Not enough motivation to make art i wanna make

[DiffydaDude]

I have a bit of an issue. Sometimes I try to make art for myself and at first im interested, but then i lose interest really fast and i get bored with it, and i feel like i didnt actually wanna make it in the first place at all. Like i feel like i was making it just for approval and not because I actually wanted to make it. Thing is, I dont know what kind of art i wanna make anymore! Do i wanna make animation memes? Do I wanna make historical-styled art? Do i wanna make a series or a zine? I just have no idea anymore, and its driving me insane cuz i feel like Im just sock puppeting myself to make art that my friends or others would like and not what I actually like. Can anyone relate?

[candycanearter07]

Yeah, I struggle with that a lot too.

[thistlequest]

I've been there and there's definitely multiple things that can help with this. One thing that helps me majorly is engaging with art outside of my medium and also art that is outside of my usual tastes. So for me as an illustrator/cartoonist that's stuff like films, books (non fiction/fiction), video games, podcasts, stage plays, sewing, TTRPGs, etc. In order to continue making art in the long term you have to be sure that you have plenty of references (in the sort of drag queen meaning of the word, like how drag artists are often inspired by campy old films or horror movies, etc). Personally right now I'm really enjoying Le Guin, James Baldwin, Dimension 20, Animorphs, Severance, and Behind the Bastards. All of these have expanded my creative mind and give me ideas to chew on that I bring back to my work.

Another thing that can help is looking at foundational works or artists in your medium. If you're an illustrator maybe check out N.C. Wyeth. If you're a game designer maybe play Daggerfall. If you're a sci-fi writer then maybe check out an Asimov novel from your local library. Etcetera. The benefit of this is that these "old masters" have a lot to teach, and often these works have been dissected to hell and back so you don't have to work super hard to research what makes them tick. These works also will usually show you something about your medium that you hadn't considered before and therefore be a source of inspiration in that way.

The last thing that helps is more of a mindset thing. I guess I have a more than a few mantras that I repeat to myself to keep my head on right. A big one for me right now is "I'm crazy so I will succeed." Something that might help you in particular to keep in mind is that as an artist you shouldn't cater to the tastes of others, you are the taste maker. People might not even necessarily know that they want something until you present it to them. Look at where we are right now. Did I ever see myself talking to people on a forum in the year 2025? Nope, not until Melon made it a reality. Take some time to gather references, find a direction, and then make art that authentically represents your tastes, dreams, and desires. Your audience will find you in time.

I guess I'll also mention that propping a good artistic mindset all up by yourself is just not possible in the long term. You're going to need a community of artist friends to encourage you along the way if you don't have one already. You need people who admire your work and who believe in your vision absolutely whatever form it may takes. People that you can talk to about art on a regular basis who actually understand art. I am privileged (at least up until debtors prisons become a thing in the US again and I have to reckon with my student loans) to have gone to school for this and have a lot of artist friends, but that isn't the only place I've come to know other artists. Small conventions/events and Bluesky have been really great for me to build those relationships, and those connections help me not feel like I'm releasing my art into the void or to a gaggle of people who only want one kind of art from me. It keeps me sane while I keep working on art that I can't guarantee will ever get any meaningful (or importantly to me as an aspiring professional, Lucrative) attention.

Lastly, don't feel afraid to give yourself some time off to think or just to rest. After I graduated I basically didn't make any art for around six months because I was so burnt out. Like I mentioned above, hobbies and life are just as important to your art as actually making the art.

Anyways, I'll quit yapping now. Hopefully I was able to express something that is helpful to you. As someone who has struggled deeply with their own artistic practice I always have lots and lots to say about this topic 

[Bumperdog]

I can relate, I liked making art and I had done it before and tried making it a activity back in September 2023 but I ended up quieting, mainly due to me not being good at it enough. One of the things that I was trying to accomplish was drawing the anatomy of a human or anime proportions, but I requires a long time of practice and I heard it takes years.

It's one of the big issues of me and motivation is the patience of it. I also didn't really have any the necessary tools, although I had a pc and software like FireAlpaca or Gimp, It is more efficient to use a tablet instead of keyboard and mouse, and hook it to your pc, or alternately on your own tablet system. I tried doing a subscription for Clip Studio Paint on my phone but the screen was too small and lost interest. I could buy a tablet but don't want to put so much money in for me to not really like it.

You can see my examples as follows:


Other than anatomy, stuff like shading and smooth stroke accuracy wasn't good at it either, so I just simply referred to go around my restrictions and limitations. Basically making something at poor quality but that feels artistic since it has that old web retro feel.



If you possibly interesting in seeing further for more examples with my previous work that I published, it's all on my DeviantArt. You can see the issues that in it and how it does not look the best to my liking.

[Aarix]

i feel like i was making it just for approval and not because I actually wanted to make it.

There's a video I keep returning to when I start feeling like this.

It's "about" sound, but really it's about being an artist. And the struggle with ego that a lot of artists get tangled up with and depleted by.

I've been wondering, what do I want from music?
In my life, I've wanted music to give me a sense of worth--
To make me feel competent and special,
To be useful,
To make myself feel admired, or to get myself to be desired by other people
And I realized that when I wield music for those kinds of goals
I become blind to the fact that I'm intrinsically worth something.
I begin to obsess over earning love by becoming powerful in some way
By being good at music, I guess
But love doesn't work like that
It's not a currency. It's something stranger... and you know it's not that simple.

So, what should I want from music?
Music offers me a path
It offers a way to keep exploring life, even as my body decays, even as I see people around me decay.
It's something that keeps growing
It's something that is very hard to lose, and that I can enjoy easily
It's a way to communicate, and to become closer with others.
It's a way to get to know the person I am before words
The person that feels, the person beyond body and appearance
Just like the sound before the instrument--before the guitars and strings--
music offers me an insight into the indescribable stuff words can only shrink.

I've seen so many musicians kind of torture themselves with music
comparing themselves to others
Objectifying their art with analytics and getting burnt out
And perhaps when we get burnt out what we really need to do is just take away the stage
the platform, the amps, the guitar,
and just get back to noticing the nice sounds
and letting the music play us for a change.

Of course, a desire to "be seen" is a natural component of the creative drive, and it's healthy in moderation. But it can be really suffocating, too. And if you're anything like me, I think some stuff in this video might resonate with you--I really think Ben's onto something.

When you're feeling burned out, and like you're just going through the motions when it comes to making stuff, I think the answer really is just to kind of step back. Go back to just observing and creating and seeing and feeling without worrying about how you can exploit it. Look at pretty pictures and play with pretty colours that exist in this universe. Try to appreciate and wonder at all the interesting things in the world that you can see in a more naïve way, without loading them up with these judgements and these pressures of "how can I use this to make people love me". Go back to whatever it is that makes you feel things, what moves you. And remember to enjoy it!

You don't have to have a direction or a brand. You don't have to make anything or impress anyone. Art is a joyful thing, a divine thing. Your only job as an artist is to appreciate that. The more you're in tune with it, the easier it can start to flow through you again.

[Corrupted Unicorn]

(  Drawabox Lesson 0, Part 3: Changing your Mindset and the 50% Rule )

Drawabox in general not only teaches art fundamentals, but also a new approach to art in general, a "philosophy" if you will.

As a super-fast summary of what the video is about: it's about learning to draw for the sake of drawing itself, not for approval, not for other people, not even to make something pretty to please yourself. How to put that into practice? Well, the autor here grabbed a sketchbook and decided to fill two pages of it everyday, to the brim (no single small drawing in the middle and call it a day!). It doesn't matter if it looks good: the art contained within this sketchbook is only meant to be viewed by you.

This is done as a way to get yourself used to failure, to drawings that don't look pretty, and to get yourself used to face not one, but two blank pages every day. Since the goal here is not to draw pretty but to get those two pages filled in any way, the author theorizes that eventually, you'll move past perfectionism and start experimenting within the sketchbook, which is the true aim of the artist.

I've done this myself since the start of the year. I can attest it works. What's in there, you ask? Dumb doodles, illustrations, ideas for tarot cards, experiments with fineliners, pens, colored pencils, ideas put into practice almost as soon as I came up with them. But most importantly, this got me into the habit of making art every day. Any day that I skipped on the sketchbook it was to make art away from the sketchbook (digital art, animation, watercolour, crafts).

Not all art has to be shared and viewed by others. Some art can exist just to experiment, or to get things out of your mind.
You can come back to the sketchbook and pick your favourites out of it if you want to share later, but that'll be after a good while.

[Kafei]

It's probably not very useful but I wanted to share my experience.

I struggle a lot with motivation making music nowadays (for the past 6 months or something?). I think it's part of full experience, you have to go through it sometimes. It's not the first time it happens for me, and I know in the past I would just take a break for a few weeks/months and suddenly I just get a genuine spark of motivation back.

The weird thing right now is that I cannot take a break. Like, I "like" making music, but I like it in an "intellectual" sort of way. It does not give me joy while doing it, but I still find it interesting, if that makes sense. It does not feel fun, there is no magic to it, I just do it because it is a subject I'm interested in. I say I can't take a break because now, most of my activities revolve around music, so trying to do something else for a while would feel like a hard reset. I've been struggling with motivation in a general way too so I guess I'm just in a down moment, but I'm confident it will change sometime in the future.

Anyway I guess in those times you basically have two options, either you take a complete break and come back later, hopefully with fresh ideas and a lot of motivation, or you have a more disciplined approach where you keep doing things, even if it's not as fun, but at least you keep growing and learning when it comes to technique. You kinda have to decide for yourself what would benefit you the most. I suppose if you feel almost burnt-out you'd rather take a refreshing break, if it's just a feeling of boredom because of it not being fun and fullfilling, maybe it's worth still doing it while waiting for interest to come back.


Also I get this weird thought, "maybe it's time for me to pursue different artistic endeavors?" but bruh that is scary for some reason.

[NoxidKin]

I have the same issue of jumping from project to project to project.  And I rarely finish anything.  I don't know what to tell you except that it's all valuable in some way.  The only thing you can do wrong is doing nothing at all!

Believe that people want to see your art and hear your voice.  Because we do!  :)

[GYARU~TAU♪]

I totally get how you feel!

In my own experience, I always have the issue with knowing where to start, and getting a sort of paralysis that makes it hard to really get any artwork made! Because I'm also primarily a digital artist with the freedom to fix and undo mistakes, I think it's very easy to get caught up in a sort of "perfectionism loop", where you feel as if everything you make isn't good, or even worth completing because it isn't perfect.

The solution that I personally found was getting a sketchbook and using it to draw whatever ideas came to mind. No regard for perfection in sight! Things are gonna turn out kinda bad, and that is the point!!

In addition to that, I'd look back at the art you have enjoyed creating and take the time to dissect what it was about those pieces that made creating them so fun in the first place!

Self indulgence is also key! Something that I found helped me a lot was just fully embracing whatever i like outside of an artistic context as a part of my artwork! It's worth its salt to not only look at other artists that inspire you, but also the interests that you feel passionate about as a driving point for your art!

I hope that this helps you any, and I wish you luck on getting that art spark back!!