Maybe you haven't drawn in a while.
Maybe you've drawn too much recently,
or maybe you can feel yourself slowly slipping off the edge of a cliff
into the deep abyss of art block.
If any of those things apply to you,
you're probably feeling at least a tiny bit of despair
in a hobby that is supposed to be bringing you joy.
I've been there multiple times,
so let me see if there's something, maybe, I know that can help you out.
🎵
You've tried your usual fixes,
self-loathing, taking a break, indulging in your favorite snack,
nothing feels like it's working.
While I still maintain that time fixes most things,
I do have some other ideas you can try.
I think this tip works best for people who, let's say,
their art isn't having the desired outcome that they're hoping for
and I think a lot of this comes from us taking it very seriously
and trying to be too detailed.
I mean, sit back and like, think; Why do I draw?
And I would hope that you would say; because it's fun.
And trust me, fun is there.
What we're trying to do right now I mean, is find it. [Chuckles]
The first thing that I'd love to see you try
is to use bigger nibs.
That's right, you're going to ditch those tiny little detailed pens,
your sharpened pencils and any fine-tooth comb, ditch them.
What you're gonna grab is some big old markers,
some paint brushes, the art supplies you used to use as a kid
and of course, your sketchbook.
Yes, the one you know you care about the way it looks.
We're trying to break down some walls.
I mean, unless you really don't want to,
I mean you're kind of the king of this castle,
so draw on whatever you want.
So, now that you've assembled all these art supplies,
here's what you're gonna do,
you're gonna start drawing shapes, you know,
don't worry about it, we're taking it nice and simple.
Circles, squares, triangles, you know, shapes.
If that starts feeling a little boring and too restrained,
draw some blops, be abstract with it,
draw something that doesn't really look like anything
but could look like everything, draw that.
If you're thinking this is kind of numb,
I mean, that's not entirely inaccurate,
that's kind of the point,
we're drawing really boring things
so that other things start feeling more fun,
you see what I'm saying? Hmm?
So once you start feeling that,
then it's time to move into the next step,
which is to actually draw things that you want to draw.
Saying you're still using the larger nibs, draw something that you've drawn before
or something you enjoyed drawing, I draw blubfish,
you know what, while we're at it, just make a big old mess on the paper,
whatever art supply that you see in front of you,
that you're like, yeah, I could, do it.
If you're not sure what you're doing, do it anyway,
make a big old mess.
What we're trying to do is to just get stuff on the paper
which you can clearly see that I have now done.
So if your problem was that you hadn't drawn in a while,
guess what? Now you've drawn in a while,
you've got your wrist starting to warm up,
you've probably drawn something really ugly or at least close to being ugly.
I mean, we are artists, so like there's beauty in everything
but it's also kind of ugly but the really cool thing about it is
that now whatever we draw next is going to inherently and by comparison
look way better, you see the logic?
As someone who's been through their fair share of art blocks,
I can tell you most of this stems, at least for me,
from having too high of expectations
and then it kind of like just crumbles,
for example you haven't drawn in a while,
you're like, "Oh I know how to draw, I'm going to sit down and draw that thing."
But you haven't drawn it in a while, so now when you draw it,
it doesn't look as good as what you feel like you should be able to draw
because you've drawn better in the past.
"I'm a terrible artist." Art block.
Maybe you've been drawing a lot lately
and you're noticing that some of them aren't really living up to snuff,
you're like, "I drew better yesterday, why is today not working?"
Art block.
[Sad Music]
When art is your hobby,
I think most people think art is something you just do with your hands
but I mean, think about it, when have you ever drawn something
and weren't thinking at the same time?
Your brain is just as an important piece of creating art as your hands.
So if you can better understand your brain,
you're gonna have a lot less issues
and I can say I used to get into Art block
a lot more at the nearer the beginning of my art journey than I do now.
Like, I still can feel those same thoughts
but they don't affect me as much.
So the future's bright, don't give up.
I was getting a little bored.
You might be able to tell by the limitations of what I just told you to do.
I started mixing them together and now I have this cool funny shark character
and I was having so much fun that I drew them quite a few times,
I even turned the sketchbooks like I fit another one here,
then I tried one of the other art supplies I had laying around and drew in purple.
You can kind of see how this I guess, it's a character, is evolving
and only came to be because I decided to open up my sketchbook
and throw art supplies at it literally.
Okay so you're like oh that first one that was kind of dumb.
I've drawn circles before, I've drawn blobs before,
it's not that exciting, that's not fun, where's the joy?
Well if that didn't work and it didn't spark something.
Why don't you try this?
Number two, draw something you don't usually draw or have never drawn.
If you really have lost your joy for art
and you're just never gonna draw again.
Why not just as a last little send-off, draw something you've never drawn before?
What's the harm?
What I would suggest is to first try and draw that something.
For me I decided to do a shark
because I was having a lot of fun like turning triangles into sharks
and I was like, you know what, I've never actually drawn a shark,
so why don't I try and draw a shark.
So first here what I would suggest is to draw that something
but without a reference.
Okay, so we're going to try and draw something.
So here's my shark, just going off my memory of what a shark looks like.
All right not so bad, right?
Looks like a shark here.
I'm going to allow you to use whatever art supply you want.
Use your favorite art supply, for me I'm going to be using fine liners
and alcohol-based markers because that's just my personal fave
and you're just going to draw this thing
that you've never drawn before without a reference.
Now, why? Might you ask that is
because next we are going to find ourselves a reference.
I'm using Pinterest, I just searched shark.
I think found a nice image that I wanted to redraw
and now I'm going to redraw that and now what's extra funny,
well at least I get, I don't know if anyone else thinks it's funny
but I love seeing my attempts at something
and then seeing it next to the real something.
I just get a good kick out of it.
If you're someone who thinks that that makes them a bad artist,
maybe don't do that but trust me, it doesn't make you a bad artist,
you can't know a thing that you don't know, you know,
even though I know shark, I've seen sharks before,
I can't know exactly what a shark looks like unless I'm looking directly at a shark
but now as I draw this one, I can look back at my attempt without a reference
and I just get, I get joy from that and that's what this video is about,
it's finding joy in art,
so I'm just sharing things that make me joyful, bring me joy,
if it doesn't work, I've got other things you can try.
As always, you want to start light, use big shapes
and build up your drawing, especially if it's something you've never drawn before
and when you're picking your thing that you've never drawn before for this tip,
don't draw something that you don't want to draw,
[Laughs]
draw something that you would like to draw
because we're not trying to force ourselves to like be unhappy here,
don't forget this isn't for a gift, this isn't for grades, it's not for perfection
we're drawing this for you, if it's not fun, don't do it.
I feel like I should mention though,
drawing something that I've never drawn before
is like a thing that I like to do,
so it's something that I do have like a tiny bit of skill at,
so you might notice that like I've never drawn a shark
but like it still looks like a shark.
Now that I've drawn it but using a reference,
I can draw something that looks, you know, similar to the reference.
Your first attempts might not be as close
if you're not used to drawing things that you don't always draw,
so be patient with it, start loose, use big shapes,
draw very lightly and then slowly build up and get darker over time.
Don't just try to draw like, in this instance, a shark,
we're drawing the shapes that make up a shark
and then at the end, we should have a shark,
like anything it's going to be trial and error.
I think the most fun thing about art is just the creating of it.
So really, try to just enjoy that process
and don't worry about how it's going to turn out.
I also put away the reference and then tried to draw a shark without the reference
and I tried not to look too much like the drawing I drew on the bottom
but like, I just kind of like drew, so that's this guy
and then also I was like, oh I kind of want to mix what I know now about sharks
and add it to my little triangle shark from the previous page
then I came up with this and we got a little page of sharks, wasn't that fun?
I'm having fun.
I guess my tips are working for me but we're talking about you,
so if it's still not working, let's try something else.
Alright so the next thing up is kind of like a mixture of the first two things,
so we're going to use references
but we're going to try and be a little bit more abstract and less like detail-oriented.
I guess, I say this like I don't know what I'm saying
but I think I know what I'm saying.
Anyway, I've got a reference out and I'm going to draw a shark again.
I'm going back to a big nib so that I can be big and shapeful with this
and I'm kind of just outlining the shape of the shark.
This is really cool, especially when it's a shark
because they have all those cool little details that pop out of their silhouette
and I can just slowly build up this shape
and if something doesn't seem right, I can just add more blobs
and just make it bigger because there's no details like inside of it.
It's just a shape and like depending on how big your paper is,
you can just keep making it bigger and bigger
until you can find the shapes in the right spot, you know,
now at this point, I've been drawing sharks for a couple hours
so I'm figuring out the most fun aspects of it for me
which for me it was the two-tone color
and like the pattern of the great white shark specifically.
So I decided to focus mainly on that.
I didn't worry about using the exact correct colors this time.
I'm just like playing around creating those patterns
throwing paint on the sketchbook
and focusing on my favorite aspect that I've discovered
in this like drawing session, you know
and if you're feeling like pulled in a certain direction, go that way,
don't fight any slight little fun urges that you're getting from the drawing,
go in that direction,
we're not trying to make something that's finished quality, right?
We're trying to just have fun. So if you're drawing a shark and you added a freckle
and you're like ooh freckles, start drawing a bunch of freckles, okay.
Oh did you do like a polka dot and it's making you think of Minnie Mouse
and you're like oh, I would really rather be drawing Minnie Mouse right now?
Well then, do it!
Again, like I said at the beginning, you are the king of this castle.
At this point, like, the paint wasn't bringing me as much joy as I thought,
markers might, so I switched over to some markers
and continued doing kind of the same thing,
creating that little silhouette, then switching to another marker
and adding in the two tones which was really really fun.
I'm kind of blending those out.
I tried blue first and then I went over that with a little bit of purple
and yeah I'm just having fun.
What else do I say?
And I mean I really hope that you are too,
if not, I'm being absolutely no help whatsoever and I apologize.
This next thing that you can try, what are we at like number four or something?
I haven't been keeping count [Laughs]
This used to bring me a lot more joy than it does now,
so you'll see I kind of didn't put too much time into this one
but you can try adding texture to your sketchbook
or to whatever you're currently drawing.
One way of doing this is using paint like we've already done.
Another thing you can do is use sticky notes
and correct little mistakes.
So say you didn't like the little sharky guy in the bottom left there,
sorry, you're still beautiful, I'm just pretending I don't like you.
You can take a sticky note, put it over top
and what's cool about sticky notes is you kind of sometimes see underneath them
or through them and you can draw on top of it
and correct your mistake and draw a more realistic shark
if that's what you were going for, using the shark underneath as a base.
So it's still going to look very similar but you can just change and tweak
the little things that you like
and now you also not only have a very differently drawn shark
but you also have a little bit of texture.
Look, you can like you can flip it back and forth.
Another thing you can do is take some fun washi tape
and kind of create textures over your character.
So say this shark right here, we want it to be a purple glittery shark instead.
I can stick a piece of washi tape on top cut around it to like only the top tone
of the shark, this was actually really difficult because I used a very thick washi tape
that I could not see through but most washi tapes are very transparent.
Use those instead and I cut it out and now I have a glittery shark!
I also found a little shark that I drew outside the sketchbook.
Okay, I literally drew it for this video but still, you can cut it out,
cut it out to the shape of the illustration and tape that guy in there too
and now we've got even more texture
and this can be really really fun if you're just kind of getting overwhelmed
by the actual drawing aspect of art
and you can just find old things that you've drawn and make a collage.
It's kind of just using different muscles in your hands
and like, I don't know, igniting new things that you haven't tried before
or haven't tried recently and seeing what sparks something.
Now if you've been trying these tips but I'm gonna guess you haven't been
because you're watching this video or you've moved on to something else by now
but hopefully by now something has sparked joy in you
and you've kind of like fallen off into a creative tangent
and done something else but if at this point you've tried all my tips,
you're like this is bs, I still hate art.
This is the last thing that I would suggest you try
before taking a nice long break, getting a warm cookie
and doing something that does bring you joy.
It's clearly art isn't it for you right now
but there's something, there's something that you usually draw,
your go-to, the thing that you're like, I don't know what to draw
so then you end up drawing that thing.
That's the thing we're going to draw now
and we're going to have so much fun with it.
For me it's just girls fashion, faces so that's what I did,
I drew a girl, I gave her clothes. I picked out some fun colors.
Unfortunately I put the line art down first and for some reason it wasn't dry yet.
I use these all the time, I don't usually have this problem
but now it looks muddy but hey, whatever, it happens, it didn't bother me at all.
No, mm-mmm-mm-mm-mmm.
I'm not bothered, who's not bothered?
Me. I'm not, not, not bothered by it [laughs]
but anyway, the point of this exercise is that we can very easily get overwhelmed
by like outside sources, like what people think we should be drawing,
what people say about our art,
like if they're like oh, we like, I like that thing and that was like a thing you didn't like.
So then you're like, oh maybe I should be drawing more of that
because people like that.
Or you drew something you liked and someone was like that's kind of dumb
and then you felt like you shouldn't be drawing it but you really wanted to.
This is the perfect time to just draw the thing that you want to draw
and try and to the best of your ability,
just close off all the little voices that say you shouldn't
and draw the thing that you really really want to.
No one else's opinion matters, just you your sketchbook,
have a little fun, you have my permission.
I also draw a big old face because I felt like it.
If you feel like drawing anything else, draw that.
You see what I'm saying?
Do you hear what I'm saying?
Basically draw it, that's it.
I also really wanted to color it, so I threw some color on there.
Pinks have been really speaking to me lately,
so I threw a lot of pink on there.
I thought purple line art could be really cute with all the pink,
so you best believe it, I used a purple pen for the line art.
Sensing the theme?
Something else that I really like drawing
that I thought would fit really perfectly in that bottom right corner
was just like some tiny little bodies.
I like to draw like really quick square torso, legs sticking out bodies
with the heads and I played around with the shapes
and drew different kind of um, like,
use different shapes for different body parts
and I ended up with like four of them
and they were really really fun and like they don't like really amount to much
but they're just really really fun for me to make.
So I thought that was a perfect example,
something you could try or if there's something you like
that doesn't really look like much, draw that.
Anyway, I think I had like five things that you could try.
I really hope you do not like scoff at any of them,
if you really do feel like you need a little help,
try them, see if they work for you, don't judge them right off the bat.
Honestly, when I started doing the first one,
even though I knew it was something that could work,
I was still kind of like why am I drawing squares
and then all of a sudden it started turning into a shark
and I don't know how it happened but it did and it got really really fun quickly.
So I guess, in summary, when you stop feeling that joy for art,
it can either be caused by two different places,
one is from inside, your own self and the other thing is from the outside
but like the outside still gets on the inside and then it affects you,
so I guess it's all like on the inside
but there's no like real easy fix
but I think the best way to combat any of it is by actually sitting down
and starting and that can be the most scariest part
because you really don't know what's gonna happen
but once you start throwing stuff at your sketchbook
and making a big old mess, I really hope
and I believe that you will refine that spark
and if it's not coming very easily, I'd also tell you,
although it kind of sounds like it goes against what all I said in this whole video,
I would recommend taking a break,
there's absolutely nothing wrong with it,
if art isn't bringing you joy and it usually does,
there might be some other things you need to explore outside of the art.
We've all got problems, okay, but do a little uh, soul searching maybe
and see if you can figure out why that is.
Anyway, I wish you the absolute best,
I hope if art is something that you really do know that you enjoy deep down inside
that you don't give up on it
because it is something that's going to be with you the rest of your life
and you can always come back to it no matter how many breaks you take.
All I want is really for you to have the same joy that I feel right now
when I create something and it's there and you can find it and I know it,
I hope you all have a delicious evening full of waffles,
bye!
🎵