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March 3, 2012
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How to cope with Art Blocks

Journal Entry: Sat Mar 3, 2012, 6:03 AM
Almost every single artist has at one point or the other in their life lost motivation, inspiration or even both and without the knowledge of how to deal with what we then call an Art Block, it can take a long time to overcome this lack of artistic drive. A time that might otherwise be used for further improvement and personal artistic growth.

So today I would like to give you a few tips on how to defeat an art block. There is no definite guarantee to either of them, as everybody experiences their blocking differently but maybe you can at least find small suggestions that will eventually help.

______________________________________

:star: Retrieving Inspiration :star:

Inspiration is literally everywhere, you just need to open your eyes to see it.
We can find inspiration through:

:bulletblue:Media:bulletblue:
Letting your favourite books, movies, series or games inspire you is always one of the most obvious ways. Fan Art is a good way to retrieve inspiration because most of all you will be spared the part of having to design certain things from scratch. Characters, locations and stories already exist there, you just need to work with that. Thus it grants you a slow and comfortable way back into creating art.
Music shouldn't be forgotten either of course. Just listening to a song and painting/drawing/writing whatever comes to your mind guided by the music holds infinite inspiration.

:bulletblue:Nature:bulletblue:
Go out and take a walk in your favourite park or forest, or any other spot in nature you love. Let your surroundings inspire you. That can be helpful not only for landscape or concept artists but also for those who design characters or sculpt materials. Maybe a certain location will plant the idea for a character who could live in a place like that in your head or the shapes of the wood and rocks inspire you for your next sculpture.

:bulletblue:Others:bulletblue:
Drawing inspiration from other artists or even those who don't practice art themselves is always a very effective way.
Tell people you are taking requests and see if any of the suggestions interests you enough to get you going again.
Ask fellow artists for collaborations. Talking about ideas together can be a lot of fun and might plant the right seed in our mind again. If you feel you can't contribute any ideas of yourself then just let your partner know that they can take the lead in the creative part of the project, while you bring more of your effort into the actual execution of the work.

:bulletblue:Scribbling:bulletblue:
Take out a piece of scrap paper or open a new file on your computer and start scribbling random shapes. Try out different colours and brushes and you'll be surprised how many wonderful things can happen by accident.
Another option would be to do some very quick studies of random objects or people for instance.

______________________________________

:star: Taking a Hiatus :star:

Now you might object that if you have an art block, you basically are on a hiatus already anyway. That is wrong, because you are on a forced break, not one that you chose to be on. So instead of forcefully trying to get going again, embrace it. Tell yourself that you will simply use this time to follow other hobbies, concentrate on school or work or anything else you can think of.
The important thing is though that you will grant your mind a complete break from art. Don't try to force inspiration or motivation back, just let it come naturally. You will see that with a cleaner head, simple everyday things will bring both motivation and inspiration back.

______________________________________

:star: Art Theory :star:

If you feel that taking a complete break will be counterproductive but you also can't seem to find inspiration anywhere then it is always a good idea to do some theoretical art.
Go to a library and borrow some books on art theory, read articles on the internet or simply analyze pictures by other artists and see what you can learn from it.
That way you will maintain the feeling that you are in some way furthering your artistic evolution and not wasting your time.

______________________________________

:star: Exploring New Areas of Art :star:

If theory isn't enough for you then there's always the option to try out a completely new field of art. If you are mainly a painter then have a go at sculpting, writing or any kind of crafts.
Maybe you are simply empty of motivation because your mind needs a different kind of challenge. It can be incredibly refreshing to dabble in something new before you go back to your main artistic interests. And who knows, maybe you will even find yourself liking it enough to continue pursuing it in the future.

______________________________________


I hope that if you are suffering from an art block you will be able to extract some help from my words! :)



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:iconj-mammon:
My art blocks lasts for months... :'( so I rely heavily on repeated practice not to lose my skills.. and well I lose them somehow... -sigh-
anyway, awesome tips XD I can use this~~ thanks~
Reply
:iconvalasedai:
^ValaSedai Mar 4, 2012  Hobbyist Digital Artist
np :)
Reply
:iconkerosenesteve:
~keroseneSteve Mar 4, 2012  Hobbyist Traditional Artist
//totally needs this

i love you ;w;
Reply
:iconvalasedai:
^ValaSedai Mar 4, 2012  Hobbyist Digital Artist
aw you're welcome ^^
Reply
:icondogwhitesector:
~Dogwhitesector Mar 4, 2012  Student General Artist
I think that if people have a broad range of artistic skills and knowledge, I don't think loose the inspiration, cause they could be inspired by almost anything, from paintings to books, to movies, to literature to real life issues to etc.

I would think that art blocks would only occur when people don't have to motivation to do something or was inspired and had an idea but doesn't know how to express it.

If a person looses the consistancy, he looses the motivation, thus looses the passion and where there is no passion there is no will, and where there is no will there is no way. (Kind of like its now or never).

Usually I would use this if I want to continue a story or paintings that I'm trying to relate to a theme.
Reply
:iconvalasedai:
^ValaSedai Mar 4, 2012  Hobbyist Digital Artist
I agree, someone else said that too already. You need determination and actually want to do art or neither of the things above will help but I hope that everybody who claims to be an artist does have this kind of determination :)
Reply
:icondogwhitesector:
~Dogwhitesector Mar 4, 2012  Student General Artist
Probably they do but its just that their range in art are to narrow, that simply a person could grow tired of doing one thing over and over again.

Especially if a person has the knowledge of doing painting, 3-D modeling, sculpture, photography, animation, even dance plays, I would guarantee that the person shouldn't have a problem with it.

I just don't know why people would have art blocks other than the lack of motivation, well, for me I get inspired even if its the things in front of me, such as two people arguing, a person tripped over a crack in the road. Seeing this is it really that hard to get a shining light bulb on their heads?
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:iconvalasedai:
^ValaSedai Mar 4, 2012  Hobbyist Digital Artist
For some people it is I think :)
Everybody's mind works differently and a lot of people aren't trained enough yet to see the inspiration in everything around them.
Reply
:icondogwhitesector:
~Dogwhitesector Mar 4, 2012  Student General Artist
yeah, like "not everyone is like that" kind of situation, probably its just my bias, seeing that getting ideas is a basic thing to do.

Do you also think its the environment/atmosphere around them? Such was meeting the audience's "demands" or trying to have everything in a trend?
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:iconvalasedai:
^ValaSedai Mar 4, 2012  Hobbyist Digital Artist
It's possible, I bet there are people who are limited by that. Or simply trying to meet others' expectations too much before actually listening to what they want themselves.
If I'd only do commissions and never my own ideas I'd loose motivation pretty fast.
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