Hello there; I've been looking through your blog and, as many others say, I just ADORE your art! I was also wondering if you could give me some advice. For quite a few months now I've utterly lost all motivation to draw. I want to go into something with art, so this devastates me, and whenever I try to draw I just get so easily frustrated. I've been an avid artist since I can remember, so for me to suddenly not want to draw for months on end really concerns me. Any suggestions to fix this?
(hi!! apologies for the late reply. i hope this can still be of some help to you despite that!)
i think thatās a feeling every artist struggles with at some point. you love art, you love makingĀ art, and itās immensely frustrating when that suddenly doesnāt work out despite all the effort youāve been putting in. and then you start to lose motivation, question yourself and everything youāre doing, and itās a vicious cycle thatās really hard to break out of. so what can we do?
well, hereās a thing. letās call it the productivity branch.
i feel like my own creative cycles are very seasonal. not in the sense that my creativity depends on the season, but rather that my creativity itself goes through different seasons.
spring: new ideas, motivation, productivity still lowĀ
summer: lots of ideas and very productive
autumn: still productive drawing leftover ideas, but new ideas are harder to come by.Ā and thenĀ
winter:Ā nothing. art-block. lack of ideas, everything-sucks-syndrome, no motivation, the creative part of my brain is basically hibernating
thatās you up there. youāre in a creative winter right now. and without any inspiration or motivation itāll be hard to find a way to cross that gap over to a new spring (pls bear with the cheesy analogies). and if your cut yourself off from inspirational influence you might start to think that, hey, this isnāt so bad.Ā i mean, who needs spring right? just means you have to do things. be active. yikes. winterās pretty chill. haha.Ā
but donāt do that. itāll come around and bite you at some point, because that lack of motivation and activity might start to seep into other parts of your life, not just the creative one, and you donāt want that.
so! when you donāt have ideas and motivation to create, then donāt create. but instead make an effort to inspire yourself. inspiration entails motivation (and vice versa).
read books, short stories, poems, science articles, anything
go on walks, explore your surroundings, if affordable maybe even go somewhere farther away
let people tell you stories
try things you havenāt done before (deliberately break old habits)
go through other peopleās inspiration blogs
collaborate with a friend
get really invested in something, talk to others about it
watch movies, animated shorts, documentariesĀ
or speedpaintings and art tutorials
try different techniques, or new brushes
look at art thatās so inspiring that you canāt believe youāre still just sitting there notĀ drawing anything yourself
and most importantly, be receptive. take in the world around you, rearrange it in your head, and draw whatever you end up with. thatās the core of what creativity is
think about what you want to achieve. make your friends smile? draw something really cool you can print out and hang up in your room? touch peopleās hearts? deliver a message? whatever it is, and however small or inconsequential it might seem, keep it in mind. itās your light at the end of the tunnel.
if want to keep drawing for the sake of muscle memory while youāre still looking for your inspiration:Ā
illustrate your daily activities
draw a random shape or find one in a photo (clouds are ideal for this) and turn it into a character or object
pick different pictures and combine elements from each of them into one drawing
basically donāt try to come up with things completely from scratch. find something to work with and go from there. that will save you the mentally draining task of coming up with a subject, so you can start actively drawing right away
if you still canāt make yourself pick up a pen, make a schedule. train your brain to turn its creative gears at a specific time of the day, make that a habit. do it for pavlov
approach drawing with the awareness that what you create might suck, especially when youāre out of practice, but this doesnāt mean that it will always suck, and it doesnāt mean youĀ suck. if you learn to dissociate your current creative achievements from your worth as a person and your future potential you will get back to work a lot easier, improve faster, and be more resistant to setbacks.Ā
find something that makes it worth the effort ofĀ working through the frustration.Ā
you might need to try a lot of different things because everyone copes with this differently, and even when a method worked once that doesnāt mean it always will. so start trying! you can only find inspiration if you start looking for it. š
jacobvanloon
tangentwithtanner
amandla
titsay
prguitarman
vaporwave
romaincrisis
