Staying Motivated

[timp]

As much as we all love drawing, at times we all feel like just doing something else, like watching TV or playing video games, even though we know that staying motivated = practice = getting better.

What keeps you guys motivated to keep on drawing? if anyone would like to share

For me its just seeing all the great art on this site and thinking, ill never be able to draw like that, but at the same time wanting to prove myself wrong.

[Earendil]

That's a good idea. I'll come here more often and say "I'm going to be the next little square on the main page!"

*goes to main page and thrusts paintbrush out*

MANLEEYYYYYY!!!!

[N1ck]

I think finished paintings can motivate you a lot. Especially the C&C you get.

[Gloominati]

hehe, it's always the same question and I think that in the end there comes one more or less experienced member in such a thread before it goes down and gives the answer that is always given (I think seedling is quite famous for that right now )

One thing that I can already say is that everything is up to you and not to anybody else. On the one hand it could be said, and Elwell said it once in such a thread : If you don't feel the motivation to create anything than maybe you're just lying to yourself about your personal goals in life, as far as art is concerned. On the other hand, however, I do believe that everybody goes through such a phase, or even through more of them at one time and the reason for that is almost always the fact that the feeling of routine becomes stronger than the joy that you feel while drawing something.

I went to such a phase just recently and routine was the reason for me to consider leaving art once and for all. And the reason for that was the way I got my inspiration out of this community, spending hours and hours browsing through sketchbook threads ending up in an awful circle of comparing myself to other people and trying so hard to become just as good as them, what finally lead into a big hole of dissatisfaction and frustration.
Moreover I wasn't only comparing my artwork to the stuff others do but also the amount of it. See, if you look through some sketchbooks in the sketchbook section there are really a lot of dudes at my age (I'm 18 right now) who have an enormous output of sketchbook pages a day, keeping their sketchbook threads overloaded with pages and pages, having a 10 page thread in half a year. Well I could throw out some names right now but I won't because I really respect all this people ( and their way seems to really work for them) and don't want to end up offending someone by accident. So eventually I started to work just like them, nailing myself in front of the desk and drew the motherfucking shit out of me, all day long, filling one page after the other.......for almost 2 years, day after day, just to keep up with all these other dudes, even completing competitions that I set just for myself (like filling 300 sketchbookpages in 30 days).
So after working my ass off for almost 2 years I got really burned out, I realized that art has become everything else but joy for me and I didn't even notice it. Then I looked at the huge mountain of sketchbooks lying next to my desk....a ton of doodles, brainfarts, gestures and random sketches. And I really mean it, in this period of time I didn't produce a single finished piece of artwork. Nothing to be proud on, nothing to be satisfied with, sure I got better, my skills improved somehow, but the price I had to pay was not enjoying art the way I used to anymore, feeling discouraged and frustrated. But it got even worse I knew that i wanted to change my way of working but I simply didn't knew how, what made me and up in front of the TV, surfing the web or doing any other stupid shit but not what I should to to reach my goals I set to myself in life.
Now after so much wasted time doing absolutely nothing but trying to get motivated ending up in frustration, even depression, I have started to find a way for myself, my own way to enjoy art and to improve my skills at the same time. I simply stopped doodling at all, now I try to develop every idea, every piece I start into a finished painting/drawing, I can be proud of. SO you see, I COMPLETELY changed my intentions, my way of thinking, my way of working and dang, suddenly everything worked fine again. I am motivated, I am sitting several hours a day in front of my desk, enjoying what I am doing there and now that I stopped lurking in this place for a while, stopping to manipulate myself through the work of other people, I can finally go my OWN way only comparing me to myself.


SO to get to the point and to answer your question: I was the only one who was able to find out what was wrong with me, and you are the only one who can find out what is wrong with you. Try to find your own way, and be happy with it. Maybe your problem is simply daily routine you go through every day (like I was) and maybe you started drawing just a few weeks ago and feel discouraged because art simply isn't your thing.Maybe you are even the opposite of me. Maybe you finish each and every piece you start and NEED to just grab the darn pencil and throw the shit outta your brain, I don't know.

Just don't forget that as serious as all this might seem sometimes, the main thing is just having fun with what you are doing there, if you forget that once it becomes really hard to remember that again!!

Good luck!

[tomwaits4noman]

staying motivated = practice = getting better.
.

that is exactly what keeps me motivated... the chance to improve,

i can spend hours at my desk, sadly my computer and internet is beside it, which is great for reference research but can become a bit of a time waste.

I tend to set myself goals
first is the dream goal I'll get this this and this done or I'll draw as good as such and such. (i tend to set myself impossible goals bad habit)

I realise the full goal is not achievable, so I set line of quality that I can reach and aim for it.

Then I have mini goals within, breaking everything down into bite size parts.
Reaching these goals motivates me. I think if you set hourly goals and concentrate on improving one thing a day whether its anatomy, line quality it helps.

[Lohan]

burning bridges is always a good way to stay motivated. when you know you can't do anything else, its kind of sink or swim.

[HunterKiller_]

Gloominati: Hey. Great post. Thanks.
I think my biggest problem this... thing I'm sitting in front of... what? What's that you say precious...? Moar gaming... yesss... indeed... Yess... we must the forums... yes precious...

[Farvus]

I had exactly the same situation as Gloominati. At the beginning of my sketchbook I was fascinated by all those people creating hundrets of pages a week and I decided to join this kind of "race". It really helped me start drawing daily and worked wonders with my skills. Unfortunately after few months it turned out that I produce few crappy doodles just to show that I'm still alive on the forum. It was very frustrating and discouraging.
I decided to start a new sketchbook in which I'd focus mainly on finished (or close to finished stuff) and I also changed my approach. I slowed down with my drawing/painting and focused on going as far as I can with every piece of artwork. I even sometimes managed to repaint/redraw some character from scratch just to get some specific pose or design. Of course I still do quick sketches but they are not the main thing. They rather help me make the finished stuff better as some kind of notes.

My suggestion would be to stop for a while and just rethink it. Take a look at your art which you created with really big entusiasm maybe before knowing all these forums and great artist on the internet. Go back to this kind of stuff but push your favourite themes further in design, anatomy, quality and so on.

[Interceptor]

I think the problem is that you're making it sound like a chore. This should be fun. If it's not fun, that's why you're not motivated. Studies and figure drawings are a huge, important part; however, you should also remember the doodles and scribbles that keep things fun, so you WANT to come back and draw, not that you have to.

[Brendan N]

I think the problem is that you're making it sound like a chore. This should be fun. If it's not fun, that's why you're not motivated. Studies and figure drawings are a huge, important part; however, you should also remember the doodles and scribbles that keep things fun, so you WANT to come back and draw, not that you have to.

This is exactly what I was thinking.
I'm always excited by the process, and the result becomes an afterthought - the concluding sentence to the narrative of your thrilling toils.

[Grief]

i'm in love with transcribing myself through a visual medium.
to be able to stylize my emotions into a unique way of percieving the world.

it's not a grade in a class, or a job to pay the rent.
it's my passion, and i've been fortunate enough to always be endlessly inspired by the minute things in my life. no one else will tell your story for you, or at the least certainly not tell it as well as you can.

art for me is the process of continual discovery, learning about myself through my creations. this alone is enough to keep me hooked on furthering myself.

but also, getting good feedback from cute girls who marvel at 'how beautiful your imagination must be' helps a lot too.

[o00o0o0o0o0o]

I try to tap into something as a source of energy that can sort of act as a stepping stair.

For me, that would either be a cold drink or music.

It's like "once i get this cold drink into this cup, i'll work until it's finished". I'm basically using something else as the "first step" towards working and stuff.

Another sure way of getting yourself to work is to goto places. Going to a coffee house, laundromat (while you're doing laundry), or library with a clipboard full of paper will get you really pumped up to sketch and stuff. I've done this before, but it does tend to make one feel uncomfortable =_=

I'm not a great artist or anything, but these are my tricks and 2 cents.

[BlackMita]

For me, I actually try not to be in a situation where I chain myself down to the point of not liking it. I still badly want to improve and become better at realistic drawing, but I balance out my efforts into “serious” and “whatever” …

Most times on a single page, for example, I’ll have an intensive study of the leg, with anatomically correct legs littering one part of the page, and then have variations of completely random things (creatures, robots, characters – from imagination) that have nothing to do with the study. I started doing this the day I was getting frustrated with hands. Once I successfully drew a decent hand, then I went “OK, now to negate how boring that was, let’s sketch a guy drowning a dog.” Then I’d go back to trying a hand again, and then sketch a dragon with huge claws, etc.

Another thing that’s helped is to actually have periods of not drawing (OMG R U SERIOUS?) Although this just could work for me, as I have a “jack of all trades” personality in terms of my interests. Drawing is just what I’ve doing the longest (and my preferred choice for fleshing out a complex idea - hence why I want to be a concept artist), but I still do other stuff. I just can’t do the whole “chain down and be passionate about this one thing, only this ONE thing, or you fail!” ritual. Also, make complete works every once and a while.

However that doesn't mean don't try to get good. If you study sketch only when you feel passionate, you'll improve so slowly you won't notice it, and be disillusioned into thinking you're either godly skilled, or a failure (I've experience both points). It’s not a question of motivation if you want to improve at high speeds. You just sit down and do it (often you will “get into it”) and when that mood genuinely wears off (not because of depression induced defeatism), you stop and say "There. I worked at it, and now I have a 0.052% skill increase!"

[Volchiha]

I have problems with motivation aswell. I mean, with studies and all, I find myself laboriously doing all the university work (desining in traditional media is evil - DAMN YOU GOUACHE) and then trying to do something of my own afterwards, which never works because I am tired or sick of it, or just really want to relax a bit. But then I get stuck on resting, and eventually lose out on sketching-time (unless I seriously cut into sleeping time).

I have completely random moments where I can draw something for myself and enjoy the result, but it's very difficult to repeat that, because when I force something it feels like I'm doing homework.

Its still fun though, when it works out =)

[whitneyryan]

When I was yonger I would draw like crazy and weeks after I had progressed I'd get rid of my drawings because I knew that I was better. It seemed random to others but it motivated me to knd of destroy and recreate something better. I don't know about everyone, but I'll have times when I feel horrible about my artistic abilities. In the end I look to others around me to boost my motivation. That's the best part about art! You can only get better with age, and every downfall is a huge part apart of learning.

[OmenSpirits]

I see where I'm at.

I don't like it.

I see the people and the lives that they lead.

I don't want it.

I've been driven since I was 16 in one way or another to create.

I know the life I wish to have.

And I WANT it!

Nothing elses will do.

Nothing. ALL, or nothing.

[FourTonMantis]

Just don't look at bad art.

[Gavage]

A lot of things - keeping busy for one. If I spend all day making art I feel I've either achieved something or at least worked towards that, but if I sit around playing games all day it leaves a very big sort of gap in my head. There's a lot of different drives for reasons - wanting to tell a story or capture a certain image, wanting to practice and improve. There's also an itch for attention, wanting people to see my work and wanting feedback to know how I can improve, what people respond to and what people ignore. Basically a very big feeling of working towards something. I don't know what and I don't think I want to know, because if I did reach it then essentially I'd have nothing left to do. =p

[Nickillus]

How about a couple of car batteries electrically attached to your gonads? activated by periods of drawing inactivity. That could be motivating.

For me it's not about the activity itself, but what you want to do/say/investigate with it. My back-burner is to want each image to create its own back story (a lot of illustrators I've spoken to have this 'narrative urge').

Any repetitive activity can become stale over a long period- although that said, things like breathing still holds great appeal for me even after all this time. Make it a progressive journey though and that's a good antidote to disinterest. Just balance it out with those obsessive things you find yourself needing to draw and draw again. We all have them - don't we? Oh - Just me then.

[Yng]

To just keep practicing isn't the only thing that will make you better at drawing. Doing things other than drawing, while keeping an eye open and try to observe and understand how things work, will also help your skills. You shouldn't feel like you're being unproductive whenever you're away from your sketchbook or canvas.

Playing video games or watching TV isn't necessarily something that prevents you from creating art. I am frequently inspired by the games I play, and observe things in these games that I use in my art. It provides me with visual input I can make use of later, so it's not always a complete waste of time.

I'm not saying you should use that as an excuse not to draw. Just keep it in mind.

[Helioth]

Looking through quotations, writing, seeing things as metaphors or in ways they were not intended to be seen, and... generating ideas, and then, when I've come up with a really good one WANTING TO DO IT JUSTICE!

that and of course music, a lot of music.