Hello everyone, been in a creative rut lately. Do anyone take "breaks" from studying/creating out of Blender when dealing with creative burnouts? If so, what's the longest break you went without touching blender? What do you do to get yourself back on track? Been feeling lack of motivation here and there the past few days. Trying not to be too hard on myself.
Hi Patrick,
I use Blender everyday, even if I don't feel creative (although I wouldn't call it burnout in my case), there is always still so much to learn, or simply playing around with new features.
So, I do have periods (sometimes really long ones even) of not creating anything, but no (or very rarely) periods of not touching Blender.
Of course everybody is different, but not being too hard on yourself is a good thing, imho.
Can I recommend this 'book' The War of Art https://www.amazon.co.uk/War-Art-Through-Creative-Battles/dp/1936891026
It's not a traditional book, rather a series of statements in the mode of Sun-Tzu's The Art of War
In essence, the point the book makes is, do something without being afraid of the result. The doing 'something' is in itself the measure of ones success and this is what Martin and Adrian allude to
This is a tricky one, because everyone is different, there is no one fit all situation and remedy. For me breaks or no breaks just happen naturally, since Blender for me is a hobby. I'll get on it, leave it, get back to it, not open Blender for a year because I don't have a computer, use it non stop for a year because there's a lot of projects, etc, it all just flows naturally and I've never had to worry about if I've been away for too long or for too few.
There are tons of podcast that deal with this kinds of topics. Good ones being Andrew Hubberman, Chris Williamson, Diary of a CEO, Sam Harris, etc.
If I had to come up with an answer, I'd say take a little break yes, but you can't wait for a muse to show up, inspiration has to find you working. It's a famous quote from Pablo Picasso, "Inspiration exists but it has to find you working." You have to open Blender and work even if you don't feel like it, that's discipline. Do a boring thing, make one of those video games red exploring barrels, the ones that for some reason bad guys always stand next to. Before you know it you're like oooh what if I make a video game level diorama, that stage from Soul Reaver I used to love so much. Watch a tutorial, if it makes you sleepy power through it. It's just a movie trope that thing were the main character is super inspired and shows up to work all happy and makes the whole office dance to Michael Jackson's Thriller. In the real world you simply have to begin, just start, do something, and you'll either find the way or you'll find an excuse.
Thank you everyone for your input!!! Stay blessed & happy creating
