CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

So, I had been busy this summer and didn't do a lot of drawing like I normally do. Sadly, this has resulted in a massive artist's block and I feel like I can't draw anymore. Any help to overcome it?

Try woodblock painting?

Lil' sis says she listens to music and/or watches things to spur her imagination, or just start by drawing things she really likes to draw, like dragons.

She also said, "Suck it up, cupcake," but she didn't know I was getting advice for you.

I sometimes do requests for people to keep me busy- just to keep me drawing. Usually along the way, I get inspired for something new. ^L^ My cousin says to watch a movie or TV show you haven't seen before, and that can get you thinking and inspired.

The only tip I have for you is sadly: Just draw!

This is what I've heard is the solution, from a lot of very experienced artists. If you really cannot get something done from your imagination, just do some studies of some sort, maybe anatomy, light/shadows, faces, hands, whatever!

Although thinking about it I do have another tip which might be more in favor, and that is to think of it as something you do for Jesus! To sharpen your skill and creativity to become so good that you can inspire a lot of persons is a great thing. This helps me draw sometimes when I really don't feel like it!

Having dealt with this issue many times in my life (and still currently having to deal with it on and off) I would agree with what others said and say, "just draw!"

But I realize sometimes that advice feels pretty obvious, and unhelpful, so here are four things you could try:

1) [if you enjoy playing video games and writing] : Find a video game you can play which lends itself to keeping an in-character diary. Play the game for a limited period each day and write in the diary daily as well. As you write also illustrate WHAT you're writing about. Draw things you see in the game, never use screenshots just draw with the game running (unless the game is of the kind very much not conducive to this). This is a difficult but highly useful project, I'm working on my own currently using the Elder Scrolls game Morrowind.

2) Get yourself a Reader's Digest, not the magazines but the book kind that contain several short or abridged stories. Go through the pages seven at a time each week. Scan each page for a word, phrase, or sentence that catches your interest and underline it. After you do this go through the pages again and put a layer of gesso over all of the page EXCEPT the words you underlined. Once it's all dry (and this does take a little time - hairdryer makes it go faster but be careful) go back and illustrate in some manner (abstract, concrete, however you like) the words that you left on the page.

In Illustration II in college we did this project and it's a very good way to improve your skills as well as providing you with a springboard for your imagination.

3: Take a book and read it ten or twenty pages at a time, then stop and try to illustrate (NOT in the book like with the Reader's Digest, on some other surface) a major scene or event that occurred within those pages. While this is similar to the Digest project it differs in that your illustrations are restricted to relating directly to the actual content of the book. In the Digest you may illustrate things however you like, they need have nothing to do with the stories the words come from (in fact it's better if they don't).

4: Finally, if your desperate to avoid the rigorous structure of the above three (because they have the best results when done in a consistent day by day fashion), find music or film or novel that inspires you, and work from there. If music is your thing I recommend using Pandora radio, it's free and you can basically create a station that is limited to only the most inspiring kinds of music. I use it when working. If stories inspire you to art, try your library for audio books (because you can draw while listening and I personally find that helpful) or a site called Relic Radio (old radio dramas of many genres are there, free. You can also access it through iTunes).

I hope you find some of that helpful. I understand how frustrating it is when it seems like you just can't draw, I do hope you get over that quickly.

Thanks everyone! I started drawing again but I looked at my past work and wondered how I digressed so far from not drawing anything epic in 2 months. Typically, I draw lots of photorealism with tons of detail but I can now barely shade a face to make it look real. Bwegh. Practice does make perfect though ^^.

I recently had the same problem with writing poetry. My advice, don't try, just do. Get in the groove, as my teacher would say.

Art is purely subjective. Ergo, the easiest way to get back on the groove is probably to just draw what you feel. As risque as it might sound, once you do so, its much quicker to get back in the habit of drawing what was dancing around in your head for some time. Don't worry about how it looks or what other people might think. You can even approach it completely like a journal. Try different mediums as well - you'll be surprised what might turn up.

It might just be time to take a break.

Look through tutorials, sadly the only thing that has really helped me is to just start drawing randomly :L Draw what you see or something you are interested in, look through tutorials and try stuff out

I'll tell you what NOT to do: don't watch/read any anime/manga while you're working through it. To me, watching anime and reading manga only gets me down further in the dumps (especially Bleach), because I look at it and think, "wow! That's fantastic! That's amazing!" And then I look at my own work, and I think, "why can't I draw like that?" And instead of being inspired, I just get depressed. Anyways, maybe it's different for you - maybe anime and/or manga DO inspire you to create new ideas. But my advice is: if you haven't tried it before, don't try it now. It'll just drag out the block even further.

Music inspires me:) I think.

Echoing the others, Music. And what helps me as well is this quote: "To live a creative life you must let go of the fear of being wrong." Basically, if you mess up, or think you mess up just keep going until you finish. Art isn't perfect so keep drawing. I've been in your rut many times before, it will pass!