It's interesting how taking just a few moments from trying to see everything in front of you, and just closing your eyes and not moving, can do so much.
By blocking out your vision completely, it can actually help you see more when you open your eyes again.
This same principle is applicable in art. Whether you're a painter, a sketcher, a photographer, a writer, a musician, anything - we've all had those days where there seems to be a wall in front of our brains, blocking us from inspiration. No matter how we push, claw, and even gnaw away at the wall, you still feel like Marlin from finding Nemo, desperate to get out of the whale's mouth, and charging into it at full speed to no avail.
"YAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" BANG! *falls over*
"YAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!" BANG! *falls over*
Wish I had a gif for that.
Let's face it, we've all had those moments where we're crumpling up sheet after sheet of paper, unhappy with whatever we've been able to create so far, but simply trying harder isn't going to get us anywhere.
Sometimes we just need to sit back, and get it all off our mind, close our mental eyes of inspiration, and breathe. Go get a snack, go watch a scene from your favorite movie, or talk to a friend about something pointless. Make an effort to AVOID the project for a good half hour. Then, if an inspiration hasn't hit you already, come back and try again.
Believe me, you'll be able to see things you hadn't seen before.
Like Marlin, we need to stop banging and banging our heads against the wall, and find a different way out, (though, preferably not through a whale's blowhole.)
The results will be a lot less mentally exhausting, and who knows? Maybe you'll come up with something completely different from what you expected...and like it.
As the great Austin Kleon, author of the New York Times best seller Steal Like and Artist says, "Nothing is more paralyzing than the idea of limitless possibilities...The way to get over creative block is to place some constraints on yourself."
Don't allow yourself to go crazy overboard into trying to create something amazing. Artists blocks aren't ever really the inability to think. They are the realization that the possibilities of what to think of are boundless and endless. You end up getting stuck thinking about that instead, and getting nothing done.
You can't just look at a pile of puzzle pieces and expect yourself to be able to simply throw them all on the floor and have them fit together all at once. Focus on one piece at a time, take breaks (fun ones) and breathe. If someone wonders why you aren't back working, tell them you ARE. Art isn't a simple process. You can't just sit down and expect to be inspired and do it all at once, like eating a Poptart.
Next time you're in a drought of inspirational juices, stop scrambling around in the dark, and close your eyes for a few moments. Close it all off completely. When you open them back up again, you'll be able to see things you hadn't before.
Don't allow yourself to go crazy overboard into trying to create something amazing. Artists blocks aren't ever really the inability to think. They are the realization that the possibilities of what to think of are boundless and endless. You end up getting stuck thinking about that instead, and getting nothing done.
You can't just look at a pile of puzzle pieces and expect yourself to be able to simply throw them all on the floor and have them fit together all at once. Focus on one piece at a time, take breaks (fun ones) and breathe. If someone wonders why you aren't back working, tell them you ARE. Art isn't a simple process. You can't just sit down and expect to be inspired and do it all at once, like eating a Poptart.
Next time you're in a drought of inspirational juices, stop scrambling around in the dark, and close your eyes for a few moments. Close it all off completely. When you open them back up again, you'll be able to see things you hadn't before.
