Creative Corner

(apologies to mods in advance if this is under the wrong topic. I figured I'd get my target audience better this way.)

so, artists, I'm in a motivational slump. I have been for...months, maybe years at this point. I'll take any advice you can give me to maybe find my motivation again, or kick my own butt into drawing regularly. the biggest thing that stops me is perfection; I'm a perfectionist with my work to the point that it's crippling. :c so oftentimes I'll give up drawing before I've even started, or stress myself out and stop halfway through.

I miss drawing, but I'm just... I feel tired when I think about doing it.

if anyone is curious, I have a bit of my work here. I'd love to maybe start my own art or adoptable shop, but I don't feel """good enough."""

@Sunleth
you have lovely work. Don't force things if you are feeling stressed by it. Otherwise take random suggestions or something similar for fun and just dive in. Make it fun

@MythNomer thank you so much. ;; that means a lot. the random suggestions sounds like a good idea. I might try that sometime.

@Sunleth Your art is so good! If you do actually open a shop or start taking commissions please give me a ping ^^

I also struggle with perfectionism in my art, my circumstances are a bit different because I'm new to drawing humans rather than just on hiatus though. What helps me is drawing absurd things just for fun. If I present someone serious art that's supposed to be pretty and the anatomy is weird I feel judged, but if I show my friend a drawing of something ridiculous and the anatomy is slightly off I don't feel like I'm being judged as much because it's ridiculous and they couldn't expect me to actually put all my skill into it even if I did

@Sunleth

I've heard that warmups can help to get your head in the right place to let go of perfectionism a bit. Not only the absurd doodle drawings not meant for anyone or anything in particular. But also try some art technique warm ups! Make sure you're moving with your whole arm instead of with your fingers or wrists and try to draw a whole bunch of lines or fill a page with circles or loop-de-loops.

For overcoming the perfectionism, I'm not someone who has experience with it myself. However, I felt JoCat had some good advice from a perfectionist perspective in this video. It's about 13 minutes long, but you can just listen to it. You don't need to watch he just is talking over a speed paint.

There are other videos on the topic here: X X

Sometimes it can help to get out a slump by trying something completely new!! Maybe do a style you've never tried before or draw something you generally try to avoid. Just try something completely new that you have no or limited experience with.

If all else fails, it can also good to take a break from art altogether. There's nothing wrong with that. Get out in the world. Lose yourself in a different hobby for a while. Read good books, go to some live music performances, invite some friends on a hike or picnic. Living life can provide stronger motivation, desire, inspiration to get back into art.

I hope you find these helpful!! Good luck!

@VolcanicThunder @Bananyan thank you both so much. ;; I think doing something different in general will help me out, like the style thing or just something totally new. I do need to put a focus on art, though, because I've sort of chosen illustration as a career path. I guess that's a big reason I have so much stress on myself over it. I feel like I can't fail, y'know? :/

@Sunleth

The feeling that you "can't fail" won't go away all at once. But there are steps you can take to alleviate that.

If it's an economic pressure then consider having a supplementary income. While working on illustration as your main career focus you can have side incomes as a fall back. I'm not suggesting a full time 9-5 job, but a pick up when you want put down when you don't sort of income. I personally did petsitting/housesitting all through college because of the flexible schedules. But there are several other "side hustles" that are options. X X

When you're worried about disappointing clients or getting clients in the first place try shifting your focus. Recall that quantity and quality need to be both balanced. Illustration is just as much about being able to produce artwork quickly and often as it is about producing quality artwork. Try to focus on having a large, varied portfolio of good artwork instead of a small, specialized portfolio with jawdropping artwork. Show off work that isn't your best that way clients will expect the content you regularly produce instead of the 1/100 stupendous really good day pieces.

To get where you want to be in the art world you'll have to keep making mistakes and messing up and creating artwork that doesn't match your mind's eye. Try to focus more on making mountain of ok pieces and scrapped sketches instead of reaching for that glorious thing in your head. It's nice to be pleasantly surprised when something you didn't think would turn out is still well recieved. Every drawing, whether you like how it turned out or not, is still experience that you're gaining.

Aaaahhh I wish you luck on your art journey! Hang in there!