How to Get Motivated as an Artist

You’re an artist. Painting and drawing is your passion. It’s part of who you are.

But then life get’s busy and other things take priority. One day you look up and realize that it’s been weeks or months since the last time you’ve created new artwork. It really bothers you.  How can you call yourself an artist if you aren’t making art? 

You can’t seem to get yourself motivated to create consistently. After working a full-time job you don’t have the energy to sit down and focus on art.

We’ve all been there. Especially those of us who aren’t relying on art to pay the bills.  That extrinsic motivation isn’t there forcing us to paint or draw. We need to cultivate our own motivation.

What to do when you are not in the mood to draw

I want to talk about motivation, and what to do when you are not in the mood to draw or paint. I’m going to give you the strategies I use to overcome this lack of motivation.

Not feeling motivated to make art is something that I’ve struggled with on and off. Ever since I graduated college and entered the “real world” it's been hard to motivate myself.  I wanted to continue making artworks and developing my skills. Without someone else pushing me to complete creative projects, I didn’t have the motivation to do it on my own.

I wish someone had given me actionable advice on how to cultivate motivation. So that I could make daily painting a habit.

Why you should draw daily

Why would you want to make painting or drawing a habit?

Like many artists, you probably want to improve your skills. So that you can make amazing artwork.

Focusing on painting or drawing every day will put you ahead of 90% of other aspiring artists. The act of drawing or painting consistently creates a compounding effect. Your skills and production will skyrocket once you build a habit of sitting down and creating daily.

Let’s look outside of the art world for an example.

Imagine that there are two runners training for a race. One runner trains every day or nearly every day. Somedays they have short runs. Sometimes they focus on stretching and recovery. But every day they are doing something to work towards their goal of running a great race. The other runner is a lot less consistent, maybe they manage to train only 2 or 3 times per month. Even if those 2 or 3 training sessions are fantastic. I guarantee that the first runner will do better on race day compared to the runner who trained inconsistently.

The same is true for art-making. But instead of it being a race, it’s a killer portfolio. Being consistent in your practice will bring you towards your goals faster than anything else.

As an artist you can’t rely on motivation

So we know why we want to practice making art every day. How do we actually turn it into a habit that sticks? We feel motivated to stick to the habit for a few weeks. But eventually, that motivation fades.

You can’t rely on a spark of motivation to build a long-term habit. If we waited to “be in the mood” or feel inspired or motivated we’d never get anything done.  We need to put some systems in place that allow us to cultivate the discipline we need to stick to our new habits.

The hardest part is getting started

First things first. Getting started.

Have you ever noticed that the hardest part of sticking to a new routine is getting started?

After a long day of work, you are tired and just want to relax. You want to scroll through social media on your phone.  Opening your sketchbook or putting paint on the palette seems nearly impossible. You need to somehow push past that feeling. Get that pencil or brush in your hand. When you do that then it’s so much easier to draw or paint something. Once you get the ball rolling then it’s so much easier to keep going.

Getting over that hump of starting usually gives us enough motivation to continue.
If the hardest part is getting started, what are some things that we can do to make it as easy as possible to start?

Create a space to be creative in

Let’s start with your environment.

We need to carve out a space for us to be creative, a space that is welcoming and inviting so that we want to be there. That space is clean and calm, away from distractions. And in that space, we have our tools in arms reach ready and waiting to be used.

When you have a space that you find comfortable and welcoming then it’s easy to be in that space. Even when you are tired or feeling unmotivated. More importantly, in that space, you need to have your artmaking tools out in the open and within arms reach. If you can get those two pieces right then your chances of creating a successful habit greatly increase.

But what if you don’t have that space? What if you live in a busy household with roommates, or kids running around.

If at all possible try to find a small space to claim for your own. In my small apartment, my creative space is literally half of my bedroom closet. I put a small little folding table in there, some clamp lights, storage draws, and a tabletop easel.

If a closet doesn’t work for you don’t worry there are still some creative ways to make a space for yourself.

If you shift around some furniture you might be able to free up a corner of a room.  A portable easel and a folding TV tray table might be all you need to get painting.

If you don’t have that claiming part of the dining room table for your own could be the way to go.

If that doesn’t work for you I suggest at least having a portable setup that is easy to take out and put away. Even if it’s one of those lap desks and a book light.

Having a space to make art makes it that much easier to get started.

Triggering the habit

So you’ve found a space for yourself to get creative in. But the art-making habit still isn’t happening. At this point, we need to put a trigger in place to kick-start the habit.

Most of the other habits that we do day to day are also sparked by triggers. Walking into your kitchen for the first time in the morning might trigger your coffee drinking habit. Or getting ready for bed at night might trigger your teeth-brushing habit (at least I hope it does.)

We need to set up a similar trigger for the habit we are trying to build.

One of the most obvious solutions is to set it up on your calendar with a reminder. Set aside a block of time, even if it’s only 30 minutes, at the same time every day. Have an alarm that goes off when it’s time to get to work. You could have it set to right after dinner. Or if you are a morning person, set an alarm to get up an hour earlier and paint/draw before work.

Having it scheduled makes it more likely that you’ll stick to a routine of art-making. If you can commit to it, it’ll eventually become automatic.

Another trick is to get a chain going. Cross off a day on your calendar for every day that you make art. Eventually, you’ll get a long chain going that you’ll not want to break. You can even make goals for it, like 100 unbroken days or 365 days of art-making.

So now we’ve given ourselves space to make art and a trigger to get it started.

Make the new habit rewarding

Now we need a reward.

If we want this habit to stick we need to be giving ourselves little rewards for sticking to our plan.

For some people crossing the day off of their calendar to keep their streak going is enough of a reward. For others having a completed drawing or painting is satisfying enough. For you, you might need to post your art to social media and get some recognition for your work.

All those examples are pretty good rewards.

I suggest taking it a step further. Start thinking of your studio practice as an act of self-care.

Making creativity a part of your wellness routine brings a layer of wellbeing to your life.

You are putting pen to paper because you love making art. It makes you feel accomplished. It makes you feel like you’re bringing value to the world. Yes sometimes it’s hard to get started or get out of a rut but you are doing this for yourself. You will make yourself proud.  Let it be your ME time. Use it to process your emotions. To connect with others. To tell your story.

Light a candle, put on some relaxing music, make your favorite drink. Settle into your creative process. Let yourself feel that sense of accomplishment for doing something for yourself.

When making art becomes an act of self-love integrating it into your life will feel effortless.

Dealing with things that get in the way

Even with the above strategies, there are going to be some things that will get in our way of building this new habit.

The most common thing that gets in the way of making a sustainable art-making habit is perfectionism.

Let’s talk a little about the perfectionist mindset. For myself, the urge to be perfect comes from a place of fear that I’m not good enough.

Staring at a blank canvas or blank sketchbook page can feel intimidating. Laying down that first mark can take an act of courage. The blank canvas holds so many possibilities. But it also brings with it a fear of failure.

What if I make something ugly? An ugly drawing will ruin my sketchbook. I want my sketchbook to have a perfect aesthetic just like artists I see on Instagram.

You are approaching the canvas with hopes and dreams that it will become your masterpiece. Simultaneously you are afraid it’ll flop and result in nothing but wasted paint and a ruined canvas.

This desire to make the make a beautiful perfect masterpiece is mixed with the fear that we aren’t good enough. That our skills aren’t where they should be to make our vision come to life. This is what stops us from even starting.

To overcome this fear we have to let go of our want to be perfect or make beautiful masterpieces. If we focus on wanting to be perfect then we are almost certain to fail. Feeling as though we have failed, or worse that we ARE a failure, hurts.

We need to feel as though our efforts are bringing us success if we want to make our new habit stick.

Make the barrier to success as easy as possible to overcome. Instead of defining success as "creating a perfect masterpiece", define it as “if I draw/paint for at least 10 minutes then I am successful.”

We are then shifting the importance from creating beautiful artworks to putting more emphasis on the act itself. Our success is defined by us doing and acting rather than the final result.

Avoid burnout at all costs

The other big thing that stops most artists from sticking to daily practice is burnout.

My biggest tip for avoiding burnout is simple.  DON’T OVERDO IT.

If you find yourself pushing too hard. If you find that a “hustle” mindset is taking over and you are stressing yourself out because you might miss a day. That's your sign that you need to take a step back. Because you are on the road to burnout.

Burnout is what creates those huge gaps in our productivity. Trust me, I know. There have been times when I strived to make a completed artwork every day. *cough* Inktober *cough*

I was spending hours planning and executing a new drawing every single day for nearly a month. That on top of working full-time and running a household, gave me serious burn-out.

After burning out I didn’t make a single piece of art for months.

The trick is to force yourself to get started. If after 5 minutes you’re still hating it, or are feeling stressed, give yourself permission to stop.

Ultimately to avoid burnout, the process needs to feel fun and enjoyable. It should be something we WANT to do not something we HAVE to do.

Make it fun. Make it enjoyable. Reward yourself and you’ll reap all the benefits of cultivating a creative habit.