if you’ve been reading my news posts (ty to anyone who possibly does), you already know that ive been in a killer art block since march of this year, and it still hasn’t slowed down. it stemmed from a fear of failure (since i only started learning how to draw people a year ago), and an issue where i couldn’t figure out what to draw. it’s almost been a year and i still haven’t solved either of these issues

for roughly 9 months now, i’ve been beating myself up over not knowing what to draw or making something that looked bad or how “i’ll never be as good as this person”, and it’s taken a huge toll on my mental health

so i’ve decided that what i really need is a break. i’m burnt out and i’m overthinking art to the point where it’s not fun anymore

i haven’t drawn anything in weeks, and while it kinda hurts (it feels like something really important is missing, because art is so near and dear to my heart that i can’t imagine a future where i don’t make it), i am feeling a bit better. i’m hoping to return to art by december/january

plus im just losing interest in art in general (i’ve been focusing more on writing lately)

i originally wasn’t planning to make a news post at all about this, but i just wanted to get this all off of my chest. i’m a fanartist because i enjoy drawing my favorite characters, and i’m just not into making my own characters (it’s not fun for me anymore), and i thought that was what was holding me back, because i’m stuck drawing the same characters over and over again. so i tried forcing myself to write & design ocs just so i could draw them, but it just wasn’t fun and it reflected in how they barely even got finished. so because of that, i was stuck in a rut where i felt like i couldn’t draw anything, so i just stopped

so i stopped for a while and became rusty, and then when i tried to come back to drawing, everything turned out stiff and disproportionate and it really discouraged me. so i didn’t draw out of fear of making something even worse, and it just made the whole problem worse

i’m aware that i’m making the problem worse by taking a break (and therefore not drawing), but i’m thinking that a break is what i really need considering i’m overthinking this so badly

so basically, tl;dr: art sucks rn and i need a break. i’ll probably be back in december/january, it depends on when i get back into art. i’m not quitting nor am i leaving newgrounds, i’m not going anywhere for a while :D