I can attest to the advice of, "if you quit and want to keep drawing, it will come back." I used to draw lot when I was a kid, many decades ago. I tried to get serious about art at 17, and it broke me. I was so lost and confused and intimidated by everything that I stopped. Over the last 21 years, I have picked up and quit art dozens of times. Every single time I quit, the urge to draw always crept right back up on me. A few years ago, I decided to give it a real honest try, and I was doing well until the last few months as my depression gets worse. I can't even pick up the pen sometimes, the feeling is heavier than anything I've ever experienced. One thing that helps me do little bits, are sticky notes. I see something I like, I draw on the sticky note, and scrap it. If I like it, I put it up on my wall to look at and memorize, then I toss it. Super easy for me because it's yellow instead of white, making it less intimidating, it's small, so again, less intimidating, and it's easy to scrap or save. I plan on sticky-noting my way out of my art depression so I can someday study animation and master human anatomy like I have always wanted, because I love anatomy and want to be better at it. Best of luck to all of you other artists, and thanks for the video, Crowne ~
I broke cycle of perfectionism i had for years by finding a small (but not too small) community on reddit that liked my art no matter what, this built my confidence and i finally started enjoying drawing (the community is undertale yellow a fangame of base undertale), it just feels so great that even my trashy memey doodles are endorsed there, it built my confidence towards my art so immensely ive never been drawing more and had fun while at it, I can't stop smiling when i draw now, and i never felt like this before Just find a small community where your art won't be overflooded with other art so people can take a look at it and examine it, small communities of specific niches really appreciate any kind of art because it keeps that niche alive, they don't care if you pump bad art, they care that you post art at all
@@CrownePrince oh btw, can you make a video how art is kinda beginning to be an expensive hobby, at least in the area of digital art? adobe and their subscribtion shenanigans, the actual one time payment with toonboom being kinda pricey, it's kinda getting out of hand and no one talks about it
For me, what really killed my artistic drive was this sense of obligation. When I was in high school, art was always experimental--I dabbled in various mediums and styles, always trying to find new ways to express myself. Then, some time around college, I finally found a style and medium that I was happy with, and began making commissions in that style. Once I did, I felt like I was bound to it--I didn't want to work on side projects because I always had a commission that needed doing, and I couldn't do those commissions in a new style because there was an expectation that they'd look like what was advertised, so I wound up dreading my commissions and not wanting to work on them. It was a vicious cycle of never drawing anything, ever. What I've found has helped me get back into art again is exactly what the video talks about--giving myself the freedom to just express again. Not locking myself into a singular style that "works." Trying out new brushes on my art app. Drawing new ideas that I'd never consider before. Making stuff that exists just for me and no one else. I still keep to my commission style and do projects in that field, in large part because the only reason I started selling it in the first place was because I loved making it. But I also make sure to take time to myself, and communicate to potential buyers that my commissions are just an extension of my hobby and will often take time to complete while I work on other things. It's helped me reclaim my art, and let it feel like an extension of myself again. Which, in turn, makes me want to draw more, and enjoy doing it.
For sure, the commissions can put you in a corner where everyone expects that same style from you. It's actually great for sales (having a niche with a set style) but on its own it'll wash away the excitement of experimentation that drew many of us to art in the first place. =]
When you mentioned perfectionism, I knew this video was for me. I’ve been wanting to improve on my work, but every time I tried it felt like it wasn’t good enough. Watching this video gave me a different perspective on how I want to see my work and I want to say thank you.
Quitting was the last piece of advice I expected but the way you explained it makes a lot of sense. Also for those afraid to take a break or quit because being an artist is integral to their identity... Your creativity and your spark doesn't disappear when you quit or switch interests, that core spark of creativity is a much bigger part of you than the art you make will ever be. And who told you, you had to be an artist anyway?
RUclips's algorithm seems to enjoy pushing toxic productivity, so to see this pop in my feed was both like a breath of fresh air and a cold slap to the face with a fish.
I feel like life got in my way before a curse like that could even hit me! Growing up I loved art and doing all kinds of art projects! I even attended an art focused school. Life hit and I found I wasn't doing too well in school and dropped out and moved away. Life kept hitting after that with worrying about work and bills and on top of that the places I end up living in were too physically uncomfortable to even think about art projects. Then the sickness happened then the money problems and depression. This is the first year (2024) out of would feels like a millennia where I've had enough time to myself without big crushing life problems on top of me to start drawing and doing fun things with art again!
"What is it that you want from art?" That the problem crowne! I love art for years and I'm not sure why I love art so much! Heck, I go from wanting to make all 8 billion folks artists to having a burnout. I never understood why I live for art and why I only be friends with artists. Edit: the last part of the video though 😮
Part of me feels like its not appropriate to share my thoughts because I have never been able to draw constantly as I have been fighting off self doubt with a butter knife for my entire life. I have always wanted to draw, to be considered an artist, to feel worthy of the title but I never could give myself an inch because everything I drew was awful to me. But now that I have managed to wander into a new environment and stumbled into a community of friends I have been drawing more freely than ever before. I still don't draw every day, but bit by bit it gets easier to create and its the best feeling in the entire world to share it and have it be accepted and loved for doing it!
Ngl, the movie Look back made me think on why do I draw, for who, and why saying "I draw for my self" didn't work for me. I deleted everything I did in 2021-2022 because every draw was made with pain. Physical and emotional. Now, with new friends, a new view of life, I want to come back and do the things I really proud
I've had long stents where I just dreaded picking up a pencil due to my life circumstances. I found no enjoyment in doodling or drawing, but I've found that I don't have to draw all the time and given my busy schedule with work and life, I've come to look forward to doing art when I can sit and relax and draw just to wind down. Stepping away from it helps a lot, but I know I'm never going to truly quit art, also, switching mediums helped me a ton.
I usually find myself mentally stuck because every time I want to draw, my mind gaslights me into believing that what I'm going to draw is garbage. It's hard to force your mind to start and prove it wrong, especially when you start with "ugly" sketches like mine. At least I've improved over time. I ended up quitting for months. Lately, it’s still difficult, but at least now it’s easier to break through that mental barrier.
The trash part really helped me, letting myself just make trash i liked was the key i needed to break myself free from the boxes i had thought my art should be in. Trying other mediums is the thing I'm doing now.
Thank you, we have multiple art that we would call half done for over a year and have been having trouble coming around to finish it. Your advice helped us a lot with the whole "posting it anyway 70% done". The idea of finishing the piece seem far, long and put off drawing before even starting but knowing that we dont have to completely finish it put us back in the workflow, letting us finish the drawing completely. Looking back at it now, what was needed to finish the drawing was very small, we were just blinded by extreme perfectionism. Art done, we enjoyed it, thank you for making it fun again for us 😄
Haven’t been drawing a lot lately but I’ve been working on a pilot script and have 100% been feeling writing burnout lately. And when you said “stop watching the tutorials, you know enough” you just hit the nail on the head. I love “Coffeebreak Screenwriter”, solid 9/10, it really helped me streamline the plot, but I’ve been changing one to two action lines per scene for over two months now and it has officially drove me insane, and I think I’m ready to just go with my gut and get the sucker done.
I have a bit to think about now... to keep things simple, I have had the first 3 symptoms, fear of obtaining the 4th, been beat down trying to learn for over 13 years, somehow only made backwards progress, and everyone that tries to say 'oh it can't be that bad, don't worry about it' is a straight up insult now because I'm slowly being out classed by children, nothing working or able to find a way to learn so I could make what I want, tried to quit, soft and hard quit, and got no success, feeling even worse about myself by trying, coming back only felt slightly not as bad... And right now I have to figure out about my self as soon as possible because I have a window, one that could let me leave forever, but shows no sign of happiness but not taking it also leaves no way to keep going either. It's a strange position, and I have to unfortunately make a big decision quickly. But this helped, thanks.
This can also apply to other kinds of creative endeavors. In my case, oddly enough, it's computer programming. For those who are unaware, writing a computer program is as much an art as it is a science - it's describing what you want the computer to do, not only in a way that the computer can understand, but also in a way that humans can understand. Imagine trying to read and comprehend a bunch of hastily scrawled instructions on two dozen sticky notes, vs reading and comprehending a formally written, precise user manual.
The whole "if you started hating art then quit"and the "if you stop drawing it will come back" advice is 100% true! When i first started art 1 class in the beginning of the year we did nothing but realism and i hated it (mostly cuz i wasn't open-minded about it and i just wanted to draw cartoons) when the year ended ant the new year started i decided that i was gonna quit drawing for the whole year. BUT NO! I was only about halfway through my fall semester and my adhd hands had me doodling on my Schoolwork; and i was enjoying it! Art had snuck back into my life and i hadn't even noticed. This turned into a bit of a problem. A (kinda) good problem to have in my opinion. The problem was that i liked the art i drew on my homework and started to hoard all of it in my folders turning my backpack into a mess. So in november i got myself a sketchbook. It's been over 2 years since that happened and I've just finished my 2nd sketchbook and already started on my 3rd.
I'm a cartoonist so I'd go nuts if my whole semester was realism! Now that you mention it I completely forgot I went through the same with reading books. College made it unfun because everything I read was very dense and highbrow. I completely forgot how easy a book readthrough is if it's just a regular novel. xD
I used to draw digitally but perfectionism either made me spend months on a single piece - or abandon art pieces repeatedly... and then the weight of all those unfinished pieces would gnaw at the back of my mind... like I felt I had to finish them. And then there is the way art would be the way I would connect with over people - and the way my self-worth would be tied to providing gift art or logo designs to other people or other projects... but all that did was generate a growing resentment toward my work and other people... because I couldn't meet the expectations I set of myself. I stopped drawing digitally altogether... part of that being due to becoming aggravated with computer performance interfering with workflow. And I started to draw traditionally again... and it has been a difficult journey to take. I was pretty bad at first. But I think I wanted to learn to use ink and paper because I'd come to use computers as a crutch. Now I value the imperfection of traditional artwork - and in the age of AI prompted art, being able to provide something genuinely hand-crafted seems only to add to the value of that imperfection. But the perfectionism creeps into the traditional as well: I've had to constantly scale back my expectations of my own art to learn to enjoy it again. Combine that with learning to write a story properly - and that story taking on a life of its own - and I've made not one but two rods for my own back. Creation becomes a self-made punishment for us all I think, and we have to learn to self-correct. Largely away from the influence of other people; It needs to be said that they can be a large part of the problem... especially if oneself isn't accustom to setting boundaries and saying no. I did stop even my traditional art for a while and made a dolphin plush out of an old jersey with a broken zipper. I even made the pattern from scratch. It turned out pretty good. Felt good to finish something for a change. So yeah, stepping back and doing something completely different can help. It can. Having a large project can be painful too. You put hours and years into it and don't see a lot of results. So stepping back and doing a smaller creative task can be reassuring to oneself when you proove that you CAN actually FINISH something!
Geeze I agree full throttle on the made-by-hand imperfection thing. I started doing traditional again too a while back, and the fact you can't just make it perfect, and the messiness of it, is heartening.
I never understood (and was jealous of) people who drew more than like twice a year. The process of getting up, finding a pen, finding something to draw on, and then drawing line after line after line and redoing every one of them over and over again was always so daunting for me. I can't understand how people find this drudgery of a process "enjoyable". But I do want to draw. Or rather... I want to *want* to draw. And *enjoy* it. Because I want to have a finished product. I want to have something visual that looks cool. But I also know that wanting *that* is not enough. Because art is not about the finished thing, it's about the *process*. Every single artist I see online boasts about how they enjoy *making* art or if they don't enjoy it they say stuff like "I hate NOT making art even more". I cannot relate to that. I wish I was an artist. Perhaps I should just move on and admit that drawing is simply not for me. But every time I see a 2d drawing image online I feel envy, and that's something I don't know how to escape. (it also could be that I have executive dysfunction? idk)
The rise of widely available generative AI really sank my interest in art for a very long time, in a way that I couldn’t really confront, and I got back into it through like really basic woodworking. I had never done anything other than digital art up to that point and it turns out I really enjoy making things with the scroll saw. It feels super nice to be able to hold something you made in your hands
A few years ago, I really struggled to make art that I was enjoying. My problem ended up being that 1. I had gotten it into my head that my art had to 'look' a certain way (exceptionally clean lines and coloring, etc) or had to be a certain way in order for it to be considered "good enough to post," and 2. I was struggling with my own social media presence and keeping up with algorithms. I had wanted to work my way up to being a career artist, but I just couldnt keep up with everything with having a day job ontop of it. After taking a break from drawing, what ended up helping me was developing a style that I enjoyed drawing in -- something that embraced the roughness, the messiness, and more. I'm much more happier with my pieces today than I ever have been. I also took an extended break from social media -- especially algorithm based social medias. I've never not posted so many pieces in my life, but ive found that there is a joy in drawing just for yourself or your friends sometimes. I stopped taking commissions as well -- opting to only take them in emergencies. I might open them back up on the day to day someday, or I might not -- but I get to choose now instead of burdening myself with "okay i gotta keep building an audience I gotta do this I gotta do that I have to keep up" The fact of the matter is that im happier than I've ever been with my art and being an artist. I find myself enjoying chipping away at a larger piece, allowing myself to feel out the details in ways I couldnt before, because I couldnt stop long enough to enjoy the process without feeling like I was "losing my place in the algorithm." I'm perfectly happy being a hobby artist at this point of my life, and i figured if it builds itself into a career one day -- fantastic! if not, then im happy with that, too.
I loved art, I did art for years and took four years of art in while in school. Then I just stopped, for a long time. I think about three years. I recently started again and I have been having an amazing time! (first thing I drew after years was a pipefox lol).
And I think that's totally normal. Even more so when one does multiple media of art, for example drawing, writing and music making, it's normal that interest goes up and down.
I remember Brandon Sanderson saying something about writing like this. If you must write, you will. Otherwise... don't. It's not worth your time or struggle that goes into it The emeotional baggage and separation writing involves, your time can be much better spent. But... if you must write, do it.
the social media part is so important. Liek, even if you dont notice it yourself, your brain can subconsciously compare yourself with others, and esp if ur constantly exposed to other's art. not that its bad, in fact seeing other art can inspire you, but when you have self comparison problems you should kinda avoid it im kinda stuck in a pit rn as well, i dont make as much art as i used to, and when i do draw something i usually feel negative towards it, but seeing this video kinda gave me a bit of confidence to be like "No. this has to Stop now", so thank you!!
i actually learned to quit art when i was a kid, i would spend years away from art and then suddenly jump back into it when i had the itch. i draw a bit more regularly now but i still let myself take a breather when i need to, i swear despite the time away it has always improved my art
Good video! Also very thought provoking about my own experience. I started art and animation and the like as a distraction to life but also because I have a story to tell as well. That story just developed over time. I went from creating something EVERY DAY when I was like 10 years old to now updating my plot notebooks and sketchpads like 2 or 3 times a month all these years later in my early 20's. As part of that process, I just came to the conclusion that I like storytelling more than anything else and started writing more. My art always sucked and I could never seem to improve no matter how much I tried, but with writing, I just excel so much more, being able to pump out a couple thousand words in just a few days. I even wrote a fanfic that was over 17,500 words all in ONE WEEK. In short, I shifted from art to writing to help me with falling into The Pit, but I hope one day I can reawaken that productivity I had when I was 10 years old and just focus it into writing scripts and drawing rough character designs as a compromise. MAFA (Make Art Fun Again)
I'm glad you found that out about writing! I talk to a lot of aspiring animators and honestly writing is a much more effective way to tell a grand, multi-episode story by yourself. To make an animated series you really need a whole team. Meanwhile writing is a wonderful solo way to tell your story. ^^
I graduated with an art degree in spring 2020. I had planned on being in the cities and working and trying to do art things to advance my career in between. Instead I got stuck at home (and am still there). It's still hard to draw now. I would have days of drawing for hours and then nothing. This happens with my writing as well. I've been trying to build myself up again by doing a little bit every day, but it's still hard. I think the only things I really drew between 2020 and now was finishing a comic...and that might have been because I was too stubborn to leave it to the wayside lol
This was a great video! Depression is what killed my love of drawing years back. Mostly stemming from how I felt like I was not getting better. I took some time away from drawing and came back with more of an open mind (and a drawing tablet) and just started to draw different. I just played around with style and linework, shading and colouring and just had a go of it. I have made so much trash art that I will never use in a finished project, but it was good to keep them a reminders so I can explore what worked and what didn't and maybe try it again in the future. I still have some art block, but since coming back into doing art I had designed/drawn well over 300 unique NPCs for the different roleplaying games that I have ran over the past couple years.
The best thing ever for me was starting a longterm project, my game of which I am the sole artist for has been a flow of creativity for months, I'm just banging out pixel animations when only a few years ago such an idea was impossible to me.
i was having a tough time in my current bachelors program, as i kept feeling like i was behind others, or things just weren’t turning out the way i wanted. i think things could have stayed that bad and made me scared to keep pursuing my degree. but then, at the start of one semester, i got the dreaded repetitive strain injury. i still stayed in my classes, but i worked slowly, and had tough discussions with my professors about how we could accommodate my situation. i thank whatever higher beings might be out there for giving me some of the kindest, passionate professors ever who were extremely helpful and understanding. and as i took a bunch of breaks, as i stayed as far away from art as i could to heal, all i could ever think was “god….i wish i could make art right now!!” it was like all that anxiety and frustration with being “behind” completely melted away. i just wanted to do it, even if it was bad. it drove me NUTS!!! my injury has since improved drastically and i’m on my very last semester, super proud of myself and my work when compared to those earlier times. i don’t think getting an injury is a Good way to get through The Pit…ideally no one would get one lmao! but it still really helped me put things into perspective all that said, i know i will probably find myself in a rut one day, especially if i get to make art my full time profession like i want. so ik having this video on hand will help me out :3
I'm a writer. Which is, in my opinion, a form of art. Nonvisual art! For me, writing is like breathing. And I have quit. I go long periods of time without writing. I always pick it up again, because words are so essential to who I am as a person. I also learned that I cannot tie my survival to writing, because then I stop writing entirely - even to make money. Woops. Anyway, loved this video. A++ advice. All applicable to my experiences, for sure.
honestly, i would never oppose to what you just said. It's all true as i use my art to escape my real life and get some praises from others. Of course, i don't want to be a perfectionist while drawing digitally or traditionally, but i feel great after hearing some good lessons from big artists
When I was a kid I had a dream that I wanted to work in the creative industry which means i had to learn to make art a career. Ever since I started pursuing art in college, it made me felt really terrible just looking at my classmates, whom sometimes I view as future work competitors. It killed me inside. While I was happy learning more deeply about art it also made me loathe it because the amount of competitions and expectations was put on by others and myself. It dawned on me I loved art for what it is. For the fact you should engage with it and analyse it, not consume it or have it be seen as a product. It was the reason why I hated the fact I was asked to do so many revisions and do something I dont like just because it sells well because that's not the art I want to make or I how I want my art to be interacted with. It made me somewhat happier just drawing what I want and express myself because that's what I used to do when I was most happy with art
I appreciated this a lot. I haven’t been able to create anything but the simplest drawing for so long, and it's been hard keeping up hope when most attempts I make sputter out in painful hours of non-progress. Actually, maybe that is art block? I'm not sure. I will try this though, even if my unfortunately narrow skill set means that 'branching out' and 'making trash' are effectively equivalent. . . I guess I'll need to finally overcome the embarassment of learning things.
I got so intensley competetive thatI studied and studied and compared and compared. I was SO determined to get into the industry, but there were so many prodigies online, so many of them were close to my age, and I knew that the market was already oversaturated And I improved at rapid speed because of the studing but unfortunatley, my observation skill got so high that everything I made was below my standards. And I kept trying tp push through with it, telling myself that it was art block, and eventually I realized that it wasnt art block. I realized I now detested the very thing I built my life around. So I told myself “We’re not going to have art as our job, okay? We’ll pursue law instead” And that took thepressure off. I allowed myself to practice less, and eventually, over the courseof a few months, I realized that I never actually intended on going to law school. My brain was just giving itself an excuse to take a break XD
It´s a combination of 2 and 4 for me. I started making art into my career and it led me to thinking i couldn´t be bad at art because.. i should be good at it right?? So i fell into my comfort zone and stopped drawing anything new unless i had a reference. Eventually i found myself unable to create anything from scratch, i could only copy references. I´m still halfway in the pit. I find creating trash very helpful. Like focusing on filling a page rather than creating good drawings. Post it´s are a great tool for me aswell. I can scribble all i want without the dread of the fresh white sketchbook page. If I end up liking the drawing i´ll still stick it in my sketchbook, if not i toss it. Can recommend!
I used to watch MLP art streams to try giving me the creative itch to draw to reel me back in, but it's getting rarer for me to sit down and want to draw or make something. However, when the holidays roll over or it's someone's birthday it gives me a sense of purpose and idea what to create. I don't like Valentine's or Christmas as a whole, but I love doing stupid animal pun card illustrations for people I adore.
Here's MY personal secret to how I make sure I don't quit my art. As I'm still trying to get better with it... The whole idea of me being able to make anything with my own hands is enough to have me master that thought to the end.
I use to have a "Famous" qoute where i would always say "Art is Fun, not professional" Sure, you can do it professionally, but doing it out of passion and love is always gonna be better and more fun!..... in my opinion
Working in games for nearly 2 years killed it for me BUT we are coming back SLOWLY Its taken alot of reflecting, if art is even something i want as a career, and letting myself draw and create anything i want with 0 expectations or need to continue anything i dont like to even think about drawing digitally again in a neutral nontoxic way Higly recommended jumpyjune's latest more sketchbooky videos same sentiment explored more!
For me, the issue is threefold: 1) If I start something, I *must* finish it, for two reasons. One, my perseverance takes over, and two, if I don't get it done I fear I will not have the inspiration to return. 2) I need to know that I did well from others, less of a "you're great" and more of a "you did it correct". If I put in too much work and persevere too much, that effect completely disappears and it just becomes pain and I refuse to see any benefit/happiness from it. 3) I feel that because I tend to be so niche, if I don't make it, nobody will. Advice welcome ofc.
Actually a couple years ago I had inspiration to make a game, so I began drawing things for it, and I kept drawing things for about a year, but they one day it did start to lose its spark, I looked back and realized that, I never was going to make the game, I was just drawing monsters and lying to myself about the objective, so I quit, luckily now I've come back to it with a healthy objective of just having fun drawing, but I did kinda end up following the instructions of this video before it was released.
The reason I lost my first wave of passion for art was because of school. I have zero clue about how it works elsewhere in the world, but art classes are part of standard education where I live and the way they ended up working is completely strange in hindsight: Every quarter or third of a year iirc, you are introduced to a new aspect of art and in turn are tasked to use a given method of making art to create a piece for yourself to then be graded. Thing is, these lessons do not necessarily build on one another. One of these segments may lay out the fundamentals, like basic perspective, shading methods with a pencil or some part of color theory. But right alongside and in between these, we also had just about every niche and medium under the sun thrown at us. So one project might be done with watercolor, the next is drawing a mirrored version of a photographed face. One segment might be using accrylic and the very next uses clay. Zero clue how I ever somewhat decently kept up with all of that, because I am a perfectionist and *I never learned how to sketch* ! So I eventually ended up, on more than one occassion, with the absurd stack of perfectionism, a lack of a proper preparation phase, a medium with permanent marks, an obscure medium that I have zero experience in (seriously, have you ever even thought about etching your drawing into a metal plate with acid?), the pressure of the grading system, the peer pressure of every other student working in the same room or even at the same table, as well as an externally imposed time limit. The fact this was a recipe for disaster was obvious and it just left me burnt out from art for several years. What has gotten me back into it now has been a growing want to just try it for myself, starting back at zero, back at the fundamentals, and actually figuring out how and why any given mark you make to get to a finished drawing works. It's strange looking around my room and finding the products of a time, in which I hadn't even properly realized I had a passion for art, well outpace my understanding of how you'd even achieve the thing I'm looking at and remember making under high pressure, late at night. But at the same time, I also know that I can make it back to that point in terms of skill and there is no reason I wouldn't be able to eventually go beyond it as well. I now have the time and freedom to do so after all.
I literally have lost a large portion of my imagination due to my inability to draw well. Luckily, I supplemented it by writing stories. I would recommend it, works decently well if you wanna get into it
I think I'm going through this right now. It might have started when I started working two jobs, one day shift & one overnight shift at another. It left me too exhausted to draw in any way & I hate it, I want my spark back.
I got bored of it, putting it off and not feeling it anymore. I took about a year off and got back into it again. I also took a stab at 3D printing, turns out I like it tho thats on the back burner for now as unfinished products literally take up space in your house.
No, but probably because I do the things that you say. I don’t digitally paint unless I have an idea. If I bored I’ll try a new character, or art style, or shading technique. I don’t strive for perfection. Like last week. I forgot to put in the ground in my art piece. Still posted it. Still oh well I still like it. I make so much trash. I just have so many notebooks to draw whatever comes to mind, and hey, maybe some of it is posted. I write, I sketch, I digitally paint, I go to the gym, I cook. I just do fun things. Art is fun. Expect for actual painting. That too terrifying.
"Art will sneak into your life like a covert art ferret" bruh. I've been called out. That ferret always finds me, and it's why I consider myself an artist, because I simply can't put it down forever. XD The thing that makes me hate art the most is digital art, to be honest. Drawing Tablet, vector art, that kind of stuff. idk what it is, but it's the one set of mediums I just can not seem to comprehend, no matter how hard I try. I ended up moving into Pixel Art because that's more fun for me and I can actually share it. Maybe I just need to get copic markers or something too, because I really enjoy physically drawing, but I'm so bad at drawing digitally I feel depressed. Thus, I just don't do it. XD
I know no one's gonna be bothered to read my story, but I will still write it. Even though I'm still a teen (when I wrote this comment, 2024) I am trying to make money from art by offering commissions, or just trying to build an audience before turning 18 and becoming an adult. And now I can't enjoy my life anymore, not even art. Everything feels forced, but I can't quit. Basically, I'm now in a state where I can't enjoy my creations unless other people reply to it or like it. I only see its flaws, like: "Oh, I forgot to color this one part!" or "It looks too dull." or "The lines are too thin.". No matter how much effort or time I put into anything, I am not happy with it unless other people appreciate it. And I tend to take rejections too seriously, regarding my horrible school trauma. Recently someone in one server I'm said that they wanted to do an art trade with "someone", and I said I could do it, but then they said "Only for people who go to my school." by which he meant "only the server mod" and I felt super miserable. Even now I'm still not completely recovered from this. But I don't blame them, because it's not their fault... it's my fault for offering my pathetic and horrible skills. I wanted to cooperate, but I completely forgot that I will never be worth enough for that. But I don't wanna quit for several reasons: 1. I want to turn art into a second income when I grow up, while my future band (I want to form a band when I turn 18) will be my first income. 2. People who follow me will be mad at me for quitting all of a sudden, and torment me with hate comments, saying things like: "We waited 4 years for another video/art piece! Hurry up or we will hack you!!" 3. I came too far to stop. 500 and something subs, 100 000 views on my most popular video....I can't quit. And other reasons. So that's what I have to say. If any of you read this to the end, thanks for being so patient. I know probably no one is supportive enough to read this, so if you are, thank you! I'm glad at least someone cares about me or what I do. And also CrownePrince, if you're reading this (which I doubt), thanks for the other tips. I hope they will work. -MiniLopkaStudios, 2024
18 can be a really rough time, because it's when society expects you to figure out what you want to do for money. So, you might just be stressed because of all the changes from that, expectations to figure out who you're going to be, etc. I get the feeling just by reading this that you'll be fine. Rejections are *always* hard, but if you keep doing music and art anyway then you'll survive.
I would call myself an animator rather than an artist so I don't know how much of the video is relevant to me (and I am pretty sure I have ADHD so I have an overall issue with things i can find fun) so I am not sure if I should comment this . Having said that, I don't really recall a time when I enjoyed animating or the few times I made digital art, I find it to be a boring and monotonous process. The only reason I keep going is because I can see the final product coming together as I continue moving on in the project. Another thing that is not directly mentioned is that I WANT to sell my art/work in the industry so I need to keep doing the boring studies in order to improve my skills so I can reach such a level. I don't think there are any practical solutions to my problems, I just wanted to give my thoughts. Also having a username of "Artrix" and then seeing the brand of those markers was a bit of surprising
I am currently in the same predicament, I am focusing on 3d stuff instead at the moment, I am doing at least some good progress so far which is a good ego boost.
I'm halfway through my senior year of art school, and the burnout has been hitting HARD. I can't imagine choosing a different career, but its gotten to the point where it feels like the work I have to do is getting in the way of EVEN MORE work I have to do. I don't know if I can even do anything to fix it other than trudge along until I graduate and I can do things for myself again. Really hoping things get better after. Also, do you have any advice for what to do when looking for jobs in animation right after graduation?
Part of the trick is *finding* the jobs. Don't aim for something at Disney or Dreamworks or any other famous name. If you want that you can work toward it and try to get in, but you're going to have a way better time looking for positions at small graphic design, marketing, video editing, or video game businesses. Most of them will be probably less than 25 employees. In fact sometimes the job postings won't even be purely "animation" but you can make animation part of the thing you do there.
for some strange reason my goofy ass didn't make the connection that the "don't date your art" video I watched a while back and the recent pipefoxes came from the same channel...until I saw you draw pipefoxes in this video
I think one thing I'd say is, don't care too much about rules. A lot of times art can be obviously wrong in terms of professionism, but if it works, it doesn't really matter how many mistakes there is in the art. Sometimes, it's necessary that things are correct, for example when preparing for print it matters that the file is in CMYK, the bleeding is set properly, the white ink is trapped under other ink, etc., but when comes to art style, if something can't be spotted at a glance, or if it doesn't affect the message being told, well, let it pass. And at the same time, maybe be more open in how art should or should not be done in a certain way to make the community more healthy. Artists shouldn't rely on community feedback, but it should be obvious that nobody can straight up ignore it, so a healthy community still helps.
See, you skirt _right_ around the very problem that I suffer from, which is that art _is_ woven into my being, I _can't_ escape it, and I _want_ to hard quit, because it is a miserable thing for me, no matter what I learn, no matter what I practice, no matter the reason I do it. What then?
Hard to answer that without knowing someone well enough to know what else might be going (or not going) on in their life. I find our brains can't easily "stop doing" something by sheer willpower; it helps to overwrite the thing you want to stop with a replacement. So - seek out an activity to do other than the art. And my other response is: therapy. Always feels like a cop out to say that, but if it's an option you can specifically say you want to work on not making so much art. They'll guide you through it.
@@CrownePrince Ah, that assumes I do _way_ more art than I actually do. From that perspective, I've actually "hard quit" relatively effectively. I have plenty of other creative outlets. But it just never stops niggling at me. "Pursue that idea for a drawing," it says; "Maybe if you try a new approach, this time you'll find the secret that makes it fun."
Why draw at all when there will always be another human who is "better" than you? Though what you say is true, it's also skewed heavily towards people who wanted to make a career out of art, since generated images are most disruptive in places where $ profit is more important than anything else. If you're just drawing for fun, it's probably more about the activity than it is about pushing a button and choosing a result.
@@CrownePrince I get what you mean and yeah drawing for fun will always be a thing. But for those who only want the result and don't care about the process there's no reason not to go with AI. It's sad for all artists especially those who want to make a living with it but it's true unfortunately :(
Depression killed my ability to draw for almost a decade. I picked it up again this year and it feels so good to be back. :^)
same. i still did not get rid of falling into it time to time, but at least i can draw with no problem.
wtf Bio???? its me sphee! funny finding you here!
@@eliteal2188 hi Sphee!
I feel similar, I haven't lost as many years to depression but I did lose a few. Not many people I would wish that on.
I can attest to the advice of, "if you quit and want to keep drawing, it will come back." I used to draw lot when I was a kid, many decades ago. I tried to get serious about art at 17, and it broke me. I was so lost and confused and intimidated by everything that I stopped. Over the last 21 years, I have picked up and quit art dozens of times. Every single time I quit, the urge to draw always crept right back up on me. A few years ago, I decided to give it a real honest try, and I was doing well until the last few months as my depression gets worse. I can't even pick up the pen sometimes, the feeling is heavier than anything I've ever experienced. One thing that helps me do little bits, are sticky notes. I see something I like, I draw on the sticky note, and scrap it. If I like it, I put it up on my wall to look at and memorize, then I toss it. Super easy for me because it's yellow instead of white, making it less intimidating, it's small, so again, less intimidating, and it's easy to scrap or save. I plan on sticky-noting my way out of my art depression so I can someday study animation and master human anatomy like I have always wanted, because I love anatomy and want to be better at it. Best of luck to all of you other artists, and thanks for the video, Crowne ~
Sticky notes are a game changer! I started doodling on them at work. It´s so much less intimidating than a fresh page in a sketchbook
I broke cycle of perfectionism i had for years by finding a small (but not too small) community on reddit that liked my art no matter what, this built my confidence and i finally started enjoying drawing (the community is undertale yellow a fangame of base undertale), it just feels so great that even my trashy memey doodles are endorsed there, it built my confidence towards my art so immensely ive never been drawing more and had fun while at it, I can't stop smiling when i draw now, and i never felt like this before
Just find a small community where your art won't be overflooded with other art so people can take a look at it and examine it, small communities of specific niches really appreciate any kind of art because it keeps that niche alive, they don't care if you pump bad art, they care that you post art at all
This is great advice.
@@CrownePrince oh btw, can you make a video how art is kinda beginning to be an expensive hobby, at least in the area of digital art? adobe and their subscribtion shenanigans, the actual one time payment with toonboom being kinda pricey, it's kinda getting out of hand and no one talks about it
For me, what really killed my artistic drive was this sense of obligation. When I was in high school, art was always experimental--I dabbled in various mediums and styles, always trying to find new ways to express myself. Then, some time around college, I finally found a style and medium that I was happy with, and began making commissions in that style. Once I did, I felt like I was bound to it--I didn't want to work on side projects because I always had a commission that needed doing, and I couldn't do those commissions in a new style because there was an expectation that they'd look like what was advertised, so I wound up dreading my commissions and not wanting to work on them. It was a vicious cycle of never drawing anything, ever.
What I've found has helped me get back into art again is exactly what the video talks about--giving myself the freedom to just express again. Not locking myself into a singular style that "works." Trying out new brushes on my art app. Drawing new ideas that I'd never consider before. Making stuff that exists just for me and no one else.
I still keep to my commission style and do projects in that field, in large part because the only reason I started selling it in the first place was because I loved making it. But I also make sure to take time to myself, and communicate to potential buyers that my commissions are just an extension of my hobby and will often take time to complete while I work on other things. It's helped me reclaim my art, and let it feel like an extension of myself again. Which, in turn, makes me want to draw more, and enjoy doing it.
For sure, the commissions can put you in a corner where everyone expects that same style from you. It's actually great for sales (having a niche with a set style) but on its own it'll wash away the excitement of experimentation that drew many of us to art in the first place. =]
When you mentioned perfectionism, I knew this video was for me. I’ve been wanting to improve on my work, but every time I tried it felt like it wasn’t good enough. Watching this video gave me a different perspective on how I want to see my work and I want to say thank you.
Quitting was the last piece of advice I expected but the way you explained it makes a lot of sense.
Also for those afraid to take a break or quit because being an artist is integral to their identity...
Your creativity and your spark doesn't disappear when you quit or switch interests, that core spark of creativity is a much bigger part of you than the art you make will ever be.
And who told you, you had to be an artist anyway?
RUclips's algorithm seems to enjoy pushing toxic productivity, so to see this pop in my feed was both like a breath of fresh air and a cold slap to the face with a fish.
"with a fish" made me laugh.
I feel like life got in my way before a curse like that could even hit me! Growing up I loved art and doing all kinds of art projects! I even attended an art focused school. Life hit and I found I wasn't doing too well in school and dropped out and moved away. Life kept hitting after that with worrying about work and bills and on top of that the places I end up living in were too physically uncomfortable to even think about art projects. Then the sickness happened then the money problems and depression. This is the first year (2024) out of would feels like a millennia where I've had enough time to myself without big crushing life problems on top of me to start drawing and doing fun things with art again!
"What is it that you want from art?"
That the problem crowne! I love art for years and I'm not sure why I love art so much!
Heck, I go from wanting to make all 8 billion folks artists to having a burnout.
I never understood why I live for art and why I only be friends with artists.
Edit: the last part of the video though 😮
"What is it that you want from art?"
I just think they're neat!
@@mee4062 agreed. Art is life
@@CreativeMarten Is it? Or is life art? D:
@@mee4062 it could be :3
Perfectionism is what's kept me from finishing my fursuit all these years. It's been rough.
Part of me feels like its not appropriate to share my thoughts because I have never been able to draw constantly as I have been fighting off self doubt with a butter knife for my entire life. I have always wanted to draw, to be considered an artist, to feel worthy of the title but I never could give myself an inch because everything I drew was awful to me. But now that I have managed to wander into a new environment and stumbled into a community of friends I have been drawing more freely than ever before. I still don't draw every day, but bit by bit it gets easier to create and its the best feeling in the entire world to share it and have it be accepted and loved for doing it!
Ngl, the movie Look back made me think on why do I draw, for who, and why saying "I draw for my self" didn't work for me.
I deleted everything I did in 2021-2022 because every draw was made with pain. Physical and emotional.
Now, with new friends, a new view of life, I want to come back and do the things I really proud
I've had long stents where I just dreaded picking up a pencil due to my life circumstances. I found no enjoyment in doodling or drawing, but I've found that I don't have to draw all the time and given my busy schedule with work and life, I've come to look forward to doing art when I can sit and relax and draw just to wind down. Stepping away from it helps a lot, but I know I'm never going to truly quit art, also, switching mediums helped me a ton.
This cut me like a goshdang knife.
Thank you so much I needed this.
I usually find myself mentally stuck because every time I want to draw, my mind gaslights me into believing that what I'm going to draw is garbage. It's hard to force your mind to start and prove it wrong, especially when you start with "ugly" sketches like mine. At least I've improved over time. I ended up quitting for months. Lately, it’s still difficult, but at least now it’s easier to break through that mental barrier.
The trash part really helped me, letting myself just make trash i liked was the key i needed to break myself free from the boxes i had thought my art should be in. Trying other mediums is the thing I'm doing now.
Thank you, we have multiple art that we would call half done for over a year and have been having trouble coming around to finish it. Your advice helped us a lot with the whole "posting it anyway 70% done". The idea of finishing the piece seem far, long and put off drawing before even starting but knowing that we dont have to completely finish it put us back in the workflow, letting us finish the drawing completely. Looking back at it now, what was needed to finish the drawing was very small, we were just blinded by extreme perfectionism. Art done, we enjoyed it, thank you for making it fun again for us 😄
Haven’t been drawing a lot lately but I’ve been working on a pilot script and have 100% been feeling writing burnout lately. And when you said “stop watching the tutorials, you know enough” you just hit the nail on the head. I love “Coffeebreak Screenwriter”, solid 9/10, it really helped me streamline the plot, but I’ve been changing one to two action lines per scene for over two months now and it has officially drove me insane, and I think I’m ready to just go with my gut and get the sucker done.
"Make trash". Was this why the people behind animaniacs and such eventually made Road Rovers? Would explain quite mutch actually!
Oh boy, prepare yourself for the war coming your way
It's funny how this video came out just as I'm starting to experience burnout myself. Thank you for making it. c:
I have a bit to think about now...
to keep things simple, I have had the first 3 symptoms, fear of obtaining the 4th, been beat down trying to learn for over 13 years, somehow only made backwards progress, and everyone that tries to say 'oh it can't be that bad, don't worry about it' is a straight up insult now because I'm slowly being out classed by children, nothing working or able to find a way to learn so I could make what I want, tried to quit, soft and hard quit, and got no success, feeling even worse about myself by trying, coming back only felt slightly not as bad...
And right now I have to figure out about my self as soon as possible because I have a window, one that could let me leave forever, but shows no sign of happiness but not taking it also leaves no way to keep going either. It's a strange position, and I have to unfortunately make a big decision quickly.
But this helped, thanks.
This can also apply to other kinds of creative endeavors. In my case, oddly enough, it's computer programming. For those who are unaware, writing a computer program is as much an art as it is a science - it's describing what you want the computer to do, not only in a way that the computer can understand, but also in a way that humans can understand. Imagine trying to read and comprehend a bunch of hastily scrawled instructions on two dozen sticky notes, vs reading and comprehending a formally written, precise user manual.
The whole "if you started hating art then quit"and the "if you stop drawing it will come back" advice is 100% true! When i first started art 1 class in the beginning of the year we did nothing but realism and i hated it (mostly cuz i wasn't open-minded about it and i just wanted to draw cartoons) when the year ended ant the new year started i decided that i was gonna quit drawing for the whole year. BUT NO! I was only about halfway through my fall semester and my adhd hands had me doodling on my Schoolwork; and i was enjoying it! Art had snuck back into my life and i hadn't even noticed. This turned into a bit of a problem. A (kinda) good problem to have in my opinion. The problem was that i liked the art i drew on my homework and started to hoard all of it in my folders turning my backpack into a mess. So in november i got myself a sketchbook. It's been over 2 years since that happened and I've just finished my 2nd sketchbook and already started on my 3rd.
I'm a cartoonist so I'd go nuts if my whole semester was realism! Now that you mention it I completely forgot I went through the same with reading books. College made it unfun because everything I read was very dense and highbrow. I completely forgot how easy a book readthrough is if it's just a regular novel. xD
I used to draw digitally but perfectionism either made me spend months on a single piece - or abandon art pieces repeatedly... and then the weight of all those unfinished pieces would gnaw at the back of my mind... like I felt I had to finish them.
And then there is the way art would be the way I would connect with over people - and the way my self-worth would be tied to providing gift art or logo designs to other people or other projects... but all that did was generate a growing resentment toward my work and other people... because I couldn't meet the expectations I set of myself.
I stopped drawing digitally altogether... part of that being due to becoming aggravated with computer performance interfering with workflow. And I started to draw traditionally again... and it has been a difficult journey to take. I was pretty bad at first. But I think I wanted to learn to use ink and paper because I'd come to use computers as a crutch.
Now I value the imperfection of traditional artwork - and in the age of AI prompted art, being able to provide something genuinely hand-crafted seems only to add to the value of that imperfection.
But the perfectionism creeps into the traditional as well: I've had to constantly scale back my expectations of my own art to learn to enjoy it again. Combine that with learning to write a story properly - and that story taking on a life of its own - and I've made not one but two rods for my own back.
Creation becomes a self-made punishment for us all I think, and we have to learn to self-correct. Largely away from the influence of other people; It needs to be said that they can be a large part of the problem... especially if oneself isn't accustom to setting boundaries and saying no.
I did stop even my traditional art for a while and made a dolphin plush out of an old jersey with a broken zipper. I even made the pattern from scratch. It turned out pretty good. Felt good to finish something for a change. So yeah, stepping back and doing something completely different can help. It can.
Having a large project can be painful too. You put hours and years into it and don't see a lot of results. So stepping back and doing a smaller creative task can be reassuring to oneself when you proove that you CAN actually FINISH something!
Geeze I agree full throttle on the made-by-hand imperfection thing. I started doing traditional again too a while back, and the fact you can't just make it perfect, and the messiness of it, is heartening.
I never understood (and was jealous of) people who drew more than like twice a year.
The process of getting up, finding a pen, finding something to draw on, and then drawing line after line after line and redoing every one of them over and over again was always so daunting for me. I can't understand how people find this drudgery of a process "enjoyable".
But I do want to draw. Or rather... I want to *want* to draw. And *enjoy* it. Because I want to have a finished product. I want to have something visual that looks cool.
But I also know that wanting *that* is not enough. Because art is not about the finished thing, it's about the *process*. Every single artist I see online boasts about how they enjoy *making* art or if they don't enjoy it they say stuff like "I hate NOT making art even more". I cannot relate to that. I wish I was an artist.
Perhaps I should just move on and admit that drawing is simply not for me. But every time I see a 2d drawing image online I feel envy, and that's something I don't know how to escape.
(it also could be that I have executive dysfunction? idk)
The rise of widely available generative AI really sank my interest in art for a very long time, in a way that I couldn’t really confront, and I got back into it through like really basic woodworking. I had never done anything other than digital art up to that point and it turns out I really enjoy making things with the scroll saw. It feels super nice to be able to hold something you made in your hands
Yep, I also got back into making physical art after gen AI became widespread.
This is good wisdom. Thanks Crowne
A few years ago, I really struggled to make art that I was enjoying. My problem ended up being that 1. I had gotten it into my head that my art had to 'look' a certain way (exceptionally clean lines and coloring, etc) or had to be a certain way in order for it to be considered "good enough to post," and 2. I was struggling with my own social media presence and keeping up with algorithms. I had wanted to work my way up to being a career artist, but I just couldnt keep up with everything with having a day job ontop of it.
After taking a break from drawing, what ended up helping me was developing a style that I enjoyed drawing in -- something that embraced the roughness, the messiness, and more. I'm much more happier with my pieces today than I ever have been. I also took an extended break from social media -- especially algorithm based social medias. I've never not posted so many pieces in my life, but ive found that there is a joy in drawing just for yourself or your friends sometimes. I stopped taking commissions as well -- opting to only take them in emergencies. I might open them back up on the day to day someday, or I might not -- but I get to choose now instead of burdening myself with "okay i gotta keep building an audience I gotta do this I gotta do that I have to keep up"
The fact of the matter is that im happier than I've ever been with my art and being an artist. I find myself enjoying chipping away at a larger piece, allowing myself to feel out the details in ways I couldnt before, because I couldnt stop long enough to enjoy the process without feeling like I was "losing my place in the algorithm." I'm perfectly happy being a hobby artist at this point of my life, and i figured if it builds itself into a career one day -- fantastic! if not, then im happy with that, too.
I loved art, I did art for years and took four years of art in while in school. Then I just stopped, for a long time. I think about three years. I recently started again and I have been having an amazing time! (first thing I drew after years was a pipefox lol).
And I think that's totally normal. Even more so when one does multiple media of art, for example drawing, writing and music making, it's normal that interest goes up and down.
I remember Brandon Sanderson saying something about writing like this. If you must write, you will. Otherwise... don't. It's not worth your time or struggle that goes into it The emeotional baggage and separation writing involves, your time can be much better spent. But... if you must write, do it.
the social media part is so important. Liek, even if you dont notice it yourself, your brain can subconsciously compare yourself with others, and esp if ur constantly exposed to other's art. not that its bad, in fact seeing other art can inspire you, but when you have self comparison problems you should kinda avoid it
im kinda stuck in a pit rn as well, i dont make as much art as i used to, and when i do draw something i usually feel negative towards it, but seeing this video kinda gave me a bit of confidence to be like "No. this has to Stop now", so thank you!!
Really needed to hear this one, thank you for all the advice!
i actually learned to quit art when i was a kid, i would spend years away from art and then suddenly jump back into it when i had the itch. i draw a bit more regularly now but i still let myself take a breather when i need to, i swear despite the time away it has always improved my art
Good video! Also very thought provoking about my own experience. I started art and animation and the like as a distraction to life but also because I have a story to tell as well. That story just developed over time. I went from creating something EVERY DAY when I was like 10 years old to now updating my plot notebooks and sketchpads like 2 or 3 times a month all these years later in my early 20's. As part of that process, I just came to the conclusion that I like storytelling more than anything else and started writing more. My art always sucked and I could never seem to improve no matter how much I tried, but with writing, I just excel so much more, being able to pump out a couple thousand words in just a few days. I even wrote a fanfic that was over 17,500 words all in ONE WEEK. In short, I shifted from art to writing to help me with falling into The Pit, but I hope one day I can reawaken that productivity I had when I was 10 years old and just focus it into writing scripts and drawing rough character designs as a compromise. MAFA (Make Art Fun Again)
I'm glad you found that out about writing! I talk to a lot of aspiring animators and honestly writing is a much more effective way to tell a grand, multi-episode story by yourself. To make an animated series you really need a whole team. Meanwhile writing is a wonderful solo way to tell your story. ^^
@@CrownePrince Yep, nice to be subscribed again
I graduated with an art degree in spring 2020. I had planned on being in the cities and working and trying to do art things to advance my career in between. Instead I got stuck at home (and am still there). It's still hard to draw now. I would have days of drawing for hours and then nothing. This happens with my writing as well. I've been trying to build myself up again by doing a little bit every day, but it's still hard. I think the only things I really drew between 2020 and now was finishing a comic...and that might have been because I was too stubborn to leave it to the wayside lol
This was a great video! Depression is what killed my love of drawing years back. Mostly stemming from how I felt like I was not getting better. I took some time away from drawing and came back with more of an open mind (and a drawing tablet) and just started to draw different. I just played around with style and linework, shading and colouring and just had a go of it. I have made so much trash art that I will never use in a finished project, but it was good to keep them a reminders so I can explore what worked and what didn't and maybe try it again in the future. I still have some art block, but since coming back into doing art I had designed/drawn well over 300 unique NPCs for the different roleplaying games that I have ran over the past couple years.
The best thing ever for me was starting a longterm project, my game of which I am the sole artist for has been a flow of creativity for months, I'm just banging out pixel animations when only a few years ago such an idea was impossible to me.
i was having a tough time in my current bachelors program, as i kept feeling like i was behind others, or things just weren’t turning out the way i wanted. i think things could have stayed that bad and made me scared to keep pursuing my degree. but then, at the start of one semester, i got the dreaded repetitive strain injury. i still stayed in my classes, but i worked slowly, and had tough discussions with my professors about how we could accommodate my situation. i thank whatever higher beings might be out there for giving me some of the kindest, passionate professors ever who were extremely helpful and understanding. and as i took a bunch of breaks, as i stayed as far away from art as i could to heal, all i could ever think was “god….i wish i could make art right now!!” it was like all that anxiety and frustration with being “behind” completely melted away. i just wanted to do it, even if it was bad. it drove me NUTS!!!
my injury has since improved drastically and i’m on my very last semester, super proud of myself and my work when compared to those earlier times. i don’t think getting an injury is a Good way to get through The Pit…ideally no one would get one lmao! but it still really helped me put things into perspective
all that said, i know i will probably find myself in a rut one day, especially if i get to make art my full time profession like i want. so ik having this video on hand will help me out :3
I'm a writer. Which is, in my opinion, a form of art. Nonvisual art! For me, writing is like breathing.
And I have quit. I go long periods of time without writing. I always pick it up again, because words are so essential to who I am as a person.
I also learned that I cannot tie my survival to writing, because then I stop writing entirely - even to make money. Woops.
Anyway, loved this video. A++ advice. All applicable to my experiences, for sure.
honestly, i would never oppose to what you just said. It's all true as i use my art to escape my real life and get some praises from others. Of course, i don't want to be a perfectionist while drawing digitally or traditionally, but i feel great after hearing some good lessons from big artists
When I was a kid I had a dream that I wanted to work in the creative industry which means i had to learn to make art a career. Ever since I started pursuing art in college, it made me felt really terrible just looking at my classmates, whom sometimes I view as future work competitors. It killed me inside. While I was happy learning more deeply about art it also made me loathe it because the amount of competitions and expectations was put on by others and myself.
It dawned on me I loved art for what it is. For the fact you should engage with it and analyse it, not consume it or have it be seen as a product. It was the reason why I hated the fact I was asked to do so many revisions and do something I dont like just because it sells well because that's not the art I want to make or I how I want my art to be interacted with.
It made me somewhat happier just drawing what I want and express myself because that's what I used to do when I was most happy with art
I appreciated this a lot. I haven’t been able to create anything but the simplest drawing for so long, and it's been hard keeping up hope when most attempts I make sputter out in painful hours of non-progress. Actually, maybe that is art block? I'm not sure. I will try this though, even if my unfortunately narrow skill set means that 'branching out' and 'making trash' are effectively equivalent. . . I guess I'll need to finally overcome the embarassment of learning things.
Thank you! This made me have fun with art again :)
This is true of a lot of things in life.
Yes.
I got so intensley competetive thatI studied and studied and compared and compared. I was SO determined to get into the industry, but there were so many prodigies online, so many of them were close to my age, and I knew that the market was already oversaturated
And I improved at rapid speed because of the studing but unfortunatley, my observation skill got so high that everything I made was below my standards.
And I kept trying tp push through with it, telling myself that it was art block, and eventually I realized that it wasnt art block. I realized I now detested the very thing I built my life around. So I told myself
“We’re not going to have art as our job, okay? We’ll pursue law instead”
And that took thepressure off.
I allowed myself to practice less, and eventually, over the courseof a few months, I realized that I never actually intended on going to law school. My brain was just giving itself an excuse to take a break XD
It´s a combination of 2 and 4 for me. I started making art into my career and it led me to thinking i couldn´t be bad at art because.. i should be good at it right?? So i fell into my comfort zone and stopped drawing anything new unless i had a reference. Eventually i found myself unable to create anything from scratch, i could only copy references.
I´m still halfway in the pit. I find creating trash very helpful. Like focusing on filling a page rather than creating good drawings.
Post it´s are a great tool for me aswell. I can scribble all i want without the dread of the fresh white sketchbook page. If I end up liking the drawing i´ll still stick it in my sketchbook, if not i toss it. Can recommend!
I used to watch MLP art streams to try giving me the creative itch to draw to reel me back in, but it's getting rarer for me to sit down and want to draw or make something. However, when the holidays roll over or it's someone's birthday it gives me a sense of purpose and idea what to create. I don't like Valentine's or Christmas as a whole, but I love doing stupid animal pun card illustrations for people I adore.
Here's MY personal secret to how I make sure I don't quit my art. As I'm still trying to get better with it... The whole idea of me being able to make anything with my own hands is enough to have me master that thought to the end.
Me when I have all three but power through with whimsy and childish, silly art that I don’t care looking good
I use to have a "Famous" qoute where i would always say "Art is Fun, not professional"
Sure, you can do it professionally, but doing it out of passion and love is always gonna be better and more fun!..... in my opinion
Working in games for nearly 2 years killed it for me BUT we are coming back SLOWLY
Its taken alot of reflecting, if art is even something i want as a career, and letting myself draw and create anything i want with 0 expectations or need to continue anything i dont like to even think about drawing digitally again in a neutral nontoxic way
Higly recommended jumpyjune's latest more sketchbooky videos same sentiment explored more!
For me, the issue is threefold:
1) If I start something, I *must* finish it, for two reasons. One, my perseverance takes over, and two, if I don't get it done I fear I will not have the inspiration to return.
2) I need to know that I did well from others, less of a "you're great" and more of a "you did it correct". If I put in too much work and persevere too much, that effect completely disappears and it just becomes pain and I refuse to see any benefit/happiness from it.
3) I feel that because I tend to be so niche, if I don't make it, nobody will.
Advice welcome ofc.
Actually a couple years ago I had inspiration to make a game, so I began drawing things for it, and I kept drawing things for about a year, but they one day it did start to lose its spark, I looked back and realized that, I never was going to make the game, I was just drawing monsters and lying to myself about the objective, so I quit, luckily now I've come back to it with a healthy objective of just having fun drawing, but I did kinda end up following the instructions of this video before it was released.
The reason I lost my first wave of passion for art was because of school.
I have zero clue about how it works elsewhere in the world, but art classes are part of standard education where I live and the way they ended up working is completely strange in hindsight: Every quarter or third of a year iirc, you are introduced to a new aspect of art and in turn are tasked to use a given method of making art to create a piece for yourself to then be graded.
Thing is, these lessons do not necessarily build on one another. One of these segments may lay out the fundamentals, like basic perspective, shading methods with a pencil or some part of color theory. But right alongside and in between these, we also had just about every niche and medium under the sun thrown at us. So one project might be done with watercolor, the next is drawing a mirrored version of a photographed face. One segment might be using accrylic and the very next uses clay.
Zero clue how I ever somewhat decently kept up with all of that, because I am a perfectionist and *I never learned how to sketch* ! So I eventually ended up, on more than one occassion, with the absurd stack of perfectionism, a lack of a proper preparation phase, a medium with permanent marks, an obscure medium that I have zero experience in (seriously, have you ever even thought about etching your drawing into a metal plate with acid?), the pressure of the grading system, the peer pressure of every other student working in the same room or even at the same table, as well as an externally imposed time limit. The fact this was a recipe for disaster was obvious and it just left me burnt out from art for several years.
What has gotten me back into it now has been a growing want to just try it for myself, starting back at zero, back at the fundamentals, and actually figuring out how and why any given mark you make to get to a finished drawing works.
It's strange looking around my room and finding the products of a time, in which I hadn't even properly realized I had a passion for art, well outpace my understanding of how you'd even achieve the thing I'm looking at and remember making under high pressure, late at night. But at the same time, I also know that I can make it back to that point in terms of skill and there is no reason I wouldn't be able to eventually go beyond it as well. I now have the time and freedom to do so after all.
Yeah it is fun!
you have healed me 😔
yeah, been there...
I literally have lost a large portion of my imagination due to my inability to draw well. Luckily, I supplemented it by writing stories. I would recommend it, works decently well if you wanna get into it
I think I'm going through this right now. It might have started when I started working two jobs, one day shift & one overnight shift at another. It left me too exhausted to draw in any way & I hate it, I want my spark back.
I got bored of it, putting it off and not feeling it anymore. I took about a year off and got back into it again. I also took a stab at 3D printing, turns out I like it tho thats on the back burner for now as unfinished products literally take up space in your house.
- Naruto: I'm gonna have ramen today
- Kurama:
No, but probably because I do the things that you say. I don’t digitally paint unless I have an idea. If I bored I’ll try a new character, or art style, or shading technique. I don’t strive for perfection. Like last week. I forgot to put in the ground in my art piece. Still posted it. Still oh well I still like it. I make so much trash. I just have so many notebooks to draw whatever comes to mind, and hey, maybe some of it is posted. I write, I sketch, I digitally paint, I go to the gym, I cook. I just do fun things. Art is fun. Expect for actual painting. That too terrifying.
Depression has lead into my protectionist. I can't draw as good as I use to and that kills any motivation to get back into it.
"Art will sneak into your life like a covert art ferret" bruh. I've been called out. That ferret always finds me, and it's why I consider myself an artist, because I simply can't put it down forever. XD
The thing that makes me hate art the most is digital art, to be honest. Drawing Tablet, vector art, that kind of stuff. idk what it is, but it's the one set of mediums I just can not seem to comprehend, no matter how hard I try. I ended up moving into Pixel Art because that's more fun for me and I can actually share it. Maybe I just need to get copic markers or something too, because I really enjoy physically drawing, but I'm so bad at drawing digitally I feel depressed. Thus, I just don't do it. XD
I know no one's gonna be bothered to read my story, but I will still write it.
Even though I'm still a teen (when I wrote this comment, 2024) I am trying to make money from art by offering commissions, or just trying to build an audience before turning 18 and becoming an adult. And now I can't enjoy my life anymore, not even art. Everything feels forced, but I can't quit.
Basically, I'm now in a state where I can't enjoy my creations unless other people reply to it or like it. I only see its flaws, like: "Oh, I forgot to color this one part!" or "It looks too dull." or "The lines are too thin.". No matter how much effort or time I put into anything, I am not happy with it unless other people appreciate it.
And I tend to take rejections too seriously, regarding my horrible school trauma. Recently someone in one server I'm said that they wanted to do an art trade with "someone", and I said I could do it, but then they said "Only for people who go to my school." by which he meant "only the server mod" and I felt super miserable. Even now I'm still not completely recovered from this. But I don't blame them, because it's not their fault... it's my fault for offering my pathetic and horrible skills. I wanted to cooperate, but I completely forgot that I will never be worth enough for that.
But I don't wanna quit for several reasons:
1. I want to turn art into a second income when I grow up, while my future band (I want to form a band when I turn 18) will be my first income.
2. People who follow me will be mad at me for quitting all of a sudden, and torment me with hate comments, saying things like: "We waited 4 years for another video/art piece! Hurry up or we will hack you!!"
3. I came too far to stop. 500 and something subs, 100 000 views on my most popular video....I can't quit.
And other reasons.
So that's what I have to say. If any of you read this to the end, thanks for being so patient. I know probably no one is supportive enough to read this, so if you are, thank you! I'm glad at least someone cares about me or what I do.
And also CrownePrince, if you're reading this (which I doubt), thanks for the other tips. I hope they will work.
-MiniLopkaStudios, 2024
18 can be a really rough time, because it's when society expects you to figure out what you want to do for money. So, you might just be stressed because of all the changes from that, expectations to figure out who you're going to be, etc. I get the feeling just by reading this that you'll be fine. Rejections are *always* hard, but if you keep doing music and art anyway then you'll survive.
I would call myself an animator rather than an artist so I don't know how much of the video is relevant to me (and I am pretty sure I have ADHD so I have an overall issue with things i can find fun) so I am not sure if I should comment this .
Having said that, I don't really recall a time when I enjoyed animating or the few times I made digital art, I find it to be a boring and monotonous process. The only reason I keep going is because I can see the final product coming together as I continue moving on in the project.
Another thing that is not directly mentioned is that I WANT to sell my art/work in the industry so I need to keep doing the boring studies in order to improve my skills so I can reach such a level.
I don't think there are any practical solutions to my problems, I just wanted to give my thoughts.
Also having a username of "Artrix" and then seeing the brand of those markers was a bit of surprising
I am currently in the same predicament, I am focusing on 3d stuff instead at the moment, I am doing at least some good progress so far which is a good ego boost.
I'm halfway through my senior year of art school, and the burnout has been hitting HARD. I can't imagine choosing a different career, but its gotten to the point where it feels like the work I have to do is getting in the way of EVEN MORE work I have to do. I don't know if I can even do anything to fix it other than trudge along until I graduate and I can do things for myself again. Really hoping things get better after.
Also, do you have any advice for what to do when looking for jobs in animation right after graduation?
Part of the trick is *finding* the jobs. Don't aim for something at Disney or Dreamworks or any other famous name. If you want that you can work toward it and try to get in, but you're going to have a way better time looking for positions at small graphic design, marketing, video editing, or video game businesses. Most of them will be probably less than 25 employees. In fact sometimes the job postings won't even be purely "animation" but you can make animation part of the thing you do there.
I don't actually dislike drawing, I am genuinely so out of ideas the more I draw
When you said "selling art" does that mean commissions or free lance storyboarding?
Both. Anything that involves selling your creative output or time.
Don't eat the pipefoxes 😢😢😢
for some strange reason my goofy ass didn't make the connection that the "don't date your art" video I watched a while back and the recent pipefoxes came from the same channel...until I saw you draw pipefoxes in this video
Im at the pit for some reason. But i don't hate art.
Got a Bluesky? I would like to share this as a reblog.
Here: bsky.app/profile/crowneprince.bsky.social/post/3lc6golipyk2u
When are you gonna talk about that hazbin hotel music video from verbalase? Seems really juicy!
I think one thing I'd say is, don't care too much about rules. A lot of times art can be obviously wrong in terms of professionism, but if it works, it doesn't really matter how many mistakes there is in the art.
Sometimes, it's necessary that things are correct, for example when preparing for print it matters that the file is in CMYK, the bleeding is set properly, the white ink is trapped under other ink, etc., but when comes to art style, if something can't be spotted at a glance, or if it doesn't affect the message being told, well, let it pass.
And at the same time, maybe be more open in how art should or should not be done in a certain way to make the community more healthy. Artists shouldn't rely on community feedback, but it should be obvious that nobody can straight up ignore it, so a healthy community still helps.
Im burnt out
I have 3 out of 4…. Apparently my art is not really worth selling… 😢
See, you skirt _right_ around the very problem that I suffer from, which is that art _is_ woven into my being, I _can't_ escape it, and I _want_ to hard quit, because it is a miserable thing for me, no matter what I learn, no matter what I practice, no matter the reason I do it. What then?
Hard to answer that without knowing someone well enough to know what else might be going (or not going) on in their life. I find our brains can't easily "stop doing" something by sheer willpower; it helps to overwrite the thing you want to stop with a replacement. So - seek out an activity to do other than the art.
And my other response is: therapy. Always feels like a cop out to say that, but if it's an option you can specifically say you want to work on not making so much art. They'll guide you through it.
@@CrownePrince Ah, that assumes I do _way_ more art than I actually do. From that perspective, I've actually "hard quit" relatively effectively. I have plenty of other creative outlets. But it just never stops niggling at me. "Pursue that idea for a drawing," it says; "Maybe if you try a new approach, this time you'll find the secret that makes it fun."
also why am I unable to see what I type here in the comments anymore? wtf youtube!
I'm gonna make more trash
I would assume AI killed many people's art desire. Why even bother if a computer can do better in seconds than what you can do in hours or days
Why draw at all when there will always be another human who is "better" than you? Though what you say is true, it's also skewed heavily towards people who wanted to make a career out of art, since generated images are most disruptive in places where $ profit is more important than anything else. If you're just drawing for fun, it's probably more about the activity than it is about pushing a button and choosing a result.
@@CrownePrince I get what you mean and yeah drawing for fun will always be a thing.
But for those who only want the result and don't care about the process there's no reason not to go with AI.
It's sad for all artists especially those who want to make a living with it but it's true unfortunately :(
Everyone who saw this in under 1 hour
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"Again"? That's not helpful for me, how do get it to be fun for me *in the first place?*
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Alarm
Why draw when you can always just do AI art instead lol!