I lost my Creativity

[Hayabusa]

i have the hardest time thinking up stuff now adays. i used to be sooo much more creative and able to think up the craziest characters, poses, and situations, and now when i face a piece of paper, i draw a blank. what the hell happened. its like i completely lost my imaginations
how do i get it back???

[ArtbyWard]

I sometimes lose creativity when i'm addicted to something else, like a game/ gf. If so, delete the addicting thing (think twice about gf ) and things will go better.

If not just watch a inspiring movie, or watch a lot of art and read interviews from a artist you admire. It allways helps me.

Trust me it will come back 8)

[CaptainInsano]

Have you become depressed recently?

It never really goes away. It just flames up stronger than some times, and cools down some times.

[Hayabusa]

yeh..i have been working quite a bit...altho i am drawing
i think now, im doing more drawing then i have for a while, but its usually studies, or stuff from reference.....every time i go and try drawing something from my mind, i cant, or i seem to want to always look for a similar refrence piece, where as before i would just spit out drawings from memory like it was nothing. its like...i gained knowledge of figures, faces etc, so technically now it should be easier to use it in order to draw from my mind, but yet i seem to find it more difficult then when i was oblivious to some rules...


mmm as far as depression goes....im not really depressed....im more frustrated that i seem to be in such a damn slump. and this stupid heat isnt helping one bit...

[Ian Mack]

Okay. Something that I found happened with getting more technical skill. You start drawing and you already have that finished picture in your mind. You're probably having no problem spittin' out images of the human body from the side or 3/4 but the crazy poses just aren't coming.

Try drawing with no end image in mind. You're going for, either a certain feeling or you're just moving your pencil around, but you have no idea what it'll end up like until you've been drawing for five minutes, or longer!

Its like looking in the dark. When you focus on something, you can't see it. However, if you pass your eyes back and forth across it, you'll see more of the image without actually looking at it.



So you're in the dark right now! Now is not the time to focus, just start drawing and let whatever may be, be.

[Blue]

A sketch competition has kept me working even when in a 'dead zone' of ideas. I haven't done any personal work in a month or so.. but this keeps me working and enjoying what i make, even if i am only devoting 10-15mins per picture.

Might be something you should try to get the fire back.

[JARhead]

If it dosent return with in 48 Hours, call the cops, they might be able to find it for ya ...





Lame

[PeggyChung]

Hey Hayabusa, i know what you mean, i really do have a harder time to be free with drawing, its like "how can i draw a headless chicken with a cabbage for a head if ive never done it from reference or life?!?!". what i am trying to do though is to depend less on reference, just glance at it, opposite of what we do to train our eye which is to stare at hte object and not at the paepr. id say glance at the reference but let your mind depend on itself to remember how it looks and to give a personal touch to it. or try something new,m like the daily drawings we have here, i need to try it myself. goodluck

[darth massacre]

Mmmmm.... Just one advice, if it doesn't work then ignore it.



GO OUT AND PLAY



Yep....won't do you good if you keep staring at blank paper now would it? Just go see things, enjoy what's left of summer....it'll help.

[Bruce Pluto]

Hey Hayabusa I hear ya and feel for you man.

I've looked over all the helpfull replies (well some of them are) and I want to add a little something that may help. I do this myself and it works.

We all hit dry spells. If we aren't flooded with ideas then sometimes the old image creator in the mind is as blank as a crow flying into a tunnel at midnight. Heres what I do. At those times when I seem to have a bundle of ideas all at once I take a blank piece of computer paper and draw lines dividing it into 4 equal sections. Then I draw a little sample sketch into each seperate section. The sketches don't have to be very detailed. Only good enough to help you remember the idea you were thinking. use a paper hole punch and put the idea sheet in a binder. If you do this while the art ideas are flooding in then by the time a dry spell hits you could have plenty of material to thumb through and never be without an image to draw or paint.

Try this and good luck BP

[loomer]

I don't fall into 'idea' troubles, but what may help is going to the art store and getting a bunch of different mediums/supplies that you never used before. I feel I get such a creative rush when i'm trying something i never tried before.

it doesn't have to be something like creating a piece with your shit and a can of polyethylene..somthing simple. If you use pencils all the time...try pens. Try watercolor, gouache...gouche on top of watercolor...watercolor on top of inks..acrylic on top of watercolor...oils over gouache...watercolor over pencils on rice paper...chew on a piece of tracing paper ..spit it out and draw on it with a noodle dipped in food dye.
OK..a little nutty , but you get the point. I feel the ideas are related (very close) to the entire process, and not just the thought process alone. I get so many more ideas going when I'm on a painting...it's like the medium is speaking back to you.
Good luck..and just relax...you won't lose it

[The Iconoclast]

Read books, watch movies, spend time with people, and just try and 'become more cultured', if ya know whata mean. I go to Barnes and Noble for three or four hours at least once a week...you can just chill there and see books and nobody gives a damn. That or Starbucks, but they don't have books and you have to pay for coffee (I'm a cheap bastard). Of course, make sure you sketch while you're doing all of this!! =D

[Ilaekae]

I agree with Darth's suggestion.

Your brain's in a funky rut. It's tired. It wants t'go out and tie one on, so to speak. So...let it.

Go play. Read. Go down the mag store and pick up one copy of every fine arts mag you can find that doesn't make you puke or looks like it was designed for pre-schoolers. YOU DON'T HAVE TO LIKE WHAT'S IN THEM! It doesn't matter. All you wanna do is jump-start your brain. Get it pissed. Get it surprised. Stick a fork up it's ass when it ain't lookin'...

Look at everything you can that you would never normally look at. Don't think about it as being useful or how to adapt it to your needs. Just look. Laugh at it. Puke, if you want. Tear it up and throw it from the roof...BUT LOOK AT EVERY PAGE FIRST. Even the ads. When you're through with that shit, get a mag on Farming with tractors, teen fashions, woodworking or scale modeling, making rugs, Norwegian glass ware, whatever.

Read as much as you can of 'em. Look at the pictures. look at the ads. Answer that classified from that one-eyed old lady tattoo artist in Milwaukee lookin' for love in all the wrong places.

Let your brain roll in all this muck for a while, then go down to the local McDonalds with a sketch pad, kick the smelly guy with the cart out of his corner, sit down and see what happens when you try to draw...

[Blahm]

read books without pictures. They give you better pictures.

Stop smoking weed and start drawing penises and vaginas....
Don't believe me.... look a H.R. Giger...Marko....Rusty......and other sickos like them...they're awsomely creative. "When in doubt....draw a dick or clit."
That's what my mom use to say.

good luck,

[Ilaekae]

""When in doubt....draw a dick or clit."
That's what my mom use to say."

MYGAWD! I think we're siblings...

[loomer]

Stop smoking weed and start drawing penises and vaginas....
Don't believe me.... look a H.R. Giger...Marko....Rusty......and other sickos like them...they're awsomely creative. "When in doubt....draw a dick or clit."

Holy shit that is the funniest fuckn' thing.
Yeah man..just stare down between those legs and twist up your cock and balls into some abstract shape, then draw it.
OK. don't do that..you probably don't have kids yet.

- Next T-dome should be "draw a dick or clit" - The amount of entries would rival any T-dome ever

[Magic Man]

Some of this advice is archive worthy.

Personally, I have never had a lull in creativity - I mean the list of subject matter out there to be designed and mastered is endless, even if one were to spend every single waking hour of their lives dedicated to it, understanding and becoming a master at all subject matter is impossible.

With this wonderful realisation in mind, it makes perfect sense that we shouldn't run out of steam right? Perhaps, but only if you have the right mentality and a multitude of ways of dreaming.

The art of conception is an intangible skill in itself, but is a skill that can be trained. When we are younger and full of fantastic ideas, the idea pit never seems to end, but as we go on as artist, we do find that the internal concepts start dwindling and slowing, much to many of our chagrin.

What you must understand is that these ideas floating around in your head is simply a mish mash of wonderful input sensory information digested prior to your art life, the things you see, the things you hear, the things you feel, the things you smell.

Within artists, all these things will trigger a creative chemical response, so long as you recognise that your artwork is a representation of how you feel at a certain point in time - why do you think you draw differently or approach different subject matter when you listen to say Rammstein as opposed to Bach?

It is a great tool to have, to understand that our sensory devices like our eyes nd ears allows us to take in data, to be transformed into creative yolk to feed our inner artist.

Get outside, do things, live life, go hiking, go take up photography, be with good friends, try new foods, listen to new music, and open up to influences from all manner of life and your well of imagination will never run dry.

The worst thing you could do is sit in front of your blank pad trying to dream up new ideas, because like a car you're running on empty, you need to log out of your reality into everyone elses and fill up the old noggin with new fuel, THEN get back to creating.

Good luck, m

[ElvisMcVegas]

Yeah, I was depressed over summer do to my lack of GF and my parents splitting up, and so for the last 3 months I havent been able to draw anythign but in the last 3 days ive done about 7 full finished drawings so I will come back to you

[thief]

i think you should try britt's recipe

[johnny78]

Well.... I had that some time ago... maybe in 1999
All I can suggest is: don´t try to force it. Just let it go. If you try really hard just because you want to draw the results won´t be the same as when you are inspired or in the right mood to draw.
I´d say give it a break for some days. Think of cool stuff. And after 4 or 5 days, maybe 2 weeks start to draw again when you are really in the mood for it.

[NoSeRider]

You were born in 1986. You're not even 20 yet.

I don't think people draw well till they hit their mid 20's. You got another 5 years to go before you'll start seeing yourself draw well from the imagination.

I think you're uninspired because you don't see yourself drawing like people that are more advanced....well, that's because you have to keep drawing as much as they have.

If you want to get out of a rut, take a lot of life drawing classes. If nothing else people will admire your skill as it progresses in Life Drawing. And you won't see results in Life Drawing class unless you've taken it for at least a year............life drawing does not necessarily mean naked people. There's costume and animal classes as well.

I think creativity starts when you know something well. If you know the figure well, then everything else is just accessories, for character design anyway.

[Robert.B]

heyabusa what are you exposing yourself too? you need to broaden your thinking it will make you more creative.Ya know sometimes if you take yourself too literal it inhibits you!







MY SKETCH DOOKIES AND PATHETIC TURD MOUND
MY DIGITAL SCULPTS

[Hayabusa]

mmm well first id like to thank you all for all the feedback and suggestions...
shit like this seems to happen to me every few months, then goes away after a few weeks. i think im just caught in a rut cuz im only doing a few uninteresting subjects drawing wise. anyways, responses to this have been cool.
iono i bet ill probably get things going again when school begins

also...do any of you guys ever find yourself getting most inspired/motivated to draw later at night? This seems to always happen to me for some reason.....
weird....

[Ilaekae]

"do any of you guys ever find yourself getting most inspired/motivated to draw later at night? This seems to always happen to me for some reason.....weird...."

It's perfectly normal. I can't do shit at 3:00 in the afternoon as far as art is concerned unless I started it much earlier, or it's something so mechanical I can operate with my brain on hum setting.

There's even a cycling thing that happens with a lot of us that affects artists especially hard... Some of us aren't on a 24-hour clock. It might be 23- or 26- or even 28-hours. This is why you seem to get braindead or tired at funny times every once in a while. If this affects you, every once in a while, you hit it just right and you can go like hell for 2 or 3 days straight turning out great shit. If it's the wrong time for you, no matter what the clock says, you're banging your head against the wall. Just go get drunk instead...it'll be more productive.

[NoUseFrAName]

Something funny about thinking of creative solutions to creative slumps.

Creativity emerges out of uncertainty....if things were certain, what room would there be for creativity?
So uhh, either you know everything, or you've just got to indulge in your curiosities.

-Rob

[Bruce Pluto]

The reason for finding yourself more inspired and motivated to do artwork late at night is not new to you my friend. A famous artist I've read about has done many of his greatest creations at night. Sometimes working all night.

I think it may be attributed to having so much other things going on during the daylight hours. At night when we begin whinding down and have time to reflect on the days thoughts and events is when I feel that a person may get their best ideas. So it isn't strange that maybe your more motivated at that time and if you start an artpiece your less likely to be dissrupted.

Be that as it may, whenever you feel inspired , thats the best time to do anything creative IMO if you can. As for me I always seem to get artisticly inspired when I'm at work and the kind of work I do has nothing to do with art. I work nights sometime so I can relate to your latenight inspiration feelings. For me its like needing to go to the bathroom, but you have to hold it until you get to leave

Anyway good luck with any new inspirations, Bruce

[halflife99]

i have the hardest time thinking up stuff now adays. i used to be sooo much more creative and able to think up the craziest characters, poses, and situations, and now when i face a piece of paper, i draw a blank. what the hell happened. its like i completely lost my imaginations
how do i get it back???

By not thinking about how to get it back and resuming as normal, same old same old.

[Pattern Recognition]

Get some money from your parents, sibling, whoever and travel somewhere with the smallest backpack that can contain your camera and sketchbook. Sleep on the train and tour around all day, take pics of everything and have a few drinks with friends (if you have any at the destination). Sleep on the way back. I usually feel very inspired after doing the abovementioned, tho usually I have other things to worry about other than touring.

And as someone said, read books without pictures! Or get loads of encyclopedias on all subjects with photos (NO DRAWINGS!). Or get obsessed over something character driven (old movies, old TV-films.. stuff like that) and try making different interpretations of the characters in your mind. Try redesigning said old movies (works great for old sci-fi and fantasy - so much can be improved with today's technologies).

[Monkeylizard]

Fast for 24 hours, no drink or food. Then engage in physical activity until exaustion sets in.
Right before you pass out you'll have a vision.