#what a way to beat artblock

[nguyenfinity]

Long post incoming 'cause I really enjoyed making this but timeline project!! Parameters were to show a timeline using pop culture references so I did the life of a neutron star with Madoka Magica (specifically Homura's arc during the main series)!!

For some meta/symbolic/design purposes I inlaid it in a clock :]

This is a 16-inch clock btw, the design itself is like 14 inches-- Stages Nebula: Inception of a star; the gravitational collapse of dust clouds forms its base. Akemi-san's been in the hospital for some time due to a heart condition. She hasn't been to school in quite a while, so I'm sure she'll run into a lot of difficulties. Make sure you all help her out, okay?

Protostar: The protostar spinds rapidly, causing further collapse of the nebula. The star keeps spinning, trying to reach equilibrium between its internal forces and gravity. I-I'm A-Akemi H-Homura... I, uh... I-It's nice to meet all of you. T-Tauri: Energy comes from gravitational forces since the temperature is too low for nuclear fusion. The star enters the main part of its life when it can finally start nuclear fusion and achieves equilibrium. Hey, don't be so nervous. We're classmates, after all. Main Sequence: 90% of the star's life; fusion continuously occurs until hydrogen is depleted, initiating the death of the star. Homura-chan, I'm really glad we became friends. Red Supergiant: The star swells up to a massive size; nuclear fusion can still occur until the star forms an iron core. We can do this together. We'll beat the Walpurgisnacht, just the two of us.

Supernova: As soon as an iron core forms, the star instantly collapses in on itself from the sheer force of gravity. THIS time, instead of her protecting me, I want to become strong enough to protect her!

Research/more design notes below the cut

There were so many directions to take (as you can see, like lifespan of a star would also be very viable for Rinne) but pmmm is so near and dear to my heart that it would've felt criminal not to do it and especially for like. A golden idea, like I think I hit conceptual gold--

It was so hard picking a singular route 'cause there's so many ways a star's life plays out and so many fitting storylines (Godoka for a neutron star, Akumura for black hole, magical girls in general etc) but I also had to take the physical presentation into account 'cause we were allowed to do that however, and Homura's main story arc fit really well because of the time loop and how clocks are. Yeah (and also the symbolic meaning of it being a clock)

There's more symbolism in the specific route I chose being a neutron star because those are the densest object ever, like how Homura repeating that month over and over again kept converging fate onto Madoka worse and worse--

i literally had a presentation with this and I couldn't think of what to say and if i recall anything i'll add it in the replies but MAN this project was so so fun (not the illustration part. i hit major artblock when trying to figure out how to draw it.)

[azacat-alias-lost]

Okay so artblock is being a bitch rn but i just had a BRAINBLAST of a crossover au idea

@sinisterspoon you're gonna lose your shit about this

So picture this. The TF2 Red mercs are getting back from yet another fight with Blu, and yknow its the typical banter n stuff. Then, out of NOWHERE, two people crash through their ceiling. One is a large, freckled man with whitening hair and a horribly stained blue sweater, knocked out cold. The other is a thin, dark-skinned man with salt and pepper hair and oh my god thats a lot of eyes. Holy shit. And they're all open. Dazed, unconscious, but open. He also has a stab wound that is healing unnaturally fast.

Medic is like "Well we should probably make sure they don't die" And so he does. He takes them into his clinic and is going to heal them, and maayyybe do a few experiments along the way. But before he can even make the first incision (he chose the smaller guy), the man's hand shoots up and grabs his wrist. In a voice tinged with the static of a tape recorder, he whispers..

"Where am I? I Know for a fact this isn't London"

Eventually, they both wake up, recover, etc. The Mercs are very intrigued as to where they came from, y'know with falling out of the sky and all. As they hang around each other more, it becomes exceedingly clear that they are Not Human. Fog, Knowing, the way the cameras move to watch them... Heavy is the first to point it out, and Engie is the first to confront them directly.

The Magnus Institute, London. The Fears. The Apocalypse.

Jonathan Sims and Martin Blackwood are sitting at the table with 9 unrealized avatars of the Slaughter.

What do they do? Well naturally, they ask the two to help in the Gravel Wars. They give them gear, test their abilities, and train them in combat. They connect them to the respawn machine, and familiarize them with the proceedings. The first (and only) time Medic tries to experiment on Jon, he nearly bites his arm off. Yeah, the end of the world kinda made him feral.

And so two new Mercs are created.

JONATHAN SIMS: THE INTEL - The Intel can certainly fight, although their damage is very weak. Mostly specializing in overseeing the battlefield, they give information and locations to members of their team. They have a spot on the map that they can go to view cameras, picking off Spies and warning of Snipers and Engineer's turrets. In this zone, they cannot be harmed, but no one else is able to get in range to be harmed by them. They also have the ability, (once per game) to pick one person on the enemy team and just absolutely obliterate them. Smite them, if you will.

MARTIN BLACKWOOD: THE WISP - A master of stealth, the Wisp has the ability to float around the battlefield like a cloud of mist. Just barely visible, they can hide in almost any place. The moment they materialize to fight, however, they become vulnerable. Extremely vulnerable. Their damage hits like a tank, but their defense is very poor. After materializing, they have a cooldown before they can turn to mist again. Their weapon of choice is a damage-heavy knife, much sturdier and more jagged than Spy's switchblade.

This is NOT what they thought their Somewhere Else would be like. But hell, it beats being stuck at the Supernatural Horror Collecting Factory.

"Where you go, I go."

"Always."

Anyway, please let me know what you think!! This has been rotating in my mind for a little bit and might be the best crossover I've ever come up with

[bonesofbeast]

Requests ooough,,, grumbot on the brain rn how about a grumbot? Any of the variations

*walks in covered in blood* sure anon!!!!!!! :) *coughs out blood*

uhhh me talking under the cut

sry i havent been posting much lol :4 recently i had a realization that my artblock is trauma related. ive been trying to beat it but its. Hard? on top of that i always try to make my stuff look good, nd if it doesnt look good to me i start hating it and im trying to fix it lol

this drawing isnt the best but i think its okay? i hated it before but im trying to see what i like ab it. i like how grian looks, his body turned out nice, and i worked hard to make his arm look good so you could see grumbot hold onto his finger

and also; i havent been drawing but i Have been writing, i got two fics in progress (one more than the other) and i was wondering if i should post snippets?? n e way rant over lol

[elviraaxen]

How do you deal with art block? . Or those moments where you just aren't happy with your art and your just in that werid art funk.

If you have experienced either x3

I don't really see artblocks as "blocks", rather I just call it what the root cause is; "I'm uninspired", "I'm burnt out", "I have no motivation", etc. Because then I know how to deal with it better.

If I'm uninspired I actively go out and seek media; go to festivals, watch movies, etc.

If I'm burnt out I put on a wrist brace and rest until I'm not tired anymore.

If I'm unmotivated I may have neglected my health or needs in some way.

Then also, you gotta remember that drawing is my special interest and does something to me on a neuropsychological level that it doesn't do for many others, and is a tool I actively use to regulate myself, and not just for fun (even if that's the main motivator). If I don't draw I kind of spiritually shrivel up like a prune, so the act of drawing itself is just something that's part of me.

But even so, I'm still just a person who can't always perform at 100%, so I don't beat myself up for not being able to do it all the time. Sure it's frustrating but getting all worked up doesn't exactly help and it's not like I'll die like actually. I just feel poopy for a bit and then I can draw again and I'll forget all about it :p

[ari-biri]

Hey, you got any advice for someone who seriously wants to start drawing again but can't find motivation or inspiration? I saw your Live2D project (looks incredible by the way I'm really excited to see how she comes along) and figured I'd ask since I wanna get into making models as a hobby

im also someone that often finds myself lacking motivation a ton, and find it hard to draw id say the best way to get into drawing more though, is draw what you like the most, especially if you find yourself lacking general motivation. practicing fundamentals is important of course, but, especially if you're in a rut or lacking motivation, draw things that you want to draw if you havent drawn in a while though it may be hard and might need a bit of a forceful shove on your end to get going, but even a tiny short sketch is alright, and once you get started it becomes easier to draw more and more

and its ok to leave a drawing "unfinished" and make purely personal sketches, and its ok taking breaks last, as far as learning models, i spent a tooon of time watching videos from multiple artists, other tools to help with that is to look at the pre-made models packaged with live2d, or if any artists provide sample or practice models to use. also take advantage of the free/trial version of live2d especially while you're just getting into it; its got enough features for basic model making and can give you plenty of practice - ive seen some artists make fully developed models using only the free version

im not sure if the advice is any good, but I hope you're able to beat your artblock and start drawing again! i only recently began getting over a period of it myself, so i know how it feels

[basement-buddy]

did you ever run into art block when you first started posting art online? if so, do you have any advice for getting out of it? i recently decided to push through my anxiety and make an art account but found myself unable to draw anything because of how harsh of a critic i turned into thinking its not worth to post even trying to change my style bc my current one doesnt seem nice enough ( ;´ - `;) so im not able to motivate to draw at all these days ;;

I hit art block all of the time and I know this might not work for everyone, but honestly the only way I get through it is just by drawing whatever, even if it doesn’t meet my standards. Take this time to try some new things, learn some new stuff, draw whatever you want without pressure. Don’t worry about posting anything for a bit and just go head first into a bunch of new stuff. And don’t worry about it looking perfect or anything, or trying to meet your own standards or appease the critic inside you. I know that’s harder said than done, but if nothing is going to turn out how you want it right now, anyway, then why not just try something new?

This helps with your style dilemma, too, every few months I get upset about my artstyle, so I just do some studies or follow some anatomy tutorials, some nature drawing videos, get used to seeing something else on the paper in front of you, you know? If you go a while without seeing your style, when you finally get back to it, you can see less of the flaws. Or better yet, you’ve learned some new things that could help fix the things you don’t like about it.

Sometimes it also helps to look at my old art. The younger me would’ve done anything to draw how I am drawing now, and I’m sure it applies to you as well. You’re always improving no matter how much you’re not vibing with your work.

Most importantly, don’t put too much pressure on yourself! Creating something at all is wonderful. No matter how it turns out, you’ve done something most others just mourn not ever trying. I think it’s wonderful that you’ve created an art account, and I’m super happy that you want to share your art with the world, but don’t beat yourself up too hard. Don’t draw something with the intention to post, draw it for you! Back when I first started, I was nervous enough that I wouldn’t post things for upwards of half a year. I would sit on drawings because I was too shy to show them. If it helps, don’t post at all unless you absolutely want to. When you sit down to draw, don’t imagine the reactions, or other artists with other styles, imagine just what you want out of that particular drawing. I had to learn the hard way that posting should ALWAYS be an afterthought.

Sorry if this was rambly, I’m very very experienced with artblock and there’s just so many ways I’ve personally learned to deal with it that it’s hard to organize my thoughts properly. A lot of these are easier said than done, so just take it one step at a time, and remember that you’re doing awesome, that YOU’RE awesome, and no matter how you feel about it, your art is awesome, too! Take it at your own pace and be easy on yourself. ♥️

[lotus-pear]

do you have any ways to get out of art block? i’ve been having a bit of trouble getting out of my art block and would appreciate if you had any tips on how to get out of art block (also i love your art sm it’s very edible 🔥)

UYGHHHH ARTBLOCK IS THE WORST 😩😩 i personally beat my artblocks by doing trends or redraws of other things that help me stylize and feel comfortable with my own style

i also recommend being unhealthily hyperfixated over a certain piece of media, that’s normally what’s the driving force behind a lot of creative output

[pine-niidles]

2024 July Monthly Update - Artfight

Another July gone by, another Artfight draws to a close. This month's update post will be primary looking at what I've made for Artfight, but first some personal updates:

I mentioned in my last post I was dealing with wrist pain but it was getting better. It got worse. The last few weeks of July I spent not moving my hands as much as I possibly could because both hands were feeling so bad. Luckily I managed to figure out the cause (I bought myself a wheeled bag to take stain off my back when grocery shopping, turns out wheeled bag + cobblestone streets = wrist destroying vibrations) and once I eliminated it my wrists started actually healing. They're feeling much better now, not fully healed but well on the way :) I'm just glad art wasn't the cause. With any luck this'll be the last monthly update this year with a 'personal circumstances' blurb at the start and I can get fully back to just making and talking about art ✨

Artfight

This year was my 8th year participating, which is kind of wild to think about. My first year was Sun vs Moon, on team moon and I drew 34 total art pieces. I don't think I've ever beat the number but I certainly got close this year having drawn 30 attacks!

I didn't have a specific plan going into artfight this year, I usually don't other than maybe a list of people I'd like to draw for. I treat artfight as a super low pressure way to experiment and draw fun designs. Not every piece comes out exactly how I want it but that's part of the fun and every year at least one artfight drawing makes it's way to my fav art that year. 

At the end of June I'd just made a template for doing these chibi icons and I was having so much fun with them I started off artfight doing a bunch of them for attacks:

I think they turned out super cute but they look a little awkward side by side due to the different dimensions of each one. I've yet to find a good way to display batches of them 😔

The first bigger drawing I did was of a character I found in my bookmarks and I love how it turned out:

It was the perfect piece to break the last shackles of my artblock away and drawing it felt smooth as butter. I didn't really do anything similar the rest of the month but there's several points on how I lined and colored this one that I'm keeping in mind to experiment more with in the future. 

After the first piece I was feeling in a more environmental mood and freehanded these two attacks featuring characters in funky landscapes.

My wrists were still feeling pretty iffy at this point so the lines for both of these were a very loose first pass over a rough sketch but to be honest I don't think anyone would notice unless I pointed it out. 

I really thought I'd do more in this style but 🤷‍♂️ it ended up not happening. Maybe I'll do something with some ocs soon

The last three attacks I got out before my wrists got too bad to draw I did all in the same day

These two characters were exactly my type & I love to draw chibis on some kind of environmental base or prop so I wanted to do something with that this artfight as well. I think they turned out pretty cute!

Another one with a base, this time more like a character standee that I love to give dnd characters. Physical character models moving around on a map is one of my favorite tactile experiences of tabletop games.

The last one I did before I had to take a couple week pause - I wanted to experiment around with linework specifically and while there's a lot I like about this drawing there's several things I had to rush or simplify because of my wrists and overall it didn't end up being the strongest piece. Ah well, that's how it sometimes.

The day after I did these I went grochery shopping again and then my wrists really gave out. I didn't draw anything for artfight from the 12th until the 29th when my hands were finally starting to feel good enough to try and do just a few last drawings before the end.

I started off simple with some blocky chibis with saturated lineart. I'd played with colorful lines in the past but I never ended up liking because having all the lineart be one bright color always felt too much and too distracting. However, earlier this month I saw this gorgeous attack by ebelcities which made my realize the extremely pointless arbitrary restriction I'd been putting on myself: you don't need to have ALL the lineart be a bright saturated color, of course you don't! How trivial! And yet this was a huge breakthrough. I have to thank ebelcities for having such beautiful art 🥰 Seeing her work is always sooo inspiring. 

I still didn't want to push my hands too much so my next attack was done mostly using the lasso tool, with a few textures added on top. This attack received the least attention on social media out of all of them but personally I'm pretty proud of it 🤍

In the last two days my hands were feeling MUCH better and I took advantage of that to try and reach my initial goal I had at the start of the month - 30 attacks to fill up a whole page on my all attacks section with attacks from this year. 

​I had 7 left to do - and I did it!

I wanted to keep them simple both of the sake of my hands (drinking game for this post - take a shot anytime I mentioned my wrists) and to actually finish 7 drawings in 2 days. But I also didn't want to just give people rough sketches, especially since most of these were revenges for some really lovely art I'd gotten. So I came up with the idea of A) a border template and B) using tones!

I've been really into dot tones recently but I've not really been using them as is the traditional method - it was a bit of a challenge doing them in these! Picking tones, getting a range of values, matching textures, getting the size of the dots right... so many decisions to make. I'll have to keep experimenting with them, maybe for some actual comics in the future :)

And that's it for this year's artfight. We'll be hearing the results soon but even before hearing them I think seafoam has probably lost haha, we've been lagging behind all month and I had a feeling this would happen when I saw the team numbers but I still love seafoam regardless <3 I'm looking forward to seeing what the teams will be next year!

[mamuzzy-creates-stuff]

35. if you had one piece of advice to give your younger artist self, what would it be?

aaand

10. how do you deal with artblock?

:)

35.

To my younger-self,

Don't go to art school

Kid. It's okay to disappoint people. I know that you had to desperately reach out for every morsels of kind words or listen to the soothing silence of other people's satisfaction.

But sometimes when you go after your own heart, it is inevitable that you will disappoint people. Your teachers. Your parents. Your friends. Maybe everyone. Maybe the whole universe. It's okay going against the stream, because eventually you will find the people who will accept you for it.

Do your little comics for fun, it's okay if you don't become the next michelangelo, it's okay if you realize during your school years you don't want to do art for living.

Art teachers thaught you a lot. They thaught you the basics. They thaught to you how to stay in focus for hours. They were kind and patient when you were so tired when you literally fell asleep over the drawing board.

But never-ever let the teacher's (and other people's in general) own personal preferences and subjective opinions about art define your goals and dreams.

10.

I realized that my artblock usually happens the same time as my depressive/manic episodes. So I just let it have its way and not fight against it. ^^

It is really hard not to beat up yourself for not being productive while you feel you let everyone down. But like I said: It's okay to disappoint people. Life is happening, mental illness is a thing. "i don't feel like to draw" is also a perfectly valid reason not to draw.

I try to be kind with myself during this time. It's hard. Allow myself to do something else instead, something completely different. Watching movies. Reading. Sleeping more because I'm overwhelmed. Playing my comfort games. Sometimes even changing from one fandom to another, returning to my old stuff. There is a good chance that I get a sudden surge of inspiration from these activities.

If you listen to your body and its urges, you will feel it when it's time to grab that pencil again. And it will be satisfactory.

[narbevoguel]

Hello guys. It's been a while since I made a post like this, but today I wanted to talk about my art. I haven't posted something proper in forever, and to say I haven't spent this entire time at least doodling a thing or two would be a lie, but there's a reason why I haven't been posting much and just keeping my art semi private, or multiple, let me explain (I'll have a TLDR at the end if you don't wanna bother with this, but written awfully):

First, I believe you guys deserve more than some stupid sketches. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy sketching, aesthetic aside, drawing multiple sketches a day is how I pushed myself to experiment new things and just get better overall, plus I draw them fast, so I could pull a bunch of sketches in the time it takes me to color just one, so I could spill one silly idea after the other. I don't know why or exactly when I started to feel like this is just not worth it for you guys, that you deserve more from me than what I put out, that maybe I disappoint you immensely. This isn't even about reach, I don't care about that, this is about me showing something worth to see.

Second, is how I chose to spend my time. Last year was a very busy year for me overall, my job became increasingly demanding at times, lotsa personal issues that stressed me out immensely, which resulted in me using my remaining free time doing other activities, including spending time with people I shouldn't have been so permissive with (except my gang, that's why I made it a New Year's Resolution to annoy you guys more, you know who you are), it became a thing where I was even afraid to say no to them in favor of my art or other me-activities in fear of them taking it the wrong way, which, in a weird way, ended up happening anyway and resulted in long term passive aggressive conflict, and well, all of this negativity and then some, especially combined, made me reluctant to pick my pen up most of the time, which leads me to my next point.

Third, not drawing as often made me lose my momentum considerably. I could draw stuff comfortably without much artblock, if at all, or something I thought looked ugly. It just came out naturally, sometimes without even using references, it was crazy, but I feel I lost that momentum; don't get me wrong, I don't think my art looks worse than before, far from it, I did a comparison a couple of days ago and I noticed that despite all these issues, I have indeed improved a lot, thing is, I still feel it doesn't look good, I can't seem to know where I want to go with it, or what I want it to look like, I have no idea how to describe this feeling of "I hate immensely what I've been doing", maybe I'm beating myself up too hard and this is a result of not sharing anything with you guys, but I want to be comfortable with the characters I always draw before I bring them out again (although for some reason Purah's perfection always makes my doodling easier, she has become my ultimate comfort character it seems, hah).

All that said, I want to change things this time. I'm not sure if I'll post more like I did before, or if I'll post less than I used to, but I want to post things again. Maybe won't start soon, but will definitely do it. I've even been stocking up on traditional materials to pick the pen back up in other ways as well (haven't done this since my college days, so I'm a bit excited), I don't want to make promises I can't keep (you guys know I'm terrible with keeping up with stuff lol), but I will try my hardest to post more finished pictures and less sketches. It might result in me posting less art and/or jokes as before, but we'll see where that leads me. I'm still not sure if I'll continue to keep the sketches to myself or not, but one step at a time, step one is to just stop beating myself up, turns out my negativity knows how to throw hands. If you read ALL to this point, my most sincere thanks, I know it isn't easy to put up with my crap, and if you didn't it's fine, I still love you, in fact, I'll sum it up for you below.

TLDR: I'm a stupid piece of crap that didn't know how to manage my free time which resulted in me developing a very serious case of imposter syndrome and I'm throwing hands back in hopes, no, in expectancy of walking out of it a victor, for my sake, and for you guys as well.

Anyway, thanks for reading, short or long version, and remember, a Purah a day, keeps uh, the heart happy and brain mushy, or something like that.

[felisuuu]

So I'm back yeah and I'll be posting my art here from now on (TW for the vent, spoiler alert some nasty things happen)

Hiii, have y'all missed me? Some of you probably did but most of you probably forgot who I was by the time I came back so I'll reintroduce myself.

I'm Felis aka Malicious Mischance, that one ex-mandela catalogue artist that always drew alternate Gabriel and pretty cringe stuff along with the mandela catalogue. Since I didn't share much about myself online other than my hyperfixations and interests that's about it and I think that should be enough to know about who I am, well who I was to be exact.

Well why did I come back? I don't have a well thought-out answer but I have a few reasons. First of all I love to share my art, I love when people engage with my account and when I befriend new and awesome people, that also sorta ties with my second reason being that tumblr is the only art friendly social media (that isn't dead like deviant art, artfol, cara and the many other attempts at an art social media). Instagram and even now Twitter(X) do not give a flying fuck about artists and would rather put some elses hard work in ai slop and promote that instead of actual artists, I would use tiktok but I find making videos reaally boooring and the community there is so toxic so I'd rather stay away. I want to post my own original art knowing that I'll atleast have someone enjoy it you know, not just scroll pass it or simply relying on drawing trends and fandom art.

(TW: mention of su1c1d3, su1c1d3 attempt, beating, 1nc3st🤢 feel free to skip it but you will be missing a bit of context about me)

I haven't been feeling or doing well irl and art has always been a way to cope for me especially after experiencing pretty traumatic events in my life. I won't name them all since I don't want to trauma dump on random strangers on the internet so I'll just keep them simple and short. One of the things that happened REALLY RECENTLY was my dad got in a car accident where an old lady jumped in front of his car and she ended up passing away at the spot (yes it was su1c1d3), I witnessed my dad beating my mom multiple times (it's been a thing happening since childhood so I'm pretty numb to it ) but the last time it happened my mom threatened my dad with a knife and almost st@bbed him, my mom beat me up a few times for no reason but I know it's because I look like my dad and she lets out her anger on me, she also forced me to film her trying to h@ng herself and her many other su1c1d3 attempts. I found out one of my cousins has a thing for me and was allegedly trying to get with me also he's sorta a p3do which doesn't make it look any better. I've also attempted to k.m.s twice but I got beaten by my mom because to her "I didn't have it hard enough, I don't have a reason to k1ll my self" and I'm scared of doing it again not because I fear death but I fear that it'll fail again and that I'll get an even worse beating. There is much more that happened but if I write it all down it'll probably be longer than the Bible, sorry for anyone who had to read this but I really needed to vent I've been holding these things in for so long it's just better for me to let them out then keep them in till the point of a meltdown like I did on my Instagram, unfortunately, and then feel ashamed to come back. To whoever made it to here while reading I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable with the rollercoaster of emotions in this post. I know I said I don't want to trauma dump but I did anyway.

Vent ends here.

A fresh start is what I need this year and I'll try to be consistent with my posting, it's part of my resolutions for this year and I'll also try to draw more because last year it was pretty lack luster and I didn't end up drawing like half the year due to artblock that I got because of school (I'm an architect student so I have to constantly draw and it's draining if I'm being honest)

I hope all of you guys have a great day and a great year since it just started

Bye bye or as I like to say farewell till our next meeting 🧛‍♂️🏃‍♂️

[foolcolor]

Art Thoughts: Burnout, Artblock and Style

Is burnout even real? Was the question asked to someone stuck in art with the answer back being "Of course it is real! I am feeling it now!"

So how can burnout or even artblock be real to some people and not really to others? What is it that some people do or don't do that they seem to avoid it altogether to the point they don't believe it even exists?

The answer is that Burnout or even Artblock is a sign of neglect.

You went overboard! How it usually goes:

Pushing yourself too much to do things you dont want to. like forcing yourself to do things in a certain way while avoiding what you really wanted to do.

The thoughts you have while you draw.

For 1) Which is a beginners trap of thinking art should be done "right". And "Right = what the tutorial / book / teacher / you did in the past". (Not that it doesn't affect professionals, but that it shows up early and sticks around the art journey)

So everytime you draw you force yourself to do it in the way you saw in a tutorial or book or class you were taught. Or just trying to draw that one arm or face that came out alright and you keep chasing that past success. But what it ends up doing is making all your drawings look the same. And OF COURSE THEY WOULD!

Because all the thoughts and considerations you have while you draw are about trying to do what you already saw in the past. Making all your drawins be "drawings from memory". And you are good at it, so much so that they all look "same-y" or just like the tutorial.

You push yourself and do another drawing, maybe you think to yourself "i'm a smart person, and the smart thing to do is to study art then years later when i'm really good i can try my own ideas and pictures"

But after a while you can't force yourself to push through anymore, you can't seem to be able to just sit down and hold a pencil the very thought of scratching that paper with drawing intention gives you anxiety. You feel this feeling this resistance to even start.

You think yourself lacks the motivation, "Oh! How i wish i wanted to draw" you tell yourself. How i wish i had motivation i had that feeling that forces me to go through this.

You make to-do lists you watch youtube videos and read books about motivation about the secret behind discipline and habits endlessly creating reasons that althought they make sense and sometimes gives you a little boos they don't last long term.

Sounds familiar? I hope not, but that was me and to some degree still am. All it is is just you pushing your feelings aside for so long that they ran dry, they can't take a beating forever. You mistook motivation for fuel when it's actually a Turbo buttom, a push that comes either before, during or after something. Burnout it just reaching the 0 point. The point of absolute neglect.

Think back when you wanted to draw, you probably had an idea an image you wanted to make, it was not about all these tutorials or fundamentals and books.

You just went to those because you felt scared of the drawing coming out wrong or bad or making a fool of yourself or what would others see you as or being vulnerable or however else you put it. But it's not about any of that.

You got to do art fo the reason you want to do it. That's it. That's the cure the "burnout and artblock don't exist button""

Those dream pictures got to be made for those dream reasons. "Oh but its not gonna look awesome like in my head and i'll feel bad about it"

Same! But you have to remember this. The moment you set yourself to do art, of any kind YOU are the artist, if you draw it and doesn't come off quite as you want it to then you can just try it again later.

That's not the final version of that image, You decide when it is done.

You can do it, figure out you missed the mark and attempt it later, a month a year a decade. There are artists that have just a single or a few images that they are passionate (deeply interested) about and their whole career is pursuing that dream picture.

There's only 5 Da Vinci paintings in the world after all. And the Mona Lisa cannot be restored because there's several paintings of the same Mona Lisa layered beneath the original. Attempts Da Vinci himself made that missed his mark.

Just think about your favorite artists, the real good ones. The ones you know their work just by looking at the piece.

They all stand out in a way or another right? That's because that's what they are mostly interested about. The ones that have crazy good anatomy are head over heels interested in anatomy. Those with the juiciest of colors are just in love with colors.

Sargent, Picasso and Leyendecker all drew people their whole life. All knew anatomy and shapes and what other fundamental we are learning today. But what made them be who they were is that they are good at the things they care about! The things they find interesting is what comes through as distinct and shape their style.

Great artists are good at what they find interesting.

So just sit back and realize that art drew you in for an emotional need as well and avoiding it is causing that burnout/artblock.

If there's an emotional picture in your head you gotta follow that, if you do and don't enjoy the end result you will realize what you want to learn and HOW you want to learn it.

It will become obvious It will become self sustained It will meet your needs Burnout won't exist anymore.

for 2) If it's your thoughts, you gotta realize that its all anxiety indulcing thoughts. But you don't need to entertain them.

Anxiety being the desire to avoid or change something or situation.

Whenever those thoughts emerge let them do their thing and don't mind them. I'm not saying you should force your mind blank.

Just don't converse with the thought dont go around making stories with the thought.

As long as the though don't snap your atention from the drawing it will just come, say what it has to say and vanish. Just nod and dont interact with it and it will melt away.

Then other thoughts will come around and you can pick and choose which you want to make stories with or just let them all go.

Your thoughts are not you. Just choose other better thoughts.

That's why some artist say artblock don't exist. It's not a "real" thing because it's usually artists forcing themselves or neglecting themselves. It's a sign you went overboard.

[dreiiton]

for @swordmin!

an attempt to beat artblock/burnout via doodling a cool kid (that’s you!)

[dootys]

Hi Doots! Here for the artist asks:

3. Least favorite thing to draw?

9. What are you currently trying to improve?

15. Biggest artist pet peeve?

21. Weirdest thing you've ever drawn?

24. How do you deal with artblock?

Thank you for the ask, Sinnie ❤️

3.Least favorite thing to draw?

Definitely hands. I can't draw them without references and even with the reference picture it always look like the person broke all bones in their fingers or their hand is possessed by a demon 😅

The other thing is hair, mostly curly hair or complicated hairstyle. I'm really bad at it, it takes me most of the time and yet it never looks the way I want it to. It always makes me upset and I have to take a break to calm down. Ughhh, I never understand how the other artists do it. Aren't you a magician or something? 🤨

9.What are you currently trying to improve?

This is quite related to the previous question. I'd like to improve in drawing hands. It would be awesome to draw hand on the first try without erasing and redrawing it for the hundredth time.

I'd also love being able to draw various figures and poses without references just by guesstimate and without endless erasing. Because searching for references takes me most of the time. It really bothers me that I need reference to almost everything and can't draw from memory. It makes me feel like I'm not a real artist..

15. Biggest artist pet peeve?

I had to google it, but I'm still not sure if it means what I mean 😅

Anyway. I don't criticize other artists when I'm not perfect either. So there's not much that would bother me. Usually when someone draws something I really don't like or has style I'm not fan of, I'll just stop following them. It's everyones business what/how they draw and I'm not the one who can judge.

The only thing I hate about others' art is when I see how fast they're improving, when each of their new art is better than the previous one, while I stagnate on the same level without improving for years.

21. Weirdest thing you've ever drawn?

I'm sure I drew a lot of weird pictures as a kid 😂 But in this moment I can't remember what was the weirdest..

I'd say it was probably the requested drawing few years ago. And it wasn't the drawing itself, on the contrary, it was interesting concept and in the end it's one of my best drawings ever. But in the process I found out that the guy who requested it, has probably some hair kink or something..

I mean I'm not against these things and I really don't care what people love and prefer, but it was really weird to see into mind of middleaged man who loves hairy dudes with mustache. And if there is one thing I really hate on men, it's a mustache. I can't stand it, I'm sorry 😣

24. How do you deal with artblock?

Pretty bad actually. I never know how to deal with it, I'm frustrated and angry and the more I try to draw, the more I mess the drawing. And over and over again. So I have to wait for arblock to simply goes away, which can take few days or even months.. And when it's almost gone, I see others' perfect art and the artblock is back. Yay!

If you have any tips how to deal with it, I'm listening, because I have no idea how to beat it.. 😅

[nem0-nee]

[hope u still do Interaction's 😳]

btw what would Seph think of Vi if they met

just curious since i have artblock and i really wanted to draw a scene so

This is an interesting one to answer!

I'd picture that Seph would be eager to know her. After all, it's this girl's mission to befriend anyone she comes across. Plus, Vi sounds really interesting from what she heard from others (ahem, Idia).

When they do actually first meet, Seph is immediately intrigued by her style. "It's messy in a good way! It just really works out somehow?!" She'd comment.

Yeah, this girl really takes note of one's fashion sense (she beats Rook in the detail note taking department). Her eyes would just glimmer every time she sees Vi, cause come on! "She looks cool, so she must be cool!"

[typheus]

what is ur fav/most effective way of beating art block?

i have been perpetually stuck in the feeling of artblock for like 2 years now :/

but ya artblock is just a feeling, and like all feelings it comes and goes. so the best thing you can do is just wait it out

i like to either sleep or work on one of the Many knitting/crochet projects i have, reading, or drawing on a different medium helps too (so instead of a tablet ill use pencil n paper or even paint with acrylics or oil paint) or ill just spend the day looking at other ppls art cause looking at art always makes me happy

also do warm up sketches. even if its just drawing circles on a page and calling it a day, helps keep ya hand in the habit of drawing so your not totally out of practice when you do draw again