My Art Journy & Goals (Need some help!) (WARNING: Long Post)
6mo
@wildwolf531
Hello community,
So, I am making this post to share some of my goals to get some feedback and advice as well as for some self-motivation. For the past month and a half, I have been experiencing some severe burnout and art block which is disappointing because way back in April I was making pretty good progress and was drawing, sketching, and studying during almost all my free time. Then I hit a long and hard work period at my job, and I had to put my drawing progress on the shelf for a few weeks. Since then, however, things have calmed down, but I find my drive has dwindled and I am hardly drawing at all. I’m hoping to get some advice on how to help get my drive back. I know that down periods are common when learning art and even art in general, but I don’t want to fall off completely. Below I will explain my goals, both big and small, and where I am right now to help give an idea on maybe what I can do to both regain the drive and improve as well as any advice for reaching these goals overall.
The Big Goals:
The reason I got back into drawing (used to draw some as a kid and in high school) is because I recently got inspired by the indie animation scene on YouTube and as someone who has always been a daydreamer coming up with his own little stories, fanfics, and characters I wanted to finally try my hand at bringing them into the world (at least on paper lol). In short, I want to bring my stories and characters to life. Initially I would like to try producing my own webcomics as I think it’s a great way to get my stories out there. Then further down the road I want to try my hand at 2d animation to really bring some life into my stories.
Smaller Goals/Current Progress:
Now, I am focused on improving on the fundamental skills of drawing and am currently in the Drawing Basics course. Other than that, I am mostly focused on character design and recently completed a smaller course on character design fundamentals. Outside of studies I have mostly been doing some small observation drawing as well as reference drawing some of my favorite characters from other shows/movies (not tracing). I am sticking to traditional pencil and paper since I feel that will help me improve my fundamental skill more in the long term but want to eventually switch to digital. Once I complete the basics course I am considering moving to anatomy and maybe some more advanced character design courses.
So that is pretty much where I am at and where I am heading to. Hoping to get some advice on ways to progress as well as tips on overcoming this burnout. If you have made it this far in the post I wanna say thanks for taking the time to read it and hope you have a great day.
Some notes:
· I know my big goals are not going to happen overnight and will take probably years so just know I am taking the long view with them.
· I am doing this as a hobby for now as I have a job/career that is keeping me stable now, so I don’t have any pressure as far as needing to make money goes.
· Despite that, I do still want to pursue this as best I can because I believe it is something that can bring me a lot of personal joy and excitement
Thank you.
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6mo
Thank you for sharing! 💛 Seconding the resting piece of advice! It's already awesome you are doing the Drawing Basics course at your own pace! Taking a break from art is ok. I would also suggest since you like Indie animation (so do i!) is to check out local film festivals in your city or go browse a local comics shop and see new comics. Fill your brain with awesome art and watch new things. Who knows, that might inspire you! You can reach your goals AJ! I believe in you!
Thank you for your reply. The only thing I will mention is that I live in a very small remote area. Nearest city is about 6 hours away. So any online alternatives would be appreciated. Thanks for the advice.
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6mo
It’s great that you have your goals outlined, you’re focused on your personal joy and excitement, and you’re aware that this kind of thing is common. The best advice I can lend is that it might just be time to give yourself a little break! Take some time to rest, reflect on your accomplishments, and recuperate! When you come back to it, you’ll be reinvigorated and ready to start again. Studying fundamentals, and creating art is difficult, and it’s a life-long endeavor. It sounds like you’re in it for the long haul, so learning how to navigate this feeing will be integral to your longterm success. That said- breaks are good! Breaks are needed! Breaks are recommended! It's important to give yourself permission to rest. The same way you must give yourself permission to fail while learning something new. Burnout often comes from pushing yourself too hard without breaks. If you’re scheduling your art journey/and learning process, you should consider scheduling some art downtime where you focus on things other than drawing.
That said your breaks can also just be a vacation from academic study where you can focus only on drawing things that excite or interest you. Spend time developing your own projects, storyboard a webcomic, or animation you want to do. But only if you feel like drawing, and if you don’t, that’s ok. But when you draw, have fun, draw things that you want to, not just because you have to for an assignment or project in a course. Academics and fundamentals are important, but we all have tendency to fall into the learning cycle and forget the reason we’re studying art in the first place.
These breaks can also be a time to refuel on things that inspire you. Read comics, watch animation, build a pinterest board of studies you want to do, or of art that you love. Carrying a small sketchbook and pencil with me at all times has helped get through some of rough stints of art block. Sketching anything, wherever, and whenever you have a free moment, even if it’s just circles, and lines still feels like putting in a few steps toward the ultimate goal. Thanks for sharing! Hope this helps!
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6mo
You can also keep in the art frame of mind while taking breaks from drawing. Check out the Draftsmen Podcast, here are two great episodes on dealing with art block!
https://www.proko.com/course-lesson/whats-blocking-your-creativity-draftsmen-s3e34/comments
https://www.proko.com/course-lesson/solving-creative-blocks-draftsmen-s3e35/comments
Hey AJ! That’s great that you have both long and short term goals (: My practice really took off once I had a big picture idea of where I wanted to go and monthly or even yearly goals that would take me in that direction. And cheers to you for sticking with traditional in the start. I’m sure you’ll be rewarded for it.
As far as self motivation, I suppose we need to do it for the process and not the end product for our practice to be sustainable. So whatever that means for you, something that makes you WANT to sit down each day (even for a couple minutes) and draw something. For me, music really helps.
