7 Simple Ways to Escape Artist's/Writer's Block

Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! 

Today I'm going to be going through my seven tips for getting out of artist's and writer's block. I am not a professional artist or writer, however I have gone through creative block dozens of times. 

I don't want to make it seem as if I'm an expert because I'm not. To quote the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates,

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing."

On that happy note, let's get right into the post!

King, Alexandria. Musings of an Arthritic Artist. 2021.

1. Explore Nature

Nature is a great place to find inspiration. There's something refreshing and enjoyable about getting fresh air while drawing or writing. When it comes to writing, I tend to have a difficult time describing the outdoors, so it helps me flesh out a scene. The best part about drawing while outside is that the lighting is already set up if you intend to draw something. 

The sun casts shadows, which makes drawing a bit easier since you don't have to think of where your light source is going to be because it's already there. If you can, take a walk. You'd be surprised at the ideas you can come up with when walking around, whether they're visually artistic or literary.

2. Listen to Music

A lot of my inspiration comes from music, so much so that I have made character playlists on my Spotify for my writing projects. I'll occasionally shuffle them when I'm writing about a specific character to fully get into the mindset. It must help me--I have 70,000 words on the first book in a series that I'm working on right now. Listening to music during/before drawing helps as well. Sometimes, there's one lyric that will spark something. Maybe it's an emotion you wish to convey. 

A couple months ago, my sister and I had been doing writing exercises before sleeping for the fun of it. We would shuffle a playlist and write flash fiction (6-1000 words) to whatever song came on. We had until the end of the song to finish it. Naturally, the stories ended up very raw and incomplete, but it's a fun exercise. 

My personal favorites were the stories I did based on "Year 3000" by the Jonas Brothers, "Blank Space" by Taylor Swift, "Ever the Same" by Rob Thomas, "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepson, "Her Diamonds" by Rob Thomas, "Mr. Brightside" by The Killers, and "My Baby" by Jesse McCartney. 

Who knows? Maybe one of these flash fiction stories will inspire a 90,000 word project. Maybe it'll spark a short story. 

For the fantasy series I'm working on, I have multiple playlists. I have two couple playlists, seven character playlists, one sibling playlist, and one instrumental playlist for scenes where I write descriptions or action scenes, or if I don't want to hear words (though most of the time, I have songs with lyrics on). I intend to put together three more singular character playlists.  

3. Turn to History (past or living)

One major thing that has helped me with artist's block is going onto the online collections of art museums. There's thousands of paintings, sculptures, and ancient art to draw inspiration from. 

Just look up whatever period or artist you enjoy, whether it be the Italian Renaissance and Leonardo di Vinci, or Post-Impressionism and Vincent Van Gogh. 

There are millions of paintings and drawings out there that you can get inspiration from. It doesn't just have to be an artwork that hangs in a museum. It could be someone's piece that they uploaded onto Pinterest, Tumblr, YouTube, or Instagram. I don't know how many times I've seen different drawings of the same thing and drawn (or attempted to draw) my own version.

4. Look Up Challenges

Another way to beat artist's/writer's block is by looking up art or writing challenges on the internet. There tend to be a lot on social media, particularly Tumblr and Pinterest (my personal favorite). There's dozens of different kinds. Sometimes, you'll even get a challenge that takes you outside your comfort zone, which can be some of the best kinds for building your skills in other subjects. I have a Pinterest board with art, photography, and writing challenges (separated into sections for easy access). 

This is the link: Alexandria K: Challenges (link opens in new window)

5. Take Photos

I sometimes find that looking through the photos I've taken gives me inspiration. I've photographed thousands of things over the last five years (I'm not joking; I think I took 2000+ photos during a road trip I took in May 2019). Even if you don't have a camera, you can simply snap a few photos on a phone or tablet (most people have phones and Instagram anyway). 

You can take photos of anything. Your pet(s), food, the view outside your home, your car, even a pack of playing cards. When it comes to photography, there usually aren't any rules against what you can and can't photograph (these things change based on if you're photographing in a store or in public; most stores don't allow photography). 

Sometimes I like to draw from life, but I mostly enjoy taking photos and drawing the subject at a later date. That makes it easier to draw at my leisure. It also makes it easier on my wrists so I don't overwork them.

6. Look at Things You Have Previously Created

There have been many times where I have been inspired by my own writing or art, which is saying a lot since I tend to hate what I've written or drawn due to the typical artist perfectionism complex. While this can be handy, you have to be careful. If you've written or drawn something you're not proud of, chances are you won't be inspired to work. This isn't true of all artists, but I know it's an issue with me. The more I'm confident in what I've created, the more I'll want to work harder to get even better.  

Look at your favorite art pieces that you have created. Read a poem of yours that you are really proud of. Personally, for the series I'm working on, I have a Google Doc that has my favorite quotes from those books, just in case I need a spark of inspiration. It has helped immensely to just have the quotes there because I can refer to them whenever I need them (unless there's an internet or power outage, but those don't happen very often).

7. Just Draw/Write

This may seem like a sarcastic answer, but this can be just as effective as the tips I mentioned above. I will say that sometimes it isn't helpful. I know that I have struggled with the execution and practice of this tip in the past.  

It can sometimes help to just draw whatever. I have come to learn that I have objects/things that I gravitate toward drawing if I'm bored. For example, I draw hearts, eyes, noses, cubes, triangular prisms, and vines. The more you draw or write, the more you'll find out which things you gravitate toward. 

Maybe you like drawing animals, clothing, or ears. Perhaps you enjoy writing about siblings, vampires, or horses. Maybe you enjoy drawing fanart and writing fanfiction. Drawing something is better than drawing nothing, whether you believe it looks awful or not (trust me, I've been there; I don't like half of the things I draw). Writing something is better than writing nothing, even if what you're writing is something you aren't proud of (also been there; happens all the time).

Practice doesn't make perfect, but it can get you pretty close.

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You can get inspiration from anything, no matter what it is or where it's from. You can even get inspiration from your own life. I don't know how many times I've drawn something deeply personal. Too many times to remember, much less count.

Unfortunately, you can't put inspiration on a schedule. It's stubborn and can be annoying. Instead of turning up at the ideal time, it likes to interrupt you while you're working. Sometimes inspiration strikes as you're taking a shower. Sometimes it decides to drop in on you as you try to sleep (that's the worst--even if you have a notebook on your nightstand). 

Maybe you get an idea for a plot twist while reading a history book (also annoying if you're trying to study). Perhaps you think of a specific scenario while playing video games with your sibling(s)/friend(s). You may even get an idea while writing a blog post (that's happened to me a couple times; mostly ideas that lead to even more blog posts). 

Sometimes inspiration doesn't take long, so you just wait for it. However, there are times where inspiration doesn't strike at all. Either that, or it takes forever, so you can't wait for it. If you procrastinate because you "can't get inspiration," then you may miss that deadline you wish to make. There are times where you just have to sit down and force yourself to work (as annoying and uninspired it may be).

That's all for this post! 

See you Thursday,

Lexi K🖌