My Dillema

[FreedomFighter7]

I can draw shit pretty good, I can draw pretty much anything I imagine (on paper). I can see art in nothing but scribbles, the lines they just speak to me. I see things when I try and sleep, but I can't draw them as they appear to me. No biggie, I'm thinking I'll learn how to turn my visions into something concrete when I get into school some day.

What I can't seem to do anymore is design something when I want to. I sit there and stare at the paper, and what I draw never comes out cool. I'll sit there for an hour and draw few lines. I guess I used to be able to do it better because I didn't criticize my drawings so much and went with the flow. If, or maybe when I get into the game industry I don't know how I will be able to carry out the job, seeing as I can't imagine anything and draw it. I'm mostly an amateur, I taught myself how to draw. Does anyone else see my problem? Do you have the same problem? Feel for me and my problem? Anything? I'm really beating myself up with this.
I don't draw that much anymore though. I also don't find much or any enjoyment in drawing or art anymore... Idk why.

[Jean-Luc]

All good art comes from inside you, whether it be completely original or inspired by something that already exists (which, come to think of it, everything is inspired by something else).

My only "advice," I guess, would be to take a break from drawing and look at the world around you. Find something you think is interesting, then base a design off that.

http://i27.tinypic.com/71miv8.jpg

[flibitijibibo]

I think what has made it difficult for me as of late, and possibly for you as well, is that as someone out to improve their work dive into more advanced work/styles/techniques, one tends to put way too much mechanics into what it is they're working on. I'll give you an example; though it's music I think it demonstrates the point well to anyone: When I wrote chords for songs when I was new to composition, I would test a chord and go "oh, that's a cool ending." Now, if I were to try the same thing, the first thought in my mind would be "oh, that's a bit too far off common practice, I'd prefer to have an actual cadence over just a cluster chord to a resolution," whether I really cared about it or not, or if it even mattered. Take out the theory of art, and put back the art of art. Realism is for chumps. (Fucking gritty soldier protagonist shooters sappin' people's creativity)

Also, never be afraid to make a draft of anything you make. Ask Selentic, I'm probably on my 8th or 9th draft of his door sound by now. Several of the drafts were terrible, yes, but part of finding what's best is through trial and error. Critiquing your work should never, under ANY circumstances be "this is wrong for that reason." Leave that shit for school papers. It should always be "this can be improved/fixed by..." whether it's a legitimately poor error or a laughable goof you would say "was I high?" to. Nothing is ever perfect the first try. Anyone who says otherwise is either a damned liar or someone too stupid to know that they're lying.

tl;dr: If making art is causing stress rather than relief, you're doing it wrong.

[Chainsy]

All good art comes from inside you, whether it be completely original or inspired by something that already exists (which, come to think of it, everything is inspired by something else).

My only "advice," I guess, would be to take a break from drawing and look at the world around you. Find something you think is interesting, then base a design off that.



^ what she said above.
I am 16 and have taught myself everything I know about art, and this is basically the same thing in essence as writer's block. Go here:
www.conceptart.org (http://www.conceptart.org)
Go to forums section, scroll down till you find the inferences and inspiration section. Go wild.

[Warsaw]

To flibitijibibo you listen, help you he can.

I have more drawing tablets than I care to count, all full of doodles and drafts and very few finished products.

I also find that drawing a stick diagram of what I'm about to draw very lightly helps; it's kind of like setting up bounding boxes or skeletal structures that tell you what goes where and how it interacts with things around it.

[k4is3rxkh40s]

May sound kind of unorthodox, but sleep deprivation sometimes helps me. Usually the mind wanders more when tired and it's harder to concentrate on something than when fully awake. Don't fully go into it thinking "I'm gonna stay up for days just to draw," but rather just go with the flow and play some games, look at random art styles, and eventually something's bound to stick and inspire you. I think that's why the lure of psychedelics to some artists is so strong, it brings the mind to places usually not found otherwise when they're actually /trying/ to come up with something.

[Llama Juice]

I haven't read the replies 'cause my battery is gunna die soon, but..

Whenever you see something that makes you feel inspired in any way copy it to a folder on your HDD, cut it out of the magazine and put it in a box, draw it down on anything you can find and put it in that same box... just... make yourself a small inspirational collection of stuff. You'll be able to pull from that and create tons of stuff eventually.

[Reaper Man]

flibitijibibo speaks the truth. There were several months this year where I had no inspiration/was taking crappy photos because I became too hung up on the technical stuff. Of course, it's good to consider it, but don't let it stop you from doing what you want!

[Warsaw]

May sound kind of unorthodox, but sleep deprivation sometimes helps me. Usually the mind wanders more when tired and it's harder to concentrate on something than when fully awake. Don't fully go into it thinking "I'm gonna stay up for days just to draw," but rather just go with the flow and play some games, look at random art styles, and eventually something's bound to stick and inspire you. I think that's why the lure of psychedelics to some artists is so strong, it brings the mind to places usually not found otherwise when they're actually /trying/ to come up with something.

I usually get most of my ideas late at night (see 2:00+ AM), but then I go to bed and it isn't the same when I wake up and remember it. :saddowns:

[k4is3rxkh40s]

I usually get most of my ideas late at night (see 2:00+ AM), but then I go to bed and it isn't the same when I wake up and remember it. :saddowns:

That's why you get a pencil and paper and scribble it down when you have the idea :downs: The past few night's I've been getting like that so just sat up in my room and drew them down for a couple hours, even to the extent of stick figures with basic form/shape of what I want. Then when I get up later I expand and try and fix with like: how is it going to work, "wait, she shouldn't have a penis," will it fly, how is it going to move, what sort of materials should it be, and etc. Always good to have supplies readily available when you get in the creative flow, and to use those supplies before you forget/lose inspiration.

[FreedomFighter7]

Yeah, I to get ideas and stuff late at night. When I'm half asleep, a vision will just show up in my head and I'm like "That's a great idea!!".

Thx for the help guys!

[Bodzilla]

I'm exactly the samebut it was worse with Dane at my side.

everythign i showed did contribute to was shot down with nothing to replace it, you have to walk away from the conventional shit, the conventional shit The complexity for the sake of complexity because if you dont you'll watch as the spark you had dies from the inside out leaving you with a technically sound peice of shit you dont care for that you'll never release.

relax
open up
posting it
and just dont give a fuck

because what do you do it for?
you?
then why hold back.

loose yourself

[Warsaw]

"Introduce a little anarchy."

[FreedomFighter7]

What is this "technical stuff" you speak of? And the anarchy quote? I googled it and its from Batman the movie, but what relevance does it have here?

[SnaFuBAR]

PM me, FF7. I'm a bit too lazy to give you tips atm but I don't wanna forget about this.

[FreedomFighter7]

What do you guys mean by "Technical" art aspects? I think that professional artists develop a concept by reading the concept description, and then developing the art by putting together the required material into a functional piece of art. I can't really do that, it always comes out bad. Does this make sense? Its hard to explain.

I've done some thinking and I've realized a few things, I CAN make art when I want to. I just read the description and I imagine it in my mind.

PS: Bod who is that hawt chick in your avatar?

[Bodzilla]

it's me babe

[Warsaw]

What is this "technical stuff" you speak of? And the anarchy quote? I googled it and its from Batman the movie, but what relevance does it have here?

See Bod'z post above mine...I was tacking onto it.