Don’t you just hate it when you’re sitting around, trying to think of what to focus on in your next artistic project, but you can’t seem to think of anything good or interesting to create? Here, I created this thread so that we can share some tips with each other on how to dig ourselves out of our artistic ruts. I’m kinda going through one right now, to be honest. :spin:
A lot of people usually recommend to take a break from our work or to try experimenting with a different style. What works for you?
^Makes sense. Also pretty convenient as there’s plenty of good artists to look at in this forum. Any particular artists that you find cool or inspiring?
Concept art is great for inspiration. It shows you how a scene could look, but not where the details are. It’s basically the missing blurry image in your head.
I often browse Helen Norcott’s Artstation Gallery. There’s a new concept art every day.
You could also look at the weekend contest. The topics were a bit too specific in the last weeks, but the current is steampunk, so it might be a good sign. It’s not as easy as looking at concept art, but if you convince yourself to submit an entry, you are forced to have a render within two days, which is a great motivation.
I usually see a lot of good art come from Pinterest when I go through Google search and stuff. Too bad it can get really anal about making an account to let you at least view the goddamn rest of the page. Want to see that interesting thing 3 pics down? Too bad, just gonna block the entire screen. Want to see related stuff? Too bad, fuck you unless you create an account. I want to look at pictures, not sign up for a bank account and withdraw a loan.
Why is this? Your brain eventually gets used to seeing things. If there’s a painting on the wall, you’ll stop seeing it after a few days - walking past it blindly.
When you remove everything, (After a few days) your brain desperately tries to fill in the gaps, and will start to generate new ideas.
Example:
I’m a game developer, I make games in my free time, and program medical simulations for work. I had completely run out of ideas for games at the end of last year. I took a two week vacation, whereby I did not touch a computer, did not see any art, software, or anything (I was hiking for much of the time). I had a notebook, and during that two weeks, wrote down and sketched out two new game ideas/stories/concept art.
I also find that reading books often inspires visual art, as your brain has to conjure up what it thinks things look like from concise descriptions.
Motivation is easily tricked. If you never get more done than 50%, set your goal much higher. I often plan to create a short tutorial video for things I learned. When I’m losing motivation at 50% I might have no video, but there is definitely a finished render, which is good enough :D.
What I do when I face that problem is to break it up into a bunch of simplified smaller steps and try to individually tackle those. I want to model a character? I break it up into concept designing, modeling, rigging, texturing, etc. and I ignore the rest until I finish the first step, then the second, and so on.
A large feast is only eaten one small bite at a time. It’s still going to be hard, but easier if you don’t try to take it down as a whole. Hope that advice helps and good luck to you.
