Creative people often have moments where they feel like giving up on their art. This can come in many forms – maybe you feel like you aren’t good enough, or perhaps you are just stuck in a rut and can’t see a way out of it. Whatever the case may be, read on if you find yourself facing these struggles as an artist.
Take risks and make mistakes.
Creativity is all about taking risks and making mistakes. If you are constantly trying to please your audience or your critics, you’ll be too focussed on yourself and your ego won’t allow you to take any risks. Playing it safe may seem to work for you for a while, but like stagnant water in a swamp, it’ll keep the beauty out of your work and start to stink.
When you take risks and make mistakes, you learn from them. You grow as an artist and as a person. Your work becomes better because of these mistakes, not in spite of them. You have to be willing to make mistakes in order to grow as an artist. You have to be willing to push your boundaries and try things that you aren’t 100% sure will work.
This is how you break out of your rut and start creating again. You have to be willing to screw up. You have to be willing or even excited to fail because this is the only way you are going to succeed.
If you’re anything like me, sometimes you may find yourself in the mental place to take on a behemoth of a project that might take 1-3 months to complete. That sort of tunnel-visioned attention can be good for developing the chops you need as an artist and acts as a form of meditative practice. But then other times, you may want to draw some crazy scribbly patterns and just keep things loose like you did when you were a kid.
While both simple and complex pieces both require skill and creative courage, I think that change and getting comfortable with being uncomfortable is vital for any artist who wants to break through feelings of stagnation and boredom.
A more playful piece can always be tightened up and polished and a highly-rendered piece can (and often should) be simplified or shaken up a bit. Either way can lead to rigidity or chaos which kills the energy and integrity of a work.
It’s common for artists to be too chicken to venture into the places of their practice that requires risk-taking and high-levels of competency. Yet, I find that this pendulum ride between technique-driven meticulousness and playful, almost cartoon-like doodling is what drives my style and it infuses fun and removes pressure as you evolve.
Don’t wait until you feel inspired to paint.
Creativity comes from being inspired, not from trying to think of something to be inspired about. It’s a constant battle between inspiration and logic, between your inner creative voice and the nagging fear that you’ll never be good enough.
More likely than not, you’ll find that inspiration comes from the act of creating.
When you are working on a piece, you are focused on nothing but the work in front of you. Your mind is quiet and you don’t have time to be thinking about how you aren’t feeling inspired, because you are too busy making the art.
When you are painting, you can’t be worrying about when the inspiration will come. You have to push through the fact that you feel like you don’t have anything to say or that you aren’t qualified enough to be making art. The only way to get past those feelings is to sit down and start painting. When you are in the process of creating, you don’t have time to be worried about inspiration – you have to keep moving forward, even if you don’t feel like it.
Set time-bound creative challenges for yourself.
Having creative challenges is a great way to keep yourself inspired when you feel like the well has run dry. Setting creative challenges for yourself is a great way to boost your creativity. These challenges don’t have to be expensive, or even require you to buy materials – you can use any materials you already have.
Grab some crayons, a ballpoint pen or some play-doh. Just give yourself 15 minutes at first to play and see where it goes.
This could be as simple as setting yourself a new subject matter to paint each week or creating a set of paintings based on the same visual theme.Paint from life, from photographs, from your dreams, or your imagination. The choice is yours, and the important thing is that you choose a challenge that keeps you focused on the act of creating and not just the final product.
Turn off your inner critic.
When you’re in the middle of creating, that little nagging voice in your head that tells you that your art sucks or that you aren’t creative enough is what we call your “inner critic.” When we start creating, this voice is a healthy part of our creative process. It acts as a sort of filter, allowing us to take our thoughts, feelings, and emotions and condense them into an artistic statement or vision. In this way, it’s a good thing, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t painful sometimes.
When you are in the middle of a painting, that inner critic is going to be talking to you, and it’s going to be loud. Very loud. It’s going to be saying things like, “You aren’t creative enough” or “This is a ridiculous idea.” That’s when you have to shut that voice out and listen to that other voice that is telling you to keep going, even when you don’t feel like it.
Go for a walk and bring a sketchbook with you.
Sometimes, the best way to get out of a rut, or to break the cycle of negative thoughts and self-doubt, is to get yourself out of the studio and into the fresh air. When you feel overwhelmed by your work, it can be easy to get stuck in a rut and feel like there is no way out.
That’s what happens when you let your mind get too wrapped up in negative thoughts. Turn off your computer, put away your paints, and TikTok, and go for a walk.
Take a sketchbook with you, or just a notebook and a pen. Don’t try to come up with solutions to your problems. Just walk and let your mind wander. As you walk, write down everything that pops into your head. Don’t worry about if it’s good or bad, or even what it is. Just write down whatever comes to you.
Acknowledge why you feel unmotivated and lean into that feeling.
When you feel unmotivated or like you don’t have any ideas, that is normal. You have to acknowledge that feeling and lean into it. Every artist goes through dry spells – even the most prolific and successful artists have times when they feel like they have nothing to say or that they are just going through the motions creatively. That’s normal, and there are ways you can deal with those feelings.
One of the best ways to deal with those feelings is to acknowledge that they are there. Instead of trying to ignore them and hope they will go away on their own, give them legitimacy. Listen to that voice inside you that says you have nothing to paint, or that you have no ideas. Let yourself feel that feeling. Ask yourself why you are feeling that way. There may be external factors that are causing you to feel this way. Maybe you are stressed out about something, or you aren’t getting enough sleep. Perhaps you have been taking on too much and need to take a break.
Do some meditation, or journalling or just put down the art supplies and call it a day.
When still in doubt, get some help
Taking these 6 things steps will absolutely make your artistic path more successful. However, sometimes we just can’t do it on our own.
If you’re someone who’s serious about your artistic dreams and is ready for a professional in your corner, you might be a good candidate to hire a Creative Coach.
Helping people is a lifelong passion and I started helping artists like you to develop your career objectives and strategize your art career like a professional.
If you want to find out more, apply here.
I also have a YouTube channel and blogs with lots of free advice which I welcome you to explore.