Everybody likes to joke about starving artists. But whether you are rich or poor, staying hungry as an artist is no joke.
Inspiration quickly wanes, motivation slowly fades. Passion alone isn’t enough to sustain.
As artists, you’ve got to fan the flame from time to time. If you’ve found yourself falling off the path, we’ve got your back with 6 tips to get you right back on track.
Pat Yourself on the Back
As artists, sometimes we can be a little critical of ourselves. Little being the understatement of the year.
Every flaw is magnified and sometimes when we look at a project that’s all we can see.
If this is you, try flipping the switch.
Instead of seeing all the flaws, try and find everything you do well.
From your brush strokes, to the thought process behind your choices, to even the fact that you sat down and completed a project.
Give yourself some kudos.
You deserve it.
Take a Trip Down Memory Lane
It can be frustrating when you’ve put in so much time and effort for no results.
Thing is you’ve probably got a lot better than you think.
Take a look at your past works from months or even years ago. How far you’ve come as a creative will be incredibly apparent as you flip through your past works.
If you have a habit of not seeing projects to completion, this can also be a great way of reigniting the motivation you had when you began.
Start taking progress photos or flipping through your raws to see how your project has evolved over time.
Care Less
Caring too much can suck the fun out of art. It can even be paralyzing.
Maybe you find yourself procrastinating because you don’t want to ruin the project. Maybe you find yourself not wanting to even start because you don’t believe you can do your vision justice.
Care less.
Seriously.
One thing you can do to care less without ruining anything is to just step away from your main project and do some small sketches. Just draw, paint, or edit something really quick that you don’t care too much about.
This loosens you up so when you get back to your main project you’re ready to explore and create.
PS. This is also a great tactic to unleash your creativity when you've run out of creative juice.
Take a Break
Sometimes you’ve got to speed up. Sometimes you’ve got to slow down. If everything you do feels forced as of late, that’s a good sign you’ve got to slow down.
It doesn’t have to be long. Even a day or two can do wonders.
Athletes rest. Musicians rest. To stay on top of their game, artists should probably rest as well.
It’ll give your brain some time to digest what you’ve learned as well as providing some much needed relaxation.
Try adding rest days into your schedule. This way you won’t feel guilty about taking a day off and avoid the temptation of doing more art.
Do Something NEW
The great thing about art?
There’s literally no shortage of things to you can do.
You can choose to climb high or you can choose to traverse wide exploring many different mediums.
Oftentimes, I find artists who find themselves burning out do so because they’ve been climbing high for a long, long time.
If this is you, try traversing wider. Pick up something new. New subject matter, a new medium, something where you can go back to the beginning and look at things from a new point of view.
It can be a source of inspiration.
But also it can be a nice reminder of what made you fall in love with your “old flame” in the first place.
Connect with Other Artists
Passion is contagious.
Catch the bug by hanging around and connecting with other passionate artists.
When passionate artists stand at your right, left, front, and back you can’t help but be inspired.
For a sense of community try artist meetups, workshops, gallery openings for in-person meets. And Facebook groups, Instagram, and forums for connecting online.
Conclusion
Learning how to nourish your creative brain and stay motivated is a skill. Fortunately, building this skill doesn’t feel too much like work.
When you’re grasping at straws for motivation, try the following activities to get yourself fired up:
- Give yourself some kudos.
- Artists oftentimes are their own biggest critic. Try doing a 180 and focus on everything positive you do or have done.
- Look back at your evolution.
- Progress comes at a snail’s pace. If you never take some time to look back at how far you’ve come, it can feel like you’ve never progressed.
- Care less.
- Take some time off.
- Schedule some rest days. This way you give yourself some time to relax without feeling guilty about not working on your art .
- Try your hand at something different.
- Surround yourself with passionate people.
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