Craig's Sketchbook

[hollinrake]

Dude, a lot of my summer was this. I hoped for so much and ended up doing much less, and I spiraled into a cycle of self hate and misery because I loathed everything I did. I didn't feel any development happening and it was killing me.

The thing is though, these kinds of things tend to fix themselves. Everyone has slumps. Everyone expects more of themselves. Personally, I went to something I knew would make me happy that wasn't related to art (I read a LOT of Harry Potter) and reveled in it for a good few days, as well as seeing people, and then drew a lot of comfort zone stuff so that my confidence in my art was restored. I tend to find it's that when artistic confidence takes a heavy knock it can leave you a bit down and out for a while, and it's okay to take some time to build yourself back up.

Essentially, let yourself recover and try to hold off on the not-painting guilt for a little while. Do things you know you enjoy and when it comes to art, do things that you love and are most proficient at so that you won't feel like crying when perspective goes wrong or a speedpaint looks like a splat (I speak from personal experience).

This is just my two cents though and I'm sure someone will say I'm talking out of my arse, but I hope it helps. Stick with it, you'll be past it soon :)