If you have ever experienced an art block, you know that it’s pretty scary and irritating. You start feeling like a fraud or hating your previous work. It can even make you hear voices like a crazy person. I too have been close to a full-blown art block; however, when I’m asked by other artists how I avoid burnout. My response is that I simply let loose. Is that pose boring or stiff? Change the pose. “But that isn’t working, and I need to work on this piece.” Stop it, you Neanderthal. We have the technology, so start using your phone or brain for once.  Go online. Finding any spark of inspiration on the internet has never been easier. Find references that will challenge you, or go out of your comfort zone and try a different art genre or style. Experiment with studies, to name a few: learn how fabric is illustrated or painted or how to draw food. Maybe that little exercise will spark new ideas, and you don’t even have to finish those pieces. Once you get that spark, get back to work on that original piece, goofball. 

I’ll be more specific about the workarounds for an art block I mentioned above. To begin, let’s explore some fresh references. I see this as a challenge as many artists, including myself, are usually accustomed to using the same poses, angles, coloring, lighting, or composition. Don’t do that crap, you’ll hate yourself and your art. Sometimes, you must change things up. You’re not doing yourself any favors by using dry and overused references. For example, instead of using the same tired go-to 3-quarter view of a person like a loser. “But what else can I try?” Attempt a worm-eye view, bird’s eye view, side view, or front-facing view, you bozo. For colors and lighting, try pastels, muted palletes, neon colors that make you puke your eyes out, monochrome, or black and white. When it comes to lighting, try intense lighting. Maybe some high beams, as if you’re being pulled over because you’re drunk for those plain and flat lighting ideas you have, BOZO. Finally, if you keep making art that follows the same composition, such as a radiating line. You need to go line yourself to that handheld smart radiator that’s in your pocket. There’s more: steelyard, circular, compound curve, triangle, cross, or rectangle. Stop being square and try something new.