Art, Procrastination, ADHD

Ah, art. A place for creativity, self expression, pouring out your soul, endless learning, procrastination, distractions, and… wait… what?

Yeah. Sometimes we make art when we’re feeling distracted. And sometimes we distract ourselves from making art! We want to make art because it brings us joy, because it’s an escape from harsh realities, or it’s a way to de-stress after work. But sometimes art itself can feel like the work, and it’s easy to get distracted with other tasks. Can’t start drawing, I haven’t begun the laundry yet! Or ate dinner! Or checked my notifications! Or made art yet toda– wait, uuuUUUHHH

Distractions! They’re everywhere. We can’t control them all, and even the ones we can control can be hard to deal with sometimes. I get it. Really. Sometimes this is the hardest part about art. Spending time focused on it without the distractions. But at least we can talk about some of the simpler ways to reduce distractions. Yep: things like putting your phone away – far away. Drawing traditionally away from screens. Grabbing a friend to catch you when distracted. Yeah, I know you’ve probably thought of this stuff before. It’s easy to forget though, right? I know I do.

Talking about distractions leads to why we might be distracted, so… let’s talk about procrastination. Procrastination is when we seek out those distractions to avoid what we need to do, even if we really want to do it!

That’s… that’s why you’re here on YouTube, right?

There’s a hidden mental barrier preventing you from starting a task, and even telling yourself that it’s “so easy” doesn’t actually help sometimes. A lot of the time we might not even realize we’re procrastinating! We just get lost in all of the other things that we “need” to do to clear out the time for art. But really, we didn’t actually need to.

Why people procrastinate is something that can differ person to person, and is something that I certainly can’t tackle in one video. But there are some strategies that we can use to try to make it easier on ourselves. I’d actually like to make a few videos about this and distractions in general, but here’s some quick ideas:

Being forgiving to yourself. Telling yourself that even though you feel bad for avoiding what you love to do, it’s OK to make mistakes and get right back to it. Giving yourself incentives. “If I draw for a little bit, I can go get some ice cream afterwards!” Tricking yourself into doing art for “just a few minutes”. Even if you know you’re doing this to yourself, it often works and you’ll find you make art for quite a bit longer sometimes. Removing roadblocks to starting. Using quick and dirty supplies like a chalkboard, or a cheap boring sketchbook that you have nearby.

But there’s plenty of strategies out there, some that you may find work for you, some that don’t work at all. We’ll look into some in upcoming clips.

Some of you might be thinking, “well, gosh, all this sounds like ADHD, Kanjon” YUUUUUP. An artist? With ADHD? How is that possible. Well yup. It seems like a lot of people are discovering that they have ADHD and always have, due to better paths to diagnosis and being more informed about what it is online. Anecdotally, it seems to be common among artists.

I really have no data to back this up, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it turns out artists and creators in general are more likely to have ADHD than others. We want to chase after so many different things, right? Paint new characters, try new techniques, look at shiny colors! We like to make things! We like to change directions and express ourselves in new ways! A lot of that lines up with ADHD behaviors. Nothing wrong with it!

So yes. Recently, I actually got a diagnosis for ADHD. And in hindsight… duh. But there I was, as an adult, talking to my doctor about me thinking that it might be worth exploring, followed by them telling me it was pretty plain that it had it. How about that. I didn’t even begin to consider the possibility until a couple years ago, when a friend tossed one of those shitposty bingo boards about ADHD at me. And I was like, wait. These aren’t just normal people things? Why do I have four bingos? And then there was a span where I didn’t think it described me because maybe I just had a vitamin deficiency? Then later I did think it was me again but I was OK medicating with coffee?

I only asked my doctor about it during a usual checkup, and the plan they laid out seemed simple, so I said yeah, let’s see where this goes. Not much later and I have a prescription for some ADHD meds. Got that all figured out and months later, here I am loving things. Honestly I was kinda worried that medication would make me less creative. That I’d be a drone just doing task after task and wouldn’t want to do art as much. But that isn’t true in the slightest. I still have my creativity, I still love to make art (and can even focus on it A LOT more now), and really don’t observe real negative impacts on my life. I can’t believe it took me this long! I really can’t stress that last part enough. It has not made me less creative. Some times I feel like I can be even more creative because I can focus on one bit of imagination and follow it for longer. It’s been a universal improvement on my day job, my love for art, and my ability to just do what I want when I want to. Including making these videos!

I know it’s not always so simple to get a diagnosis. Especially in some areas of the world right now, there can be long waits for a doc and for meds. But try not to let it stop you from getting started if you think it fits you.

But it doesn’t mean that medication is the only solution, or the entire story. There’s still loads of time management strategies and tricks to get to the things you want to do, particularly in art. Giving yourself specific things you can draw when you don’t know what to draw. Telling yourself that you only need to do five minutes of art and… see where that goes. Making lots of little fast thumbnails and seeing if you like any of them.

I think I put a good bit of those tips in my videos this past year. Actually, heck, I made reference to my short attention span in my very first video. (Weh, have I come a long way in editing videos since then.) But it’s not like my tips are only for people with ADHD – everyone struggles with time and task management. But it often affects people with ADHD a lot more, among other things.

Managing ADHD and art involves a lot of the same strategies that you’d use to manage procrastination and distractions. But it’s key to be forgiving of yourself. You’re going to struggle to maintain focus and habits, and some tricks that you use one day might not work the next. Keep trying new things. Friends can help a lot: if you’ve got friends in the area that also like to make art, or just want to hang out while you draw, you can keep each other honest! I’ve hosted some “arts and crafts” days at my house where some of us might draw, some might do puzzles, some papercrafts, but we’re all spending time together making something.

If you’ve thought ADHD might describe you, even a tiny bit, talk with a doctor or therapist if you can. See if you can discuss a path towards solving your struggles. It might be ADHD and medication. It might be something entirely different that you hadn’t considered. Trust me, I know it’s hard to get it started, especially if you are of the ADHD type. But just like getting started with art, don’t feel guilty – there’s nothing wrong with starting that process now.

I’ll put a video or two in the description with some more perspectives on ADHD, and managing procrastination and distractions, if you’re interested. But no need to if that’s not your jam. I’m planning on making more videos about this stuff and how to handle it all specifically as an artist. If there’s something that frequently distracts you from making art, feel free to leave a comment and I’ll see if I can get to including some of that in upcoming clips. For the moment, be kind to yourself, find a cozy place, and go have some fun with your art today.