As an artist, you probably know this feeling. This feeling of being “blocked”, of having no ideas left, maybe no energy to create? Especially in times like this, pandemic times, it can get hard to get inspired. And let me tell you: If you can relate to this, you are not alone—at all!

We all struggle to find inspiration sometimes, and maybe we look at the art of others and think “Oh dear god, why do they create and create and do not seem to struggle? How do they do it?” And maybe, yes maybe, there are some artists who just do not struggle at all, and who just DO it without hesitation and without questioning anything. That’s great! But that doesn’t mean you have to be the same. In fact… you can use their urge to create as an inspiration! Repeat after me: It’s great to be original but there are times when copying something is all you can do AND THAT IS OKAY. No thing you copy will ever look like the reference, there will always be a little something of “you” in it! Everything you do and create will always have a little “you” in it. And having a lack of inspiration is more common than you might think in times when there do not seem to be any “great” things. Great in sense of huge, in sense of extraordinary, in sense of inspiring.

When you really want to do some art, when you want to create, maybe looking at the art of others can help. Start to copy what you like, and I guarantee you, it won’t be an exact replica. It will be something you have created! (But please remember that, if you are to post it or show it elsewhere... please give the original-idea-holder credit!) And the only way out the art block is through it—accept it. Otherwise your anger and tiredness towards it might have the opposite effect and will only get you more and more blocked.

Or, in times of feeling "bad" at what you do (spoiler: you are not), remember these words:

“Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.” ― Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country

Photo Reference: Joven Decadente - Ramon Casas (1899)