Speaker A
So, how do you find your passion again? How do you find what is lost? When I was a young aspiring artist, I posted mediocre doodles and aggressively refreshed the post just to have two likes. Click. Click. Click. Still two likes.
Discover how to reconnect with your lost passion for art and creativity, overcoming external validation and burnout.
Key Takeaways
- Seeking external validation can crush creative passion.
- Comparing yourself to exceptional artists is often unrealistic and harmful.
- Creative passion can fade but is never permanently lost.
- Creating for work differs greatly from creating for personal joy.
- Starting again and lowering the stakes can help reignite passion.
Summary
- The creator shares their early struggles with seeking external validation through social media likes.
- They reflect on the unrealistic expectations of being exceptional to gain recognition.
- Comparison to top cultural phenomena leads to feelings of inferiority and creative burnout.
- The creator stopped posting and drawing for personal joy, focusing instead on forced practice and work.
- After art school, they worked a job designing for clients, which was draining and not fulfilling their passion.
- They discuss the difference between creating for a living and creating for oneself.
- Gaming and watching others create became a comfort zone and source of inspiration.
- The creator emphasizes that passion might pause but is never truly lost, encouraging viewers to start again despite self-doubt.
- They share how reducing pressure and having fun with art helped rekindle their creative drive.
- Community interaction and sharing creative projects provide motivation to continue creating.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction and Early Struggles with Validation
- 00:31Seeking External Validation and Social Media Impact
- 00:55Unrealistic Expectations and Comparison to Exceptional Artists
- 01:44Creative Burnout and Stopping Personal Art
- 02:27Art School and Forced Practice
- 03:25Work Life and Loss of Passion
- 04:21Creating for Living vs Creating for Joy
- 04:39Comfort Zones and Inspiration from Others
- 05:06Reigniting Passion and Moving Forward
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
likes. Ah, I was seeking external validation for my art. Remember DeviantArt when it was moss green or Tumblr back in the day? Yeah, different times. I felt like I could only be perceived as an artist when there were a lot of people liking
Speaker A
Ah, I was seeking external validation for my art. Remember DeviantArt when it was moss green or Tumblr back in the day? Yeah, different times. I felt like I could only be perceived as an artist when there were a lot of people liking and praising my art.
Speaker A
why would anyone care?" It's somewhat unrealistic when you're not exceptional. But even being exceptional isn't enough.
Speaker A
Every time new Banksy street art pops up, everybody is losing their mind, right? Of course, nobody cared about the mediocre doodles of a teenage girl without any following, network, or something like that. From today's perspective, I can say, "Yeah,
Speaker A
It's a game you can't win. That probably holds true for most of what you see online. Anyways, this seeking of external validation, this feeling was crushing me. What did I do next? Maybe you've already guessed it. Well, I
Speaker A
why would anyone care?" It's somewhat unrealistic when you're not exceptional. But even being exceptional isn't enough.
Speaker A
time drawing. But that was out of force and not coming out of my own joy or passion. I learned a lot. My skills got a lot better, but I didn't really feel it. On some uni projects, I incorporated
Speaker A
Everyone's trying to be the next cultural phenomenon, the 1% of the 1%. And you're comparing yourself to those.
Speaker A
I didn't care too much about. It was a way to make a living, but it wasn't my passion. It was kind of draining.
Speaker A
It's a game you can't win. That probably holds true for most of what you see online. Anyways, this seeking of external validation, this feeling was crushing me. What did I do next? Maybe you've already guessed it. Well, I
Speaker A
a long time before I fell in love with Dark Souls 2. I mean as well, not the second game. I'm not a maniac. This was and somewhat still is my comfort zone.
Speaker A
stopped posting and deleted my accounts. I even stopped drawing in my free time altogether. In the meantime, I finished art school. There I had to work on my art skills and was given projects I had to finish and of course spend a lot of
Speaker A
quickly fell into the trap of comparing my art to others and feeling that mine was inferior. And my own creative passion was gone back then. As I said before, I stopped painting and drawing for myself altogether. I planned three
Speaker A
time drawing. But that was out of force and not coming out of my own joy or passion. I learned a lot. My skills got a lot better, but I didn't really feel it. On some uni projects, I incorporated
Speaker A
second, and a third. They are all still empty. They are still staring at me and waiting for me. I can somewhat feel their judgement, but I will paint on them. This year, I said to myself is the year I want to create again. Weirdly
Speaker A
something personal, but it was not possible for all of them. After I finished art school, I got a job. Yay! I was busy designing work for my boss's clients. There were fun parts, but mostly I worked really hard for projects
Speaker A
resonates with people that go through similar times of feeling burnt out and lost excitement. It helped me a lot to reduce the stakes, to just draw, sketch, doodle, have fun. That's why I uploaded my first pretty half-baked video back
Speaker A
I didn't care too much about. It was a way to make a living, but it wasn't my passion. It was kind of draining.
Speaker A
comments, it's clear to me that a lot of you guys feel the same. That's what motivates me to keep it up. Right now, I basically work on art every week. We even discuss creative projects on our Fluxer server for YouTube members. I
Speaker A
Creating for living is not the same as creating for yourself in your free time at all. After work, I sort of used all my remaining energy for gaming, scrolling, and watching YouTube videos of other people creating stuff. That was
Speaker A
So, something must have worked, right? The most difficult thing is to start, to overcome your inner voice that tells you all the wrong things. I know that life is difficult and there's more to that.
Speaker A
a long time before I fell in love with Dark Souls 2. I mean as well, not the second game. I'm not a maniac. This was and somewhat still is my comfort zone.
Speaker A
need. It might just be a pause. The pause might be for months or even years or decades, but the passion will come back to you. It's not lost to never be found again. It's waiting for you, patiently and forgivingly, to be picked
Speaker A
Most of the time, I like watching people play games more than playing myself. I like to see people drawing, expressing themselves. I like to see them grow better and stronger. Sometimes it made me want to do the same, but then I
Speaker A
[music] That was a long time be- [laughter] That was a long time be-
Topics:finding passioncreative burnoutart motivationexternal validationart careercreative processovercoming comparisonart inspirationmental health in artcreative journey
