Is Burnout Inevitable/Unavoidable?

[akitsukino]

There's a forum post about it every week or so, and there's a lot of talk about it in other creative fields. I'll see that a webcomic I really like will just up and stop because the creator admitted to not being able to handle the pressure of creating it anymore. And if it doesn't stop it'll go on hiatuses that last anywhere from 1 year to 3. And those are the tame cases. I'll go on twitter to read horror stories of artists who haven't been able to draw for a year or more because their arm and back gave out. People who have had to get surgery on tendons and wear arm braces will create long threads about how important it is to stretch. It feels like the signs are there that burnout is unavoidable.

I sometimes wonder if drawing has a honeymoon phase. In the beginning everything seems fine because you don't know too much, but as you begin to know more about it and you put more time into it, the more weary you get ( I know you too well to like you anymore). I used to feel so energized by drawing. It was like a riddle I was slowly finding the answers to, but now it just makes me tired. It sometimes feels like it's taking something out of me that it can't put back. That's why I've been taking a long break from drawing anything serious, and been focusing on novel writing. But how long can that last?

I wouldn't want to think that something I enjoy doing has an expiration date to it, but I realize that might be the reality. What do you all think? Does drawing/writing/creating have a honeymoon phase? What you do when it's so hard to push through? Is it really just a simple matter of knowing when to take a break? Let me know below.

[Jenny-Toons]

Hmmm, I wouldn't say there's a honeymoon phase, at least for me.

The passion and love for art never goes away. But there are sometimes I have to take a break. It can be that my back is kinda cramping up and I need to stretch more. It can be that the panels/story-boarding I'm doing just aren't working out. Or, it could be that I'm just not mentally there to draw.

In those moments, I pull away and let my brain rest from art/comics. Instead, I focus on other things like reading, music, talking with friends. And when I do go back to my work, I see it with a fresh pair of eyes.

I personally believe when you spend too much time on something (be it work, hobby, anything), you become drained, and that burnout can cause you to dislike it even if you do truly love what you do.

It's why it's so important to have other hobbies you enjoy and to take breaks. Because even if we say we want to draw 24/7 -- most of us don't really mean that 110%. We need breaks, we need moments away from them.

It's not to say you're growing to dislike your craft. I argue that you're acknowledging that you can't always focus on it. It's normal.

[indagold]

Well burn out usually happens when you're forcing yourself to produce something but with no energy to do so. Webcomic artist's curse is the burn out. I've lost so many good webcomics cause the artists just gave up and it ended prematurely. I think honestly you gotta be really prepared, be able to have a substantial buffer, have vacations and be able to fluctuate between them so you can have your off days.

I used to constantly just churn out comics everyday and it just took out too much time outta my day and was stressful knowing every single day is just gonna be taken up drawing. It immediately went from fun to "jesus christ I don't ever wanna do this" in under a month. I then tried making 2-3 month buffers for my comics and I started to see a change, burn out did happen but it was less extreme, inspiration could come and go, stress can come and go and if you felt tired and bored you could stop and then go back.

[Rodimus13]

It's why we try to build up a buffer when Hubby is feeling good and motivated- so he can take time off if needed. It's also why I try to keep him on a schedule where he doesn't do more than he can handle. It means I've rewritten the script so some are shorter but it's to help out.

[Maps]

For me I think that I didn’t have a honeymoon phase, but more like phases of my motivation slipping in and out. I’m currently in a phase with my novel now where I feel exhausted trying to think about how I want to write my next chapter. I’ve been filling a very big hole in my plot that I’ve had since I came up with the story. I had a beginning, some middle bits, and sort of an ending. Right now I am in the middle but I have written what I had planned and am struggling to write chapters that I enjoy and feel proud of. I refuse to put anything out that I write and if it doesn’t feel right. So I’ve been in this feeling for about a month or two. I’ve managed to get a chapter out once every week, but I sort of want to focus on my comic for the time being since my motivation is there for that.
But I also don’t want to give up on my novel, it’s my baby
I’ve never been one to set a solid time for my releases, and I don’t think I’ll do that. I imagine the pressure would kill me!
There is one comic I read that posts every three weeks, and since the art and story are so beautiful, I don’t even mind. I’m hoping that if I post without set times it’ll still keep people interested.

[yansusu]

I honestly love writing but I also got to the point where I had to take a break for about a year once because I just couldn't get anything done anymore. I had a ton of ideas but I couldn't sit down and write them and the longer that phase got, the worse I felt and writing anything got even more difficult. It was a really vicious cycle that I just couldn't get out of So I'd say I do know that feeling of being burned out.
I never really experienced something like a honey moon phase though. After things got worse in that year, I finally got to the point of just not trying anymore and voila: A few months after that I got back to writing and I love it just as much as before

So overall, I feel that there are ups and downs with writing like one could experience them with every other thing too. And if you happen to be in one of those 'downs', then something like a burnout could happen but it definitely doesn't have to stay that way. You just have to find a (your) way to deal with it and then things will start to get better.

[Shanny8]

For me, I feel like it's more the mechanics of certain stages or certain parts of the art that I'm not so enamored doing anymore- creatively, my mind wants to do MORE, but then I sit down in front of a blank page, and start to cringe. I've been having a challenging time doing layouts & penciling- but once I get the pencils done, I get giddy during the inking, coloring, and lettering stage; since I do unfinished/unrefined pencils during page work, the inking stage is where I breathe life into my lines. I start out slowly with colors, but once I get the initial background colors and the flats down, then I begin to pick up the pace...lettering is like the icing on top- I love lettering.

The page is done, I move to the next page- and that process with loathing to pencil starts over again. It's crazy coz in the beginning, I didnt have an issue with pencils- but it seems like by the time I reached end of Ch 1 and fighting off the sickness, fighting the arm/wrist issues, I just feel like I didnt get a long enough break(I still feel this way even with taking a 5 month break between Ch 2 and Ch 3). It could be my environment as well...

[Rhonder]

I can't say with certainty that it's completely inevitable (I imagine there are probably some creatives out there who are 100% good to go 100% of the time) but I think the vast majority of people probably experience it at some point. I know I certainly do.

My strategy thus far has just been "know when to take a break", pretty much. Although I try to work on my webcomic most days to keep the flow going and maintain what little buffer I currently have, there are some days (or even weeks) where I'm just not motivated to work on my comic even if I don't have other plans (like some weekends I draw a lot, others I barely do if I end up hanging out with my friends or wev). I feel like I would just burn myself out harder if I tried to force myself to work during those times, so instead I just take the day off, relax, watch some tv/play a game/draw something not related to my comic, etc. And when I finally get back to the comic the next day or week or wev, I'm refreshed and ready to hit it again!

Granted this could become a problem if you're taking these breaks too frequently and don't get back to drawing eventually, but that's not been a problem for me yet! But I'm also still within my first year so who knows what it'll look like a year or two or ten from now.

[McAmps]

I'm more new to comics, but I def felt this with writing. I just wanted to write a ton, but it soon became stressful and it felt like it was taking all my time. There was no joy left. I ended up taking about a 6 month break. I've been easing back into it, but am starting to find my groove, though I will say it's not as exciting as it was at the beginning, but I still really enjoy it, and it has it worthwhile moments. The thing that helped me was giving myself manageable goals and expectations, but also forgiving myself if I can't write as much as I wanted that day. Also having other creative hobbies really helps refill my creative juices!

[baasinsimple]

Ever had a day where you live has slobbily as possible, It's horrible and when I do that I feel ready to work the next day.

[JeanGuillet]

the points you raise about physical wear and tear are very important. yet some artists successfully have 40+ year careers being Jack Kirby. I don't think one size fits all. some people are built to take more of this kind of repetitive physical stress than others, so know your limits and don't be afraid to take a break. it's ok.

[beta1042]

I mean anything you do in life, if you do it frequently enough, you'll need a break eventually. Not that needing a break is burn out. The Burnout is inevitable if you never allow yourself to have those breaks. And I say allow, because if you tell yourself to take a day off but you're still mentally feeling guilty about taking a break, you're not really allowing yourself a break. People just gotta remember breaks are healthy and have statistically proven to promote productivity and to just allow themselves that guilt-free downtime.

[Emevsa]

I am not always the best at recognising when I'm on the fast track to a burn out (though I've gotten better at it in recent years). I found planning a break helped stagger my feeling of being overwhelmed and sometimes I have had to just put down a scene I'm working on and walk away so that my mind can mull over things in the background.

But I think a big part of burnout is the expectation that you can produce the same quality week after week without getting tired. I found that sure, that works for a couple of weeks, maybe even a month if I'm lucky, but life has a habit of getting bored and throwing a ball through my window and that's where it gets tough. I just cut myself some slack during those times and trust that I'll pick up my comics when I'm done cleaning up.

[joannekwan]

Burnout can also depend on the motivational factors for each person. Like someone can go just fine pushing 50 hour work weeks doing art if they're getting compensated fairly. Another person might only draw one hour every day but not be happy with what they produce despite the favor their followers give and burn out that way.

I don't think creating has a honeymoon phase really. But if you're working on something you might get a rush of ideas and inspiration at the very beginning and once you've put all those down on paper it might be harder to work through the rest to complete your piece.

[hades]

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF. STRETCH. TAKE ACTUAL BREAKS AWAY FROM THE WORKPLACE. DRINK WATER, EAT A VEGETABLE. GO OUTSIDE AND SCREAM AT THE WEATHER FOR 10 MINUTES.

A massive build up to burn out is often not taking a moment to truly rest or letting your body fall apart. I have issues with my radial nerve in my wrist due to lack of breaks and care!

On the mental side you have to admit when you need to pause and breathe. Take a day off. You can always come back later.

Breaks, esp ones lasting longer than a week, tend to be viewed as a sign of failure or "what if I don't want to go back to drawing " but that's not true. Life happens, it gets worse if you beat yourself up just for needed a moment to breathe. If you fear not returning to art then have a little more faith in yourself.

Burn out is harsh and Ive dealt with it often. It didn't become less of a problem until I changed my mindset and started taking care of myself physically. It may not be unavoidable but it's manageable.

Edit: i sound like a fitness coach, im sorry

[Klaustasya]

I remember having a burn out after i finished drawing my first comic, i had a strict deadline due to school, made many pages in a short amount of time and when i finished it i wasn't even happy because i felt so drained out. So i took a 2 weeks break from drawing, but if i stop doing something for too long i will have to force myself into it again otherwise i'll never be back at it.
I do agree with the "take a break sometimes" thing but burn-out can be different for everyone and everyone has their personal way to deal with it doing other stuff seems helpful to the most of the people, but again in my case, after one week i have to push the limit for my art sake, but i don't think burn-out is unavoidable, it's all about keeping a balance without focusing too much on one single thing i guess

[punkarsenic]

regarding the inevitability of burnout, this video is pretty enlightening:

I wouldn't want to think that something I enjoy doing has an expiration date to it, but I realize that might be the reality.

i dont think thats the case of it - i think its more cyclical. all periods of great productivity will be matched with periods of burnout, and you will inevitably lose momentum again and again and need to find it again in new inspiration and direction.

I used to feel so energized by drawing. It was like a riddle I was slowly finding the answers to, but now it just makes me tired. It sometimes feels like it's taking something out of me that it can't put back. That's why I've been taking a long break from drawing anything serious, and been focusing on novel writing.

you were energised at first bc you were improving rapidly, learning things you didnt know. now you know these things, drawing has become more routine - youll find that energy again when you find a new avenue of discovery. right now your avenue of discovery is writing, and thats totally fine

[Darkstrong]

I remember how my wife felt when we finished our first comic. It was a standalone, and we had a little more than a month to finish 38 pages, so almost a page a day. I tried to help as much as I could, but still, most of the work was on her. When we finished it, she drew one small picture and then just broke down crying and didn't draw anything for a month. Could have been longer if I wasn't pushing her to try drawing again. So, pace yourselves, guys.

[punkarsenic]

this reminds me of michael landys experience with breakdown - landys a conceptual artist who is best known for destroying everything he owns in an installation in london. he says that after that was complete he didnt feel compelled to make art for an entire year. sometimes you do something so big that its just Enough for a while, and you need to focus on something else. this can be difficult when youre in education bc theres an expectation to continually produce, but there are ways around it if youre crafty.

i think generally artists expect ourselves to continually produce, even to our own emotional and physical detriment, and i think its really harmful. youre allowed to take breaks from projects, not be interested in drawing for however long, and focus on something else. youre allowed to focus on yourself and your own wellbeing. i know a lot of artists live to work, but we also need to learn how to just live

[MoThErNaTure]

Well with things like that for me Burnout is inevitable. If your talking about art wise it most definitely will come. If your talking about emotional burnout it depends. Maybe you could stop it if your "strong" enough. But with art heavens no. It comes when the mind is just empty, with nothing to do. A fun thing for me is try to make up random sentences that rhyme. Then try making a paragraph from them. Then a short story, and so on.