3 Tips on Staying Motivated as an Artist

Staying in the Game

Staying motivated as an artist can go from super easy to as hard as your New Year’s exercise resolution. You may have been really excited when you got your latest commission. But now, you seem to have lost your enthusiasm. Some jobs are just like that. You’ll have the ones that you can’t wait to sink your teeth into and then you’ll have the ones that just don’t do it for you.

It happens.

So what’s the trick to staying motivated no matter what the job is?

First of all, what is motivation? According to Merriam-Websters dictionary, motivation is a “motivating force, stimulus, or influence.” What is the force, stimulus, or influence that makes you want to create? It’s different for everyone. It could be one thing or many. A passion for art. A combined love of drawing and love of whatever your favorite subject matter is. To give back to your community. To break into comics or storyboarding. Maybe it’s to break into video game design.

You have to know what drives you. That’s your motivation and that will help you push through tough projects. Which leads us to our three tips:

1. Consider your circumstances.

If you’re creating art for a living and you’ve already accepted the job…your best bet is to pull up your big boy/girl undies and get er done. You’ve already committed to doing it. You may have already signed a contract and accepted the deposit. Or maybe you’re not freelance and this is for an actual 9-5 job. Either way, just attack it. Do your best work and finish it. Get it done. Your reputation is on the line. And your reputation as an artist who can deliver should be a huge motivating factor.

However, if it’s a job that you’re being offered and haven’t accepted yet…think about it carefully. What are your circumstances? Are you just starting out and need the experience? Are you in dire need of the money? Are you trying to make a name for yourself as an artist? All of our circumstances will vary, but each of those things would be a motivating force.

Making ends meet might not always mean fun jobs but it can be a strong motivation. (Photo credit: 123RF.com Image ID: 43376117 Copyright: zimmytws )

I understand that there’s money involved and every penny may count for you.

But if you’re going to hate doing it, is it really worth it?

If you hate it even before you accept the job, staying motivated throughout the process will be extra hard. We are artists for a living because it’s something we’re passionate about. You ultimately want to be passionate in a good way as opposed to passionately hating what you’re doing. However, if you can turn off the ‘I really don’t wanna do this’ switch, then more power to you. Go ahead and accept it.

But if you’re like me, and you know that doing the job will be like pulling out your own teeth, then you’d better consider it carefully. That’s how I am with people portraits. The money is there. I have plenty of requests to draw people, but I absolutely hate doing it. So I refuse all requests for human portraits. I don’t need the money that badly so as to torture myself.

2. Open up the opportunity for more of what you want to do.

Most artists I know are not well off, at least not initially. Each job is important. We all have bills to pay. And I’m pretty sure we all like eating and sleeping with a roof over our heads. That being said, you don’t have to say yes to each and every job offer.

By staying true to what you’re passionate about, you open up the opportunity for more of what you do want to do. Think of it in terms of what I do. What if I took every offer for human portraits (highly undesirable jobs) despite the fact that I hate doing them? As I’m trudging through it, I get an offer for an animal portrait that I’d absolutely love doing. But wait. I can’t because I’m booked, mucking through the one I didn’t want to do in the first place.

On the flip side, let’s say I make it a point of only doing what I’m passionate about. I start posting works in progress on social media. Perhaps I include videos of the work in progress. Then I post the finished work. Pretty soon, that’s what I become known for and that’s what people reach out to me for. Sure, I might still get the random request for a human portrait every now and then, but I have no issue turning them down because I have more animal portrait requests than I can handle.

3. Change your mindset about the not so great jobs.

This is the toughest one. Some of us may have a little more luxury in picking and choosing jobs. For others, times may be really tough and we really do need every single job offered to us. If you fall into the latter, you’re certainly not alone. This is where you need to remember that in every successful person’s history, no matter what field they’re in, where they had to pay their dues. For artists that may very well be the low motivation jobs that you don’t want to do. And this is where staying motivated is a challenge.

As an artist, honing your skills should be important and a motivation all on its own. (Photo credit: Image by moritz320 from Pixabay)

Remember, we all have to start somewhere. Consider it paying your dues, training, practice, boot camp, whatever you want to call it. The more you do it, the better you get. However you manage it, keep in mind that even though you might hate it, it is still exercising your skills and abilities. You’re still growing from it as an artist (and a business person).

It’s also important to remember that staying motivated goes beyond individual jobs. Focusing your mindset on the overall improvement of your skills should be enticing. Who doesn’t want to improve their skills? Every time you create, you’re honing your skills, even with jobs you don’t like. Perhaps especially so. And love the job or hate it, you’re skills are still growing in the right direction. Improved skills will keep moving you closer to your goals.

What could be more motivating than that?

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