Getting energized about art again

[Loathsome]

Sup!
I've been studying like a nut for months now because I want to get away from my current situation. I want to start getting jobs and stuff so I'm working super hard. It's all I do. I wake up and study my ass of and then I pass out. Sometimes I spend a few hours working on my portfolio if I have an idea or a concept that's worth doing something with. Like most people I suppose?

Thing is, I get very unenergized. In the beginning I could bust out a bunch of stuff in a day. Now it's different. I start doing figures in the morning and after 10 or something, I get all dizzy. Before I managed to fight that "ah man I want to take a break" feeling. But now it's a lot harder. I'm not the person that gives up, but I'd like this to be more enjoyable like it was before.

I'm sure I should go and do something else for a while, but whenever I take breaks from studying and art, I feel like a lazy bum. So doing things that aren't artistic, makes me feel lazy.

So my question is; what do you do to keep energized and excited?

ps: There have probably been a bunch of people asking these things. I skimmed throug the forum search to find something alike but I didn't find anything.. there should be stickies about things like this.

[Kamber Parrk]

At times like this, you must ask yourself: WWVGD?

What Would Van Gogh Do?

He'd probably pay the hooker, toss down another glass of absinthe and:

GO DRAW!

[JJacks]

There is a difference between taking a needed break and totally slacking off.

When I feel a little sluggish about drawings, I go do something else related to my goals like look for jobs or more contacts, read forum posts, watch tutorials, read books, go through my blog or whatever else needs to be done. Or maybe sometimes I will just completely play with my paints or markers.

[QueenGwenevere]

Take a damn break already! There's no reason to feel guilty about taking breaks, they're healthy and keep you from getting burnt out. If you take a break to go do something completely different, you might even come back with new ideas.

I try to get outside for at least an hour every day - there's nothing like a brisk walk and getting out to see something besides your room to refresh your head.

Plus I generally take weekends off to do whatever I feel like - sometimes I go to concerts or shows or museums, sometimes I go out dancing and frolicking, sometimes I head out somewhere for an adventure, or sometimes I just go outside and laze in the sun and be irresponsible, whatever I'm in the mood for. It almost always re-energizes me enough to face another week of work.

[Arshes Nei]

Why is it that people make things an excessive chore, don't take breaks ...then wonder why they're no longer enthused about what they're doing?

[Drew Walker]

Go into town or the forest/field and draw, that keeps me buzzed for some reason. If you can, go to a sketchmeet, they're awesome, productive and motivational.

[alesoun]

Personally, I go draw or paint something different. Something that takes me out of my comfort zone, so that I feel challenged. Maybe I'll use a different medium, or try a different style, or maybe draw buildings or cars instead of people, or work strictly from ref instead of imagination or vice versa. Or I might just, um... take a break and recharge my batteries (but don't tell anyone that one. )

[RyerOrdStar]

I'd read this article by Paul Graham if I were you. An excerpt...but then go read all the stuff on his site because it's gold Especially the article "Hackers and Painters"

The very idea is foreign to what most of us learn as kids. When I was a kid, it seemed as if work and fun were opposites by definition. Life had two states: some of the time adults were making you do things, and that was called work; the rest of the time you could do what you wanted, and that was called playing. Occasionally the things adults made you do were fun, just as, occasionally, playing wasn't—for example, if you fell and hurt yourself. But except for these few anomalous cases, work was pretty much defined as not-fun.

And it did not seem to be an accident. School, it was implied, was tedious because it was preparation for grownup work.

The world then was divided into two groups, grownups and kids. Grownups, like some kind of cursed race, had to work. Kids didn't, but they did have to go to school, which was a dilute version of work meant to prepare us for the real thing. Much as we disliked school, the grownups all agreed that grownup work was worse, and that we had it easy.

http://www.paulgraham.com/love.html
http://www.paulgraham.com/hp.html

[Loathsome]

Ah man you're right. I should just do something else from time to time. Sitting by the desk doing anatomy and figures and whatever else all day gets a bit tiering..

Thanks for all the awesome suggestions. Sometimes those simple things doesn't hit you..
Thanks again!

[Ian Barker]

When I get burnt out on drawing I'll sometimes go back to the things that inspire me to draw in the first place: play an old video game, read an imaginative book, take a walk through a beautiful part of town, etc.

[velderia]

Why is it that people make things an excessive chore, don't take breaks ...then wonder why they're no longer enthused about what they're doing?

Because life is a chore and some people don't always have a chance to take break when time is not on your side.

[Flake]

Go to the city square and feed the pigeons, bonus points if there is a "do not feed the pigeons" sign. You're now a wild and dangerous man on the edge..

If that's not an option, read Robert Henri and Harvey Dunn.

Dunn.
http://homepage.mac.com/georgepratt/...gClassroom.pdf

Henri is about a fiver on Amazon.

[Reedux]

Been there countless of times.
I get stressed out about what I "should" be doing.
I "should" be doing more studies, but if doing those studies will make it feel like a tiresome chore I wont really learn anything and eventually will probably not even enjoy the act of drawing.

(Hence why I've gone on hiatus for months at a time, several times.)

The trick is simple. Whenever you draw, you learn something. Might not be as important as doing that light study, but you still learn -something-. So instead of doing whatever it is that makes you feel tired like its some sort of chore, do something that you feel energetic about.

Sometimes I skip my studies and just draw stupid shit all day cause I feel more relaxed and entertained this way.

Or I look into new computer tech and see if I can increase the performance on my PC (something I find very fun )

When it feels like a chore, stop and do something that doesn't feel like a chore.