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secret admirer · 1mo

Hii do you have any tips to stay motivated to keep doing art? Like do you ever feel like you’re in a slump, if so, how do you get out of it? I love your art so much btw

oh anon i know the feeling all too well ;; i guess the short answer is i like to imagine what my art COULD look like, whether it be a specific piece, a technique/aspect i want to improve on, etc. and that's what motivates me to keep working towards it?

long answer is i've had many slumps over the years, big and small, and i think my motivation depends on where i am in my art journey, and what type of slump it is (skills, ideas, etc)

for skills, it's taken me a long time and lots of re-wiring my brain to realize this but, noticing things you want to get better at or change already means you're improving! getting ur eyes to recognize those things is half of it. in terms of motivation, like i said before, having an 'art goal' so to speak helps motivate me. but what that really means is having inspiration ig? whether it be your interests (making fanart lol), or having a few other artists you look up to, or both! (i have a folder in my gallery of art from artists i rly like and feel like i could learn from). wanting to improve your skills never really goes away, no matter how far you've come. but as those goals get more and more specific, they eventually feel less like a slump and more like a lil challenge (for me at least)!

in terms of general motivation, again, my biggest motivator has always been my hyperfixations lmao it's a joke (but also not really) that i wanted to go to art school specifically so that i could get better at drawing fanart; and it WORKED. but if what used to inspire you isn't rly doing it for you anymore, it might be good to take a rest and find some other inspirations. i didn't draw for like.. 2 and a half years (?) bc of thesis burnout lol (i have skz and a.c.e to thank for being the ones to pull me out of that) but in that time i did go back to basics and draw a bit of silly and cute non-fanart, which helped! but yeah,, sometimes taking a break or doing sth different is the best way to get through a slump if thats what u need

sorry for this essay of a response LOL but i hope it helps a at least a lil? i didn't even TOUCH on art style crisis or outward response slumps but yeah! it kinda just rly depends on what you want out of your art and slowly but surely moving towards it <3

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