One of the awful side effects when being an artist is the occasional artistic block that we get sometimes when we're not sure what to do next with our artistic abilities. So what do you do to break this awful side effect? The reason I'm asking this question is because I am having one right now so any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers,

James

Personally I look at books or magazines or even other galleries for inspiration and sometimes films or tv programmes too, anything that might jog an idea!!
Failing that I give the Wife a shout and go and have some fun doing something totally different!!!
The down side of that is when you have an idea when you're in the middle of something and have to go start it!!

  I guess having worked in a machine-shop, I learned a couple of things... One rule that worked was, "If the parts just won't come out right, step back from the machine and have a cup of coffee". One thing I do, ( I write, too ), is to go to a movie, and just relax and enjoy.... maybe stop at a shop and have some Rhubarb pie.... I love the stuff, and it shows. To me, the main idea is to just let my mind clear, and approach whatever it is with a better outlook.
 
  Hey, fixer. Be careful.... my wife discovered the joys of pulling the power cords, and watching me try to find them, all the while making "comments" and stoutly refusing to tell me where they were. Lou.

Exactly what I'm doing right now - hog the forums and hope and pray that when I get up in the morning those half glimpsed ideas will have crystallised into something workable overnight.  Failing that I just give up on it altogether and go stick my nose in a book, eat some chocolate and have an afternoon nap where possible.  For some reason afternoon naps seem to leave me brimful with ideas.

Read a book, watch a movie. Go through some of my old albums, That one always brings back memories and things that I have done or seen. Summertime, I can go camping and stream fishing, some of the best in the world hear in the Rockies. Go have a coffe or a beer in a busy popular place, and just watch things.

The most frustrating thing is to have the desire to create something but come up flat for ideas. As mentioned it's best to step away since (my) muse occasionally needs personal time. This is usually a great time for spring cleaning - it's a mindless activity which provides great solutions to long-standing problems. If nothing more, you get a clean house out of the deal, which can also be inspirational.

I'll also take the time to catch up on research, maybe lighting, composition or trying to decipher what f-stop does in 3D software. Just got back from a road trip (visited Pixar among other things) filled with many colorful stories. Gardening. Sitting in a quiet room listening to my thoughts. 

Two things do it for me...

1. Engage in a repetitive but not quite mindless activity.
   I used to work as a night auditor in a motel, and my best 'mindbreak'
   happened while Z-ing out the cash register, which required a long 
   sequence of keystrokes and ledger entries, always the same order
   but needing careful observation.  In more modern times, a data-entry
   or spreadsheet task will do it.  (Maybe a mantra or a rosary would
   do the same if you're so inclined!)

2. Lay back and deliberately relax the muscles around the scalp
   and neck.   This seems to change the circulation patterns in the 
   brain, and allows all sorts of latent memories to pop out and 
   connect into new forms.

bang you head against the wall...

or you could relax and watch a movie or play a game like D&D or World of Darkness.

Quote - One of the awful side effects when being an artist is the occasional artistic block that we get sometimes when we're not sure what to do next with our artistic abilities. So what do you do to break this awful side effect? The reason I'm asking this question is because I am having one right now so any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers,

James

hehe, I'm the Queen of mental blockage!!! LOL

I usually ask here for some ideas. I browse free sites and stores looking at items to get inspired. I browse through magazines. Other art galleries to see the trends etc.

I can't just take a concept and create something.  For some reason before I can create something I need to have an entire finished mental picture in my head of what I want to make, complete with light angles, shadows, colours, placement of items ... everything. 

Once I have that vision in my head, it's just a matter of transferring / recreating what I "see" mentally to some tangible medium that others can see.

The same with my writing. When I write short stories the story is already together in my head so when I sit down to type it it's like taking dictation.  If that finished story isn't in my head when I sit down to write, nothing will pull the words from my head to the keyboard.

I usually dip into my vast repository of freebies downloaded, and install them in Poser. Come up with some strange pictures, but it works.

Sometimes grammatical errors or misspellings of others' works call up pictures in me head.

I take a bite out of life.

i listen to music...or go in the chatroom at the "other" siteand sometimes chat with velshtein...and get ideas that dont include his 3 favourite subjects :D

walk away from it for 1-7 days.
don't even touch it.

then try it from the start.

Go out and immerse yourself in reality. Somehow I walk away from it with hundred times more experience and insight than people who spend a hundred times more time there than me.

Go have a quite sip of coffee at an outdoor cafe and people watch. The more quiet and observant you are, the more people want to demonstrate their personality before you, and quite often, at you. Why is that? Because people are essentially vain little drama queens who thrive on being watched, so the more you appear to take in, the more sure they are of being taken in. This will get you laid if you let it.

Just don't forget that your objective is to observe reality, or you might wind up getting a life. And struggling to abandon it a month later.

Attached Link: Oblique Strategies

pray for flashbacks

DokEnkephalin,, You should start an online service. You definately "talk the talk"...LMAO

Heh, you're not suggesting anyone should actually listen to my cynicism much less pay for it?

Really, I find that getting a life sometimes does get me through a block, but then to focus and get productive I have to get rid of it. 

A walk and a cigar normally helps

There are so many technical aspects to 3D and areas to improve upon, I just focus on them and don't worry any about artistic content.

to tell you the truth, some days my mind flows with ideals, so I either write them down or go to poser and make a rough image. then when I'm dry I finish them up. Like right now I have so many to finish (I feel like Steven King) I don't have time.

I usually take my camera out and have a walk. Because I have the camera with me, I'm extra observant - always looking at the light, composition...just about anything that grabs me. Sometimes that's enough to wet my creative juices.
Another ploy is just to forget it all...I always advise to have other interests apart from art. Sometimes the block is that bad, you need something else to walk to, until the fogs lifts.

Cheers

when I'm really stuck, I go through toy stores...... something about things that make kids giggle kicks things in gear.

Thanks for your input my fellow artists, I'll have to try them out.

Cheers,
James

I turn the PC off and do something 'normal'.

Take a walk on the beach.
Go shopping.
Spend the day in the kitchen.

Day to day events have a funny way of sparking inspiration.

I play battlefield 2142 for a bit, nothing like a bit of mindless violence to take your mind off things

plenty of places to gather inspiration from - books, movies, television...even art sites can spark up some of that creative juices. however there are times when the muse is just plain stubborn and for this i usually cure it with a nice R&R. i find taking a break rejuvenates the mind and gets you back in track.

I work on all of the more left-brained aspects of poser... cleaning runtimes, creating archives, converting clothes, textures, hair etc. The sheer drudgery drives me back to the fun stuff! But if that won't work, then it has to be put aside for real life activities, reading for me.

Hmmm  I'm not sure. I've tried it all, but I just cant seem to break this artistic block I've had for the last oh, 3 or 4 years now.

Can't really help you.  I'm not an artist, I'm a poser.  :-D

I usually play a computer game or watch some TV show DVDs I've been meaning to get around to.  If I'm not in the mood to work I usually can't accomplish anything and if repeated attempts at a project fail I set it aside and move on to something else.

... drink beer