Discussion about artist's block

Hello all!

I’ve been using blender for a few years now, on and off. For about two years now, I’ve had an artist’s block. Or more like, I’m doubting myself. That doubt creates the block, so I’m not being patient with myself. The lack of patience makes me frustrated fast when I’m creating something in blender and it also prevents me from learning. At least learning in a good pace.

Have any of you had a similar problem? If so, how did you overcome it?

I would like to work in the video game industry as an artist someday but the self-doubt I have has made that dream come to an halt as well.

Let’s have a helpful discussion, to help others overcome the doubt as well if more people have the same problem. :slight_smile:

Hi Albelius,

I figure, at least for writing as a hobby, I do better when there’s less pressure.
So you could focus on a genre you know well, and/or where super-detailed background research isn’t the main part.

Analyzing and understanding the “how” and “why” behind the art you love could bring inspiration.
This is what I did for writing, and now, as long as I have characters to use, writing is sometimes both fun and automatic for me!

I’m not a pro-game-developer/artist,
but I heard indie games can be a stepping stone.

Indie game sites where you can submit 3D assets, games and demos:
itch.io <–that’s the website
gamejolt.com
there’s more sites out there.

They have forums/communities, too.
Networking is key!
(at least outside of gaming industry; I’m no pro-game-maker. Yet…?)

I’ve seen artistic looking games
(e.g. Hyper Light Drifter. Uh, that’s on Steam, which has indie games, too.)

Good luck!

Boy, it’s been a while since I posted here.

One very useful tip someone else gave me was that when you’re stuck, aim for quantity over quality. Just try to pump out anything that comes to mind, regardless of if it looks good or not. Better to have a whole bunch of mediocre works and a lot of experience learned from drawing out various things outside of your comfort zone rather than having only a few decent looking works and no experience.

Keep going until you eventually find something you like, then work with that and start to focus on quality.

Thanks you for your replies! :slight_smile:

I may put too much pressure for myself AND try to do things which require a lot of learning. So focusing on something I already have experience and knowledge could do the trick for the moment. Thanks for the links as well sdhy!

Have to admit, one of my problems (I guess the majority suffer from it, at least once during their artistic life) is trying to be too perfect. So I should push myself finish the works I do, without thinking “IT NEEDS TO BE PERFECT!”

I’ve managed to get my drawing and writing back on at least, partly thanks to tabletop role-playing with my friends. It’s fun to write the stories their characters have done and draw the non-player characters they meet.

For the last month, I’ve been trying to build a warehouse as a background to an animation I have planned… and not getting very far… until last night. All my efforts until then were on trying to solve a simple problem—well, seemingly simple, anyway—how to build a simple building, but to fulfill the vision I have in my head. Without going into a lot of detail, last night I decided to ignore one of those simple problems (how to get the mortar to look photo-realistic) and go with a no-mortar wall. Within a very short time (a couple of hours) I’d surpassed all the work I’d done during the previous four weeks and suddenly I feel like an artist again.

So, what I’m saying is (more or less) remove a variable and see where that leads. You might find yourself thinking outside the box and, even if it leads to nothing, it’s a lot more fun than questioning yourself and your art.

You say, “self doubt.” What, exactly, is it that you “doubt?”

There is a common misconception that “art,” of any sort at all, “is ‘easy.’” Or, that it would be, “if only you were <<something that you think that you are not>>.” If only. If only. If only. “Bah!” :cool:

“Creating something” is always an uncertain process in the sense that you don’t know exactly where you will wind up until you get there. But you should simply approach the process with that expectation. Make some step, forward or backward or sideways, every day.

Charles M. Schulz created 17,897 Peanuts comic strips, one at a time, by hand. He did it with self-discipline: every day at about the same time, sitting down with a little notepad and doodling. Focusing on that. Some days, no ideas would come. Some days, they came in a torrent. But that sacrosanct period of time, every day, was reserved for creating comic strips.

Another trick that I frequently use is to have a daily diary – literally, a loose-leaf notebook and a number-two pencil, which I call my “running log.” What I’m thinking about. If I don’t know how to do something, write it down. Thoughts. Plans. Anything at all. If I “doubt” something, I sit down and write in the running log: what I think the hold-up is, free-thinking of what I could do, and so on. All in pencil, all by hand. And, I never tear pages out; never throw them away.

For any project, I also try to project-manage myself: what is the timeline? What are the depenencies? How can I make the most efficient use of time and keep my options open? What is the task punch-list? And so on.

Creativity is a process. That process can be managed.

I work on 3 or 4 projects at a time. also just walking away helps some times… …drink a coffee, read a book, go to the shops and come back later.
…at the moment i’m procrastinating, when I should be modeling. that’s my biggest downfall :stuck_out_tongue:

p.s.
This gets hinted at all the time on the blender podcast; https://cloud.blender.org/blog/blender-institute-podcast-001.
I find listening to other artists struggling with completing their tasks helps to alleviate the anxiety and somehow I don’t feel frustrated anymore.

turns out even the pro’s have the odd week where nothing seems to go their way!

self doubt is a common problem that comes to all artist when thy begin , and see a bunch of talented artist a head ,thy say in every project ,the first step is the hardest, and what comes after it, is easy,
all artist fear of making things because at the beginning you still have alot of things to do, which makes us think like, oh there are lots of thing that i need to do, there are so many i must do, i dont have time for all of this, can i do all of this ,thats why i make the first step and look to what still i need to do, and by the time, i figured that there is alot to do - what i already did
the thing is, look to what makes you self doubt, and use it to give the power and say, if thy did it thin i can,
thats what i do, as i still trying to become a beater realistic render in blender at the moment :slight_smile: