Taking Art Breaks

The holidays are here! If you’re an artist, you’re probably thinking about fitting in times you can draw. Maybe it’s causing you a little bit of stress. Holidays or not though, sometimes the answer to improving art is the opposite: take a little break!

It’s perfectly OK to take a pause from art for a bit! Whether you’re going on vacation, visiting family for the holidays, or are just feeling a little burnt out, consider whether it’s time for a breather. Don’t guilt yourself for it. Your art will still be there when you come back, and you won’t have lost any skills: I promise. You’ll do some warm-ups and get right back into it.

So plan out a break. Try to be intentional about how long your break will be. Ideally, count this in days, and not an undefined period of time. You want to give yourself some room, but keep yourself accountable to your goals. If you’re trying to keep a drawing streak or daily drawing habit going, try to not stress over missing some days. Put that on pause, take an intentional break, and allow yourself some room to decompress. Don’t worry, I’ll won’t tell anyone you missed some days.

On your time off, avoid planning what you’re going to draw when you’re done. Just take a break. You can still look at others’ art if you want, but don’t spend time actively thinking about drawing. It’s like taking a break from your job! Even if you like your job, you need to spend some time away from it resting and relaxing. The same applies to art. In fact without even thinking about it, you’ll often find that when you’re ready to draw again, you’ll have some fresh new ideas and things to doodle! It’s one of those weird things your brain does: if you try to think of what to draw, you might get stuck with no thoughts, but if you ignore it you’ll often have random ideas pop into your head. You can write those ideas down if they appear on your break, why not. But don’t seek them out.

If you’re off to draw today, have fun as always! If you’re taking a break for the holidays, I support you too. Take care of your mental health. I’ll see you back here when you’re ready.