Art Problems

[Ghostly]

Don't know if this belongs here but.. low self-esteem I guess?

I'm and artist and I used to draw all the time, 24/7, no matter what. Until about 10th grade I was introduced into mmorpg's (besides already loving normal console games.) And that I think started the decline of my artistic ability and art career. I do not draw everyday even now, I have a job where I do have to draw but it's not what I like.

I'm trying to get back into drawing by drawing on Oekaki's to get feedback but it's still not helping, does anyone know how I can get back into drawing while still being completely consumed and addicted to my games, because I don't want to choose between the two. Though art > games.

Oh and I haven't improved my ability like I would have liked to.. any ideas?

<3

 

[Brian]

Draw art related to the game?

 

[catwixen]

I find that the motivation for art comes and goes. A year ago i was painting every day and totally absorbed in it...then I moved house and lost the urge. I am not worried about it, I know it will come back. Forums take up my time at the moment.
Thing is...if art is in you, it will call you when you are in the mode.
Take your break and enjoy it guilt free...I predict it will come back to you. And good luck with it...such a joyous passtime.

 

[DayvanCowboy]

Every true and passionate artist in this world has those types of breaks to find something new within themselves to get that drive and love to create again. Its absolutely normal. The last thing you should do is to force yourself if you are an artist because I guarantee 99% of the time it will be a waste of creative energy for yourself and will only set you back farther. Explore other things and find other outlets for the time being.

About improving your ability. Try drawing different things in many different ways. Get a little out there with your talent.

 

[luciddisconnect]

does anyone know how I can get back into drawing while still being completely consumed and addicted to my games, because I don't want to choose between the two.
<3

I don't know how you can be completely consumed by and addicted to two things at once.
You can be consumed by two things at once - a lion and a tiger, for instance.
You can be addicted to two things at once - morphine and adoral perhaps.
But to be COMPLETELY consumed by and addicted to . . .

I'd pursue art over anything online, but that's me.

[/quote]
Oh and I haven't improved my ability like I would have liked to.. any ideas?
[/quote]

The only way to truly (as opposed to marginally) improve as a visual artist is by studying and working on your art every day.

Take classes, learn about perspective, implied line, line weight, scintillation of color, how to layer your warms and cools to create depth, how to properly render with a pencil, how to paint with a filbert brush. Read about artists you admire, also classic art - the Italian Renaissance, Cubism, whatever. If you're making a painting with actual paint, figure out how to paint crisp and controlled edges.

I tell you, there were seniors in college who were still making paintings where the edges of their forms were totally unconsidered. I know its tricky to go back in with the #0 brush to get that edge sharp, but you're supposed to be becoming a professional right.

And if you're thinking of being a fine artist, sculptor, painter, someone who earns a living just off the brilliance of their own vision: I recommend giving that idea a second thought.

 

[Lonesome Crow]

It's a stuggle I also have as a musician. I can play my guitar for days at a time
and get really into it..Sometimes I'm inpire to write songs or I have tons of melodies
or songs spining in my head. My obsession comes in when I started wanting to perfect
a song...Most of the songs I've written isn't exaclty how I've heard it in my mind.

I've havn't felt too motivated to write any songs lately..But I'll still pick up my
guitar ever now and then and run through my scales on the fret board,
stum some chords...picking patterns, stuming patterns...etc
The basic machanics of playing an electric guitar.

Yes I found going back to the basic or listening to other musician help inspire
me to play...Mostly discipline or set a sechdule for practice time and being consistant.

Most sucessful people pratice doing what they do even when they don't feel like it,
inspired or not. Picking diatonic scales, pentatonic scales or modes get old
and mondain real quick for me.

As far as Addictions gose...thats a beast with it's own head consumming you.
You cant pratice brush strokes using a joystick. Addcitions kill dreams

mmm...I'm an addict, i can get addicted to whatever. Living a balance life for an addict sometimes require
devine intervention for some addicts.

Its a paradox....LETTING GO..
Learnding how to let go of my addicts is hard.
LETTING GO while Im imporving on my guitar is very insperational.

 

[alonerly]

There's only room in life for one passion. You have to stop playing games or else you will forget how to draw. I'm kidding of course, but if you're serious about art, you have to give it more attention than you do your games. Think of it as a scale with art on one side and games on the other, you always want to keep the art side heavier. It doesn't have to consume your life, but it should always outweigh everything else. It's the only way you can really grow and improve as an artist.

I tell you, there were seniors in college who were still making paintings where the edges of their forms were totally unconsidered. I know its tricky to go back in with the #0 brush to get that edge sharp, but you're supposed to be becoming a professional right.

I know exactly what you mean. In one of my classes, over half of the students had this problem. And the strange thing was, the instructor never addressed it. Same thing in my advanced drawing class where some of the students didn't have any concept of perspective... advanced drawing.

 

[SilentThinker]

I know one of my friends who bring his artbook everywhere he goes.Maybe you can try that.

It may not be easy to play less and to draw more.But it is still possible.

 

[Spare]

I had a similar problem with my writing, minus the video games (I haven't played video games with any regularity since my original NES, which I still have). I found myself pulled in so many different directions that it hardly seemed like I had the time anymore.

I was given some very good advice by a professional novelist once. He had the very same problem as I; no time to write. His solution was to get up at four in the morning to write. He got his work done by eight or nine, then the rest of the day was free to pull him in as many different directions as it wished.

Of course, you don't have to get up at four in the morning. The point is to set aside the same sacred block of time everyday, and devote this time to your passion, be it writing, art, music, exercise, etc. Give it a try! It works for me, and if it works for me it will work for anyone, BELIEVE me!

 

[JustJones]

I have the same problem in a big way!
Being an art student, I need to be in an artists frame of mind a lot of the time and it doesn't really come naturally to me.. I also love my pc games and sometimes they consume my life as I'm not the most social of people.
What I did recently though, is I thought really hard about what I wanted to make my artwork about and didn't stop until I found something which excited me more than computer games. I was driven to create this thing I had thought up to the point that it equaled or was greater than my desire to play games. To this day it's still some of the work I'm most proud of. (check out my avatar)
Maybe you could try something like this?
btw I did still play games after I had finished making for the day. I don't think you need to dedicate yourself to just one thing, just as long as you give yourself enough drive to complete your work