I'm in a rut

[N D Hill]

Hey

You'll have to forgive me for not posting in a long time but that's because I've been as busy as hell lately. The up-side is that I finally have all the "getting into college" worries behind me and I start taking classes this week.

Anyway, I feel bad because I know how many people here preach to practice eight hours a day every day, and lately, I'm lucky if I can get a couple hours every other night. When I do get that time, nothing good ever seems to come out. I don't start my art classes untill January of 2003 and in the meantime, I'll be working and going to school part time. I feel I'll losing whatever edge I may have had and partly fear that my marker, charcoal and graphite sketches art turning into utter crap. I haven't updated my website in the longest time because, frankly, nothing I've done in that time has been worth displaying.

Anyone have any advice or ideas on how to get the ball rolling again?

-Noel

[davi]

well, the problem with getting in a rut is usually just not having fun, but sometimes you have to do art that isn't really that fun. Drawing outside, landscapes, quick jestures of people. Maybe even studying some artists online, how they paint and such. Fan art is good too. NEVER STOP is the key.

[NoonThirty]

Man, I hear you. I was in a rut that lasted YEARS until about 6 months ago when I went back to the drawing board. Then I had another mini-rut last week. Everything I drew seemed markedly worse than stuff I'd been doing months ago! Very frustrating.

Okay, but here's the part where I cheer you up. Every slump is an opportunity. Read these forums or talk to other artists. There's a strong consensus that most breakthroughs come right after a rut/slump/plateau. You have to believe that when you fight through this rut, you'll be further along as an artist than you've ever been before. Believe it because it's true.

So how do you fight through a rut? Here are a couple of things that work for me. Don't keep trying to draw the same thing. If your figures aren't working out, switch it up and draw some still lifes, or sketch out some robots or vehicles. Use different media. Then, after this break from whatever subject was giving you trouble, go back to it. If you can be objective you will notice improvements.

I like to view a slump as a chance to go back to basics. Get some new reference or pull out some refs you haven't used in a while. Work on something you haven't put a lot of time into lately, whether that's anatomy or color theory or composition.

The reason this works to get me out of a slump, I think, is that when I work on something I've been neglecting for a while, I can see my improvement even over a short period of time, and that gives me confidence/momentum to keep working.

Hope this helps.


Noon:30

[vudu]

ooh I've got the same problem Exo.. and for the same reason

I've stated studying architecture couple of weeks ago. Of course I have my 3 hours of drawing classes per week but that's definetly not what I'd call 'intense practice'.

After my first week at the academy I've found out that I simply don't have enough time to do what I'd like to :( - i.e. no concept drawing, no reading etc. All I can do is to browse through this and some other forums.

But evth is not that bad. :D I think there is the way out - to my mind the whole thing is about scheduling (or how do u call it). Now I try to plan what I'm going to do trying not to stuck on smth for too long. So when I manage to save few hours I think it's a luck :D:D

Wish you luck too :rolleyes:

[N D Hill]

Thanks. I guess boredom may be a problem but mostly it's because I can't relax for three seconds in order to really get into something.

NoonThirty: Thanks. I found that that helps a little. Another thing that helps (this will sound weird) is doodling on note paper durring a class or something else that you have to sit through. I think it because there's no real pressure on yourself to produce something good and it's purely to keep yourself occupied.

Vudu: I hear you. Schedules can definitely be rough. I just started attending a workshop on time management that my college offers for free to it's students.

[Fipse]

Hi Exo, don´t feel too bad about it. In my experience it´s just a matter of time. I think with art it´s a little bit like archery: there are always ups and downs in your achievements. The important thing is that you have to be patient and get through this valley (is it said like this in english?) and you get even better after leaving the rut. And the good thing is: instead of archery you even get better when getting older ;) .

I myself left my selfelected art-diaspora after nearly a 12-years break - hopefully your rut isn´t lasting as long as mine ;).