Dealing With Artist’s Block

Every artist in the universe has gone through it, no matter their medium. It’s a little easier for those of us who practice multiple art forms — if you’re stuck on one, go to another —, but even when doing that, we’re always running from the next blockage.

Most people say, ‘Just work through it.’

In my experience, working through it makes it worse, and worse and worse, until it’s so bad, you freeze in front of the page or canvas. The slight drizzling you had becomes a drought. If you attempt to force yourself any more, you will become drier and drier.

This is why many artists need to take breaks from working, until inspiration hits, and we’re reading their next novel or listening to their next album… years later.

Having a block like this will not only take a toll on your work, but it will also take a toll on your confidence.

This is why I’m here to tell you, beseech you, to not let it get that bad. Instead, take a break and go somewhere, or read, or surf YouTube, do something and do anything, to help inspire your work. 

Doing multiple activities to help inspire will fuel creativity until your block is gone.

Conquering, and regaining your ability to create, will only happen when you allow yourself to be inspired. We are taught to work. We are not taught to be inspired. We are not taught to be inspired, not even when we create because we are, in fact, inspired.

Creativity will only overcome you once you find what you want to create. Sitting in your office, staring at a blank page, will not show you what to write. Standing in your studio, staring at a blank canvas, will not show you what to paint. You, actively looking — and actively experiencing life —, can, and will… as long as you allow yourself to.

Being open to what your artful mind wants to create, rather than your logical mind, is another factor behind whether you will become stuck or not.

If one part of you wants to create one thing, and another part of you wants to create something completely different, both parts of your mind will be competing for what they want you to make. When this happens, taking a break from work in order to explore the world around you, will lead you back to what your creativity wants to create, no matter how difficult the current task may seem. Taking a break to explore the world around you, even if it’s just people-watching at your local café, will help what your logical mind wants to do, and what your creative mind wants to do, converge.

Both parts will come to an agreement, and you will be able to continue your project.

There is no shame in taking breaks. Sometimes, people need to take breaks in order to keep going.

You won’t be able to make anything if you’re not absorbing the world around you. All artists, no matter what medium, use art to dissect and discuss the world around them. If you’re not absorbing the world, you will have nothing to create.

Taking space, and letting your work sit, whether finished or not, will allow you to come back to it with fresh eyes later. Your mind will be rested, and filled with ideas of how to finish what you started, or edit what is finished. Allowing this break will allow your mind to digest your creation, so you can come back to it and understand who you are, and where your mind was, during production of some or all. This digestion time helps guard against blockages because, if you go at making a project for too long, your brain will run out of what it wants to create. Once you run out of ideas, you will need a refresh to get back to what you love to do.

If you force yourself to work through this digestion period, your work will look and feel forced. Pieces of the puzzle you’re building will feel as though they were forced to fit in the wrong spots.

No matter whether you’re in a block, or are trying to avoid one, creation is all about being inspired to create. We’re all inspired for different reasons, and we all have different mediums we love to explore for different reasons, but there is one thing we’ve all experienced: the artist’s block.

There are ways to avoid it, and there are ways to live with it. Both come with the need to absorb life and live.

As long as we’re constantly searching for inspiration, and allowing ourselves to live past closed office doors, we will continue to be able to do what we love to do.