Forums » Art & Creativity » I can't draw anymore!

I'm dying to finish some art of my characters so I can put them out there and jump into RP, but my god, I can't finish a drawing to save my life. I don't feel like this is art block because I know what I'm trying to draw, I just... Can't? I have no idea what my problem is.

Anyway, I'm thinking it's about time I cave in and turn to someone else for the art or at least some inspiration/ideas. I almost wish I had someone to draw with that I could bounce ideas off of. It seems like art is one of those things that I have always struggled to find critique/feedback for. Maybe you guys can help.

Tips? Ideas? Sympathy? A magic wand that can draw my ideas for me? I'll take anything!

Is it the fact that you don't have the attention span for projects? Or is it just looking at what you're drawing and going "Nope, not happening" and then quitting?

If it's the former, I'd suggest breaking your art into chunks of time to work on it. Fifteen or thirty minutes a day or something like that until you finish; This is something I've recently started doing, and while projects take longer, I now don't feel so drained at the end of the day / when I finish it.

If it's the "Nope" feeling, then I'd say it is art block, though that's a personal opinion. Art block isn't always the same symptoms. Sometimes it's anger / disgust at your own art, sometimes it's not being able to get down your ideas, and sometimes it's just "I don't feel like drawing..." sometimes for a few days, sometimes for weeks at a time, etc. etc. Two options here: You can either wait it out, not draw, and just hope the art comes back to you, or you can just keep on drawing and be stubborn about it and work through it.


As for getting your ideas down without doing so yourself: Commissions are always a good idea. Support an artist



Whatever it is, I'm sorry you're going through this spot. Not being able to get your ideas out always sucks

I hate almost every single thing I draw. From start to finish. It's rare that I end a piece and say "I love this" for more than five seconds after it's done. We are our own worst critics.

I find bouncing ideas off other artists and non-artists to be refreshing. I get a critique artistically from one and appreciation from the other, who may not see all my flaws as flaws.

That being said, I took a break from art for almost a full year. I'm only just getting back into it myself and opened commissions (I have chibis and watercolor waist ups on sale right now) to force myself to do art that was not for me and therefore something I couldn't just give up on.

You're definitely not alone in this! Burnout and art block and anything of that kind are common issues that artists of every level face. I think of creative inspiration like a muscle you can overexert—spend too long drawing and you can be out of commission for weeks. I'll include a pic below from @emcheeseman over on twitter, who illustrates creativity as a cycle and not a constant state of being.


Instead of attributing finding inspiration to caving in, I'd suggest making it part of your routine. Looking for inspiration and reaching out to other artists are positive things! They're tools in your artistic toolkit. Also, critique is necessary for improvement and will keep you from plateauing. Lots of public forums (like these) and facebook groups offer critiques, as well as the instructors over at schoolism if you enroll in the critiqued sessions.

Hope some of this helped! Please feel free to reach out any time you're looking for inspiration. 😄

Read somewhere once that art block is your mind telling you to do studies

Someone said to me that art is a passion that cannot be finished.

Sounds like a sort of art block I get frequently. What I do is take a break to look at pinterest for references, tips, and inspiration, or just put my mind off of it for a while, maybe work on a different kind of project. Eventually I feel renewed enough to continue my work. It is a pretty frustrating feeling, but working on a different kind of creative project can keep your mind flexible.

I can only provide suggestions based on my own experience, but what leaps out at me from your post one massive thing I've previously struggled with and even now constantly combat to overcome:
Perfectionism.
Are you setting yourself high expectations and then becoming frustrated when you're not achieving your own mental ideal? This can be such a turn off for many artists who are constantly looking at and comparing their work to the work of others. My suggestion here is to stop placing such high expectations on yourself - it's perfectly normal for your artwork to look different from the vision in your head!

Its a common trope for someone to scrap a sketch because it isn't working out immediately the way that they want, but perfectionism can also manifest part of the way through a project, at that junction where "it needs more work, but I can't bring myself to do anything and I'm just spending time staring at what I have already". There's this fear of ruining what exists already, but I've got unfortunate news: it will never complete itself! Stop fearing the possibility of a drawing turning south and just enjoy the process! Have fun! Express yourself!



Please do feel free to share your works in progress here if you think it will help you to keep moving forward with them - I know I won't be the only one who has words of encouragement for you.

It could be a different kind of block, I get it sometimes too and I'm in a similar position right now. In my case it happens when I have too much on my plate, there are so many things I have to do and even though I want to draw and know what to draw, I sit in front of the canvas and the hand just won't move because "I should be doing this, and that, and that other things..." and I get so frustrated that I end up not doing anything that I'm supposed to.

Im not sure if that's even close to what you feel, if it's not and you have peace but just cannot draw, maybe it's a frustration because the art doesn't look like the idea you've got in your mind? If it's that case I would say you need to let it go, just do it even if you're not 100% happy with it because it will help you more to actually draw something than drawing nothing at all.

We artists are in constant growth, it never ends, and we reach a point a million times as we draw where our eye gets better than our hand, and that's the moment when we need to train our hand again.

I like how it's explained here, no matter what level you are, all artist go through this, even super pro ones.

P.S. Of course there's another thing, which is... know when to get some rest, don't do anything and allow yout brain to breathe for at least a day every now and then.