[GFX] Aristic Block

[Six]

You know how writer's experience writer's block? What about artists?

I feel like I've been in a GFX slump for the longest and I'm not sure if it's even a block or just a general mindset towards it. BUT. I do feel the "craving" to make GFX still, just nothing I make comes out the way I want it to.

How do you guys get out of your creativity slump? Do you ditch your whole resource folder and start from scratch or do you have any other tips?

 

[Miko]

There's a few different things, I guess it depends on what I'm feeling in the moment.

Sometimes I feel like I want to create something, but when I sit down to draw or do something GFX related I just sit there and make something I'm just not feeling or really hate. This is, of course, the 'block' - but I think it's more that I'm just feeling artsy about something in the wrong area. So if GFX isn't working I'll try drawing, and if that doesn't work I'll try writing or something else until I've exhausted all the areas I think I'm 'feeling' for that moment.

Sometimes I need inspiration. Music works, or I'll look at creative art. For some reason watching tattoo shows always makes me feel inspired too, despite having no real interest in the hobby as an artist (or for someone who has no tattoos). Sometimes all it takes is seeing one image/scene and I've got something I want to work with and know where to go from there. Pinterest is a great source of inspiration in my experience, but too often I get distracted & sucked into something else completely unrelated and then the next thing I know I'm planning an imaginary birthday... so you know... disclaimer.

Cleaning/organizing... *sigh* I hate cleaning & organizing mostly because I don't want to prioritize it in what free time I do have, but when I'm actively cleaning out something it makes me It's a bit cheesy, but I like to think it's also my way of cleaning out cobwebs in my brain too. Sometimes my brain just needs a scrub, and when I sit down after organizing something I feel more inclined to just make something & really enjoy it.

Sometimes If I need to make something specific (like for a contest or something) and I'm struggling really hard I find that stepping back & revisiting later is almost always the best thing to do. I've got some stuff I've worked on 5-10 minutes at a time that I've worked on over the span of a few days/weeks. Sometimes I just need to scrap the idea all together & make something new.

Lastly (at least for what I can remember in the moment) is just consider what I'm working with. If I'm drawing - can my pencil be different/better? If I'm on paper should I work with a pen? Is the background I'm working on in my GFX tag the wrong vibe? Can my image/text be better to influence the overall piece? Sometimes just changing something opens up the door for new possibilities & ups my desire to make it into something.



Starting from scratch is always a good idea too! But never my resources folder. If anything adding more to it helps. Not being able to find what I know I have/want is seriously irritating. I hope you can get out of your slump soon, and maybe I can try some new ideas from someone else who tries something differently!

 

[Six]

Starting from scratch is always a good idea too! But never my resources folder. If anything adding more to it helps. Not being able to find what I know I have/want is seriously irritating.

This alone really jumps out to me. Over the past couple of years a lot of people made this comment to me. As their resource folder is holy. But... Even though I've enjoyed the pieces I've made over the years..... A couple of years ago, I wanna say at least 5 years or so, I lost my resource folder. After that I just gathered things in bulk and never really looked into the resources I actually liked, or downloaded things I would enjoy using. It all feels like "buffer" so that my PS folder doesn't seem empty. I think with that happening, I started losing interest/having a hard time creating things I really enjoyed.

I used to be big into fonts as well, and had so many fonts installed. I'd always love to combine different ones, and now it's just "I'll make whatever standard fonts I have work. I think this also stems from losing a resource folder and never really putting in the effort to find actual things I fully enjoy using.

That plus the decline in signature/gfx requests and events really put me in some sort of mindset.

I think... instead of just full on deleting my current PS folder, I should just sort through it, and delete what I really won't use. That, or I'll just start over and start looking for things I'd probably really enjoy working with.

Thanks for the pointers!