@SmilingandDrawing's post on Artfol
Does anyone have suggestion on dealing with artblock?Apr 6, 2024
#question
Comments
"I want to draw, but can't. Ugh."
Number one: It's okay if you don't draw! Times are tough and we're all human beings with lives and needs and circumstances. But you really want to return to it? Okay.
Put a physical pen on a physical piece of paper with your physical hands, it's not impossible. You don't need to do your best art ever or finish anything you don't want to. Draw 5 different versions of a cat in a cup or something, doodle.
When you make a calm and conscious decision to take 30 minutes to sit down, maybe with some music on, but with nothing at your reach except pen and paper, you'll get bored eventually, so you might as well draw, because you like to draw, don't you? Enjoy the process.
I notice I may not feel like drawing some days but I have the power to choose how I want to use my time. I might take a walk outside before sitting down to get my energy up. When the 30 minutes is done I usually feel like I could easily continue. But it's OKAY if you don't finish stuff in one go, overextend. It can be way more motivating to stop midway and have something to return to.
Or switch things up, try a new style that's so not you, or extreme brushes, make something only for you, or make purposefully BAD art, then make a version of it that's worse, then make a new version that's even worse. Play.
Drawing is something you have started and stopped again and again so many times. It's not like you're done now.
When I have artblock, I usually look at other peoples art and that usually gives me motivation/inspiration or I take a break for a little bit.
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Touching grass. Seriously. Going on hikes and looking for weird critters always gets me feeling inspired.
Also, when you come up with an idea when you don't have time to draw it, write it down and save it for a rainy day as backup for when you feel out of ideas.
Also, when you come up with an idea when you don't have time to draw it, write it down and save it for a rainy day as backup for when you feel out of ideas.
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either take a break for the day, do other stuff. or just start drawing whatever, doodle stuff up.
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I play on drawception.com! It is like drawphone. You don't have to worry about doing masterpieces just have fun. It makes me rediscover why do I enjoy drawing.
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sometimes when i go through artblock i see that as an opportunity to do art studies or life drawings. Just something simple that i can turn my mind off while still exercising my art skills. then after a while the juices start flowing again.
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"I want to draw, but can't. Ugh." Number one: It's okay if you don't draw! Times are tough and we're all human beings with lives and needs and circumstances. But you really want to return to it? Okay. Put a physical pen on a physical piece of paper with your physical hands, it's not impossible. You don't need to do your best art ever or finish anything you don't want to. Draw 5 different versions of a cat in a cup or something, doodle.
When you make a calm and conscious decision to take 30 minutes to sit down, maybe with some music on, but with nothing at your reach except pen and paper, you'll get bored eventually, so you might as well draw, because you like to draw, don't you? Enjoy the process.
I notice I may not feel like drawing some days but I have the power to choose how I want to use my time. I might take a walk outside before sitting down to get my energy up. When the 30 minutes is done I usually feel like I could easily continue. But it's OKAY if you don't finish stuff in one go, overextend. It can be way more motivating to stop midway and have something to return to.
Or switch things up, try a new style that's so not you, or extreme brushes, make something only for you, or make purposefully BAD art, then make a version of it that's worse, then make a new version that's even worse. Play.
Drawing is something you have started and stopped again and again so many times. It's not like you're done now.•
Ask people if you can draw their OC’s.
Can be really handy against artblock and getting out of your comfort zone, plus you learn from other artists designs and bring new ideas.
Can be really handy against artblock and getting out of your comfort zone, plus you learn from other artists designs and bring new ideas.
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Here are some ways i could think of:
- Ask other people to give you some idea to draw
- Draw your favorite scene from your favorite movie or novel
- Do some doodles for practice (poses, hands, feet,...)
Some people suggest taking a break (go for a walk, read books,...) or try something new, pushing your mind to come up with anything can be tiring, so relax your mind and ideas might come naturally.
Hope this help!
- Ask other people to give you some idea to draw
- Draw your favorite scene from your favorite movie or novel
- Do some doodles for practice (poses, hands, feet,...)
Some people suggest taking a break (go for a walk, read books,...) or try something new, pushing your mind to come up with anything can be tiring, so relax your mind and ideas might come naturally.
Hope this help!
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Finger painting, try a new medium that you'll know you'll be bad at so you can't have expectations for the outcome. Go look at new things/ watch new media/ read different books, fill your creative tank with new ideas from outside your normal experience - just going for a walk somewhere new will help. Art block is usually - from what I've experienced or read - caused by over exertion (burnout - take a rest and relax, you're not a machine you don't need to be productive all the time, you need breaks) Fear - be it of making mistakes, not being good enough, not feeling worthy, etc, fear is a huge creativity killer, so to face this you need to not care about the outcome - do art for the process, don't even look at the end result until weeks later, use new mediums, do new things, stuff you have to learn from scratch so that you can "forgive" yourself from being bad at it (actually mistakes are GREAT, they are the best learning tool you'll ever get, they are really important and you should allow yourself to make tons of mistakes) in fact, mistakes in art don't even exist, because nobody knows if you did it on purpose or not, so to get over fear in art, stop judging your own art, feel free to just explore and enjoy. The last reason is that kind of elusive "lack of inspiration" - this is where you need to go look at new things, stop trying to produce your own stuff and go consume others work, find new ideas and let them ferment a bit in your head, the inspiration will come back when you fill up your mind with new and different things.
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