CARMINE MAGAZINE

You’re sitting down in your studio, gathering art supplies and sipping a cup of coffee or delicious tea. You turn on some background noise, lock the door, pick up your pencil and freeze. There’s nothing there, your mind is completely blank and the muse has taken a vacation to Tahiti without leaving you a note. Fretting, you start drawing completely random things on tthe paper, but your heart is not in this and it looks terrible. An hour or so later you finally give up and stumble out of your studio defeated.

Don’t worry so much, you can beat this! As creative people, artists and writers we have all been there. Full of anxiety, knowing we have deadlines, bills to pay and we need to create something, anything. We have all gotten past it, but here are a few tips for you to refer to the next time the ugly Creator’s Block Monster has you in it’s grasp.

“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.” Robert Frost

• Read a new book, or an old favorite. I’ve been going to public libraries a lot lately and checking out a lot of books. They have been a mix of reference books for business ventures of mine and classics I’ve always meant to read. Think of the books you were supposed to read in high school (check out this list on Amazon for some ideas) or check out the art books section. I recently spotted a book called Art Marketing 101 which I plan to check out on my next visit. You never know where you might find inspiration.
• Watch a movie in a genre you normally wouldn’t love, but have always been interested in. I’ve always been fond of dystopian stories and science fiction, but it wasn’t until I finally saw Blade Runner earlier this year that my love for the genre really took off. It’s inspired me more than I can possibly tell you.
• Do a Sketch Request Night on your livejournal/myspace/facebook/twitter/blog/etc like Meghan Murphy of Kawaii Not. Every few Fridays she makes a post on livejournal asking people for drawing ideas, she allows herself to interpret the ideas in any way she sees fit and makes it a goal to finish as many of the requests in that one night. Then she posts the drawings a few days later.

“In times of dire need I turn to museums, literature, film, music, fashion. There is so much out there! For me that’s most important to remember; it seems ridiculous to mope and lament with all the rampant information waiting to be harvested.” Zoetica Ebb

• Try something new. Attempt a new medium, if you’re a watercolor artist try acrylics, if you do oils try colored pencils, if you like colored pencils try colored art pens-or monochrome ones for a real challenge. If your work is always colorful, marshmallow-like and happy (like Misha) try doing a piece that is dark, full of harsh angles and a bit Gorey in content (like Ravel Iglehart).
• Forbid yourself from doing anything creative. Give yourself a time limit like, “I will not do anything creative for the next three full days. I will be a dull, gray, boring shell of my former self and I will not let myself be vibrant whatsoever for the next three days.” Now, you may end up being a dull, gray and boring shell of yourself for those three days, but I’ve found that when I forbid myself from being creative that my mind tends to rebel and I come up with rather interesting pieces of work.
• Go for a walk, road trip or a massage. If you can manage it, do all three and more at the in the same weekend. Part of the reason you may be having trouble is that you’ve been stuck in a rut for months at a time. Too much stress and monotony can be terrible for your creative juices.

“I believe that the so-called ‘writing block’ is a product of some kind of disproportion between your standards and your performance … one should lower his standards until there is no felt threshold to go over in writing. It’s easy to write. You just shouldn’t have standards that inhibit you from writing … I can imagine a person beginning to feel he’s not able to write up to that standard he imagines the world has set for him. But to me that’s surrealistic. The only standard I can rationally have is the standard I’m meeting right now … You should be more willing to forgive yourself. It doesn’t make any difference if you are good or bad today. The assessment of the product is something that happens after you’e done it.” William Stafford

• Play with your kids, volunteer at a school or watch someone else’s kids. I’m not a huge fan of children myself, but even I can admit that drawing for an afternoon with a few Elementary school kids can give you quite a different perspective on things. You will either come away from that afternoon with a few new ideas for adorable monster drawings, or you’ll be so eager to break away from the children and hide in your studio that your block will be totally forgotten.
• Make comics for yourself on office supplies during downtime at work. We’ve all been there when a day at work that drags on, had a meeting that just. won’t. end., or one of those moments when you’re just sitting down in the office break room when that coworker walks in and spots you. You can either sentence yourself to listening to them talk about the great sale they got on toilet paper last month for the next 45 minutes of your lunch, or you can slip on your headphones, pull out a bunch of post-it notes and start drawing. Check out The Post-It Note Art Posse (PINAP) on Flickr and Savage Chickens for inspiration.
• Wreck This Journal by Keri Smith. Wreck This Journal is “for anyone who’s ever wished to, but had trouble starting, keeping, or finishing a journal or sketchbook … Wreck This Journal [is] an illustrated book that features a subversive collection of prompts, asking readers to muster up their best mistake- and mess-making abilities to fill the pages of the book (and destroy them).” I’ve heard nothing but praise for Keri Smith’s book, it’s supposed to be quite the fun project. Check out Stoopidgerl’s Flickr and the Wreck This Journal Flickr group to check out what other people have done with their journals. You can pick up a journal on Amazon.com for about $11 USD here is the link. I really look forward to snagging one of these for myself in the near future.

What are some of your favorite ways of combating Creator’s Block?

More articles by other people about getting over Creator’s (or Writer’s) Block:
How To Beat Writer’s Block by Gala Darling
Wikipedia entry for Writer’s Block with tips on defeating it.
Top 10 Tips for Overcoming Writer’s Block by Ginny Wiehardt, About.com