What is art(writing and/or drawing) to you?

[azurehayalet]

For me, it makes me feel like a child dragging her feet about getting in the bath It's wonderful and I don't want to stop once I get started but it's difficult to get past that initial reluctance. So, sprints really help me in that regard. How about you? What is art like in your eyes?

[tealeaf1619]

Writing has always been an emotional release for me. Creating worlds, and creating history, and characters gives me a sense of purpose and belonging. To not write, would be to stop breathing. To no longer live and be stuck in a very boring plain greyness that sucks any joy out of me. Writing helps me express myself in all shapes and forms. Art is seeing into the soul and minds of other people. When I read a book, I am reading a piece of another person.

[azurehayalet]

That's such a deep answer compared to mine But I agree, which makes it suck even more about that reluctance to start

[ThunderChicken]

To me both writing and drawing are joy. I have ADHD and do not concentrate on very many things, but when I set myself to writing or drawing I become a man on a mission. I get into the zone and pay attention to little else, including the passage of time. More than once I’ve been on a bender on a work night only to have my husband show up home from work and wonder why he’s home early (he works 3-11PM and usually gets home around midnight) only to discover that he isn’t home early at all…

[Innocynce]

Ever since 2016: it's been a awesome way to express and share ideals. Both for money and for fun (mostly for fun!) It's a way to share and learn information, without pressure and other junk ..if you're doing it on your terms!

[azurehayalet]

It's good to hear that you love writing and drawing so much, I'm happy for you. I hope you remember to hydrate, feed and generally take care of yourself, however.

[azurehayalet]

I finished one sprint(30 mins. long), by the way.

[panpanwuvmgau]

Writing to me is a way to manage the stories and ideas that come to me, often in the form of daydreams.

Drawing was a way for me to capture them into something I could easily see. But due to some personal realizations growing up, I lost the ability to accurately illustrate the scenes, characters, and worlds I see on paper. Since then, I've used words to store those daydreams in mediums where I can easily look back at them.

"Art" to me is an expression of oneself: an actualization of thoughts, feelings, introspections and aspirations. It's something I believe anyone can do with the right amount of determination, motivation, and practice.

Technically, what I do - be it writing or drawing - can be considered "art", but I don't have the confidence to claim my output as an expression of myself. That's because when I write stories, I share characters that aren't always a reflection of who I am. I write tales about lives I didn't live. I talk about fates I wouldn't even dare to receive. I write circumstances that at times feel alien to me. And whenever I read what I've written years later, I find myself wondering where those stories came from. At times I even ask myself who wrote them.

So "art", to me, can be something I do in a technical sense but not exactly what I intend to create.

[morganicfoods]

Drawing is the greatest joy I can feel. I wish I could be drawing every second possible. I only get tired of it after doing it for a long while, and by the next day I'm ready to go again. Every moment I can draw I cherish. I think I may be slightly addicted to it lol

Writing is more difficult. I have been making and planning stories since forever, but I don't actually write near as much. To write all down can be fun but also frustrating if it doesn't meet my expectations. I am terrible at explaining things, so comics are my favourite way of storytelling. I just write the dialogue and leave the rest to my drawing and visual storytelling.

Other forms of art, such as music and dancing, are also dear to my soul. I've been a dancer for all of my life, it's my hobby to collect music I like, and I occasionally write songs of my own. Hence, my webcomic is about music and dancing.

[abigaillmartin]

Writing and drawing has always been a passion of mine. Wether if I was writing about a certain fandom I liked or telling the story that I want to tell I enjoy it. Since I have a hard time expressing myself with talking and I’m socially awkward in real life writing and drawing has always been how I expressed myself. Writing about characters who you would like to be with and going on their journey throughout is really fun. I also write and draw because I like to write characters in a human way. With all the slob that Hollywood is putting out at the moment and me deprived from good storytelling I write the kind of stories that I want and maybe other people want. Drawing clothes and seeing my characters in cool outfits and eating food is so much fun to draw too. I also love history so I especially like it when my characters are from a different time period I never got to experience. History is where my main source of inspiration comes from. I’m just writing just for fun and I enjoy it so much. I feel like along with drawing I also have a great passion for music. Without my music I can’t do my art. I’ve played piano since I was a little girl and even though I wasn’t great at it I still loved doing. That’s the thing you have to have passion it doesn’t matter if you’re good at it or not.

[LostKelp]

It's kinda a compultion, you know? When I draw something or someone I think about who they are and what their story is, and that makes me want to draw them more. Which leads to more ideas for the story and it builds up to a point where it feels unfair to leave it all in my head. (To the characters and to my audience). So I write, so I make comics.

[azurehayalet]

All wonderful answers, everyone. I would like to add on to the conversation a bit more: writing is therapy. I distinctly remember having a nightmare once and being unable to get it out of my mind until I wrote it down like a story. It helped create some distance between me and the nightmare. Maybe that's why I get told that my writing feels distant I might be doing it subconsciously

[PrettiMidnight]

It’s my favorite hobby and definitely a relaxant after dealing with the hustle and bustle of daily life. It’s enjoyable and calms my mind down.

[azurehayalet]

For me, drawing and reading are relaxing but writing isn't Probably because I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to writing

[DarkSena]

What is art to me in general? Art is life, art is my way to express all possible feelings, it helped me out through the darkest of my days and without it I would be probably already gone without drawing

[Kelheor]

To be completely fair, except reading and acting it was the only thing I ever actually wanted to do. I never really had any goals and was never competitive. Some things were pretty easy without trying too much, some were hard and unpleasant to do, so I never wanted to be better in them. And then there was art outside of it all, something that wasn't a goal, but almost a magical kind of process to create something out of nothing that I tremendously enjoyed.

[azurehayalet]

This is a whole mood I don't know what I would do if I didn't get into art

[inkerclark]

Art, drawing in particular, holds a special place in my heart. To me, drawing is a magical portal that allows us to express our innermost thoughts, emotions, and perspectives in a way that transcends language and connects with others on a profound level.

It allows me to capture the essence of the human experience and convey it through the strokes of a pen or the flow of words on a page. They have the power to transport us to different worlds, challenge our perceptions, and evoke a range of emotions within us.
More than just a creative outlet. It is a discipline that requires dedication, practice, and a constant thirst for knowledge and growth. It challenges us to push our boundaries, experiment with new techniques, and constantly evolve as artists. It is through this process of growth and exploration that we uncover our unique artistic voices and make our mark in the creative landscape.
And the thing i love the most, it is also about the audience, the viewers, and the readers who engage with our creations. It is about sparking emotions, provoking thoughts, and igniting conversations. Art has the power to inspire, heal, and transform lives. It has the ability to transcend cultural, linguistic, and societal barriers, bringing people together through a shared appreciation of beauty and creativity.

I personally think, my friend, that art is a multifaceted entity that intertwines passion, skill, and a deep understanding of the human experience. It is a means of self-expression, a tool for understanding the world, and a bridge that connects us all.

[TheLemmaLlama]

Yup, I relate to that reluctance to get started :'D Sometimes I manage to build up momentum like you and end up staying in the bath until I notice my fingers have turned into prunes, but often I just end up putting down a few strokes and tap out after like 10 minutes Sometimes it's like pulling teeth. Sprints definitely help

Sometimes I'm lucky and get struck by a wave of inspiration; a specific scene, a technique I want to try, or a solution to a problem I've been stuck on, and I don't have any reluctance getting started since I have to write/draw it down before the wave dies down. In these situations I'd come to a natural stop once the specific thing I wanted to do is done, and I'd have trouble continuing even if it only took me like 10 minutes

As for what art is to me though; I guess it's changed over the years:

• When I was younger, it was a cheap way to entertain myself, a skill to show off to people on the internet, and the expression of a hubristic ambition to surpass the media I know and love.
• Now, it's mostly a means to an end, a tool for communication. A skill that I'm glad to have, since it allows me to take ideas I feel are important and stories that resonated deeply with me in 'ideaspace', and translate them into a form that actual human beings living outside my head will find easy and enjoyable to engage with.

[azurehayalet]

All very relatable. Especially the getting struck by inspiration part. What do you do if it leads to plot bunnies?