When Does Lack of Sleep Hinder Your Artistic Growth and Ability to Create Good Art?

[badass]

This question is in the art discussion because i am directly concerned with the performance and improvement of digital painting and drawing in relation to sleep.

For those of you who (like me) choose to draw or paint instead of sleep on occasion (or perhaps more regularly), what do you find to be the healthiest yet most efficient nightly sleep length?

I could just drink coffee and stay up all night, or try to create some van gogh sleep cycle, but I am curious what a common nights sleep is for concept artists (although all fellow aspiring concept artists are invited to respond, I am mainly concerned with people who are either working, have the skill level to potentially find work in the near future, or are extremely dedicated and working hard at drawing and painting on a DAILY basis.)

I sleep 8 hours a night usually, because somewhere i heard that was the healthy number. I am getting a month off of school and considering switching to 6 hours per night and adding more time to my practice.

if this question has already been asked... sorry.

[Muz]

Sleep is a personal thing, but from experience it doesn't really matter, all that matters is that your sleep pattern is regular.

So far as a game artist i find that a full 8 hours day of drawing at work takes it out of you, as you cant really get up and get a breath of fresh air and a moment to think, but then again ive only been working for 2 weeks so it might take a while to get into the groove of it.

[Mordus]

When you realize nothing you draw is satisfying you, its time for hot chocolate and bed.

[Two Listen]

A regular sleep pattern is "healthy" for the body and mind.

However, I've come up with some of my best and most creative ideas running on almost no sleep. A few years back when I was in a bit of a rough position, it was rare for me to get more than 3 or 4 hours a night, and occassionally would go for a couple days without it.

That couple years was when I evolved the most into who I am today. I grew up a lot, I learned a lot, and had some of my best and most creative ideas.

Is it directly related to sleep? Not necessarily, I had a lot of other stuff going on.

But sleep isn't necessary. You won't magically be bad because you're low on sleep. And you won't magically be good because you don't have much sleep. Your creative thoughts will wander, as they always do, regardless.

[Baron Impossible]

Depends on quality of sleep rather than quantity, so it's difficult to tell. Sleep isn't all the same and it's difficult for an individual to assess the quality of his or her own sleep, for obvious reasons. One thing's for sure, without enough quality sleep you'll lose your ability to do anything, let alone art. Still, if you're getting enough exercise, eating the right stuff and not feeling tired during the day you're probably OK.

In the short-term though, it doesn't matter if you miss a night. It makes no difference. But if you force yourself to sleep less than your optimum for an extended period you'll find your performance decreases in every way, and eventually you'll become ill.

[Two Listen]

In the short-term though, it doesn't matter if you miss a night. It makes no difference. But if you force yourself to sleep less than your optimum for an extended period you'll find your performance decreases in every way, and eventually you'll become ill.

But you might also produce some of the most creative artwork you've ever done, courtesy of the tree gnome who talks to you from your window.

[Jovian M]

I sleep when I'm tired. Which varies. Sometimes, I'll stay up until 5 am, when I have to be at work by 8. Sometimes, I'll end up sleeping for 10 hours. Energy drinks/coffee keep me up, when necessary.

[Xeon_OND]

Like what Muz says, sleep is a personal thing. I know folks who can work 24+ hours and still go partying the next day until evening (that's over 36+ hours without sleep) and they can still recover just by a few hours of sleep.

Some folks like myself gets very sore and cranky if I sleep after 1 PM at night, so I make it a point to be in bed before 12 midnight.

Anyway, you should try to get the amount of rest your body needs.
Late nights are very damaging on the health and the effects will only be visible decades down the road.

It has been shown that humans who work night shifts (i.e: 9 PM to 6 AM) are 70 times more likely to experience various forms of cancer years down the road compared to humans who work regular hours. Humans ain't built to be nocturnal creatures, and pretty much anything that goes against the rules of Nature are bound to suffer.

Like our environment. Go on, build more industrial buildings, mow down more trees, destroy lush plains and plant more concrete and smog. Copenhagen summit, anyone?

Ok, I got a bit carried away. But sleep is good.

[nofu]

I'm not a morning person by nature so the fact that I have to wake up at 6:30 6/7 days a week is really harassing for me. That coupled with the fact that I'm a REALLY heavy sleeper basically sets some boundaries. My comfort zone would be 6-10 hrs a day but I can function for a while with 4-5 hr nights. Anything below would be fine too IF I heard my alarm, but alas I'm a heavy sleeper. Whether day or night, I can't sleep less than 3 hours at a time if I wanna wake with the alarm. While awake I don't really feel much of a difference whether I've slept 4 or 10 hours, the time I woke up matters more. So in order not to oversleep my alarm It's wise for me to go to bed at least 5 hours prior to planned wake up time. No kidding, I just don't hear it and it's loud as fu*k.

[Falchion]

As a perpetually sleep deprived artist, I have to say that lack of sleep does hinder your artistic ability. Particularly around two in the morning when maggots start crawling out of my tear ducts. That might just be hallucinations, though...

[velderia]

Since sometime last year or so my sleep has been more unstable than ever. I think last year there was a point where I lost a night of sleep every week. For no reason. It destroys my self-confidence so much, sometimes affecting what I draw, not usually in a positive way. I want to sleep like a normal person. People have laughed or made fun of my sleeping habits, but if they were in the same situation, they wouldn't. I've tried to control it but I can't, at least to a certain extent. It's a vicious cycle.

And then there's days where I sleep for like, 12+ hours. It's lethargic-inducing.

[Elwell]

When Does Lack of Sleep Hinder Your Artistic Growth and Ability to Create Good Art?
When you're not in your twenties anymore.

[JeffX99]

When Does Lack of Sleep Hinder Your Artistic Growth and Ability to Create Good Art?
When you're not in your twenties anymore.

LOL Elwell...as usual!

Great question by the way! I've studied this a bit just out of curiosity and I'm always interested in other "creatives" tendencies. For myself - I had a year out of college while developing my portfolio, networking, etc. where I was completely free to let my body's natural pattern and rhythm establish itself. Turned out that I would get tired around 2AM and sleep well until 10AM - anything else would throw that off. My "deepest" sleep tended to be 6-10 AM which also seemed to be my most vivid dream state (or the ones I remembered best). If I remember my terminology correctly, I think your personal pattern/cycle is called your "Circadian Rhythm".

Another interesting thing that I noticed was that if I had a "brainstorm/epiphany" kind of thing happen late at night - it was often between 10pm and 2AM. Then the problem was I would catch a "second wind" and could easily work until 4-6AM.

One of the theories I've read about "creative" people/artists in regards to this made sense - you spend all day in left-brain, analytical mode - and it actually just gets tired (probably due to chemical depletion) - so at night your right-brain begins to assert itself and that is when those creative energies come to the fore. Made sense to me anyway. In a crecent Craig Mullins interview he mentions his working hours are something like 10PM - 6AM.

So I don't really have the freedom to indulge my circadian rhtyhm as much as I like - but I still try because despite what the rest of the world thinks - it is an important part of my creativity and production.

Great thread!

[wilkerson]

Great thread.
I think I can contribute something as I have been experiencing insomnia for the last 3 weeks as a result of medication I'm taking. Prior to this I would usually paint from 10pm to about 2 am. I found this was the best period, for reasons I will explain later. Recently I've been painting until 5 or 6 am every day of the week. This has had mixed results. My work has actually improved, with the price of increased irritability.

Many creative people like Thomas Edison used the near-sleep state to help them solve problems. Studies have found that the unconscious mind is actually much more powerful than the conscious.

Often when I'm working, I'll listen to theta wave recordings. This helps to relax the mind.
Generally though, its extremely important to get at least 8.5 hours of sleep every night, as the last hour or so is when the brain is most busy forming connections between neurons. Or so I've heard... Sleeping-in is no problem, especially for teenagers.

[Zirngibism]

Boy, this is a big issue for me.

I identify with velderia, because I also have very unstable sleeping patterns. I'll go from 45 minutes of sleep one night, and then 15 hours of sleep the next. I tend to take naps in between classes, with messes me up even more. And the worst thing is that I'll sometimes go into unpredictable deep sleep, sleep through my alarms, and miss part (or all) of my class.

Granted, I'm a student, and I know the OP was looking for a pro, but I think I might have a couple of tips.

First off, new research suggests that there's a fallacy in the "8 hour" quota, and people who are healthiest and who live the longest actually tend to have 6.5 - 7 hours of sleep per night. Of course, this is a correlation, but shouldn't be brushed away.

Second, naps can be terrible UNLESS they're under 30 minutes. I've found that when I take an hour or more nap, I'm very groggy after that, and then later can't sleep when I need to. There's nothing worse for ruining a schedule than a long nap. HOWEVER, naps under 30 minutes work very well, at least for me. I feel renewed and refreshed after them, and am still able to go to sleep at a reasonable time later.

Now, I have a question about circadian rhythm... Is it only linked to light, or is there some other biological factor here? What about people who sleep a "normal" cycle despite living in the North Pole?

As for that stat about people working night shifts, have other variables been controlled for? I ask because statistically the types of jobs that require night shifts would tend to be lower pay, and the people running them might more likely be smokers and/or eat unhealthy food. Yeah, yeah, perhaps I'm just making a theory based on a stereotyped security guard, but there's probably some statistical truth to it...

I guess I'm just wondering why the darkness level outside the window should have such an adverse effect on someone, even if they're on a consistent pattern. It... makes me mad!

[sodAp]

concerning circadian rythm, i have a problem with cortisone that makes me a natural "vampire", my highest energy time is usually around 9pm

[JeffX99]

Now, I have a question about circadian rhythm... Is it only linked to light, or is there some other biological factor here? What about people who sleep a "normal" cycle despite living in the North Pole?

I'm not sure it is linked to light exposure or is unique to the individual? I did a quick search and a lot of stuff came up so that might give you some good info.

[Craig D]

When they've studied people doing work in a cave (and they took their watches) the people generally shifted to a "day" that was a few hours more than 24.
It seems we can keep track generally but use environmental cues to get us in synch more precisely.


Either that or we evolved on a planet with a 28 hour day and were brought here by aliens.

[RedPen]

Personally I find some of my best sketch work comes out when I'm sleepy and should be going to bed. I find that sometimes I stop nitpicking my work to death and just let the ideas flow down onto the paper (or tablet). So frequently the late night doodles turn out pretty good.

On the other hand, if I drag it out too long, I really do start making stupid mistakes, so I usually look over what I've drawn the night before to see if I still like it in the morning, flip it horizontally and all those editing tricks later on. But that's me. I'm also the sort of person that draws a lot of good stuff when I've had a really bad day and need to unwind. Possibly for the same reasons.

I think everyone's golden hours are different.

[cdejong]

I've been wanting to cut down on my sleep so I have more time for drawing, but I'm afraid that it will stunt my growth or have adverse effects on my body, since I'm 16. Do any of you guys have information on that? Right now I get around 8-9 hours of sleep.

[Magnatude]

I usually do 6 hrs sleep... on occasion I'll do a nap later in the eve.

After naps I seem to be more creative, but I suppose we are all different, so what may work for me may not work for others.

[Leidenschaft]

sleep should play a very big part in our lives. it's a process of regeneration. mentally and physically. if you understood that, than i have nothing more to say because there is no other way how we work.

try to have an open mind, avoid all sorts of mental stress (anger, frustration, time pressure etc) and if necessary calm yourself down. you should get the best results in both getting new ideas and find muse/good mood to draw.

btw 8-9hrs here. sleeping too long is bad on the other hand, you feel tired the whole day. another good tip is to what business-guys now call "power-napping" - if you feel a little tired at the late afternoon or so, try to sleep around 20mins (you can learn that ) and you should feel as good as new


oh hell yea, the most powerfull ideas in sketching i get aswell the later the night gets: i guess thats when we switch off our "barriers" what we have the whole day and get a little dizzy - something like being on weak drugs

[Ryan K]

I'm not sure it is linked to light exposure or is unique to the individual? I did a quick search and a lot of stuff came up so that might give you some good info.

I was diagnosed with something called Delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS). The doctor said that my biological clock just doesn't agree with the time zone I live in. I really don't know how that works. But, sleep is only easy for me between 5am - 10am, regardless of previous rest.

I'm really interested in Polyphasic Sleep, I'd like to here someone's experience with this...

[Meloncov]

When they've studied people doing work in a cave (and they took their watches) the people generally shifted to a "day" that was a few hours more than 24.
It seems we can keep track generally but use environmental cues to get us in synch more precisely.


Either that or we evolved on a planet with a 28 hour day and were brought here by aliens.

If you're thinking of the same study I am, it was only have an hour or so.

Also interesting, people would sometimes unintentionally adapt 48 hour sleep schedules (16 hours of sleep, than 32 hours awake, give or take).

[Leidenschaft]

why not learning luscidic-dreaming? i'm not able to do it. you need like 2weeks of full focus to get it into your brain and create an automatism.

in luscidic-dreaming you can control your dreams. it sounds very interesting (don't call it esotheric) and i read an article about it that you are able to improve skills while dreaming in this way. slight improvements on students where noticable in a germany university from day to day.

... damn i gotta give it a try!

[Aphotic Phoenix]

I was diagnosed with something called Delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS). The doctor said that my biological clock just doesn't agree with the time zone I live in. I really don't know how that works. But, sleep is only easy for me between 5am - 10am, regardless of previous rest.

I'm not diagnosed, but for the past 15 years or so, I do not get sleepy until ~ 5-6 am. I have no problems falling asleep when the sun is out. Now that I work "graveyard" shift full time my mood/mental state has really improved because I'm working with my bodies rhythm instead of against it. Unfortunately there really isn't a very good variety of employment opportunities for those out there with "irregular" body clocks.

[RedPen]

Leidenschaft: Lucid dreams are definitely a fun avenue to explore your ideas in your mind that you may want to translate down to paper/canvas/wacom later. There are a lot of websites devoted to training your mind to do it, though some are kind into mysticism, and I don't so much buy into that side of it.

There are several ways to train yourself to lucidly dream. The first step is to begin a dream journal. Through this you can train your brain to remember your dreams more clearly and it gives you more of an active avenue into your dreaming. Also telling yourself throughout the day that you want to lucid dream will increase your chances of becoming aware when you're actually dreaming. The hardest thing that I can tell you from experience is that once you become lucid (or aware) within your dream, you tend to wake up. However, if you manage to achieve awareness in your dream without waking up, you can do just about anything. That's where the real artistic side comes in.

Another way to achieve lucid dreams is to purposefully wake yourself up at increments in the night around the time that you'll start to achieve certain phases of sleep (whether deep, REM or whatever...I'm no expert). So an dreamer aspiring to achieve control (or just recall) will set their alarm clock for 4-5 hours after going to bed or a few hours before they intend to really get up, get a drink of water or go to the bathroom, and then head back to sleep. This will increase your chances of having a clearer dream that you can possibly control.

Just food for thought, really.

[Mystic-Spiritus]

I get my best paintings on no sleep. Art block is lifted and the best ideas pour in at about 2 am!

[Amber Alexander]

When Does Lack of Sleep Hinder Your Artistic Growth and Ability to Create Good Art?
When you're not in your twenties anymore.

Elwell said it best! Although I'm still in my 20s, (29 soon) but I think from being in the army, I feel older, when I don't get enough sleep my body says "I'm too old for this Sh*%". If I have to wake up to an alarm clock in the morning, I am guaranteed to be yawning and sleepy all day but if I wake up naturally then I'm good to go!

But I kinda think using lack of sleep to be creative is like using drugs to be creative. It shouldn't be needed, don't hurt your body to be creative, learn to do it naturally.

[Vertrucio]

There is a ton of well researched scientific evidence that shows that lack of sleep affects the process of learning. The same applies to learning fine art skills.

Of course, there are different levels of tolerance, but overall, try to get a good night's sleep, especially so if you're a student.

Sleeping is also a creative process in and of itself. Your brain is actually still active while you sleep, it's not just regenerating, it's also problem solving and making connections. This is why the concept of, "sleeping on it" for a big decision works. Or if you're working on something, going to sleep and coming back to it allows you to see things you missed. This is also the time when your brain is doing the most to permanently store the information you've learned throughout the day.

This is also why sleep drugs aren't that effective since they knock the brain completely out, so while the body gets sleep, the brain is just unconscious.

I suspect grizzled experienced artists can run on less sleep since their brains are more hard wired for artistic skills by now. But for students, or anyone wishing to learn, get sleep.

For a more personal view on this. I can attribute a large part my initial failures as an artist to my willful lack of sleep. I'd stay up doing random stuff, including drawing, but also games, and just fooling around on the net. I'd go to class the next day and wonder why I'm so frustrated or have so much trouble remembering and recalling fundamental art skills. Looking back, any day where I did get a proper amount of sleep, I excelled, but those were rare in the years I studied. Now I'm paying for it by having to go back and redo basic art fundamentals.

There's also health issues too. Lack of sleep has been connected to all sorts of auto-immune problems. Auto-immune issues get nastier as you hit the late twenties, and get worse later on. Anything from arthritis, immuno deficiencies, and other cases. For me, my own immune system attacks my hair follicles, so I've been losing hair despite not have a genetic issue with balding in the family. Not to mention it can itch like mad at all hours of the day. Another animator friend of mine has arthritis at 29, that's young, even worse her immune system sometimes attacks her eyes, causing them to swell. That's scary for anyone, let alone an artist who relies on that. She also attributes her health issues to a complete lack of sleep.

And yeah, I'm posting this at 2:30am, which is sad. The good news is that I did get enough sleep, the my problem now is resetting my biological clock to sleep during the night time, instead of during the day.