“I want to draw, but I have no motivation…”

hey everybody it's lavendertown and one

of the most common questions i get asked

on youtube

other than what program or brushes i'm

using is

what do you do when you don't have

motivation or

inspiration but you want to draw and at

first i wasn't going to make a video

about this because i thought well i've

already made a video a long time ago on

art block but then i realized this kind

of isn't about art block

not having motivation or inspiration and

not knowing how to deal with it when

you're lacking them

is a completely separate issue a longer

term problem

than art block is so i wanted to make

this video compiling my advice and

hopefully this will help

so the first thing i would identify if

you're having trouble with this

is what specifically is the problem

because not having motivation and not

having inspiration are actually two

completely different things

in fact i think when it comes to drawing

you actually need to have three things

kind of a trifecta

all working together for you to actually

get your drawings and projects done

to your satisfaction and those three

points essentially

are motivation inspiration and execution

so motivation obviously is your actual

like will to do the thing

to sit down in front of your sketchbook

or wherever you need to do your drawing

and actually do that each and every day

inspiration on the other hand can be

missing while you still have motivation

so maybe you're sitting down in front of

your sketchbook but

everything you're drawing kind of looks

the same you feel like you're drawing

the same stuff over and over again

that might mean that you have a lack of

inspiration you don't feel particularly

inspired

in any direction or you can't think of

story ideas but you want to make a comic

that's showing that there's more of a

problem with inspiration and lastly

execution

that's if you have those other two

things if you have motivation and

inspiration you're sitting down you're

excited about something

you have something you really want to

draw and you have the will to do it but

then it's just not coming out at all

right

um or you know it just it just doesn't

match up with what you have in your head

then you have an execution problem if

you have motivation

and you have the execution what you're

probably feeling is that you're stuck in

a rut

if you have inspiration and execution

but no motivation you probably have a

bunch of half finished sketches and

ideas and concepts or stories but they

never actually get finished

and if you have the motivation and the

inspiration then you have

a great idea you're sitting down ready

to do it

but then it just doesn't turn out the

way you want to the point where it's

discouraging

these are all the different ways that

these things can interact my first

suggestion is what i always do when i

feel like i'm not inspired

the first thing you got to do is take a

break because making art

on making really anything is all about

outputting it's taking something within

yourself

and putting it out into the world so

others can experience it what you really

need to do sometimes is just refill

that creative tank so you need to input

something that means like consuming

media typically

you can listen to music that gets you

all excited and hyped up to make

stuff you can watch movies or

read books or you know read manga or

comics

that originally inspired you to get into

your art or drawing or whatever it is

going back to those things that

initially like

made that spark in you can be really

really helpful and just fun and

nostalgic as well

i also recommend um making sure you're

making time to experience new media

especially within

the medium that you're trying to do so

like if you're trying to make an

animation

definitely take the time during your

week or whatever to

at least check out what kind of animated

movies and series and stuff

are coming out what sort of shorts and

everything like that um and same thing

with like comics or music or anything

like that

just keeping your eye on what's coming

out what's going on

and you might find something that's

really inspiring to you there

another thing that i think is so

important when you don't have any ideas

and you just feel like there's

there's absolutely nothing in your head

right now

um is to let yourself be bored this is

kind of the opposite advice

um so obviously like when you're

watching movies reading books and stuff

you're very entertained

this is sort of the opposite so when i'm

desperate

to come up with an idea and i just have

nothing the trick i always do is to try

to make myself bored

because truthfully i think most artists

get all their best ideas when they're

like on public transit

or you know waiting for school to end or

whatever they're super bored out of

their mind

that's when i i find at least for me all

my ideas come to me

like almost all of the big ideas that

i've ended up

making into series and stuff have

happened when i'm sort of forced to just

sit on my own and not do anything

exciting or fun

and i think that can be a real issue

especially now because it's so easy to

be entertained every single second

like there's some days where i just

really don't want to be bored and i

literally am scrolling tick tock or on

social media or whatever

playing like a game any moment of free

time that i have but

on those days i never come up with

anything really i can't really make any

complex ideas myself because my brain is

always occupied

so there's never any time if you need to

force yourself into this boredom

scenario a great thing you can do is

just like take a bath if you have a

bathtub

just like take a bath and don't take

your phone in or anything like that and

just like sit there

in the warm water and just like stare

into space you might be surprised with

what you come up with

i thought i might share what i tend to

go back to when i really need

inspiration as far as things to reread

or look at again

so um my examples are basically

naruto volume one because this was like

the manga that made me want to be a

comic artist

it was like the first manga i ever got

super super into i started collecting it

and like

saving up all my allowance money to buy

volumes so that always kind of brings me

back

fuli kuli which is a older series that i

did read like quite a while

ago but it always stuck with me and this

one stuck with me more

more than naruto which is more of a

nostalgic pick fully really

showed me

how like loose and expressive a comic

could be

and i i was really excited by that and

then

this is girl from the other side which

is a comic i just

recently started reading that i find

really inspiring as well so that's

sort of like the three different

categories

within your own medium you should be

checking out the stuff that got you into

it the stuff that stuck with you

and something new that's exciting you

that you picked up recently

if you look at all of those i would be

surprised if you don't feel

a little bit inspired after that

um just i mean look at how amazing this

black and white art is it's actually

incredible

another thing that can really help is

checking out art books um i

absolutely adore art books i love this

undertale art book because it's so

like it's so truthful and just like

messy and there's

you know there's like developer art in

there that looks like actually nothing

and

there's really beautiful illustrations

and everything in between and

getting to see how messy the creative

process can be on something that's

considered so

like polished and great now is really

inspiring to me at least

it makes it seem less daunting of a task

when you see how much work goes into

each step

of actually making something it doesn't

just come out perfect

i also have this art book of princess

mononoke which is my favorite film of

all time

and this one's kind of on the other

spectrum where it's like amazing how

beautiful every step

of the process can be um and i like

looking at this when

i really just feel like i need like the

kick

to um push myself and try to make

something really special this always

makes me feel like

uh like i really gotta hold myself to a

high standard so

yeah just finding these little

touchstones that'll help you stay

inspired and

pick you up when you're feeling like

really unmotivated and stuff

this kind of stuff can really help you

so i think it's a worthwhile investment

even though our books are kind of pricey

honestly looking up concept art for the

stuff that you love

is so good for the motivation element

another thing that can help

seriously with motivation is making sure

you have a decent space to work now this

is my space currently

and i'm going to clean it up for you

guys to show how you should try to keep

your workspace because

otherwise it is going to hurt your

motivation levels if you have a messy

area to work in

it it just makes everything worse like

you might think that you like the

clutter but trust me if you try working

in an area that's not cluttered for a

while

you will never go back my main killer of

motivation and focus is when i have too

much stuff on my desk seriously

especially if i have multiple like

projects open at the same time like

sometimes i have my comic open on my

drawing tablet and then i have

a video i'm editing on my main monitor

and i'll have like my sketchbook

open and then i'll have like another

thing on the desk this is not good

you want to try to make your like eye

line show only the thing that you're

working on

i recommend also throwing up a few

little decorations just keep them like

small and not too overwhelming because

again

i feel like anything that's really going

to distract your eyeballs and make your

brain overstimulated when you're looking

at your workspace is going to make

things harder

and before anyone accuses me of being a

minimalist if that would even happen

trust me my aesthetic is not this at all

this is only for my workspace

anywhere else you look in my apartment

you'll see how i kind of wish i could

decorate my work desk

but yeah i found that keeping the area

where i play video games as well as

where i keep most of my decorations

separate from it has helped a lot

and not everyone's going to have this

much control over their workspace but if

you do i thought i might as well mention

it

and one of the last things i just want

to suggest

in regards to this is to really evaluate

what it is that you want like what are

your goals

what is it that you're trying to do here

because if you're talking about just

general motivation

um and i don't get this one honestly as

much because i feel like when people are

just

sitting down to draw for fun they don't

feel this pressure

to be super productive all the time i

mean sometimes i definitely see people

like that but most of the time i'm

hearing this

from people who want to make a comic or

something like that

and that is a tricky one even

professionals

don't always want to work on their

projects

and the bitter truth of the matter is

that sometimes

you do just have to work on something

when you don't feel inspired or

motivated

um sometimes even when your execution's

not that great

and this is probably the number one

thing that i learned at art school more

than anything else

was not like any particular skill or

anything like that but was just

the bitter determination to work through

almost anything um because honestly

there were days where i was sleep

deprived where i knew i was gonna have

to turn in to a teacher who i knew was

gonna give me a negative critique no

matter what because he was

the worst um and there were like a

million factors

that made it just a miserable experience

to do that work and i had to find ways

to incentivize myself to turn that thing

in anyway and do my absolute best

no matter what was going to happen so i

think the ultimate secret to dealing

with lack of inspiration or motivation

other than trying out a few tricks and

things to try to make it easier on

yourself is just to remember that

when you really have to turn something

in or you really have to draw something

your update is due whatever it is

that you don't have to be motivated you

don't have to be inspired your execution

doesn't even have to be that great

sometimes you just have to sit down and

do it and

in a way that takes some of the pressure

off because you know

that regardless of how you're feeling

you have to have something

actually done and obviously it depends

on what kind of person you are if that

sort of mindset

um helps or harms you um but if you are

the type of person

who can sort of like do things out of

pure grit and spite

um that is sometimes what you have to do

and it can be really helpful in a way

because

you know when you're when you're not

inspired and everything you're trying

is not working to make you inspired

sometimes

it's nice in a way to just be like well

i'm just not going to be inspired today

and what i'm going to make is probably

not going to be as good as

if it you know was made when i was

inspired but i'm making it regardless

this is the scenario that i'm in and

you know i'll just make the best of it

i'll do the best i can today

and in a way i do think that that helps

like

at least it helped me when i was in many

scenarios where i had to turn something

in no matter what

um it takes some of the pressure off to

be like constantly like in this

like creative dynamo mood sometimes you

just have to be

you just have to do it and sometimes

that's enough

i really hope this was helpful to you

guys it's kind of a

complicated issue that can have many

different causes so i hope i covered at

least something that's going to help

speaking of covers this is the new cover

for my webcomic

unfamiliar which i frequently talk about

but then i always forget to say

like where you can read it i every time

i mention it someone asks so

i'm just going to say right here if you

want to read my webcomic it's on tapus

where it's fully up to date it's also on

webtoon where it's slightly behind but

will be

caught up soon um and there will be a

link in the description if you would

like to just

click a link because that's way easier

um thank you so much for watching

uh till the end of the video and i'll

see you in the next one

thank you so much to my patrons

including shawn davidson

gracie rose i am genderfluid salt deadly

nightshade

maria vasquez astral fox art munch munch

mcgee draft tranic middle z

oh kappa lee allure the expressive poker

face morrissey axel little big mclart's

huge

chris draws tsubaki snow white the becky

lilliana hammond mia lavali angelfile

q moscov nicole ludwack nicolette queen

rainwater pearls ice cream pal best

kaiju

lion natto kamagire

your boy has t j.j jade and of course

liberal