いただき FORUMS - Itadaki

I'm in a terrible art block right now, though I think any suggestions made in the thread will help, as my problem is more personal than anything, atm. ^^;

Buuuut, for those normal art blocks, what do you do to try and get out of them?

For me, I'll watch something that might inspire me, or I'll try to get out of the funk by just getting my mind off it for a while.

If its in the middle of a piece I stand up and walk away from it, returning later and trying a fresher approach.

If you can't start... inspirational things help. I flip through art books or my collection of stuff that I've DLed, watch movies, music, sometimes eat something tasty -- flavor I've found to be oddly stimulating sometimes.

An odd thing I've done... I met Peter Max a few years ago. He was the artist who inspired the Beatles' Yellow Submarine. I asked him what one should do to become a better artist and create fresh ideas. He told me to take out a sheet of paper and start scribbling all over it, making attempts at defined shapes and patterns but intentionally forming none. The way he described it was that if you spend all day running around a parking lot, finding the fastest ways to dodge around cars and get through the tight spaces, the one day someone's in danger of getting hit, you'll know the best and fastest way to cut straight to them and save the day.

So when I get blocked or frustrated, I take this a step further -- I take out a piece of paper and I scribble all over it for about 10 minutes or so, trying not to busy up the page TOO much. I put it aside for about 5 the return to it and look at it hard, letting my mind pick out patterns and images that only it can discern. THen I Thicken the lines and draw the image I see, or start filling in spaces to form patterns and shapes into some kind of funky design that I like.

Its not a fool-proof way, but sometimes it helps unhinge whatever is damming up my creative juices by simply, for lack of a better description, vomiting creativity onto a page. I suppose in a manner it gets you working out of the same-o same-o and helps you break on a fresher path. Its chaotic and random, but its rarely boring!

For me, I usually do one of a few things:

1. I listen to music and picture an animation that would go with it, wether it is my own creation or an AMV like film, this usually helps me to process images that would look good on paper or on screen. You would be surprised at how much you can think of if you know the characters and feelings that the song you listen to gives off.

2.Regardless if the above succeeds, I then go to draw on paper or with my Tablet. Although slower in getting an image, the warm-ups will usually begin to spark ideas left and right. Hell, if you knew how many animations I have made in my head but couldn't animate, you would not be able to see them within a day.

3. Play some video games or PC games. Right now, Elder Scrolls 4 : Oblivion is my source of random ideas. If you play your favorite game, you may start getting your ideas flowing too, just do NOT procrastinate if a idea does come to mind, ideas created from video games are usually short lived bursts of inspiration.

I hope I helped at all Chevi, if anything I can will do something to help with your artist block.

change up the music, although that's very hard when you feel like you've listened to everything. watch something, movie, show, cartoon, anime whatever. i even go on youtube and watch video of pro comic artists draw, like jim lee. or if nothing else i just leave and not think about it all together, eureka!

basically there are two things that get me out of a block. one is to just revisit something old that has inspired me before and i just need a refresher. could be an old movie or whatever. the other things is just to do a 180. out of the blue to start listening to something or watch something, or do something completely different from what i've been doing. the latter is usually the most successful, since it literally brings in something new and different to my cerebral happenings that i'm bound to think of something.

I don't get artists block per se I think because there are always things I know I want to draw or ideas in my head, 100 different things, but I always decide I'll do it later and that I'm too tired to do something "inspired". >_>

and sometimes I blow myself out in the middle of a pic and don't know if I can finish it.

really though I wonder if this is all essentially the same as an art block, if not precisely what an art block is.

Music is mentioned... yea music tends to get me pumped and I would get ideas listening to music. I'm sure I'm not as driven to do a pic as time passed since I listened to that music. Makes me wonder if it's important to stock my PSP with all the best tunes.

Speaking of which my PSP probably nullifies all potential art blocks with all the pics I put on it. (well only because I don't draw on the computer)

I'm in a terrible artist's block as well.

Sometimes I just force myself to draw. Sometimes forcing creates a path to inspiration, and after a few failed attempts, I'll have drawn something that sparks interest and I want to pursue further.

Usually I go online and look at a bunch of stuff on DA.
It helps me a lot because:
1) I'm a total noob and can't draw worth beans so I'm observing & learning. xD
2) I'm usually inspired by uber cute pictures and most of the people I watch on DA are anime artists that draw incredibly cute pictures.

Afterwards, I go to wherever I'm drawing (I don't draw at the computer desk because it is such a cluttered mess), go through all the arts I saw online, and that kinda gets the juices flowing.

my hands get shaky when i'm tired, and i draw enough stuff at work that all my creative energy just goes kerplutz by the time i get home.

i found that if i am stressed out it's harder to draw. when i am more relaxed i can crank out some pretty neat stuff. neat to me anyway. prolly only to me. but that is all that counts, really! haha!

I like taking naps. When my mind is well rested, I'm usually up to do anything.( Unless it's like really hot or something and I just don't wanna move at all. xD)
Music also helps me get out of a tough block. Usually when I'm listening to something, it puts a nice image in my head and gives me ideas on what I'd like to draw, paint, write or anything. It inspires me to think of different things to do (art-wise). Anything can be inspirational, really, so there are many things that could inspire you to push past your art block.
However, right now I'm actually suffering from artist's block (oh, wonderful D:) and I'm just taking a break from doing anything artistic-wise, and I'm trying to focus more on stuff like school. I tried getting off the internet for a while, but that didn't work so much. >.< So I'm just trying to lay off artwork for a while, and snoop around this forum and other sites.

But really, it's different for a lot of people, so if you have a case of artist's block, then I hope you find some way to get out of it.