Oh no, artist block! (pt 2)

My first post on the subject of the cursed writer's block was mostly about recognizing it. But just as important is the matter of dealing with it.

I have a whole book on the topic. The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron was something I picked up from the library in 2010 and later purchased, because I felt like the author really spoke to the woe of being a 'blocked creative.' I liked her ideas—though they definitely swung to the spiritual side (it is subtitled A Spiritual Path to Creativity) of things, she also laid out some concrete suggestions.

To grossly paraphrase, her block-beating strategy consists of:

1) Write three journal pages ('morning pages') of brain-dump every morning.

2) Once a week, go on an "Artist Date" that entails doing something you really enjoy, alone, that appeals to your inner child.

I wrote morning pages with decent regularity for a year and half but stopped during our wedding-planning phase last year after it was suggested (rightly so) that journaling when I'm that stressed out just ends in spiraling. So I'll endorse morning pages with a 'maybe.' But the Artist Date—that one's a keeper. I'll bet a lot of creative types already have these once in a while—you know, the times you take a trip to an aquarium or an antique shop or a museum, shopping for inspiration. But once a week? That might seem excessive, but when it comes down to it...why not?

Today I decided it was time to give ye olde Artist Date a try and took a two-hour drive to the Maryhill Museum in Washington, where I'd never actually been before. I found it funny that instead of the 'fine art,' the things I found most interesting and inspiring were the antique chess sets and the Théâtre de la Mode exhibit.


I spent almost an hour sitting with the little mannequins and sketching my favorite couture. Will that lead for more art-ideas for me? I'm not sure. But I did shake that irritable feeling I'd been having all week. And on the drive home, I found myself with a lot of unrelated, but free-flowing ideas: Oh, here's an idea for a story. Here's an idea for structuring my days better! Hey—maybe I should try a 24 hour comic!

Seeking out inspiring places and objects is a no-brainer for getting a creative boost. But it's not always feasible at the drop of a hat. It took me about a week to make it happen (I'd been meaning to go to the Maryhill for a while, truth be told!). So I'll end with a look at some of the more "immediate" solutions I've been trying which have helped me keep my daily blog from fizzling out:

• Bribing myself: "You can go to the gluten-free bakery if you take your sketchbook and promise to work."
• Being a hardass with myself: "You sit in that chair ,and you don't get to go to the gym or eat or shower before you produce something that doesn't suck."
• Drinking coffee and/or alcohol in an attempt to improve my mood (*not necessarily recommended)
  
• Looking through out sketchbooks for inspiration. Both of these had a history in old sketchbook scribbles.
• Heavily relying on Photoshop, where I can erase and redraw that line 50 times if I really want to.
• Alternatively, denying myself references and non-permanent drawing tools. Drawing with Sharpies.
• Doing redraws of old, less-than-stellar pieces. This has the bonus effect of boosting my confidence because...well, compare:
  

But that's all I have on the treatment schedule, and, at the end of the day, there are only so many old ideas to find and recycle. It would be nicer to stumble upon a cure. So will my Artist Date help lift me out of the slump? Stay tuned, I guess. But I am feeling better already!

Oh no, artist block! (pt 1)

So here's the thing... As much as I don't want to admit it, this past week-and-a-half I've been suffering from a nasty case of ARTIST BLOCK.

Most of the time, I try to pretend that creative blocks—whether for art or writing—do not exist. (There's no reason why they should exist, right? It's so easy to tell yourself 'it's all in my head'! ) But when I'm actively in the middle of one and trying every tactic I can think of to try to claw my way out, maybe it's better to address it head-on.

this illustration doesn't have to be good! I'm blocked, people!

As someone who writes as well as draws, I'll say artist block is different from writer's block. It's harder to identify the an art block—for me at least, there's none of that staring-at-the-blank-page that happens with writer's block. I know I can always put the pencil on the page and draw something.

It won't necessarily be something good. It almost certainly won't be something inspired.

In What It Is , Lynda Barry discusses how children experience creative blocks in their play. Reminiscing, she writes "No one stopped me from playing when I was alone, but there were times when I wasn't able to, though I wanted to—there were times when nothing played back." I know writers who describe their blocks as their characters "not talking" or "refusing to talk." For my artist blocks, I'll say "my lines are not cooperating."

But I'd never given it that much thought. I have trouble even telling when I am blocked—if I'm producing work basically every day, can I really be blocked? Well, here are some of the symptoms (outside of 'everything I draw looks like poop') that clued me in:

• Lack of new ideas
• Refusal to use the ideas that I have in reserve—if I draw those now, I'll just be unhappy with the results!
• Refusal to start anything "ambitious" (see above)
• Being super picky about things like which pencils and which sketchbooks I'll use. I can no longer abide by those No. 2s from Office Depot. If the paper's too thin, forget it!
• Wanting 50 photo references for everything I draw.
• General irritability. Which I pass off as PMS, but I come to realize is mostly frustration. (Ok, the PMS doesn't help)
• Reluctance to interact with other artists/creative types (to avoid thoughts of 'oh yeah, I could be doing much better.')

Just writing down that list (yesterday) was a good first step for me. I'm sure everyone experiences blocks differently, so it's important to get a handle on how to recognize your own. So, yes, I admit it—I'm blocked! And it's not ideal, but at least I know it's not permanent. And at least now I know what kind of animal I'm dealing with.

So what now? I have a few ideas. With the commitment of my daily tumblr, I've been making myself muddle through. Tune in tomorrow for part two of this post, where I share my devious treatment strategies...and post some old, embarrassing art to boot.

Illustration Friday: Intention

I think my art might be suffering a bit from me being sick for like a week, but I had this in mind for the prompt and wanted to make it happen anyway. FUN FACT: I drew this while lying in bed ;)

The line is from "Wrecking Ball," a song by Mother Mother, and the medium is sepia Micron pen with a touch of Photoshop.

March updates!

First and foremost, I redesigned my website and vastly improved my bio page. There's even a slightly blurry photo of me now. Hoo-ray!

Secondly—now that the month is over—I've compiled all my February Project pieces onto one page. I was overall pretty pleased with how that turned out. All fifteen pieces were hand-drawn with the same Pilot Fineliner pen, which I consider a victory. Click the image below to view the whole series:


One of the things I was interested in exploring with this project was how to marry my interests in art and writing outside the route I've always gone before—comics. A few of the quotes are pulled directly from stories I've written and others were made up on the spot. Though these pieces were inspired by my own characters, I tried to choose themes that were universal or at least relatable. It was interesting to see what resonated with people. There were several fans of the tacos!

Thirdly, the all-women-contributors issue of The Medulla Review just came out and I've got a piece of flash fiction in it. Check it out!