Have you ever needed to write or create some artwork but all of a sudden…
… your mind started going blank…
… and your ability to write or draw went *poof*?
Well, it happens to me sometimes too.
In fact, it happened to me a few weeks ago.
Mind you:
This doesn’t happen often.
Normally I have so much to write about (and draw about) that I can’t stop writing. And eventually because I write so much, people start finding me annoying. So I have to consciously limit myself so that I don’t start annoying everyone around me.
However, when I look back on how this week’s writer’s block came about, I realized something interesting…
Inside me are two sides:
My Creator side. And my Consumption side.
My Consumption-side is forever wanting to read more books, watch more videos, and look at more artwork.
While my Creator-side is all about making more stuff.
Normally my Consumption-side is holding the steering wheel.
But one day…
… my “Creator” side said to my “Consumption” side:
“Hey, you’ve been reading too much recently. And you haven’t been writing enough! I need you to stop reading and watching videos for a couple of weeks, and sit your fluffy butt down and write and draw… or else people will forget about you forever and you’ll starve!”
“Umm… Ok. I’ll try…” said my Consumption side, reluctantly.
And so I did.
No books.
No videos.
No artwork.
Just sit the fluffy butt down on the chair and try to write and draw as much as I could to please my Creator-side.
And just like that…
… my mind went blank…
… for weeks…
Until:
I stopped trying to force myself to write and create and…
… I went back to reading again.
Reading as many books as I could.
As much as I wanted.
On as many different subjects as I wanted.
And…
Presto!
All of a sudden I have so much inspiration to write and draw that I don’t have enough time to do it all.
And now, Creator Aurelia and Consumption Aurelia are both happy.
This reminded me about about something I once heard Jake Parker, the creator of Inktober, say:
“You need to breathe in first before you can breathe out. If there’s no input, there’s no output”
You would have thought that with all the thousands of books and artistic masterpieces I’ve gone through over the years, my mind would be a literal river of creative ideas that flow out endlessly 24/7.
Looks like it doesn’t work that way.
No new input, no new output.
Speaking of new:
Recently I’ve noticed that a ton of fans have started stocking up on my Christmas Wreath masterpieces in preparation for the upcoming holiday season.
And, yes I know…
I haven’t started releasing my new Christmas pieces yet for this year.
I’ve been so busy working on some amazing illustrations for a contest I’m in. It’s been taking a lot of my time.
Well, I’m enjoying it.
But in case you were waiting for new Christmas masterpieces…
… rest assured, they’re coming! 馃檪
But for now, our Christmas masterpiece collection from years past is now available in the store.
Might wanna stock up while you can.
Sincerely,
Aurelia Nobleia
“Crazy About Consumption”