Conceptart addiction

[Adrian Wilkins]

Hey there

I don't know if a threat ike ths have been open but anyway...

the last few months I've been posting on CA felt quite weird. It's like an urge to post my stuff in my SB. Everytime I'm sitting at my desk drawing I have the CA page open ready to post new stuff...but it became a regular base to post more quantity stuff than quality stuff, since my development went really low...I was stop concentrating on how to get thing right but more how can I make people reply an get my SB at the top of the thread. Has anyone else ever felt this?
And now I've come to a point where I might say...okay I'll stop posting my stuff for about 3 weeks straight or longer to work with ease instead of working under pressure...

would love to hear the opinion of you guys and if you think it's a good idea.

greetz
Adrian!

[Farvus]

I had this several times and it can make your art a bit undeveloped or careless. Posting daily in sketchbook is good when you're starting out. It helps gain momentum and really get into drawing. Later it can turn into some sort of race.

It seems like you need to take longer breaks from CA. Not necessarily breaks from visiting forums but from posting art.

[nickmarshallvfx]

I dont know about an urge to keep my SB at the top, but an addiction to ca.org in general would be right!
I should be working right now, but my girlfriend fell asleep so i snuck back on here!

Nick

p.s. Shit, i think she might be waking up! *runs*

[J Wilson]

Well, there is a little ego involved in being an artist. Ultimately we do art to share, and everyone loves recognition. It can get out of hand though. A good example would be deviant art where some people get very wrapped up in their page views and their perceived popularity. Taken to that degree it's a problem, because as you said you get involved in wanting recognition or views instead of making progress with art. I know I MUCH prefer the artists that rarely post, but when they do they blow your mind with some amazing work.

[Clochette]

I dont know about an urge to keep my SB at the top, but an addiction to ca.org in general would be right!
I should be working right now, but my girlfriend fell asleep so i snuck back on here!

Nick

p.s. Shit, i think she might be waking up! *runs*

How the hell does the fact that she fell asleep affects if you are working or not? Were you drawing her for a job or... you need her to have a look on you to be sure to work? Huhu that's a bit weird, I didn't understand i guess..



To be back to the topic : Hygami : well, I think it's already really honest from you to make this observation on your own behavior. Admit what is the actual reason of why you post etc is a sign that you care about your work more than you think.
Indeed the other viewers are really important, for motivation, inspiration, feed back, critic etc etc, and it gives incredibly energy to improve but in the other hand, you shouldn't have to think of us when you are working :D

You need to dissociate a bit your work / reasons you like drawing / personnal challenges and goals - to the internet I think.

Just do your stuff, nevermind the number of replies or asspat. Replies in the SB don't pay the bills haha ! Don't get me wrong, I love it huh ! Gives so much courage and help and all but...
...what is important is you, and your art. Just work, be proud of your improvement, keep a critical eye about your own work, take good notes of what the others say about your flaws, try to fix them, have fun and discipline, and come here from time to time to share what you love doing... It's just easy! :P

Good luck !

[Nam]

Inspiration and encouragement from others is a positive driving force, as artists we want to share, sometimes we strive to attain it to a degree that causes us to lose our autonomy though. You do the work you think will garner the encouragement you want because you're desperate for it, you need validation, the creative process becomes overrun. Ultimately, you will become more and more alienated from your craft because you aren't doing the work you want to do. It's also a confidence issue you have to work on. Confidence in your expression. It's tough but you have to work on it. You don't need to sever yourself from this site, just keep your priorities straight.

The truth is, no one wants to see the work you 'think' you should be doing, and you'll find you don't want to see it either. It will be weak, rushed and shoddy because your heart isn't in it. Your creative autonomy is priority number 1.

[Max Challie]

I left Auckland for a couple months, had a holiday, no Internet connection, just swimming, playing games and drawing. It was a great time and I think breaks from the Internet are very healthy. By the time I got back, I could kind of feel that I improved. All I wanted was another break, only this time with lots more drawing, hahaha.

I'm a part of the CA crowd that sort of blends into the background; I don't get a lot of responses in my sketchbook, because I tend to not update frequently. But, I've become quite happy in this stillness. It's nice to get a comment or two every now and then, which is quite often critique (what I really want). I get plenty of praise from people when they see my sketchbook in person, and that's flattering. But there's nothing of a more solid feel than good harsh critique, which, harsh as can be and in person, is highly motivating. Being told I'm good at something inflates my ego, because I tend to listen to it.

It's balance, I guess. Posting enough to get critique and some motivational praise, but not so much that you thrive on the attention. I don't know, that's just me. I don't want a 100 page sketchbook, and believe self-motivation is everything (which is funny considering my attention-seeking personality). Others find motivation in being surrounded by others. But then I like a sort of abstract, zen-like mindset that's more about playfulness and having fun along the journey than a need to achieve 'the goal'. Others focus on the goal as the most important thing and work towards it mechanically. It depends on your personality, I guess. Whatever makes you happy.

Try taking a break and working on your own, and see how you feel. Try lots of different things to find your method of working.

[nickmarshallvfx]

How the hell does the fact that she fell asleep affects if you are working or not? Were you drawing her for a job or... you need her to have a look on you to be sure to work? Huhu that's a bit weird, I didn't understand i guess..

Yes it was a joke. I was referring to adicts who have to be watched to make sure they stay clean, and applying it to the context of being addicted to forums. The results were hilarious obiously.

[HunterKiller_]

it can make your art a bit undeveloped or careless.

On the money.

[Darktwin]

I have to agree with a lot of you have already said. When I first started posting here at CA I felt like I had to post as much as possible so people would post in my sketchbook. Purposely bumping my sketchbook to the top of the page so it would maximize views and hopefully a respond in my book. I would also post in other sketchbooks to hopefully get them to reciprocate.

I was so obsessed with my sketchbook, I really didn't spend the time to investigate the other great sections of CA. Because of this I all together stopped updating my sketchbook to break my addiction of hopeful feedback from my peers. Personally I feel I needed a break to set my priorities straight. I'm doing art for me first. Everything else should be secondary. Great discussion everyone.

[~Faust~]

Hmmm first of all, I also think if you draw, do it for yourself rather than some web-page. Whenever I feel that the urge to update my scetchbook becomes too big, I stop updating for a few weeks, sometimes months, which is okay, since the urge to create is still there.

However, speaking only for myself, of course, the path has been a very lonely one. I really like to share my endeavours and get uplifting comments on my stuff from people that aren't my mother. Sadly, I always had bad luck when it comes to people sharing the same passion, or being passionate at all. My attempts to reach to professional illustrators or other students for advice or simple friendship were futile for the most part. I've been confronted with arrogance and elitism, strangely from the students, since I'm self-taught and therefore lack the nice bullshit-talk that accompanies art-school education. Professionals don't write me back, I guess mostly because of my anxiety to approach someone with a skill-level much above my own without having anything worthwhile in return and thusly sounding like an obnoxious fanboy all the time.
This has gotten a bit better now that I'm learning in school, but I still get sarcastic comments and laughter for staying extracurricular hours in the atelier to practice long casts, portraits and drapery. People make fun of me, say I'm "living in the academy". Again, that's from my peers, my teachers are very supportive.

So CA helps me not feeling alone with my situation. Whenever I come here I get the impression that there are a lot of other people out there being passionate and chasing their dreams and struggling the same struggle as me. Do not underestimate the power of that feeling! There are a lot of artists in history that broke from the lack of a supportive environment.

So yeah, what does that have to do with scetchbooks? Well not that much anymore I'm afraid. My impression is that the quality in the scetchbook-section has declined over the years. I don't mean there are less 5-star scetchbooks, on the contrary, but my impression is that for the high-skilled artists their scetchbooks are for the most part just another portfolio and the ones that grew with the site have become busy and successful and don't priorize their CA-scetchbook as much as in the past. That's very good for them, and I wish everybody the same success. However, it makes getting a good critique less likely for the rest of us. The same plague of mediocricy has infected the mentor-section if it was ever free of that.

I only update my SB for myself and a few peers on CA who's opinion I value and with whom i grew over the years. I don't encourage anyone else to post into my SB comments like "keep it up!" (I grew to hate that advice, since often it doesn't accompany anything. Do you like my stuff? Do you hate my stuff?). The only reason I still have it within my sig is that I also like to see what kind of art the members are making here, be it to varify their critiques or just curiosity.