It's an understandable feeling! And I will admit to being annoyed with some artists when they have like 20commissions to do and have been posting gift art or personal art for like several days straight.

But eh! It's better not to get burned out, as you'd just end up hating commissions, and to take a few hours off to work on your own thing!

Nope, not weird at all.
Its good to let the ol brain hit refresh

I get it too, it is normal to feel that way as far as I can tell, but no sense I think it's best not to worry about it and just do what makes you feel good.

I feel that way ALL the time. Because I feel that if I do my commissioners will get mad.
But sometimes you need to take a break because it kicks you back in to your creative processes!

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

YES that is it EXACTLY! I always am full of fear that someone is just ticking days off a calendar and angrily staring at my front page :c

but to keep my skillz sharp I can't draw one thing (furry art) all the time!

i think i go one step further and get all the bestest ideas for personal art when i have commissions. and then i feel guilty for not working on those other pieces! but then, art block. until i work on personal things. i mean, come ON, brain, that isn't fair.

Brains are really big douchebags. It's like 'oh man are we doing something why are we doing this LETS DO THIS FUN THING' and then later it's all 'WHY DID YOU DO THAT FUN THING BE RESPONSIBLE GAWD'

Fueled by guilt, always.

i guess guilt is a really important part of being an artist because i have met very few artists that haven't rode the guilt train and the other ones seemed to be jerks.

Oh god, I do this all the time with making fursuits. Even if I scheduled time off of commissions for myself. D:

i guarantee that if i didn't do my old stuff while i was doing commissions, the commissions would turn out just awful. i used to feel really guilty about it, until the "i have no creative energy left" won out over it, and now i feel good about knocking out my own stuff in between commissions.

I always feel guilty too, but it's just so much harder to work on commissions when you're feeling BURNT OUT :'C

Well for what it's worth I will never ever begrudge you for doing your own thang :D I love seeing your personal stuff, and like you mentioned I think it's totally healthy and muse-inducing to switch between projects when one is boiling your brain and always keep stuff fresher/newer/exciting. That's how art tends to work in the real world, anyway, so why should anyone be upset that you're taking care of your sanity/creativity? It's not like you told us we'd have our art at a certain time, or that there are deadlines you're missing (that's a different story) :) You're just jammin' your awesome self, and should totally keep at it :D

I used to be like that, but then I just kept doing what I knew was healthy and eventually it became such a dull (and silly) sound in the background that I can ignore it easily.

The other thing that helps me is keeping a very, very small commission list. 3 tops, and I can take as long of a break in between as I need.

Also, warming up with sketches/inking/coloring that have nothing to do with the commissions helps me a lot.

I feel that way a lot, to the point I get burned out because I want to finish commissions before satisfying my own drives. I think it's the fear that people will get up in my face about doing stuff for myself when there are commissions to be done. I certainly don't stay at work all hours of the day, I should think me taking a break wouldn't be a big issue, but nope, brain is a dick.

yep, got that. And judgning from the replies it seems to be a common feeling for artists. :P

this is why I make my shits and grins list

Dated a cranky artist for six years, and as far as I can tell, yeah, not only is that perfectly normal, it's perfectly healthy. Your brain just needs a little time to unshake, especially when you start to get blocked on a project. The guilt's natural, but don't let it get to you. (I have pretty several clinical ADD too, and I *definitely* think more creatively if I have a fairly mundane side project to gnaw on...)

I get this feeling all the time! but I just keep reminding myself HEY YOU'RE BEING PAID HERE, IF YOU GET BORED TAKE A BREAK. Because if I am bored, I rush, and if I rush, the art isnt going to be its best, and thats cheating someone out of money they paid for your best.

HAHA NEVER WHY WOULD DO SOMETHING OTHER THAN WHAT I WANT TO ART.

of course, i'm always poor. the two might be related.....

I have just within the last few days, discovered that feeling. I had just taken in my first commission and my first art trade within about a week of each other. I currently had 3 fairly complex personal pieces that I have kind of a block on. So I started a fourth slightly simpler pic to show myself that I could finish something. Thats when something started screaming WHAT ARE YOU DOING, you have real work to do. I finally told myself (and the others in the trade and commish) I had to do this to be able to continue to the other things . I feel much better now.

OH HEY YOU.

my scanner should be fixed by tomorrow.

Expect to see your pony by then. I'm not quite finished with the fox though, it has grown rather intensive.

No rush on the fox but I'm now on pins and needles waiting to see teeth, stars, and bows.

I knew you had problems with your scanner so I wasn't worried.

Intensive? :)