly like what I drew!”
Whether you believe in the idea of being able to “manifest” your dreams or not… there is tremendous power in putting your dreams and goals on paper.
It’s true that the new year is more or less an arbitrary time to set goals, but cultural touchstones like this have value! A vision board is more than just a collage. Here are three reasons why it can make a real difference for you this year:
- It helps you visualize your goals in a tangible way, turning abstract ideas into a clear, inspiring roadmap for the year ahead.
- The act of curating images and words forces you to focus on what truly matters, cutting through distractions and aligning your efforts with your biggest aspirations.
- A vision board serves as a daily reminder of your goals, keeping you motivated and accountable when life gets busy. Many people keep their vision board next to their computer or studio desk so they see it every day.
A Vision Board is a fun, creative, right brain-friendly way to clarify your vision for yourself for the year. And it’s easy to create one!
How to Create a Vision Board
The goal of a Vision Board is to think about what you want for yourself in the coming year, clarify what’s most important to you, and put it on a single piece of paper.
Jade explains below how her critique group went about it:
1. Take time to reflect and brainstorm/doodle/free-write.
“We gave ourselves a few weeks to take our time and think carefully about what we hope to do for the coming year. We asked ourselves what we would like to have accomplished by the year’s end both in our creative practice and in our everyday lives.
It could be simple and grounded, or reaching for the stars! An internal struggle to face or something to treat ourselves to. Remember, it is very important to reward yourself too! What would you love to experience or explore this year? It could be very specific or very broad. There are no rules but the ones you create for yourself.”
2. Create a single page that encompasses your vision for yourself: draw it, create it with words, or use collage.
“Create something that you could tape to the wall to look up to every now and then, and feel inspired by! Something that would make you itch to pick up your pen again. A piece of you on the page.”
3. Make time at the end of the year to think about what aspects of your Vision Board came true.
“At the year’s end, look back at what you actually did! You could color it in if you want. It’s so fun to revisit later and see how our perspective has shifted or stayed the same. Usually, we don’t do everything we set ourselves out to do, but that’s okay. Sometimes life has other plans. Ups and downs are inevitable. It is all about what you do in the face of conflict. Having a group or community to talk through those obstacles is so important!
Speaking of which, having something big to do together with a group of friends is VERY motivating. This year our critique group hopes to go to SPX together!”
Vision Board Examples!
Here are examples of vision boards by the other members of Jade’s critique group:
Vision board by Katie Risor
Vision board by Martina Lo
Vision board by Jannie Ho
No Limits – Have Fun!
As you can see from the examples above, there are no limits to how you create these. Feel free to use any technique or material you want.
In fact, it’s a great way to play with any graphic novel skills you are working on!
The main thing is to have fun and think about your goals for the coming year.
And share your work with the community. We can’t wait to see what you come up with.
I really love this idea compared to the typical New Year’s resolution(s) that so rarely come to fruition in my world. I’m truly inspired to create one in the next few days and model it after Jade’s or Katie’s, that is primarily a series of drawings that represent my goals. What I think would be fun would be to color each drawing in when/if it’s accomplished.
That’s such a cool idea to color in each drawing once you’ve accomplished it!