princess-has-a-pen:

why-bless-your-heart:

allieinarden:

People who have beaten writer’s block: how’d you do it?

I didn’t.

But as for beating art block, I find that it’s often brought on by sheer boredom. Whatever the thing I’m trying to draw is, even if I want to draw it intellectually, if it doesn’t interest me in some way, if I don’t actually want to draw it, it won’t happen. So the best solution I’ve found is to introduce some novelty. Maybe I’ll try a different medium or technique, or come up with something new to add to the piece, or maybe try to illustrate something I’ve not before, or maybe all I need is some different paper. The same may apply to writing: try using a cool pen or making one of those neat little journals with tons of tidbits and illustrations or try writing an entire chapter without once using the letter ‘e’. 

My dad’s advice, as a songwriter and musician, is to pretend that you’re engaging with your art form for the first time. Actively try to forget everything you’ve ever learned, pick up your guitar or your pencil or a word document like you’ve never seen one of these things in your life, and just explore. See what you can do and delight in that. Be fascinated by the way your chosen art form operates and how you can make it do cool and interesting things. 

Basically a block is kind of like cornstarch-and-water: if you keep throwing yourself against it, it’ll just be hard and give you bruises and you won’t get anywhere. If you focus on something else that’s tangentially related and just quietly do that, the block will start melting.

I usually yell at myself internally until then.