Avoid creative crashes
Block busters The stresses of a creative life can weigh artists down and choke their productivity. Dom Carter learns how you can get out of a rut
24
Today’s artists have to wrestle with creative satisfaction, a sense of industry identity and motivation – all within and around a hectic schedule. It’s no wonder that these conflicting interests can lead to a creative crash, where people buckle under the weight of their internal and professional expectations.
To keep his mind active and his work fresh, illustrator Randy Gallegos has diversified his creative output along five genres, including a week-long series of daily still-life paintings. These genres allow for different types of experiments that also feed into other bodies of work.
“There are two kinds of experiments you can involve yourself in,” Randy explains. “Private ones, which allow you the greatest creative freedom as well as the greatest freedom to fail and learn; and public ones that you’ll show to the world.”
Find the fun factor
Making time for these sorts of experiments is difficult. But for Randy, trading leisure time for noncommercial work is a wise investment because he now has five revenue streams. “I never lack for work,” he says, and the benefits don’t end there.
“When I did purely illustration, if I had a gap in my schedule I’d be in a panic reaching out to clients trying to fill it, and this could also tempt one into taking low-paying work just to feel employed. Instead, now if I have gaps, I have a large stack of other work I can be doing and I’m excited to get to it.”
For self-described ‘art things maker’ Patri Balanovsky, finding this ‘fun factor’ is a crucial way to deal with a stressful workload. “I’m not saying you should half-ass your assignments and treat it all like a big joke,” he says. “What I’m suggesting is you find ways to make
When I did illustration, if I had a gap in my schedule then I’d get in a panic
it fun for yourself. A spoonful of sugar and all that jazz.
“If there’s a need for hundreds of sketches, for instance, keep them loose and get them done quickly, while enjoying the process. See how many you can do in an hour while still keeping them fairly readable and coherent. Challenge yourself – make it into a game.”
Go Compare
There’s no sure-fire route to creative success and fulfilment, though. Taking the advice of fellow artists can lead to personal comparisons. However, comparing yourself to others isn’t as counterproductive as it first appears. In fact, for digital artist and illustrator
Pauline Voß, comparison is key. “If you don’t have any reference points out in the wild, how are you supposed to know where you are?”
Having only discovered online art communities a little over two years ago, Pauline quickly made friends and forged connections by being blunt and authentic about her creative struggles. This encouraged other artists to open up about their paths and purposes, and last year she presented these findings at her first talk at Industry Workshops London.
“One of the main things I learnt during those discussions is that it takes one to know one,” Pauline says. “Different people deal with problems in their own way. This enriches the conversation, while sharing our stories leaves us feeling less on our own with our struggles.”
For cartoonist and Buddha Doodles author
Molly Hahn, known online as Mollycules, a healthy amount of comparison is a natural part of the desire to become a better artist. And like Pauline, giving a talk – this time at 2016’s Trojan Horse was a Unicorn – proved to be a useful turning point.
“A few of the speakers I spoke to at the conference said things like, ‘I wish I could do what you were doing, you have your own thing and that’s what I’ve always wanted,’” says Molly.
If there’s a need for hundreds of sketches, for instance, keep them loose and get them done quickly
“I was honestly very surprised to hear this and it helped me to take a step back, get perspective on my situation, and have more confidence within myself for what I’ve built.”
Creative Exercises
Of course, not every artist feels at home on stage, but hearing how Molly developed her inspirational Buddha Doodles books demonstrates that structure can be the secret to climbing out of a creative rut. “When I started Buddha Doodles in 2011, it was at a time of great confusion around my cartooning career,” she reveals. “The freelance work that was supporting me financially was also taking a toll on my creativity and ability to focus on my own art.
“A fellow illustrator who I met at a convention suggested that I do a daily sketch practice and share it online, so I did just that. Doing this was not only personally therapeutic, but it helped me to hone my craft by challenging me to create a new visual story every day. I didn’t know it at the time, but this was the idea that would eventually morph into Buddha Doodles.”
hard work pays off
For Patri, his design muscles were stretched by the ‘Silly-houette challenge’, which involved turning a single shape into creative solutions. “Ironically, working in a constrained manner eliminates any misconceptions you may have about the limits of design and style,” he says. “Trying to solve a shape and turn it into something that has a story, appeal and purpose is difficult and therefore very gratifying when done right.”
And in a way that’s all creative crashes are: a problem to be solved, whether that’s by exploring new skills, shaking up your work process, or discussing your problems with others.
“Conversations like these open us up and educate us, make us better artists,” says Pauline. “And being allowed to simply be human makes everything better for everyone.”
The freelance work that was supporting me financially was also taking its toll…