When Artists Are in a Slump

You know how you have bad hair days sometimes? Me, sometimes I have “bad drawing days” ~ I can’t draw a bloody thing x nothing I draw looks right x everything I draw looks like a bad tattoo or one of those “delusional artist” pieces.

What do you do when you’re in a slump? 

I’m writing about this now because well, I’m kind of in the middle of one, so I guess I couldn’t help noticing a couple of other artists I know who’ve been in a slump recently, too.

So in this post I thought I’d go into what a slump is, exactly, for artists ~ what happens during a slump, what causes it to happen, and more importantly, what to do if and when you’re in one.
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What does being in a slump mean when you’re an artist?

Sometimes it’s not just the bad-drawing days I described at the beginning ~ those aren’t so bad because at least you’re making something, even if it doesn’t seem very good to you.

In one of my favourite forever books, the master potter told his would-be apprentice that making stuff isn’t like water you draw from a vessel until it’s empty. The more you make stuff, the more skill you have ~ or something like that.

A ‘real’ slump is really not being able to make anything at all ~ like you can bring a horse to water but you can’t make it drink, type-thing. And not because you’re burnt out, either ~ or because you’re ‘just not in the mood’. It’s not quite like that at all.

One of the couple of artists I mentioned told me he was having ‘artist’s block’. (You know, like writer’s block?) The other one said she’d been in a slump since March.

That’s about the time I last completed a project (which I’m not allowed by contract to talk about). After that I made a few drawings, none of which I was crazy about ~ and then I’d had a few bad-drawing days in a row, so…

I guess one way I could describe it is like how the hero of this other forever favourite book of mine says how he loves the sea as one loves a mistress, and pines if he doesn’t often see her. So it's like going to the seashore ~ but not getting into the boat even if the boat is like right there. ​

Why do slumps happen?

So the first artist I mentioned with the block, I knew he’d been going through a lot, like he’d been having a lot of things interfering with his practice and that he had a growing backlog of pieces he had to complete. Icing on the cake? He’d suffered not one but two deaths in the family (one of whom was a parent). Seems to me that killer combo would put anybody into a slump.

Art requires focus. And while I don’t want to sound like I’m making excuses or anything (what with my whole discipline-slash-you’re-going-to-work-whether-you’re-'inspired'-or-not-thing), it’s pretty darn hard to concentrate when you’ve got something weighing on your mind. Even if art is meant to be the *only* thing on your mind *all the time*. 

Sometimes, you’re really just in a slump. It happens x it’s normal. True, a lot of the time (if not all the time), you just can’t afford slumps ~ especially when there’s a deadline (ingress day, let’s say).

But there are times when ~ deadline be danged ~ a bad drawing day is a bad drawing day and the best thing you can do is to take a break for a while. (The shortest possible if time is in short supply.)

There’s been research done on the reasons behind ‘performance slumps’ ~ off-hand I seem to see the term most often applied to athletes (and curiously, salespeople). ScienceDirect says they happen because of physical deficiencies (like you get sick) or ‘psychological factors, including deficiencies in confidence and having unrealistic expectations of one’s capabilities’.

Other reasons for slumps according to ScienceDirect include

• Behavioural problems like not sticking to your schedule
• Technical difficulties like not having all your stuff (can’t paint if you haven’t got paint, after all)
• Environmental influences like stress and not having a supportive, well, environment

This article on PubMed Central focuses on how poorly managed stress causes high-performing athletes to slide into a slump. Then again, when you think about it, that goes for pretty much anybody ~ artists included.
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What do you do when you’re in a slump?
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​1. Whatever it is that’s causing your slump ~ get rid of it.

Very simply, if you haven’t got any sort of deadline x circumstances allow, then maybe, just focus on the darn thing that is sucking up your concentration and take care of it so you can get back to *arting*. At least, as much as the thing can be taken care of (if it can’t be taken care of once and for all).

Because (as in the case of death, let’s say) some things you just can’t do anything about, really. In which case all you can do is to bear up and keep going x force your way through this fog as best you can. 

But seriously, if the thing is taking up *brain space* if you will, when 100% of your brain space should be going to art, then do yourself and your art a favour and take care of it. If you don’t, it is never going to go away, and you’ll be in that slump indefinitely. 

A ‘forever slump’ is the worst thing I can think of right now. Forever having bad-drawing days? Good heavens x I’d rather be dead. At least dead, you’d have *some* excuse for not making anything x making things you can’t really truly be proud of. 

And we all want to make things that we can be proud of, desho?
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2. Be kind to yourself.

After all, isn’t ‘self-care’ all the rage, these days? Cut yourself some slack, especially if you’ve been *painting factorying* for a goodly amount of time. You know what they say about folks who drive themselves too hard. (They need to change their tyres LOL)

It’s tough, I know, but acknowledge that slumps happen and if you’re the type to, I don’t know, maybe blame yourself for being lazy or wasting time or something ~ don’t. Could be, you really do just need some time away from the studio, and who knows. When you get back (not if, but when), your work will be all the better for it.

3. Don’t lose hope.

Remember I said when and not if ~ I’m saying it again because you need to know that this slump isn’t going to be forever. Or at least it doesn’t have to be ~ not if you don’t let it.

Knowing that this kind of thing really happens and that it doesn’t just happen to you, lets you know two things: One, you’re not alone experiencing this (just as I figured that out when I heard it from those two artists I mentioned). And two, I guess you could look at a slump like a valley ~ or visualise it as a dip in a line graph. The line goes down ~ but back up again.

Arguably, this is the most important thing you can do when you’re in a slump. Or perhaps the second most important, because the number one thing you need to do after these three things is ~
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4. Make an honest effort to pull yourself out of it.

I confess I’ve already started praying for help in getting out of this hole I’m in at the time of writing (which comprises far more than just this slump, I’m afraid). But ultimately, if you’re like me (a big believer in ‘God helps those who help themselves’), you’ll see that nobody is going to do this for you but you.

This act of ‘political will’ (if you will) can start with the first thing I suggest, which is to resolve whatever it is that is distracting you from being able to fully focus on your practice.

But really, I guess, it’s up to you to make that conscious or deliberate decision to pull yourself out of these doldrums and get on with it ~ even if your first post-slump efforts aren’t up to your usual standards. I guess it’s a lot like pushing a stalled car (uphill!) ~ it takes a while (and a whole lot of effort) but once the engine turns… but it’ll never get going if you don’t get back there and push.

Oh and don’t even think about waiting for someone or something to do the pushing for you. (I got two words for ya: ‘Forever’ and ‘Slump’.)

By the way, that first artist I mentioned with the block? I found him back in the saddle a week ago, just a few weeks or so after he told me he had a block. He was cramming several pieces for his show next month (which is like, tomorrow, as I write this) and designing someone else’s show ~ on top of a gazillion other things.

Hey, I said, you okay? He told me he wasn’t, but, he was ‘okay enough’ to do what he had to; in fact, he said he was okay when he was ‘arting’ ~ but that he wasn’t okay when he wasn’t doing art, you know?
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Even the best of us have off-days, sometimes.

Artists are among the hardest working people in the world. Some people may not appreciate that, but as an artist, you work as hard as anybody, and just like anybody, you deserve to be 100% okay. (Or at least as *okay* as you can be ~ ‘functional’, at least.)

Your art needs you to be as close to 100% okay as possible for it to turn out to be the best it can possibly be. (Or at least as great as it needs to be to make you proud of it, or happy, at least.)

I also think that you deserve to be 100% proud of your work, if only for the fact that you finished it. Of course, that’s really up to you in more ways than one. But the point of this post is that there are simply times when you’re just not able to be and nothing you make seems to be any good ~ when you’re able to make anything at all.

I’d like to end this post by sharing this article in Daily Art Magazine I happened to come across as I was writing this about work by the masters that might have been done on an off-day. (I found it funny how they also referred to it as a sort of bad hair day.) Which is to say ~ if you’re in a slump, at least you know you’re in good company? Or… XD

Anyway, I’m here if you need someone to talk to about it, okay? Again ~ you’re not alone, and, this too will pass. Things will get better, you’ll see, and you’ll be *arting* again before you know it and better than ever before <3
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