Artist Slump — How to Overcome It?

Being an artist is never easy, at least for me I can say that. Like every artist, I always try to improve my art, but I never get satisfaction from every piece I create. And often compare my style to others. I know it’s not healthy sometimes but that is how I push myself to be better. Comparing my work and recognizing my weakness is an effective way of improving. I am not always like this, being optimistic about the improvement I actually almost give up on this passion of mine.

Block and Slump the greatest enemy on an artist

Artistic block and slump are the same in nature they both hinder the creative ideas from flowing. Although for me, an artistic block is simpler, it’s the short-term lack of ideas and inspiration it’s perfectly normal to experience. While artist slump is a total lack of passion and motivation to do art and it could last for years. I experienced that’s why I know how hard to overcome it. There are lots of things that we have no control over like the flow of time or the constant change. Depression dragged me into a slump I have no control over it but things do happen for a reason.

The darkest time for me is when I lost my passion to create. I’ve let go of my dreams thinking that a mediocre artist like me shouldn’t be trying so hard. For years I have been constantly choosing to avoid making art. I have a choice but I’m too busy pitying myself instead of working on it. Looking back I realized that I have never been really proud of myself however, I’m glad that it’s over.

How to Overcome it

Sometimes we have to step back and ask ourselves if this is what we really want to do and want to be. I love what I’m doing, I love to draw and I want to be an artist and be at least good at one thing. And when that one presentation at University required us to present a part of ourselves I finally picked up my pencil. These are some of the things I did to slowly crawl out of the slump.

Set goals

I made a plan and set goals that I strictly follow, this is before the pandemic when we still have face-to-face classes. My goals are to make at least 3 sketches for one week. Schedules are tough as a college student but I still made time to open my sketch pad and doodle. Whether I do it at home after finishing my task or when listening to discussions, it also helped me focus.

Re-draw old creations

The pandemic happened, things are hard for everyone and we have to adapt to the sudden changes in our lives. While there are no classes I busied myself with re-creating my old drawings to see if there was really an improvement. I really enjoy it because I took that opportunity to explore my art style. To my surprise, I have improvements despite not creating anything for 2 years. I even started learning digital art using the drawing tablet that I got for my high school graduation.

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Give friends a free art

Lastly, I draw something for my friends. It may sound silly that I give free art but it’s still part of improving myself and my art. What I did is I asked some of my closest friends to give me characters that they want me to draw. It feels like someone is commissioning me to create art and I took it seriously and it help me improve my style and my coloring. I am now very comfortable using the drawing tablet and the application that I am using to draw.

You can beat it too

As of now, I am still practicing and I’m loving the visible improvements I see in my recent creation. I can now say I am out of the slump, it took me years but that’s okay better late than never. It was also thanks to the people who believed in me that I manage to overcome it. If you’re in an art slump, just remember to take your time, step back, look at the bigger picture and then decide. You can do it too.