Introduction to Part I
Many years ago, I suffered painter’s burnout. I was done. Done painting realistic equine sculptures. I had enough of the tedium, the pressure, the expectations, the demands, the frustrations, and the physical pain it actually caused my hands. It no longer inspired me, no longer moved or interested me. It was soul-crushing drudgery. And so I quit, cold turkey. Instead, I became entranced by sculpture which took over my passion immediately, drawing me away from painting with blithe ease. In short, when I was customizing in my early days, I realized it was sculpture, not paintwork that held my fascination.
But I see now that was a mistake. An easy mistake to make, but a mistake all the same. A big one to boot. You see, I realize now that I wasn’t burned out with painting — I was burned out with the way I painted! And that’s a very different equation. And it’s a problem with some relative easy fixes had I known at that time.
So my mistake doesn’t have to be your mistake. If you’re suffering from artist block or burnout then, there are some highly effective strategies, even paradigm shifts you can employ to bust right through it and get back to being creative again. And that’s important. A creative not being creative is pretty much an existential crisis. As Brené Brown observes…
“I’m not very creative” doesn’t work. There’s no such thing as creative people and non-creative people. There are only people who use their creativity and people who don’t. Unused creativity doesn’t just disappear. It lives within us until it’s expressed, neglected to death, or suffocated by resentment and fear. The only unique contribution that we will ever make in this world will be born of our creativity. If we want to make meaning, we need to make art. Cook, write, draw, doodle, paint, scrapbook, take pictures, collage, knit, rebuild an engine, sculpt, dance, decorate, act, sing—it doesn’t matter. As long as we’re creating, we’re cultivating meaning.
Yes. Absolutely, yes. Indeed, your creativity block is a tragedy for you, for the community, and for the art form. It’s a loss, but a loss that can be righted. You can reclaim your creativity and get that fire blazing bright again! It is possible, believe that. You just have to know some handy tricks to stoke that flame. So in the spirit of getting you back into the studio happily creating once more, in this 6-part series let’s explore these practical strategies for beating block and burnout!
Block vs Burnout
First we should know the nature of the beast, right? As such, these two states aren’t the same thing but are, in fact, quite different. Basically, a block is the artist’s equivalent of writer’s block. It’s when you want to create, but you’re at a loss — it just doesn’t come. The motivation is there, but inspiration just doesn’t strike, ideas have been exhausted, or some sort of blockage just prevents you from making the first creative move. Instead then, you may find yourself making excuses. “I don’t have time for this,” or “I have chores to do,” or “What’s happening on TikTok,” or “I’ll wait until inspiration hits,” or any number of other contrived reasons pepper what should’ve been heady enthusiasm to follow through.
It’s been said that artist block doesn’t actually exist — it’s a problem of blocking thoughts, not a physical thing. That’s it more like a kind of resistance, an obstructionist manifestation of the anxious mind. Quite literally then, it’s an instinctive reaction triggered by the amygdala, the primitive part of our brain, in response to problematic circumstances. In this, a block is like a self-generated barrier between your mind and your creative essence, and being creative, not expressing that creativity can be stressful, upsetting, even painful. The block simply disrupts that natural bond you have with your creativity, which is why it can make you feel so empty and lost.
Now it’s important to know that artistic block is a normal part of arting as it’s typically just a temporary state that can lead us to procrastinate a bit at times. It’s part of being human. However, if a block happens for longer than a day or two, the problem can be more serious. Indeed, for some a block can last for weeks, months, years — sometimes even a lifetime in the most tragic circumstances. Let’s not allow that to happen!
In contrast, burnout is simply a complete lack of desire to be creative at all, particularly in your chosen art form. Motivation and inspiration have simply dried up and you’re sitting there wondering why you’re even trying in the first place. It’s all pointless, right? It’s just not inspiring, interesting, or compelling whatsoever anymore. Just one big steaming plate of “meh.” Arting is now a miserable experience, soul-crushing or drudgery. Or maybe you think in hyperbole such as “all my art bites,” or “I’ll never be able to be as good as so-and-so.” Or if you’re spending more time thinking than doing, that’s probably burnout.
In short then, a block is a river with a dam and burnout is a dried up riverbed. Luckily for us, however, many of the strategies to break through a dam or replenish a river are very similar, working equally well for either situation. But first we probably need to understand how we got here in the first place to best get our waters flowin' again.
Typical Causes of Block or Burnout
The factors that cause either one can overlap, being somewhat similar, but each does have a slightly different set of provoking circumstances.
When it comes to a block, our unreasonable expectations and sense of perfection can be big ol’ bricks in that dam. Especially if we’re a professional, we come to believe that our work must meet, even exceed a certain standard or it’s trash. Every single time. But — wow — that’s one heckuva pressure pot to create in! Or perhaps we anticipate failure, real or not, or maybe external distractions are a problem. Likewise, it could be we’re living our art life with too much comparison to other works, as their perceived superiority is impeding our own desire to create. Chronic procrastination is a very clear symptom of block as we attempt to avoid what stresses us. Being too goal-oriented can bring on a block, when we should be more invested in the process. Never forget that the outcome is merely an incidental by-product of an engaged process! Then again, maybe we’re simply waiting for inspiration to strike like some miraculous revelation to get us into the creative flow. However, inspiration rarely works that way. It could be we lack the necessary technical skills and we know it, or we’re creating a cycle of self-doubt and negative self-talk. Are we just a lousy artist? Are we just not skilled or talented enough? Is my work even still relevant? Yikes. Or maybe we simply lack inspiration, or on the other hand, we have too many ideas and get overwhelmed. Stress can also be a component, as an unquiet mind often has a hard time hitting that necessary creative groove. A lack of self-confidence, self-esteem, and self-worth can contribute to block as does a fear of showing your work or talking about it. If you’ve lost faith in your creativity or have descended into creative chaos — not in the good way — chances are that’s a block. Fear of criticism, of negative feedback is another brick on that dam...a huge one. A lack of perseverance, consistency, and follow-though are as well. Another brick is a hesitation to explore, discover, and use your own unique Voice, trying to be an artist you aren’t. And finally, simply having too much on your plate, personally or professionally, can definitely provoke a struggle to make art at all.
But boil it all down and a block is essentially caused by fear — a crushing fear of failing, of not measuring up, of coming up short, of negative backblow. The very real fear of picking up tool or brush and hating what you just created. The frustration, the annoyance, the disillusionment, the begrudging acknowledgement of inferiority — we all fear those negative feelings that billow up when we believe we've faceplanted. Indeed, sometimes this fear can paralyze us, maybe even get us wistfully daydreaming about arting without actually doing it — for years. Those gleaming visions in our head can indeed become addictions but without follow-through, that's where they'll stay.
Now when it comes to burnout, that’s usually caused by exhaustion. Your gasket has blown, your tank has vapor-locked, and you’re just fried and tired. It’s a complex state of mental, emotional, creative, and sometimes even physical exhaustion caused by prolonged stress, usually from your own creativity, that inhibits your ability to create and thrive.
In artists, burnout often manifests as a depletion of art joy to be replaced by exasperation, disillusionment, a lack of motivation, feeling drained, overwhelmed, or anxious, difficulty concentrating or making decisions, creative stagnation, an inability to do basic creative tasks, and even a persistent physical fatigue. In extreme cases, it can lead to other physical symptoms such as insomnia and headaches, changed appetite, even panic attacks. This emotional toll can be so bad, you can feel detached from your work, your audience, even your own identity as a creative. As burnout gets worse, you can experience depersonalization where you develop a negative opinion of your art, your creative process, even of your audience, leading to a loss of optimism, purpose, and meaning which only compounds that exhaustion and apathy. In turn, the creative stasis that results can be devastating as your arting stops, motivation wanes, and even your inspiration evaporates, exacerbating the feelings of inadequacy, self-doubt, disillusionment, and frustration, creating a viscous cycle. Wrap it all up and burnout can quickly lead to depression, anxiety, and difficulty concentrating.
However, because the fever of creativity can fluctuate based on such factors as sleep and stress, creative burnout can fly under the radar and can also masquerade as procrastination, tiredness, distraction, or a lack of motivation. It can be found in a host of unhealthy negative comparisons, too, from the quality of others work to the volume of their output to the amount of “likes” they garner to the loftiness of their achievements. Likewise, unbalanced content consumption such as doomscrolling or endlessly bingewatching without creating work can be another symptom — it’s called avoidance. Irritability can also be a tell as creatives often become snippy when not doing their creative thing enough. And a pretty big symptom is self-doubt — a lot of it. You start blaming yourself, thinking you’re just not talented enough, your work is pointless, or that people just don’t care anyway — despite having produced quality work and earned praise in the past.
In essence, you’ve become detached from your art. Indeed, the relentless drive for creativity can come at a steep price — it’s a Faustian deal. Art is one of those curious pursuits where passion and dedication entwine into an alchemy that can either be an elixir or a poison depending on how it’s managed. Indeed, in few other professions do so many pressures intersect, and it’s critical we understand these pressures in order to mediate their longterm effects…
- Production pressure: The world constantly demands innovation, novelty, and constant content creation and so artists are often swept up in this relentless cycle. The pressure to crank out new, innovative work, meet deadlines, complete commissions, and staying relevant and ahead of the curve can cause anxiety, chronic stress, and can be overwhelming. Indeed, this merciless pace can leave little space for reflection, rest, and incubation so necessary to cultivate and foster creativity. What’s more, many people in our genre apply a lot of pressure on artists to produce extraordinary quality relatively quickly, and as such, commission work can become a pressure pot for burnout if not managed ruthlessly.
- Financial insecurity: The economic unpredictability of most artistic careers can be a major cause of stress and anxiety. Irregular paychecks, constant hustle for jobs and commissions, lack of benefits or vacation and a general uncertainty of the future can sharply compromise our sense of security, stability, and well-being. In turn, this insecurity can lead to overworking, compelling us to take on more work than is feasible, further increasing the probability of burnout.
- Isolation: Being an artist is typically a solitary, sequestered pursuit which can generate feelings of disconnection and isolation if we aren’t careful. And unlike conventional workplaces, lone artists have to face creative setbacks and challenges on their own without the cushion of support, feedback, or encouragement, even humor of fellow employees. All of this can amplify detachment and self-doubt which can compound burnout further.
- External validation: With social media and online platforms, artists are directly exposed to public scrutiny and judgment. This can quickly become a destructive cycle of chasing likes, shares, positive reviews, followers, and beating the algorithms which can then develop into a dependency of external validation for self-worth. This is an incredibly dangerous place for an artist to be by leaving them seriously vulnerable to criticism, ridicule, and rejection which can fuel burnout like gasoline on a fire.
- Attention economy: The constant pressure to create work that grabs the attention of the gestalt and goes viral can cause a focus of quantity over quality at the sacrifice of artistic integrity and personal satisfaction and fulfillment, and all simply for a fleeting recognition. Or we can fruitlessly try to game the systems’ algorithms, often a losing and frustrating proposition, especially since social platforms are constantly changing the goalposts. As such, this can contribute heavily to burnout by feeding exhaustion, self-doubt, negative self-talk, and disillusionment.
- Perfectionism: We often have a very strong drive for excellence, even absurd, unreasonable degrees of perfection as we seek to produce technically finessed work. This can make us too outcome-focused when it's the process we need to be immersed in. Wabi-sabi, baby! Because if we feel we’ve fallen short of our mark enough times, burnout isn’t far behind. Which brings us to…
- Negative self-talk: We are our own worst critic, aren’t we? Our unceasing self-criticisms and unwillingness to accept imperfection can lead to frustration, disillusionment, dissatisfaction, self-doubt and, of course, eventual burnout. Chronically comparing our work to others doesn’t help matters whatsoever, either. “Comparison is the death of joy,” said Mark Twain. Absolutely right!
- The very nature of arting: The mere act of being creative intertwines together our identity, psyche, and our art to further to blur the line between life and work, between passion and exhaustion, which can then spin quickly out of control without perspective, and that can also lead to burnout.
- Too many obligations: Having too many events, responsibilities, distractions, chores, appointments, commission slots, or what have you scheduled on your calendar can be a terrible series of roadblocks that exhaust you even before you get to arting. Never forget that your energy is finite any given day so spend it wisely.
- Hypersensitivity: Maybe we place too much of our energies on what people think of our work, and that puts far too much power into other people’s hands, doesn’t it? The only person you have to please with your art is — you! You’re the only important person in this equation! So work to your own satisfaction and no more. Leave the rest be. “I have already settled it for myself so flattery and criticism go down the same drain and I am quite free,” said Georgia O’Keefe. Yahtzee!
Add all this up and we have quite the petri dish for burnout, don’t we? In fact, when we step back and hard-look at the nature of our own art niche, it has all the factors that can almost guarantee burnout in its artists at some point in their careers, doesn’t it? No wonder so many of our artists have had it tease their toes or just outright devour them. Indeed, I know a few of our artists who have been so burned out by it, they stopped years ago and still don’t create pieces. Don’t let that be you!
Conclusion to Part I
So now that we’ve got a pulse on block and burnout, in Part II we’ll start our exploration of the many varied tactics we can use to get our gears gearin' again. The great thing about these strategies though is how simple most of them are, just requiring a little first step to initiate. But they all do require a first step on your part because it’s going to take a plucky, pro-active attitude to reclaim your creativity. But your art is worth it, right?
"Creativity lives in paradox: serious art is born from serious play."
— Julia Cameron
