Have you ever thought you had to do something with your pencils, but you didn’t want to draw? Or at least you didn’t want to work on your current project?
I don’t know about you, but I’ve been having difficulty with that, too. It’s as if the creative well has run dry. It doesn’t matter how often I go to the well, the best I’ve been able to do is sketch.
I don’t know if I’m just too busy (that is a definite possibility), if it’s age (I’m no longer 20…I’m no longer even 50!), or if I’ve just burned out. That last idea is repugnant. I’ve always thought I’d make art until I stopped breathing.
Have you ever told yourself you need to draw, that you want to draw, but the action just doesn’t follow? What do you do in those times?
I’d like to share three suggestions for when your creative well runs dry. They often work for me. I hope they’ll work for you, too.
3 Suggestions for When You Don’t Want to Draw
Suggestion #1: Take a Break
I know. This doesn’t sound like it’s much help. You’re already having trouble being creative. How will taking a break from drawing help?
When you take a break from drawing, you’re giving yourself permission not to work on art. If you’ve never tried this before, you probably have no idea how freeing this can be. The pressure is off. You can relax.
Taking a break from making art might also be necessary because you have other things that must be done. I just finished an expanded issue of CP Magic! magazine. It was a lot of work all the way through the month of May. Yes, there were days when I was able to draw despite the busy publishing schedule.
But there were other days when I finished the day’s work and had time to draw, but just did not have the creative energy. I’d given it all to the magazine, or to the blog, to the newsletter, or whatever else was currently going on in my life. It was better to take a break from drawing for that day or those few days and concentrate on the things that had to be done.
Any number of things can happen that require your full attention. Family. Health. Work schedule. Major life changes. It really is okay to set aside the drawing for a while, get those other things taken care of, and then come back to art.
Suggestion #2: Do Something Non-Art that’s Creative
Do you like to decorate? Decorate something.
Do you like to cook? Use what would usually be your drawing time to cook or bake something special. You’re still being creative. You’re also still taking a break from making art.
Being creative in an area that is not art-related can be one way to recharge your creative batteries without forcing yourself to get out the pencils and draw something.
What do I do? I putter around with plants. Sometimes I do jigsaw puzzles or word searches.
Sometimes, I just sit on the porch and read a book or watch traffic and people pass by.
Suggestion #3: Show Someone Else How to Do What You Know How to Do
You don’t have to be an expert at colored pencil work to help someone else. You just need to know more than they do.
For example, if you’re very good at making smooth transitions from one color to another, show someone else how you do it. A friend, a child or grandchild, anyone who has an interest in improving their drawing skills.
It doesn’t matter what you know. Nor does it matter how long you’ve been drawing. It doesn’t even matter if that one skill is the only skill you’ve mastered. If you can do it, you can show someone else how to do it.
When You Don’t Want to Draw
There are times when the best thing to do when you don’t want to draw is get your pencils and artwork out, and make yourself draw. I’ve done that many times and it often works. The reason is that I don’t really “not want to draw”. What I don’t want to do is get started. You know what they say: It’s more difficult to make an object that’s standing still move, than it is to keep in motion an object that’s already moving. It’s called inertia. Objects that aren’t moving don’t want to move.
You might think of your pencils this way, but what I’m really thinking is about myself and my mindset. Starting is the most difficult thing. So just making a start may be all you need to do.
But if your lack of desire to draw goes deeper than that, then you may need to take a break or do something creative that isn’t artwork.
Or maybe you just really need to sit down with your kids, your grandkids, or arty friends and show them how you work.
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