How do you deal with creative burnout?

[ChunkOfWax]

Maybe I'm using the term burnout pretty loosely here, but these last few weeks have been very difficult for me creatively. I got this weird thing going on where, from the outside looking in, all my "symptoms" totally and obviously look like minor burnout. But to me, it doesn't feel so obvious, and a voice in my head is telling me, "nah, you just need to keep trying until something clicks" and then it never does.

It hasn't been until recently that I've admitted to myself that I'm probably a little burnt out. Which sucks! Cause just a few weeks ago, I felt good. I've been pretty creatively dry and tired these past several months, but I was starting to enter a better place this past July. But suddenly, everything's come to a halt. I can hardly bring myself to work on anything, and when I do, I'm always unhappy with the results. I got tons of ideas bouncing around in my head, but I've been lacking the drive to actually follow through on anything.

And looking at where I am now compared to years past, my overall pace has just been progressively slowing waaaay down recently. I look at old stuff I made and how often I was able to consistently make stuff, and idk how I did it!! I love art and what I do, but it all just seems so exhausting sometimes. Whenever I'm not drawing/writing/etc., I'm always thinking about what I could be doing instead. I'm almost constantly looking for inspiration in everything, I can't help it. And I'll be in that state for so long that I just start to get frustrated. I get so tired with idea of doing something that I just want to hurry up and start doing. But once I finally sit my ass down at my desk, I just wish I was laying down in bed instead. (realizing as I'm typing this that maybe i should really start looking into getting diagnosed for adhd but that's for another day lmao)

Been trying to take things slower these past few days and try not so hard to be productive. Recent IRL stuff has been demanding most of my attention lately, which luckily gives me an excuse to not be so obsessive about working on stuff. But I just thought I'd spitball my own experiences here and see if anyone else maybe has some thoughts or experiences to share... :)

 

[Luvveous]

You just need to relax, take a day without thinking about any creative stuff and don't doubt yourself for not making it so regularly. The rest is the part of the progress

 

[Sonachine69]

Been trying to take things slower these past few days and try not so hard to be productive. Recent IRL stuff has been demanding most of my attention lately, which luckily gives me an excuse to not be so obsessive about working on stuff. But I just thought I'd spitball my own experiences here and see if anyone else maybe has some thoughts or experiences to share... :)

Oh god, reading your text was lowkey scary, because It's like looking in the mirror. Everything you wrote describes my current state and situation perfectly, like, uncanny.

Last year was the most productive year for my art; I did a lot of cool stuff, and I was full of natural drive to do more and more. I had a pretty big scope of commissioned work to do and had spent about 4 months in working hell, after which I endured a very painful burnout that disturbed me until January of this year. So far, this year was not completely fruitless for me, I managed to do a few projects I'm not too critical about, and I feel like I got generally better at what I do.

But taking everything I wrote before, I never ever in my life felt so miserable doing art, never it was so hard to start a project, and never I felt so unconfident near finishing a piece. Although recovered from the burnout, I still can't feel that natural drive I felt before, and strict motivation is the only tool I use now to move through the creation process. My love for the craft hasn't gone anywhere, and I'm ecstatic talking about stuff that I do, but actually doing art started to demand too much motivation, which is so unusual to me.

It's a feeling of a completely empty tank. My mind is full of ideas, but I'm too overwhelmed to move ahead.

When I took some time out this month, I just realized how much my approach to art changed during these years. When I started working more professionally, I incorporated a very strict and disciplined working routine trying to boost my productivity, and now I'm feeling how badly it backfired. Additionally, I noticed that I lost the connection to a lot of themes and art things that I was interested in before. I came to terms with my feeling of pathological perfectionism and decided to work on it. I realized how deeply isolated I feel as an artist, so that's something I will try to fix too (and this forum helps me a lot hehe, ty guys<3). This little break I took really helped me so far, and without it, I would never learned these things I just described. My struggle is not over, far from it, but at least now I know the root of the evil and can stop hitting the air, focusing on one thing at a time.

Although I'm in no position to give you any advice, I just want to ask you not to feel guilty or doubtful in this dire time. You are an artist, and your productivity doesn't make you more or less of an artist. You are a living person, dealing with a bunch of random stuff that surely affects your art productivity, or just productivity in general. Stop, distance yourself from your craft, and spend some time in peace. Don't need to forcefully seek inspiration in everything, instead reflect on your art journey, and let yourself be passive for a moment. Treat yourself with respect and care; it will not solve all of your problems, but dealing with doubts and burnout is so far easier in this setting.

We are all in this together, and we will win for sure
<3

 

[ChunkOfWax]

Oh god, reading your text was lowkey scary, because It's like looking in the mirror. Everything you wrote describes my current state and situation perfectly, like, uncanny.

Last year was the most productive year for my art; I did a lot of cool stuff, and I was full of natural drive to do more and more. I had a pretty big scope of commissioned work to do and had spent about 4 months in working hell, after which I endured a very painful burnout that disturbed me until January of this year. So far, this year was not completely fruitless for me, I managed to do a few projects I'm not too critical about, and I feel like I got generally better at what I do.

But taking everything I wrote before, I never ever in my life felt so miserable doing art, never it was so hard to start a project, and never I felt so unconfident near finishing a piece. Although recovered from the burnout, I still can't feel that natural drive I felt before, and strict motivation is the only tool I use now to move through the creation process. My love for the craft hasn't gone anywhere, and I'm ecstatic talking about stuff that I do, but actually doing art started to demand too much motivation, which is so unusual to me.

It's a feeling of a completely empty tank. My mind is full of ideas, but I'm too overwhelmed to move ahead.

When I took some time out this month, I just realized how much my approach to art changed during these years. When I started working more professionally, I incorporated a very strict and disciplined working routine trying to boost my productivity, and now I'm feeling how badly it backfired. Additionally, I noticed that I lost the connection to a lot of themes and art things that I was interested in before. I came to terms with my feeling of pathological perfectionism and decided to work on it. I realized how deeply isolated I feel as an artist, so that's something I will try to fix too (and this forum helps me a lot hehe, ty guys<3). This little break I took really helped me so far, and without it, I would never learned these things I just described. My struggle is not over, far from it, but at least now I know the root of the evil and can stop hitting the air, focusing on one thing at a time.

Although I'm in no position to give you any advice, I just want to ask you not to feel guilty or doubtful in this dire time. You are an artist, and your productivity doesn't make you more or less of an artist. You are a living person, dealing with a bunch of random stuff that surely affects your art productivity, or just productivity in general. Stop, distance yourself from your craft, and spend some time in peace. Don't need to forcefully seek inspiration in everything, instead reflect on your art journey, and let yourself be passive for a moment. Treat yourself with respect and care; it will not solve all of your problems, but dealing with doubts and burnout is so far easier in this setting.

We are all in this together, and we will win for sure
<3

Thank you for sharing your own experience, and for all the kind words :)

I think what you said about how committing to working more professionally and how it affected you is very pertinent. I forgot where I read this, but I read something from some well-known writer, that most artists fit into one of two categories. You have the "passionate types", who are in it just for the love of it. But if you're gonna commit to this approach, you have to be cool with potentially being limited in someways. As in, exclusively having it be a hobby or not having much of an audience for what you make. However, there's also the "productive types", who are just committed to being productive and having the most output. But if you're gonna have that approach, you have to be okay with disconnecting your emotions from it, and be okay with treating it like work. And in reality, trying to be both of these is very, very difficult. There's always gonna be a little give and take. So it makes sense that working under such a strict routine would have the effect it did on you. And I think a similar thing is probably happening to me too. I feel like the difference between these two "types" of artists is something I've recognized since the beginning, even if I haven't exactly been able to put into words, so I've always been striving to be that person who can be both things, which can definitely take a toll! It makes sense that someone would falter under that kind of pressure.

Again, thank you for sharing. I feel like just being able to talk about this and put everything into words has definitely already helped. I'm more okay with taking some time away. Again, thank you for the kind words too :)

 

[Lesdeux]

I know I can really only speak for myself here but personally I enjoy having more than one medium I like to be creative in. It helps me keep myself refreshed on one type while I let it rest in the back of my mind while I work on a completely different thing. Much like crop rotation keeps the soil fresh, this method keeps my creative drive and mind pretty well upkept. If I notice I'm lacking or starting to feel trapped in say, drawing, I move to something else. Poetry, 3D stuff, writing backstory for my ideas, anything so that I can take a break while still actively producing something creative. That way I don't feel like I'm wasting any time AND my creative drive for what is burnt out is given a proper break. Though I sometimes spend too long on one thing and neglect the others, whoops.

Like I said though, I speak for myself. In my mind each one of these things takes up a different type of creativity, so it easily allows for me to do this. I don't know if this way to go about it will work for others. I recognize not everyone even has the time to fully learn multiple creative outlets. You could try it out to see if it works! Learning new things is fun!

 

[bennydryl]

That's an interesting philosophy with the two types of artists...

From my understanding, there can be struck a healthy balance between the two, and I think the best artists find this balance. The 80-20 rule (of thumb) I think is good in this situation.

If you aren't familiar:
It takes 20 percent of the effort to get your project to where you are 80 percent happy with it. Then getting that last 19.99 percent will take 80 percent of your effort. (You will never be 100 percent happy with your work)

The trick, in my opinion, is to find a way to get to 90 percent and then just send it. I'm still trying to work on this. I'm better at it with visual art than music, which I think is why I actually have finished visual art pieces lol

But also, never feel ashamed to take breaks. Sometimes I don't do something for months. But I always come back and when I do I feel so fresh

 

[Lesdeux]

One of the best lessons I learned from my college professor was that your personal creations aren't finished when it's fully colored/shaded/rendered or whatever, it's finished when you say it is. That really helped me recontextualize my relationship with my own pieces. I don't always have to color in something, I don't even have to get passed the sketch if I don't want to. It allows me to give 100% to something before it falls out of favor.

 

[ChunkOfWax]

That's an interesting philosophy with the two types of artists...

From my understanding, there can be struck a healthy balance between the two, and I think the best artists find this balance. The 80-20 rule (of thumb) I think is good in this situation.

If you aren't familiar:
It takes 20 percent of the effort to get your project to where you are 80 percent happy with it. Then getting that last 19.99 percent will take 80 percent of your effort. (You will never be 100 percent happy with your work)

The trick, in my opinion, is to find a way to get to 90 percent and then just send it. I'm still trying to work on this. I'm better at it with visual art than music, which I think is why I actually have finished visual art pieces lol

But also, never feel ashamed to take breaks. Sometimes I don't do something for months. But I always come back and when I do I feel so fresh

I haven't heard of the 80/20 rule until now, but it's something I'll definitely keep in mind. I'm trying to recall times where maybe that was relevant to me, and I think I can think of a few times. Thankfully, I think I have a good intuitive sense for when things are "right", so I try my best to not toil away at that last 20%. I do falter sometimes though, but It's happened before where I'll poke at something for a bit, and it'll be one little thing or detail that took very little effort to add that ties it all together. That being said though, I think the part that I struggle with sometimes is just getting started. Getting started, getting the idea down, and just committing may only take 20% out of the total effort required, but I find that it can sometimes feel like much more than 20% lol. It's almost certainly not that way in reality! But it just feels that way sometimes. I'm figuring it out though. Like I mentioned before, I think trying to find that balance between passion and productivity as an artist means you gotta recognize your faults and learn to work with yourself. And I like to think as every project, finished or not, as a exercise in getting better at that :) Thank you for the advice!!

One of the best lessons I learned from my college professor was that your personal creations aren't finished when it's fully colored/shaded/rendered or whatever, it's finished when you say it is. That really helped me recontextualize my relationship with my own pieces. I don't always have to color in something, I don't even have to get passed the sketch if I don't want to. It allows me to give 100% to something before it falls out of favor.

Absolutely. I think something that's really contributed to my burnout lately is feeling pressured to render everything in a drawing. It's more apparent in slightly older pieces, but I like think that part of what makes my style unique is how I render things. But I think, overtime, I was trying too hard to cater to what I thought set me apart, so I felt this pressure to apply that rendering and style to everything I did. I had a very all-or-nothing attitude. Which meant that everything needed to be fully colored, with colored lineart, cell shading inside the lines, whole-ass lighting pass over the whole thing, half-tone pattern, posterization, etc. etc, all the stuff that gave my art the look and feel that I thought was unique to me. Sometimes it was worth it, cause there's a handful of finished pieces that had this philosophy that I'm still happy with. And I think feedback that I'd receive was mostly positive too. But there's also a lot of instances where I'd try to work on an idea with this philosophy, whenever that idea just wasn't fit for it. But often times, I wouldn't realize this until I was ready to just give up on it. I never bothered to experiment cause that was too far out of my comfort zone. Not only was I overwhelming myself, but I was also pigeonholing myself. Thankfully though, something clicked for me over the summer, and I think I'm in a much better place overall. A lot more of the stuff I've been working on recently has been plainly rendered, cell shaded, lineless art. And y'know what? Some of that has been some of best work as of late. And I think that's helped me to realize what actually sets my work apart and makes it unique to me, besides just how I do things from a technical perspective. Also, I really struggle with traditional, pen on paper art, but yesterday, I busted out my sketchbook and just worked on something for a little while. It wasn't very good. It was far from what I would usually consider "finished". It had plenty of mistakes. And I'll probably never, ever share it with anybody. But I'm happy I worked on it, and despite all the ways I could pick it apart, I was also happy to just be able to shut the sketchbook and consider it done.

What you said is absolutely true! I think taking that advice to heart can be a lot easier said that done sometimes, but I think learning that lesson is still invaluable. I still have a ways to go; I certainly do still have a all-or-nothing attitude for most things. But there's ebbs and flows to these sorts of things, and there'll be times where I'm feeling burnout again. But on the whole, I think I'm getting better with time. Thank you for sharing!! :)