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On Breaks and Self Reflections
a year ago
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Please see my profile for general information and prices!
See my gallery for YCHs, specials, and adopts!
I'm usually bad about posting journals, but I wanted to spill some thoughts for once. Read this if you want, or don't, it's just some things I've realized lately.
Some of you might have noticed, some of you may not have, but I stopped posting stuff for around three weeks. Now sure, someone being busy or otherwise occupied isn't unheard of, but that wasn't really the case for me. I sort of went on hiatus by accident? It wasn't planned, but it WAS needed, as I came to realize.
Over the last few weeks/months leading up to this impromptu break, I'd started to have this weird feeling about my art, my drawings specifically. But I couldn't quite articulate what exactly was bugging me. Was it colors or anatomy or style? Content? Fanart vs OCs, etc? I honestly could not figure it out, and it sucked. It made me not wanna draw, for myself or anyone else. I stopped drawing and picked up some of my other artsy hobbies for a bit instead, hoping it'd reset things, and to an extent, it did. I started playing an old file of Pokemon Moon again, watched some documentaries, did some organizing, even practiced skating, etc. I've never been one to sit still; I need to do SOMETHING with my free time. That something just needed to NOT be drawing for a while. Worked on a cosplay, did a lot of journaling, wound up getting Stardew Valley too when it went on sale. I completely stopped doing ANYTHING art/craft related for a solid week (played games and wrote instead during that week).
And... it worked. The fog dissipated and things made sense again. I WANTED to draw again, I wanted to turn my tablet back on, I wanted to finish wips again. So I started sketching traditionally to ease back into it, and somehow that made things pick up steam. I still didn't feel fully like posting again, but I had my drive back; I had drawing ideas, I had plans for character designs, I had prompts. And that was probably the bigger part of it, but not all of it.
We live in a world that stresses you be always online, always active, always available, always "on". And I've come to realize (maybe later than I should have) that I don't want or need that. I am ALLOWED to take breaks, I am ALLOWED to be in the moment, I am ALLOWED to take time for myself. I do not need to post constantly and that's fine! I've always found I'm happiest when creating for myself or those close to me, not to feed a post quota or garner attention online (and let's be honest, my numbers aren't breaking any records anyways lol).
The break was a reset, yes, but it also served to remind me of that. And I think I can go forward now with that sentiment and do better for myself!
Some of you might have noticed, some of you may not have, but I stopped posting stuff for around three weeks. Now sure, someone being busy or otherwise occupied isn't unheard of, but that wasn't really the case for me. I sort of went on hiatus by accident? It wasn't planned, but it WAS needed, as I came to realize.
Over the last few weeks/months leading up to this impromptu break, I'd started to have this weird feeling about my art, my drawings specifically. But I couldn't quite articulate what exactly was bugging me. Was it colors or anatomy or style? Content? Fanart vs OCs, etc? I honestly could not figure it out, and it sucked. It made me not wanna draw, for myself or anyone else. I stopped drawing and picked up some of my other artsy hobbies for a bit instead, hoping it'd reset things, and to an extent, it did. I started playing an old file of Pokemon Moon again, watched some documentaries, did some organizing, even practiced skating, etc. I've never been one to sit still; I need to do SOMETHING with my free time. That something just needed to NOT be drawing for a while. Worked on a cosplay, did a lot of journaling, wound up getting Stardew Valley too when it went on sale. I completely stopped doing ANYTHING art/craft related for a solid week (played games and wrote instead during that week).
And... it worked. The fog dissipated and things made sense again. I WANTED to draw again, I wanted to turn my tablet back on, I wanted to finish wips again. So I started sketching traditionally to ease back into it, and somehow that made things pick up steam. I still didn't feel fully like posting again, but I had my drive back; I had drawing ideas, I had plans for character designs, I had prompts. And that was probably the bigger part of it, but not all of it.
We live in a world that stresses you be always online, always active, always available, always "on". And I've come to realize (maybe later than I should have) that I don't want or need that. I am ALLOWED to take breaks, I am ALLOWED to be in the moment, I am ALLOWED to take time for myself. I do not need to post constantly and that's fine! I've always found I'm happiest when creating for myself or those close to me, not to feed a post quota or garner attention online (and let's be honest, my numbers aren't breaking any records anyways lol).
The break was a reset, yes, but it also served to remind me of that. And I think I can go forward now with that sentiment and do better for myself!
draconicdreamsart
~draconicdreamsart
Take care of yourself.
