Since I’ve been away there has been a lot of time used to process how to change the content of the blog. In my blog post Why I’ve been M.I.A. I discuss where the blog is moving towards in terms of content.

Moving on, this post is going to focus on what I’ve learn doing art as a student in school and learning as a self taught artist. There will be a episode over on the podcast on Askartsgirl which will be slightly longer in detail.

Creative block happens

Having a mental block may be extremely taxing however it happens. Sometimes as artists you find yourself in a period of time where you can’t come up with any inspiration. This can show up as frustration in not being able to make an idea come to life as you envision.

Types of Creative Blocks

There are a few blocks you can experience as an artist.

Mental Block

According to the Cambridge Dictionary a mental block is, “If you have a mental block about something, you cannot understand it or do it because something in your mind prevents you.”

In a sense a mental block can make it hard to execute your own ideas into reality. Our own minds can create mental blocks based on our own fears. This can result in our create baseless scenarios of “what ifs” that make it harder to create. Mental blocks may take time to overcome and may vary from person to person on what is causing the mental block in their creative block.

Emotional Barrier

An emotional barrier is a mental limitation that prevents you from openly communicating your thoughts and feelings.

Harappa Learning Private Limited

In a way emotions can affect and aid in a creative block. Being that we are humans emotions do tend to get to us. Anger, anxiety and pride can affect how we create and causes a block in your regular creative process.

For instance, being prideful on doing something new makes you blocked in your creative process as you are unwilling to take in constructive critiques as you are stuck in regular ways. As a result this can cause a stall in your creative process.

Harappa Learning Private Limited does have some brief explanations on emotional barriers but is more focused on how it affects communication.

Your routine isn’t working

The same routine continuously can derail your creativity. At times you could have placed a specific routine that gets you motivated to create. However, after a while this can become daunting as it may become frustrating to complete your creation process. This can create a block in the work you do as you are unable to complete already existing work or start one.

Do check out the topic that 99u discusses in depth on creative blocks.

Ways to Overcome Creative Blocks

There are some ways you can overcome creative blocks and listed below are a few things I learnt as an artist.

Experimenting is crucial

Experimenting can be used to overcome mental blocks however, this form of experimenting is not just the obvious one to do. Having a mental or emotional block may make it harder to experiment as it can be daunting but do take your time trying something new in your own time.

If your good with line work you can choose different types of sketches to do of either portraits, animals, landscape etc. that can increase your creative range. Remember not to push yourself too hard to complete colour work if your not comfortable. You can stick to pencil shading and gradually ease yourself into experimenting with new media over time.

Park West Gallery and Might Could gives advice on creative blocks and how to handle them.

Be assertive with your work

Sometimes accepting where we are is not a bad thing as a creative as that is how we grow. Creative projects may not come out as we expected but due to emotional or mental blocks. Being happy with what you pushed yourself to do in a creative project can go a long way. It helps you understand and grow as an artist as you get better with different media and find your own style and routine.

Do projects you can manage

This may seem a practical thing to do however there has to be an understanding of how to handle the number of projects you do. When a routine doesn’t work creating a planner or schedule for creative projects can be an amazing assist. Streamlining down a specific number of projects and time frames to complete in can shift a routine that helps your creative work flow better.

Conclusion

Art in itself is a fun experience however, it is important to remember that in order to get better you have to go through hurdles. Most of all Creative Block is normal and many creatives go through it and you can overcome it.