How do you "take a break"

[VibrantFox]

So it's almost 3 in the morning and I'm playing splatoon and reflecting on the fact that i have no idea what i'm doing with my life (a vague idea exists but lets just go with the flow here).

So overall my relationship with my art has been shaky at best, going from feeling pretty confident to "i'm the absolute worst and i'll never achieve anything". There's a number of factors that have played into why but half of them are things I can handle myself and with other help. The rest is more to do with the "competitive" aspect and measuring up to creative peers and pros.

Obviously I'm still learning and growing and I have no issue with that. No one ever truly stops learning in life so that's completely fine and normal. No, where I'm struggling is the aggressive focus put on numbers, relevance and more than anything taking a break when it all becomes to much.

See a lot of folks will put emphasis on forcing yourself to keep working and pushing through burnout because "you're not really burnt out you just need to be working harder" or whatever it is people are saying these days. But the thing is I AM burnt out and the more I keep trying to push through it the worse it gets. It's embarrassing to say but I'm at a point where I almost force myself to avoid social media and other places i post because rather than seeing the folks who do enjoy my work and how i'm improving as compared to my work in the past all i can see is how i measure up against others and how i feel ridiculously far behind in terms of skill and reach.

Now this is obviously a bit more of a rant than anything but I'm also curious as to how you take a break when art/writing is the "one thing your good at"? How do you avoid feelings of inadequacy and more than anything stop yourself from comparing your journey to others?

Like I already know about focusing on personal growth and comparing your current self/body of work to your old work but I guess I could use reminders now and then of how I'm doing. I'm also not a social person so connecting with folks and being this energetic outgoing entity is just not possible (and faking it leaves me even more tired).

So i dunno toss your opinions or advice into the ring. What's your means of coping and navigating the hustle culture of the creative realm? Do you take breaks and if so what's your idea of a break/how do you do it?

[darthmongoose]

I have other hobbies where it doesn't matter if I'm good at them or not. That's one of my secrets....

At art and writing, yes, there's a pressure on me to perform to a high level because that's my job, but at rock climbing or painting minis or playing the guitar, it literally doesn't matter if I stay at amateur level forever and just mess around. I've never climbed anything harder than a Hard VS (F5+ in French climbing grades) and I'm okay with that. My minis look nice enough to delight my players for a game of D&D but I'm never gonna win the Golden Demon and that's fine too.

My other secret is that I pride myself on being somebody who has work-life balance and cares about quality of life.

I put my stylus down at 6pm and I cook myself proper food. Some people think that shows a lack of commitment to "the hustle" but for me, that's a point of pride. I'm 36 and I've never had a repetitive strain injury; not many of my pro illustrator and comics friends can say that. I have a partner who loves me, I can cook pretty well and I'm in decent shape, and ultimately I wouldn't trade that for having my name on a few more books.
I have come to terms with the fact that as an autistic person, I can't necessarily be a content machine without sacrificing my mental, emotional or physical wellbeing, and I've come to the conclusion that I can be proud of being a person who lives a happy, comfortable life. Having my work in print is wonderful, but so is going for a walk to the park with my partner to share a flask of tea.

My final secret: Life is long. Pace yourself

Some people do their most famous work in their twenties or even their teens. I think my best creative works have all been made in my thirties. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby hit their stride as creators around my age or a bit older, so honestly I don't feel concerned that I'm not a huge name yet. Because I've lived a balanced life I'm not burned out in my mid thirties, and I haven't pigeonholed myself as a certain kind of creator or had some big scandal to get over, and my work isn't too dated looking so... as much as it felt like I couldn't possibly make it when I didn't get published at 23, now it feels like there's really no reason that stops me from getting published at 36 when I'm way better at drawing and writing and I know a lot more.

[a.g.meade]

I am a serious workaholic (2 jobs, 3 comics, what is sleep?) and will go until I literally cannot go anymore. Usually, the way I wind up 'taking a break' is because my body just won't let me keep working. It's a problem, but I'm working on finding balance. Playing video games, going to the park, or cooking something are usually pretty helpful for trying to even things out.

As for inadequacy... I'm sure you've heard a version of this before, but they're on their journey and you're on yours. Personally, the thing that's helped me most with the comparison game is self-awareness about where I am in my journey. Putting your journey into perspective can go a long way with your satisfaction of where you currently are.

[Yulek]

My final secret: Life is long. Pace yourself

this.

I've done a lot of thinking lately, because there's a lot I want to do. Like making certain comics, learning animation, getting better at background-prop-character design, improving my 3d modeling skills.

the list is near endless and while I'm a design student and get to tackle some of them, assignments alone give me 12h days for every day of the week with no rest.

somehow there's this weird idea that your life ends with 30. not literally, but it's as if only what you achieve during your 20s matters.

it took me a while to really understand that that mindset is utter crap.

like, I might not become an animator within the next three years, but I can do it within the next 10.
I can focus on specific skills, get good at them, and in the mean time just lay down foundations for the skills I want in the future.

not everything needs to happen at once and till a selfmade deadline.

It's okay to take your time.

.
.
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but I'm also a huge hypocrit and overworker. so I still struggle with this myself and tend to push myself way too hard until I crash and burn.

I'm getting better now with some of those realizations, as well as giving myself a strict time for when I put down the pen.
I also only book a day as successful if I followed that rule, cooked at least one meal and went outside for leisure once.

I get motivated by not wanting to be a failure, so I just have to change my definition of what success is.

[thedude3445]

For workaholics, there's one way to force yourself to do things outside your main career and/or skill. Set 1-2 things you want to do more consistently to relax, or new hobbies you'd like to try out, and use a habit tracker to make sure you are doing them. Basically, you become a workaholic at things that have zero pressure to them. You're tricking your own tendencies into being healthier.

I like the website/app Habitica, formerly Habit RPG; it's a habit tracker that also acts as a fast-progressing RPG with stats and collectibles, and recently it's helped me, if not actually be less of a workaholic, to at least track certain good/bad habits I hadn't been aware of until I started actually paying attention. I don't know; I think it helps combat burnout.

[migzard]

Having a healthy relationship with my art & work like this is what I aspire to. I think an issue that's not talked about often enough in the art world is the lack of clear boundaries between art/work and personal life.

[VibrantFox]

Just wanted to say thanks to those who've replied so far. Looking and thinking it over I can safely boil down my issues into 3 points

1 being a need for change in environment and not just getting out of the house or drawing in a new space but complete change but with that being mostly out of my control all i can do is cope

2 is a need for relatively less competitive hobbies. My one (and really only) outlet is gaming but i have a tendency to go with those that have a social aspect so it's a lot of online multiplayers like splatoon or knockout city or mmorpgs like alchemia story or unison league

and 3. which somewhat ties into the last is friends or people i can interact with socially, which is probably the toughest given my struggles to interact with other folks but i guess all i can do is try and hope for the best...

[ninjashira]

Completely agree with all of this! I do cross stitching and play Animal Crossing when I need a break from art. Doesn't matter one bit if I'm good at cross stitching, and you can't really be bad at Animal Crossing! There's literally zero pressure to enjoy those activities.

And 100% yes to the "put the pen/stylus down" bit. I'm attending a really high-pressure college right now, where there's a bit of a "work yourself to death" culture that I simply don't agree with. I have never worked myself to the point of injury, I have never pulled an all-nighter, and I have never gotten less than a full night's sleep trying to meet a deadline, and I'm still turning out high-quality work, making all my due dates, and completing more pages than my peers who are losing sleep and working for days in a row and working to the point of injury.

It's almost like a badge of honor for some of these students to brag about how little sleep they got or how they worked so hard they caused serious injury to their wrists and arms, but that's not healthy or sustainable.

[Caro]

Plenty of phenomenal and important advice already but I’ll also add that severely limiting my time on the internet has helped me loads on the days where I feel particularly insecure. I think right now I spend a total of 2-3 hours online max per day and most of the time is spent having direct conversations with friends and loosely researching whatever I happen to be into that day.

Since cutting down on that I spend a LOT more time reading books, taking walks, I’ve been learning bass and guitar, songwriting, running and exercising. and all of these things also tangentially help the comic process as well whether I’m thinking about it or not.

I’ve also suffered from repetitive stress injuries from drawing comics especially because that is technically my full time job and I’ve done the same thing as @darthmongoose. I stop working after a certain time of day and I give myself weekends now and I haven’t had issues with my wrist all year. My body is healthy, my relationships are healthy, and its much easier to create when all that stuff is aligned. I’m definitely more productive now than before.

[rajillustration]

So I grew up in a very competitive environment, went to very competitive schools, and overall what drives me to do art is because I want to become the best artist I can ever be. I want to be a master at my craft. So, it is hard to maintain that work/life balance, and when I was in my late teens/young 20's I actually hit a breaking point. I had such bad insomnia, mixed with getting very ill, and then mixed with a break up--almost dropped out of college entirely. It was embarrassing.

My doctor at the time was like "listen, I'm a doctor. When I was a young parent at 22, going to medical school, managing my parent's BnB, with a newborn child, it was real hard. But, I wouldn't have been able to do it if I was sleeping as little as you sleep." and it was just like a pail of water, that the human body can only do so much. My ex at the time who was an animator was actually hospitalized with ulcers from the stress of animation, and I felt embarrassed I couldn't push as hard.

There's an art culture to work 24 hours a day, and that art culture exists because there's often too many artists for work available, especially after we lost Newspaper and magazine work. Companies want to take advantage of college grads, overwork them on a constant crunch deadline, and then pay them in promises instead of money. There is a systemic reason for why this culture exists not just in art, but for youth everywhere--it's cheap labor, it's good labor, and it allows other people to make a lot of money off of it. When I realized that was why this exists--really brought those achievements of getting into those companies in your young 20's in a different light.

So I had to learn how to "take a break" not just physically, but mentally as well. It's hard to do, if you aren't really trained to do it. I honestly had to go through some counseling because of my insomnia, which talked about anxiety and how to more effectively stop the thought cycles that burn us out. So if you are going through a lot of burn out, and changing your physical location or just turning off your media isn't helping: that is a symptom of other things. Sometimes we think going to a doctor means that we have to be at an extreme mental state, but you can go just for even minor burn out. No shame in sending an email, if you have that option.

Yet, I can tell you that after I switched to no all-nighters, I was impressed by how much improvement I was seeing. I was able to go farther than some of my peers who were working all hours of the day, and I think it is because I had to focus on my health and screw the system, so to speak. And looking back, I didn't miss out. At the time I thought I was being passed up by opportunities--but I wasn't, really. Those were imaginary opportunities, and I don't think I would have had them had I continued the path I was going (which was the path to the hospital with ulcers)

[Shanny8]

Right now I'm on hiatus because my day job has been very demanding since I've taken on this new task, the pandemic, and they bought out some smaller companies that we now have to transition into the fold. This whole process has been draining/exhausting and between sitting all day at a computer at work and sitting at my computer most nights & weekends after work, something had to give...

Mentally to a certain extent I want to get back into working on my art & comics, but there's also a part of me that is severely unmotivated(prolly burnt out) and then there's the physical aspect- my arms are still hurting(mostly around my elbows) and my back hurts on and off. I got a new screened tablet(as a birthday pres for myself coz the opportunity was there) but every time I want to do some art on it, that whole "unmotivated" feeling kicks in and I end up not doing anything...the same with trying to work remotely on my iPad as well.

Right now I feel like I'm caught in this vicious cycle where I'm exhausted but I wanna draw- and I cant because the job that helps me pay all my bills is consuming a lot of the little energy I have and a LOT of my time as well. I get home and I'm tired and I just wanna get to the place things aren't so hectic/chaotic for me.

[joannekwan]

I totally feel it! It's like every announcement of someone's achievements is hammering into your head and reminding you of your own unsuccess.

It's difficult to stay away from social media since it's a freelancer's main avenue of promotion and finding an audience. There's no avoiding that overall. The freelance art game is just another rat race.

But on my worst days—when those feelings just dogpile me—I just detach from everything.
I turn off my computer, leave my mobile devices aside, and just submerge myself into some good ol' escapism. Movies are my pick of poison. They're complete little stories that only take up 2 hours or so of your time and you can just veg out on the couch.
I spend my day like this, comfort myself with some food and maybe a hot shower, and just hope the next day is better when the feelings have numbed and I can tackle the internet again.

[jmassat]

Building on a few of the pieces that others have said (like putting down the stylus at 6pm, spending time away from the internet), look into time management strategies, too. There are lots of them out there. You can adjust them, adapt them, and merge them together until they work for you. (...oh yeah and speaking of breaks, I've been trying out the Pomodoro method. Since I'm the type of person who feels jumpy after spending about a half-hour on something, that can be really helpful for me in managing time and planning to take breaks.)

The old-ish cliche is also worth saying: "Work smarter, not harder." If you're constantly burning out, a few time-saving strategies and changes in your methods might go a long way.

[DokiDokiTsuna]

What's your means of coping and navigating the hustle culture of the creative realm?

Personally, I'm just not a 'hustler'. =/
I think if your ego is big enough, it's kind of hard to become one, because when the going starts to get tough you don't have the same feelings of shame or inadequacy to help push you over into actively destroying yourself for your work. Usually it's more like 'this is really hard...and clearly the problem isn't me, so...maybe this level of accomplishment is actually only for insane people, and I'm fine the way I am. Yep, that's it.' ^^;

And even if you don't have a big ego, if you can convince yourself of that mindset even a little bit, it could work wonders for you, stress-wise. Deciding that other people are the weirdos and not you is a totally victimless crime, and can only benefit you in situations like this~ o(°▽°)o

And on top of that...honestly, the hustle isn't really real. I mean, the idea that that's the one surefire way to achieve success as a creator is just factually untrue (from what I've seen, hustle culture is much more likely to help you achieve burnout, depression, and early death).

There are tons and tons of successful artists, many of which I'm sure you've heard of, that really aren't that good at what they do; they're just 'good enough'. Or some that are legitimately bad, but bad in a way that's popular enough to sell. Or some that actually do have god-tier skills, but became successful without even needing to use them (plenty of comedy comic artists are like that~).

And I feel like, when you've seen enough of those people, the idea that you need to be 'good enough', or even that you'll fall behind if you don't keep improving, becomes kind of...silly. Like, clearly the rest of the world doesn't care, and they're the ones you're supposed to please if you want to hit all those artist milestones or whatever.

I've seen people who draw the way I did when I was 12 successfully sell commissions. I've seen people who never even speak to their followers become popular across platforms. A few years ago I was in "competition" with another fandom artist who posted about twice a year and still had more fans than me.

And there are plenty of pros out there whose success just isn't reflected in likes or followers: I follow someone who has a published, completed comic series under their belt WITH an animated series adaptation...and that's just their most recent project. A promo post for something new they're working on earned a whopping 23 likes and 2 comments...and my Twitter presence is abysmal, but even I've done better than that before.

In conclusion, no matter what you think you have to do to 'make it' as an artist, I PROMISE you, someone else has already made it without doing that. Maybe they had other advantages; maybe it was just luck. But if nothing else, it proves that it's definitely possible to get to where you want to be without suffering for your craft. And if you can believe that, maybe it'll take some of the pressure off your shoulders.

P.S. I think playing Splatoon and avoiding social media is a great way to take a break~

[Rhonder]

See a lot of folks will put emphasis on forcing yourself to keep working and pushing through burnout because "you're not really burnt out you just need to be working harder" or whatever it is people are saying these days. But the thing is I AM burnt out and the more I keep trying to push through it the worse it gets.

Yeah, that sort of mindset is rubbish I can only imagine the sorts of people who push that mentality simply haven't experienced burn out, or otherwise just have an unhealthy work-life balance. As it sounds like you've unfortunately begun to experience, usually just trying to push through just makes the burn out worse.

So, to the thread topic, how I take breaks is just by doing what I want if I start to feel tired. If what I want is to do other art, then I do that. If what I want is to just go to bed early and not do anything productive, then I do that. If I want to play Splatoon at 3 am (I was actually doing this last night as well, but at 1am ), then I do that~ What I've found is that by taking breaks when needed, and for as long as needed, eventually I recharge my creative batteries and find myself wanting to do art/comics again. That's the point that I know that it's time to get back to work

[Crusoe]

You find a new hobby with less pressure? The goal of a hobby isn't to be good at it, but to learn and have fun. If everyone gave up immediately by being 'bad' then no-one would ever try anything new, because the fact is that you only get 'good' at stuff by putting a lot of time into it.

As for comparing yourself to others... It can definitely be useful for learning new tricks and such or to encourage you to try something new, but if it makes you feel inadequate then close social media and start looking around. Look at your local artists and designers instead. Some but not all of them are amazing at art, but somehow they managed to make it their job. Other hobby artists around you might just enjoy diamond painting or making candles, or soaps or whatever. Are they amazing artists? Not likely, but that's okay. They do what they enjoy.

That's my two cents anyway

[Puck]

This is a topic I can relate to.
I never take breaks, I feel like I´m taking too many breaks.
I don´t think I ever rest.
I want to come to the point where making comics becomes easier again like it
was when I was a kid and a teenager, when I didn´t care so much how it looks like
and just did it.

There is one thing I want to add about the "you never stop with the learning",
I don´t really agree with that. Look at Charles Schultz who did Charlie Brown as an example.
And I´m one of those examples too, I´m a musician and honestly I still play the same 5 bass
line variations I could play after 2 weeks and never changed them one bit. I´m playing them in bands
since 28 years now. I got a better timing now and my technique got better too, but only very minimal.
It´s a bit like doing one drawing class learning to draw stick figures and then doing that for the rest
of your life without developing just getting faster and a tiny bit better at it.
I think I can´t do that with comics because I have different exspectations how they should look like,
I don´t want them to look like my comics when I was 16

Sorry if this was off topic

[Scarlet_Cryptid]

'Taking a Break' is a short-term and long-term need, with both mental and physical steps to it.

In the short-term, make sure you take care of your physical body. You will not, cannot do your best if you're sleep-deprived, in pain, haven't eaten in six hours, are dehydrated, really have to pee, and have been staring at a page, holding a stylus/pencil for so long that you're starting to develop an eye-twitch. You might be okay with suffering for your art (although you shouldn't be), but most artists draw the line (heh...) at letting their art suffer.

Also take care of yourself mentally. Do something else you enjoy, even if it's not 'productive' or 'helping you get ahead'. Even if you think art is "the one thing you're good at"... so what? You are not required to be good at things you enjoy. Read a book. Watch that show you've been thinking about catching up on. Go for a walk in the park. Bake a cake, if that's your thing. Artists are not endless fonts of creativity that you can wring content out of in a continuous stream. You need to refill the sponge, so to speak. You need to take in, refresh, and rest so that you have something in your reserves to be able to produce later, especially at your best.

In the long term, 'Taking a Break' has a twin sibling: Sustainability. If 'Taking a Break' is treating a problem, Sustainability is preventing one, or at least softening the grind.

Establish a routine and a rhythm that doesn't leave you completely tapped at the end of the day. Set small goals, and take one day at a time. Try for goals that leave you only about 50-70% tired. A good mindset for me is 'I could keep going... but I'm getting tired and this is a good place to stop'. Adjust your work routine as necessary.

Adjust your mindset, too. The big question for a lot of artists is "What Do I Consider Success?" Is it having a huge number of followers? Or is it having a smaller, but really engaged, audience? Do you want to make the Next Big Thing, and have dreams of having movies made out of your work? Or would you be just fine with a table at an artist alley and a stack of prints of your comic/novel?

And once you figure out what Success looks like to you... ask yourself what you are, and aren't, willing to sacrifice to achieve it. And why you're willing to sacrifice that thing. And whether being willing to sacrifice that thing is good and healthy and sustainable long-term. Remember that you can't see behind the scenes; you have no idea what the people who 'blow up' are sacrificing, what their lives are like, and whether they regret sacrificing those things to be where they are.

I watched this video recently, and... it was a good reminder, and very reassuring that even when you feel like you're behind, you might be in a better position than you think.

(aaaand that was a long post. Shutting up now. XD )

[artamazon]

There's a lot here to talk about, lol.

Taking breaks - This is my opinion, but when burnout happens I think letting yourself unwind and relax and not even thinking about art is the way to go. I've tried pushing through it and it just made it worse. Now, I try completely detaching from my projects and doing anything else for up to a week or more. Whether that's hanging out with people, doing chores, playing games, etc. I just don't think about it or look at it for a week and come back to it completely fresh.

For personal projects, there's no time limit, so why are we rushing something that should be fun and relaxing? People who like what you do will still be around to look at what you're doing, and if you lose people they'll come back or maybe you'll find new people. I watch the numbers, but honestly I just make self indulgent art and if people want to read or look at it then that's cool. I don't stress over it, you know? There's plenty of other things in my life to stress about, lol.

Art Confidence - This is one I think we all struggle with, but what I've found is that there's always someone out there that thinks your art is cool. The thing that most helped me overcome feelings of not being good I think is probably just celebrating other artists and being positive. This takes some practice if you're like me and don't really talk to people online, but getting out there and telling people when you like their art, being supportive, and celebrating art in general. People will generally reciprocate. I had to realize I don't need to always be in this competition mentality. Also realizing there's room for everyone to be an artist, you're allowed to like multiple artists. Like, I thought there's some kind of quota that people can only like one artist and if you're not the best then no one will like you, lol. Such a silly frame of mind for me, but that's what it kind of felt like. So instead, finding positive things in your own art and in what other people are doing helps. At least for me, I'd rather be a fun, positive cheerleader. Why dwell on shitty bad thoughts? Would you say the things you say to yourself to your friends about their art? Be nice to yourselves.