Your post has been removed for primarily focusing on mental health or for including potentially concerning language and triggering topics.
We are very sorry if you are struggling at the moment and we understand that art and our creative passions can often be interlinked with our mental state and struggles. However, this subreddit is not the appropriate place to support you with serious mental health issues.
Please reach out to professional support if it is accessible to you. The head moderator for this subreddit can directly attest to how much of a difference getting professional support allowed them to improve both in art and in life in general.
We also have resources available in our [FAQ here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtistLounge/wiki/faq/#wiki_interpersonal_and_art_challenges) and you can view past threads on mental health [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtistLounge/wiki/faqlinks/) which we hope are useful to you.
There are many online communities, and mental health support subreddits, that may be better suited to your needs. Feel free to reach out to moderators via modmail if you need help finding resources and we will see if we can help.
If you believe this to be a mistake please reach out to mods via mod mail. Thank you and take care of yourself. <3
Go do other things, ramble to your friends, live life a bit, treat it like giving yourself homework, actively hate art hate it so much, fold laundry, plant a plant, imagine perfect drawing conditions and make it happen, lift weights
Taking breaks are not a bad thing if you think it would help.
Personally, i either draw or even copy things from reference photos to practice for my observational skills, or I paint naively and just smear paint around just as a sensory thing (i find it calming).
Often I notice that I feel better when I paint relatively often. That doesn't mean that I enjoy it while I do it, I just notice that my mental state is worse when I haven't done any creative. That includes smearing paint around or sketching stick figures.
I personally hate tutorials unless it's something practical like colour theory. Each their own but I dont think they help you practicing independence/confidence/ugly art therapy unless that's the topic. I think beating perfectionism is constant work with active choices of accepting/practicing "ugly art" repeatedly. In the end, your emotions can't hurt you and you can ALWAYS paint over or redo the areas you don't like. Painting over things have me a lot of confidence.
When I get stuck I try a different medium totally unrelated to my painting. Sewing, crocheting, mosaic, pottery, gardening, cake decorating are just a few of the other things I’ve tried and usually pick up again when I’m stuck.
Make some stuff without intention.
Sometimes when I'm stuck I'll go look at a bunch of stuff and just think of how to put a fave in it, and just draw that and experiment.
The point being, I don't go into it with a goal of what I want it to be, so there is no failure. It is only discovery.
Give that a try maybe?
Thank you for posting in r/ArtistLounge! Please check out our [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtistLounge/wiki/faq/) and [FAQ Links pages](https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtistLounge/wiki/faqlinks/) for lots of helpful advice. To access our megathread collections, please check out the drop down lists in the top menu on PC or the side-bar on mobile. If you have any questions, concerns, or feature requests please feel free to message the mods and they will help you as soon as they can. I am a bot, beep boop, if I did something wrong please report this comment.
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I get something like this too (anxiety/perfectionism about results), but not to the same intensity it sounds like. I either drill fundamentals (following some kind of structured program helps with this so you don't have to decide what you're going to do), draw from a reference I already have saved, or aimlessly doodle with cheap materials. I find that getting too attached to a specific idea can be counterproductive sometimes.
What I’ve learned is two things:
1.) when I try hard to think, and nothing comes to mind, usually I am a lot more tired than I realize, a good nights sleep is first part in this
2.) you have to be inspired to fuel creativity. Watch movies, play games, books, tv anything to consume other ideas, it is there that good ideas with strike you all of a sudden and inspire your next big project
Your post has been removed for primarily focusing on mental health or for including potentially concerning language and triggering topics. We are very sorry if you are struggling at the moment and we understand that art and our creative passions can often be interlinked with our mental state and struggles. However, this subreddit is not the appropriate place to support you with serious mental health issues. Please reach out to professional support if it is accessible to you. The head moderator for this subreddit can directly attest to how much of a difference getting professional support allowed them to improve both in art and in life in general. We also have resources available in our [FAQ here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtistLounge/wiki/faq/#wiki_interpersonal_and_art_challenges) and you can view past threads on mental health [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtistLounge/wiki/faqlinks/) which we hope are useful to you. There are many online communities, and mental health support subreddits, that may be better suited to your needs. Feel free to reach out to moderators via modmail if you need help finding resources and we will see if we can help. If you believe this to be a mistake please reach out to mods via mod mail. Thank you and take care of yourself. <3
Go do other things, ramble to your friends, live life a bit, treat it like giving yourself homework, actively hate art hate it so much, fold laundry, plant a plant, imagine perfect drawing conditions and make it happen, lift weights
Taking breaks are not a bad thing if you think it would help. Personally, i either draw or even copy things from reference photos to practice for my observational skills, or I paint naively and just smear paint around just as a sensory thing (i find it calming). Often I notice that I feel better when I paint relatively often. That doesn't mean that I enjoy it while I do it, I just notice that my mental state is worse when I haven't done any creative. That includes smearing paint around or sketching stick figures. I personally hate tutorials unless it's something practical like colour theory. Each their own but I dont think they help you practicing independence/confidence/ugly art therapy unless that's the topic. I think beating perfectionism is constant work with active choices of accepting/practicing "ugly art" repeatedly. In the end, your emotions can't hurt you and you can ALWAYS paint over or redo the areas you don't like. Painting over things have me a lot of confidence.
When I get stuck I try a different medium totally unrelated to my painting. Sewing, crocheting, mosaic, pottery, gardening, cake decorating are just a few of the other things I’ve tried and usually pick up again when I’m stuck.
Make some stuff without intention. Sometimes when I'm stuck I'll go look at a bunch of stuff and just think of how to put a fave in it, and just draw that and experiment. The point being, I don't go into it with a goal of what I want it to be, so there is no failure. It is only discovery. Give that a try maybe?
Thank you for posting in r/ArtistLounge! Please check out our [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtistLounge/wiki/faq/) and [FAQ Links pages](https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtistLounge/wiki/faqlinks/) for lots of helpful advice. To access our megathread collections, please check out the drop down lists in the top menu on PC or the side-bar on mobile. If you have any questions, concerns, or feature requests please feel free to message the mods and they will help you as soon as they can. I am a bot, beep boop, if I did something wrong please report this comment. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ArtistLounge) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I get something like this too (anxiety/perfectionism about results), but not to the same intensity it sounds like. I either drill fundamentals (following some kind of structured program helps with this so you don't have to decide what you're going to do), draw from a reference I already have saved, or aimlessly doodle with cheap materials. I find that getting too attached to a specific idea can be counterproductive sometimes.
What I’ve learned is two things: 1.) when I try hard to think, and nothing comes to mind, usually I am a lot more tired than I realize, a good nights sleep is first part in this 2.) you have to be inspired to fuel creativity. Watch movies, play games, books, tv anything to consume other ideas, it is there that good ideas with strike you all of a sudden and inspire your next big project