How I put down my phone and started making art I cared about

Go get ur diet right

Notes:
- read Cal Newport - Digital Minimalism
- 12:00 *10 years ....
- 15:21: *6 years, counting is hard

00:01 - 01:29 Intro
01:30 - 03:42 You need an outlet & a goal
03:43 - 10:04 Tips for refocusing your social media
10:05 - 10:35 Touch grass
10:36 - 16:39 Figure out what you care about making
16:40 - 19:40 The goal is flow
19:41 - 20:27 In conclusion

[Karin_]

I feel like fanart can also be very meaningful to oneself. Fanart is not always just for numbers. Sometimes you just connect to a character's story a lot and it personally inspires you.

[plumli]

Thank you for not saying "just quit social media and detox lol", for a lot people this is where our friendships and sources of information come from. Being on it is not the problem, it's what we're using it for. During my worst times I'm using it to escape, during my best times it's how I'm connected to the world.

[zanettilla]

I skipped college. At least in my country, if you are an artist, college is more of a burden, instead of being useful. That means that since I am 18, I am totally alone vs the adult world. My family is kinda supportuve, luckily, but still, its hard. This video is really helpful

[sammiisdead]

"real life is the best food for an artist" this is so real, I remember earlier last year i decided to start doing art after an almost 6-7 yr art block. I was in the lobby at work just sketching a clown and another artist came up to compliment me and said it reminded him of a clown he did hisself and he showed me. :) it was a very eye-opening experience and helped me gain a bit more confidence in my art leading me to continue in my goal of re-starting art again.

[dondankleberg]

a super important point: dont make art for people to like it, or to please an idea. but do it for yourself! your first intention will carry all the way to the end. so if you do it in order to make people like you, or to get money, then you will not be inspired by the experience you manifest into art, but by the voices and doubts and wants of other people. this means your artistic heart cant speak! so if you want it to speak, listen to it! <3

[walkingexistentialdread]

"Don't try to finish projects, focus on getting into flow instead" is one of the best pieces of advice I've received, period. Thank you! <3

[dazzleb]

This was genuinely incredible to watch. You have touched upon one of the biggest problems for creative minds, and your advice couldn't be more helpful. Thank you!🐥💛

[DrFranq]

I'm not an artist. I'm 45, struggling with midlife crisis, I feel less than the sum of my parts. Still, I feel it is so critical for anyone to balance create vs. consume. Thank you for sharing yourself, inspiring me, and helping me get out of bed today.

[Romanticism_]

Thank you so much, I guess you saved my creative self. I haven't drawn in WEEKS and I started to lose interest just because I spent hours and hours mindlessly scrolling YouTube and Reddit instead of creating stuff. Again, thank you very much <3

[owlbabeart]

Achieve flow... Huh. I really like that. It's much better than "oh man I need to finish an art piece, " etc. But instead, shifting the goal to get into a flow state, rather than finishing something, it brings me better feelings. I'm sharing this with all of my classmates at the sjsu animation program! We're all incredibly burnt out and lost in trying to find our own creative identity. Thank you so much for you insightful thoughts~

[blubberfish]

You captured the feelings I've been struggling with for the past couple years really well-- the anxiety and burnout in regard to art have made my identity crisis that much more confusing, , ,
When you said "drawing should feel better than all of that", it felt like my eyes had been opened again. If art feels like a chore or is painful, then I'm simply putting pencil to paper for the sake of feeling like I'm DOING something, and not having the right mindset/headspace to create things I actually care about. I definitely need to implement your advice into my own process. Thank you for making this video!

One thing I'd like to share: from my own experience, using the "watch later" function is a blessing and a curse. I can bookmark stuff I want to see at a later time, but there isn't a limit on how MANY videos I save. The number of random topics that ended up in my watch later far exceeded the stuff I actually ended up watching haha, , , Another consequence of procrastinating said list meant that the longer they sat there, the less I felt the need/desire to watch it. Kinda like when I lose the desire to buy something after keeping it in my cart for long enough😅
To anyone else who also struggles with procrastinating, I recommend keeping your "watch later" list clear. My personal limits/criteria are whether or not I'm going to watch the video within the next 30 minutes or so, and if the video itself is just satisfying my curiosity or actually informative/helpful.

[itsukori]

This is exactly what i needed to hear. Ive been struggling with keeping motivation for my art for YEARS. The last time i truly experienced flow was when i was 13. Im 24 now. I want to badly to figure out what i enjoy drawing again and rekindle my love for the process of drawing instead of constantly being impatient and frustrated with myself. Sincerely, thank you so much

[elusivemayfly]

This is a Godsend for me. I’m a 40-year-old woman stalled on a novel that is almost done. After the existential crisis of the “panny, ” I realized I could feel satisfied with the life I’ve lived and been given, except for one thing. I need to finish that book.

Between normal job and life commitments and some chronic health stuff, being distracted on social media basically eats the time and energy I need to write. It gets my brain and emotions all jacked up in various ways, so I “fast” from it periodically. But it also enables me to learn, connect, and enjoy good people, ideas, and art around the world.

Your incredible thumbnail art and title snapped me to attention, and I’m grateful for the time, work, care, and intuition you put into this video. I’ve subscribed and am excited to see the art and ideas you share next 😊

[SpaceChannelJules]

I think this is so important for anyone who participates in fandom. It’s easy to lose your identity in the things you like, but at some point it will hit you that all you’re doing is consuming what other people have made. Which isn’t inherently wrong, but if you have a desire to create it can be frustrating and disappointing to realize that. This past year was when I had that realization personally. I still love fandom, but I’ve been really pushing myself to work on original stuff, for my own sanity. I don’t want my life to be solely defined by the games/shows I like…

[bugorchard]

I've been going through this exactly. And it's even worse being aware of it and just feeling like I'm incapable of breaking free. I love art, passionately. I have characters I genuinely adore and stories I want to tell, but when I go to express them I stop short. It's so much easier to give in to the fear of inadequacy, to see the beautiful things other people make and feel like there's no room for me in the world. Thank you for your video, it's good to know I'm not alone. I hope we all can find a way to move forward 🩵

[sekaiouja]

I'm not an artist for a living, but art has been my hobby for as long as I have been able to pick up a pencil, and it just happens that I stumbled on this video.
Recently I have been dabbling in fandoms of content creators where the creators themselves engage a lot in fanart (and if you're a lucky enough artist, they will contact you and work with you in official capacities). There are certain are styles that are popular and/or commonly employed there and as more and more of my friends get employed by my favourite creator, I started feeling very depressed and lost sight of who I make art for (myself and my own self-expression), just because I think that I can't seem to ever appease said creator's tastes in art.

This appearing on my feed was somehow perfect timing as I was very close to giving up on drawing and it really inspired me to go make the personal art I want to see in the world instead of being hung up on the successes of others or chase the approval of someone much more famous. Thank you so much!

[pebblepatch]

I'm really glad I stumbled across this on my Youtube Home page because I think this is exactly what I needed. It was so comforting to hear someone verbalize all of the experiences I've gone through in the past few years. For a while now I've wanted to get back into drawing but it was always so much easier and so much more rewarding just playing video games and consuming other people's content. Thank you for making this video, truly. It's really comforting to know that I'm not alone.

[alexisbess]

As I sit in a hospital room watching my 6 year old falling in and out of sleep while wincing in pain...I needed this video. I thought "oh ill have plenty of time to draw while she recovers from surgery" but
I haven't drawn a single thing despite pulling out my sketch book about 9 times a day the last few days.
Prior to this situation, everything you spoke of directly related to my half ass art and effort. And right now, while I truly need some inspiration and motivation, I'm really letting all of that sink in. So whether I create while I'm here or not, I'll have this video in my head for good. A video I never would have watched had i not been sitting in a hospital room contemplating hell on earth. Thank you.

[kai__]

After years of not drawing, because nothing felt like fun anymore, I actually wanted to officially give up yesterday, after diving into the artist community one last time. Now this video popped up. It's not even 24 hours old, I guess the timing of me feeding my algorithm with art realated content one last time, after ignoring it for years, was spot on.
Maybe I change my mind, at least this video is a new perspective.

[lyzeman]

I find it useful to have two separate channels on YouTube for the same account. One follows the news, sports and think pieces that I lose myself into, while the other follows artists and tutorials and such. It's like a switch that you can flip when you want to be productive.