I feel that I've been losing touch lately. I don't know, but I really wanted to draw something, but I can't find motivation to do it. Not that I always draw out of motivation—it's just this time, my hand seems to have its own mind, and this time its mind is not working (lol, it sounds hilarious and definitely illogical). So now, join me as I share with you all how I deal with and overcome what most artists dreaded—the art block.
So for those who aren't familiar with art block, it is when an artist runs out of motivation. You can't really come up with any ideas when you're experiencing it. As for me, I mostly experience art block whenever I draw something. At first, I'm brimming with a lot of ideas, then suddenly, when I'm in the middle of the drawing process, I get an art block. I definitely get stuck with it.
It's like everything I draw is ugly to me, and whenever I erase it, I really feel dejected because it seems that I'm wasting my time doing nothing. Technically, I'm doing something, but whenever I see its outcome, I become disappointed, and it seems my time was wasted because I've done nothing that I could call something. It's a frustrating feeling because it's like I'm stuck in something I don't know. There is no way out, and there's no certain reason why I'm experiencing it. It just happened randomly, and because it happened a lot of times to me, I somehow developed ways to help myself unblock the art block.
So here are some things that I usually do whenever I'm in my art block phase:
Take a short break.
I usually take a short break whenever I'm experiencing it. There are times that I become unaware that my mind gradually becomes overloaded. Due to having a lot of things in mind, I usually end up confused about what's the first thing I'm going to do, or even worse, I end up forgetting what I'm supposed to do. That's why I take a break for a while, and when I feel I'm already refreshed, I come back and start drawing again.
Work on something else.
If I still haven't gotten out of the art block phase after I take a short break, I usually work on other things. Doing house chores is usually what I do whenever I'm stuck in an art block. It serves as a great distraction from the frustration I feel. Working on something that's completely unrelated to what I'm stuck in somehow worked for me because, along the way, some ideas popped out randomly. When I finish working on that other thing, I usually have new ideas.
Recall your growth.
As an aspiring artist, there are times that I really compare myself with other artists out there. Seeing them improve quickly made me feel like I'm not really improving at all. That really demotivates me, and yeah—that's one of the reasons why I sometimes run out of motivation. So what I do is recall my growth as an artist. I even look for my old artworks just to redraw them. Through redrawing, I assess my growth, and usually after that, old artwork ideas that I've forgotten resurface, and that's where I get my motivation.
Touch some grass!
Well, there are really times I get too immersed in my drawing process, and when I'm like that, I'm usually on my bed drawing something and browsing the internet for references. The longest one, I think, lasted for almost half of the day. I only moved from my bed to get something to eat and drink, and other than that, I'm on it, drawing. So what happened is that I suddenly don't know what to draw next, and that's where I realized I'm already in art block.
What I did that time after realizing it was that I followed what my mother advised: Go look for some greens. So that's where I go outside and watch what nature has for me. I often overlook the things around me because I'm too focused on something. That's why it's really important to enjoy nature and reconnect with it, because sometimes you just don't realize that the reference you're looking for is just out there.
Be sure that you don't neglect your basic needs.
I'm really guilty about this one because there are times when I draw something or do some creative task and get totally immersed in it—to the point where I forget about my time for sleeping and eating, and I really paid for it. I wasn't really sickly way back then, but I guess your illnesses show up whenever you get old (lol, I feel so old now). I often heard news that some of the mangaka I like stopped or, even worse, died early just because they didn't attend diligently to their basic needs.
As of now, I really ensure that whenever I draw, I have a clock or watch near me, so that I'm aware of time. In relation to my art blocks, there's still time I forgot about it. When I'm starting to experience the art block, that's only where I realized I neglected something. So if you want to avoid or get through art blocks, maybe it's time to pay more attention to your basic needs.
Take a longer break.
I really experienced this long artblock, and honestly, it scared the wits out of me. My usual art blocks range from days to weeks, but this one lasted for more than a couple of weeks. That really alarmed me because it isn't like the usual ones. I tried to apply those ways of coping with art blocks that I've mentioned earlier, but to no avail; it didn't spark any motivation in me. So this time, I tried to take a longer break.
I know something is bugging me, but what frustrates me is that I don't know what it is. So I took the longer break to find out and settle that problem first. After that, I still didn't find the motivation to do so, so I tried hard to live my now mundane life as usual. But it won't be usual if I can't draw the way I like, so I tried other ways to cope, and that's how I came up with this.
Try again.
Try, and try, and try again—that's what my good old friend advised me before. She shared that there will be always gray days during your art journey. At that time, you'll probably lose your motivation to draw or craft. It's somehow inevitable, and experiencing it doesn't mean you're just probably too dramatic. I have heard that one from other people because they thought what I'm experiencing was a way of overreacting to what they called 'simple' things.
Losing the will and motivation to do something you once loved isn't simple for me. That's why I really tried my best to ignite my once-great interest in it. I draw again and again, even though I see it as ugly, and even though I know that I will eventually erase or scribble it out later, what matters is the fact that I keep trying. I really did what she advised me to do. I tried so many times until I found along the way the motivation that I'd been looking for.
I know that all of the artists here in Hive somehow experienced art block. If your way/s of overcoming art block wasn't mentioned, feel free to share! That's all for now, Hivers! Thanks for reading up until the end, and I hope to see you in my next art blog!
Tanoshinde ne minna-san~
The first picture was edited in Canva , while the rest of the pictures were taken by yours truly, ridgette.