Diet and Motivation to Draw

[imcostalong]

I'm not sure if this topic has been tackled, and it may not seem relevant but I want to bring it up. There is no secret that diet has a massive impact on our mental and physical well-being but I'm wondering if anyone has explored this and maybe found a link between diet and artistic motivation and inspiration. There are days where I'm slamming Redbull and 5hr Energy to just stay motivated to do simple things that go beyond just drawing and I'm starting to think that in order to commit myself fully there may be issues in unrelated fields that are compounding that are holding me back from my real goal. Exercise, good rest, and decent diet have helped me in the past. In fact I noticed that when I was training in boxing and doing rigorous diet checks I had a surplus of energy where I felt like I could tackle anything.

Ever since my gym shut down and I moved to Orlando I stopped a lot of the routines that keep my body active or even watch what I eat. I'm rather skinny again and I noticed my body feels heavy all the time. I mean getting up to do anything seems difficult and beyond my control. I still force myself to draw, and I even took some of Bobby Chui's advice. It seems to be less perspective related than physiological on my end. It's rather simple to just say Just Draw, but malnourished driven depression can hinder us more than our ideas.

I know I'm sort of answering my own question, but I'm looking for people who may have dealt with this. I'm aware a lot of fish oil and what-not promotes healthy brain functions and increases serotonin. Exercises and cardio work facilitates treatment of our natural chemical imbalances. I feel like when biology is fighting you in this area you take on a losing battle when you're trying to be self-driven. I notice that the second I walk into work environments I kind of feed off the energy of other people and I can go farther than on my own, but there I still feel like every action I take I take with a boulder tied to my leg.

I'm going to explore this a little further and get back into the gym and get on a nice little routine and maybe get back here and use myself as a ginnie pig, the reason I am posting is maybe others may have input on this. I feel like sometimes when I ignore other areas of my life to achieve a goal I am actually hurting my journey to reach that goal. Sitting in my bedroom for hours on end may not be helping either.

[Ryan Provenzano]

Yes, mental and physical health are both advantageous. However, if you know of Bobby Chiu's book, you should be familiar with the phrase "motivation is only a choice." Regardless, sitting on your ass all day is bad for your health. Even if it doesn't benefit your drawing that much, you should do it anyways. (there's another art forum with a new fitness section, btw, outside of CA)

[Black Spot]

spinach - great stuff

[imcostalong]

(there's another art forum with a new fitness section, btw)

Another Art Forum outside of CA.org or with in CA.org?

I also wasn't famliiar with Bobby Chiu's book no, I just am aware of his YouTube channel.

[SpectreX]

spinach - great stuff

He's strong to the finich cause he eats his spinach, he's Popeye the sailor man.

On a more serious note, I noticed this as well. There was a time when I was actively doing sports and watching my food and I had loads of energy. Nowadays I feel like a burned out candle (also partially due to stress from work and short nights due to my daughter of 8 months)

[Alex Chow]

Having worked with Bobby Chiu this past summer, the entire studio works out at the gym on a schedule and eats healthy. Do not kill your body even for the sake of art! There's only so much you can take! Personally, I take Muay Thai classes and do the common sense things; avoid fast foods, stretch every so often, etc.

[imcostalong]

Having worked with Bobby Chiu this past summer, the entire studio works out at the gym on a schedule and eats healthy. Do not kill your body even for the sake of art! There's only so much you can take! Personally, I take Muay Thai classes and do the common sense things; avoid fast foods, stretch every so often, etc.

Did he give any tips or advice on eating habits outside of common sense? I really feel like exercise would help too on the fine motor skills. I just spent the past 3 hours doing the Peter Han assignment (from Dynamic Sketching 1) and my right shoulder is on fire. I have to break for a little while before I can pick this back up, but I feel like with maybe Calesthetic training there could be improvements on fine motor skills (that is just an A to B thought I have no scientific backing to it).

[triggerpigking]

Another Art Forum outside of CA.org or with in CA.org?

The forum he's referring too is crimson dagger's.

[Alex Chow]

Did he give any tips or advice on eating habits outside of common sense? I really feel like exercise would help too on the fine motor skills. I just spent the past 3 hours doing the Peter Han assignment (from Dynamic Sketching 1) and my right shoulder is on fire. I have to break for a little while before I can pick this back up, but I feel like with maybe Calesthetic training there could be improvements on fine motor skills (that is just an A to B thought I have no scientific backing to it).

No such tips on that as far as I remember but I know he gets acupuncture done on his arms. Wearing wrist supports is common amongst artists as well, including myself and Bobby, when you do not need to draw/paint.

I think generally as long as you stay healthy in the typical sense, you won't have too many issues doing art barring the fact you might have to take care of your wrists and arms more often than other parts of your body. The back can become an issue too if you're going to be sitting in front of a computer. Doing stretches and walking around every so often helped me a lot and can be done without cost.