Hello dear reader!
How was your week? Today is the last day of my holidays and I am happily ending the week with a very important post that, I hope, will help a lot of artists out there struggling with art block.
Let’s dive in!
(BTW, maybe some guest posts coming soon? Stay tuned to find out!)
What is art block?
Art block is a form of loss of motivation or inspiration that artists tend to have once in a while. It manifests itself as hating the art we make, feeling stressed, and every time you sit at your desk to draw, you just give up and say you’ll do it later.
Two “traditional” ways to cure art block:
1. Pick your favourite thing to draw and study it in different angles, sizes, colours
You know, study your favourite animal (lions! Hehe 🥰🦁) and sketch it out from different angles. Draw your favourite TV show or anime character but completely changing his style of clothes/hair colour. Have fun!
2. Find a fun challenge on YouTube or TikTok and do it!
When I’m feeling stuck, I like watching art videos on YouTube that motivate me into drawing again. For example, some great videos to watch are: “Ways to fill your sketchbook”, Sketchbook tours, “Things to draw when you don’t know what to draw”, etc...
You could also invent yourself a fun art challenge for you to do (provided you don’t torture yourself into doing it every day, that will surely burn you and your creative energy out for a while.)
Five “Original” ways to cure art block:
The two ways above were more classic tips to get rid of art block but I found (and imagined 🤩) more creative ones for you.
1. Use a prompt generator
The title speaks for itself ;)
2. Reproduce famous paintings but with a touch of craziness (be crazy, life is less fun without it! #crazyartistsclub)
Add the most improbable objects/people/animals in the most famous paintings.
For example you could choose to re-draw Master Raphael’s painting “The School of Athens” but place it in a jungle, and add some tigers eating pens and books and monkeys messing around, climbing on statues and pulling philosopher’s hair (Imagine that! 🤣)
Or you could draw a clown eating a cake in “The Last Supper” by Domenico Ghirlandaio! And even add a fun little blobfish and his friends swimming around in “The Great Wave of Kanagawa” by Hokusai.
Get that creative juice flowing!
3. Draw things you wouldn’t draw normally
Again, the title speaks for itself
4. Draw with your friends
Being around people you like is great for motivation/inspiration. Here are a few ideas for fun drawing activities you and your friends can do:
- Make a drawing contest. Your sibling could choose the theme and the best drawing wins!
- If you or your friend are very competitive and the activity above would just end up in a pillow fight, consider doing the drawing contest, but the first one to properly draw the animal/person/object wins. (Tip: set a timer)
- Draw each other. If you are more than two: one draws the other, who draws the other and so on. At the end of the round, everyone switches!
- Give your friend something to draw, and your friend gives you another thing to draw. When you’ve each finished your drawings, reflect on them and exchange your thoughts.
5. Take a break
Sometimes, taking a break to do something else can help you regain inspiration. So go for a walk, watch a movie, mess around with your friends, etc… anything else than drawing.
If you’re have trouble coming back to your art after that, it’s ok! Just take a longer break and enjoy yourself.
We’ve reached the end of this blog post. I hope these tips will help you bunk that art block on the head and regain motivation!
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Have a great day and see you next week!
SketchbookDraws
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Great post SketchbookDraws. Keep it up!