I’m not sure if I already posted this sometime before, but here I go anyway: So I’m currently a full-time college student (I’m making up half of my Junior year, majoring in Fine Arts). I’m having a hard time motivating myself to work on my personal art projects, along with a current art collab, because my amount of schoolwork is pretty demanding. I tried a few times to work on my art during breaks, but I get so mentally fried from my schoolwork, I can barely focus on it for too long. Any advice on how to motivate myself to balance schoolwork and art projects?
If you’re going to school for art, I’m sorry to say, there’s going to be very little balance for the duration of the semester for personal projects.
I don’t know your workload, but I’m familiar with a few different potential art/animation/design school paths and they’re all gonna be a major grind.
As an extension of that, kind of the same goes for working in an art field. You’ll definitely have more time than in school, but you’re gonna have to reconcile that you spend your work day drawing, then come home and draw your personal work. The amount of art friends I have that have struggled/are struggling with finding this balance is pretty close to 100%.
Beyond that, here’s my post about overcoming artblock and other issues that get in the way of making art.
At 9/1/22 05:48 AM, SourCherryJack wrote: If you’re going to school for art, I’m sorry to say, there’s going to be very little balance for the duration of the semester for personal projects.
I don’t know your workload, but I’m familiar with a few different potential art/animation/design school paths and they’re all gonna be a major grind.
As an extension of that, kind of the same goes for working in an art field. You’ll definitely have more time than in school, but you’re gonna have to reconcile that you spend your work day drawing, then come home and draw your personal work. The amount of art friends I have that have struggled/are struggling with finding this balance is pretty close to 100%.
Beyond that, here’s my post about overcoming artblock and other issues that get in the way of making art.
Well, one of the art classes I’m currently taking this semester is Intro to Fiber Media (a class where I learn and do projects on fabrics, that involve using dye, weaving, embroidery, etc) The class is 3 hours long, so it doesn’t involve too much of having to work on projects at home. (My most demanding classes are Biological Anthropology and Psychology.) You’re right, maybe I should just accept that I may not have much time for personal projects. Although, I did realize that I take Fridays off to relax. Maybe I could do my personal projects then? 🤔 I also have a 2 hour break between my classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I could probably bring my art supplies and sketchbook to school those days to work on my personal project during those breaks…Anyway, thank you for the advice!
Reading more of the thread, you say you have free time right? Set about a few hours a day... maybe 4-6 hours, half it if too much and go crazy with your art.
What you could also do is try and incorporate your ideas into your art projects. That's the beautiful part about the art field. It's creative. You get to do whatever you want, even if at first it isn't quite like how you do it. Maybe your teacher wants you to draw a landscape and you're not into that. You can spice it up by making a landscape of a place you want to visit, or a landscape for a personal project you had in mind. There, you can have fun and be productive at the same time, not feeling you're a slave to the whims of your busy schedule.
