Feeling Stuck? Here's How You Can Keep Improving Your Art

The straight up solution? Just don't think and keep making art, easy peasy. But because I know you can't stop thinking (as neither can I), here are some ways I deal with feeling stuck.

Artists get stuck in two extremes: working too hard and burning out, or barely working and stagnating. Both kill progress. What helped me was balancing intensity with recovery. Here are my solutions.

Problem 1: You're doing too much because you want results quickly but end up burned out. Exhaustion blinds you to progress that's actually there. You grind 5-6 hours daily expecting to see massive improvement overnight, but your brain and hands get fried. Solution: treat training like gym sessions.

Monday intense, Tuesday moderate, Wednesday intense again, Thursday moderate, Friday intense, weekend rest. By intense I mean more than 2h of focused painting/drawing on your specific goal. Moderate means 30 minutes max, very simple challenges, saving references for later, studying theory, watching tutorials, or even taking a full break doing completely unrelated activities. This cycling prevents burnout and lets you attack each session fresh with clear eyes.

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Problem 2: Not doing enough because of responsibilities, creative blocks, fear of failure, or getting distracted by other personal problems. No practice means no progress, simple as that. Every problem, whether art related or life related, has a solution that arrives sooner or later. In the meantime, you have to be able to do the work regardless of your situation.

The trick is to define your routine and carve out some minutes during your freshest hours for quick practice. A 10-minute sketch, move the needle a bit on that personal project, use one of the daily topics we share on Discord. It doesn't matter what excuse you use, just do something small but consistent.

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Whether you work way too hard or barely touch the canvas, making progress in art is a long term game. Too much thinking will frustrate you and prevent you from actually doing the job. Start today taking those little steps and sharing them with us on Discord. One of the things that keeps spiking my dopamine is sharing whatever I do with others, like a child showing off a drawing to their parents. I never get tired of it. Perhaps it can be the same with you.

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Remember you can now pre-order my book Life in Every Sketch on the 3DTotal shop.

https://rebrand.ly/The-Art-of-RamonN90

Please let me know if you have any questions, I’ll be happy to help with art advice or book details.