Every artist has heard of artblock. For those who don’t know, it’s basically writer’s block for
artists. When an artist feels like they can’t produce new work due to mental constraints. They
want to create, except it’s always lack of motivation or inspiration or something else that leaves
them staring at a blank page for hours and hours.
Talking from first hand experience, I was that one anime kid who knew how to draw and made it everyone’s business. No, this isn’t an invitation to remind me of what I was like in grade 6. Please delete that from your memory
permanently, thanks! Funny thing is I wasn’t that good at drawing in the first place. I was
immediately humbled when I signed up for an art class. My proportioning was abysmal, for one.
My lines were messy, I couldn’t paint to save my life, I pushed too hard on the pencil, I couldn’t
shade well, and it was overall a mess until I decided to spare myself some dignity and quit. It
wasn’t until this year I decided to suck it up and start drawing again.
Staring at a blank screen is bad, but brute forcing your way through it only to come up with
something half baked only makes you feel worse. Artblock isn’t the disappearance of your
creativity. It’s a mental “wall”, and self-deprecation only makes it worse. Beating yourself up over
not being able to create just drains your motivation and your mindset when it comes to creating.
Artblock is complicated. It’s hard putting my feelings into words, harder when it needs to be
done by a due date. I stared at a blinking cursor for 30 minutes trying to write this, so yeah,
definitely still something that I have to deal with on a daily basis.
Please go easy on yourself! I’m not a particularly great writer, nor am I a great artist. I guess part
of growing up for me was accepting the fact that I won’t ever be “the best” at anything, and that
it’s okay to just do something you enjoy for the sake of liking it. The first step to overcoming
artblock is acknowledging it rather than trying to brute force your way to a solution.
To all my artists out there, please go to sleep rather than staring at a blank piece of paper. It’s
not worth your time, and I know for a fact your combined sleep per week is in the single digits.
Take care of yourself please!
With love, Tarrence.
The Blue and White 