Art Block | Is It An Excuse?

Hello, hello! 🥳

This is my first time posting in this community! 🥳 Happy to be here!

Art has always been my escape from reality (my everyday routine), even in my busy days, I have the urge to pick up my pen. I got to the point where my back and hand started to ache because I forgot to stretch. 😆 That's when I enjoy too much and forget the time. Although this is my hobby and passion, I also experience art block. 😅

The worst time happened way back in the first quarter of the year. Was it because I got too comfy over the long break? Hmmm... It was something that was blocking my creativity. I was scared that I was losing something I really liked.

I stared at a white, blank canvas for a minute. I felt intimated with the emptiness. 😣 Nothing is coming out of my brain, just nothing. I checked out my artsy friends and also my art pals here on Hive. @solumviz and @ishketch are some of my friends with whom I talked about art block in DM. I realized that I am not alone, hehe. It lighten my mood, to be honest. They too got bitten by art block. Unmotivated by some personal reasons which I am not gonna discuss here. 😁

I was googling the real meaning of art block, and then I stumbled on urbandictionary.com. Of course, these are not entirely on-the-spot definitions, but just some giggles. 😆 I copied and pasted the definition here. Wait, is it really "loose" or "lose"? 😆

"A sad excuse for lazy artists...". In my case, it is not an excuse. It is just being unmotivated.

"When you can't draw for shit". Yup. True.

For sure some can relate, haha!

So I researched remedies on how to combat art block, of course, based on my circumstances.

1. I did not open my drawing software for a few days. I have the itch but then when I opened Clip Studio, I just played with some strokes. After 15 minutes, nothing is coming out good. Maybe it is my reflex to open the software but my brain is somewhere else. It did clear my mind for a bit. It is like coming out from a cold shower on a hot summer day. 😆😙
2. Looking for inspiration from Pinterest and from artists. I scroll for at least 10 minutes a day on Pinterest when I am not doing anything or just to make time go faster. It is my habit to look for some mood board, not just for drawing, but also about fashion, DIY, or architecture. Lately, I have been obsessed with minimalistic vases. Aside from Pinterest, I find Inspo from YouTube tutorials and quick sketches on Shorts.
3. Joining Art challenges and contests. Aside from monetary rewards as motivation, I enjoy joining art prompts and challenges. Grateful for the weekly Splinterlands challenges for gathering the best artists on the platform to showcase talents, as well as a way to promote Hive and SPL on Web 2 platforms. On the other hand, Artpark is currently doing the sketchtember, a yearly art challenge prompt. Somehow it tickles my creative brain cells, hehe. 😎I get excited every week with different prompts. My goal is to submit complete four art prompts.
4. Getting some sun. I’d rather stay at home taking a nap, but now, I am taking advantage of the sun since it was raining all week. I take pictures from my walks to get inspo too. I put them in my reference bank folder in case I ran out of creativity. A sample of art is like this.

I seldom write stuff about the behind-the-scenes of making art or what I feel in general. By writing some insights, I feel relieved. (Might do this often) I do hope some of my experiences here can help some fellow artists struggling with art block. 🥰

Did you experience the same? Was there a time when you couldn't draw, make music, sculpt, or do anything because something blocked your creativity? I wanna know in the comments, hehe. 😁

Thanks for reading~ 💖

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Software: Clip Studio Paint Pro

That is it for this art blog. I will see you at the next one!
📸 All photos are owned and taken by me, otherwise credited.
©️jijisaurart

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