How do you deal with depression and art block?

[Nepitelle]

If you're like me who don't get enough nutrition or sleep, just moving you're body helps with depression. Going outside, taking a short walk, do some sports...or if you're a stay at home kind of person, cleaning you're room, cooking, going up and down the stairs, do some air punching, just anything as long as you're not lying down or sitting.

For me, cleaning the house house helps with both depression and art block. o u o

[Lola]

My sister is a quadriplegic. She was in an accident that wasn't entirely her fault, but was made to take the blame by her so-called "friends" who may have inflicted the injury upon her themselves.

Just visiting her gives me tremendous amounts of inspiration to pick up my pencil and draw again, her strength and will to persevere encourages me to get over whatever is bogging me down and move on with life.

[sendo]

For me, hanging out with friends or just taking a walk around town helped my depression AND art block. Sometimes we just need to take a break from art.

[soraibi]

When I have art block I usually go outside for fresh air, listen to music and draw a tree or two...or three .-. until the ideas come back to me. And about depression, I would go on the computer and kill some monsters, level up 50 times until I forgot why I was even depressed in the first place. xD

[ktalkimist]

Art books always work for me, especially those with annotations and/or lengthy interviews about how other people go about the creative process. My favorite has to be Persona 3's art book!

[M.T.D.G.]

When I have an art block (which happens pretty often...) I find useful browsing at the blogs of people who produce a lot of art and who are always working to create something new! Or the blogs of people doing something similar to what I'm doing at the momente.
For example, I often check Indiegogo and Kickstarter to see if there are some new campaigns to fund a Visual Novel or to see how the ongoing ones are doing it really helps me keeping up with my own work! Or, if I find no campaigns, I search for other stuff related to the anime word, like merchindise production.
If depression and art block are still there, then probably there's a motivation like an upcoming event which makes me anxious, so I just wait. In these situations, I find helpful to hang out with my boyfriend and have a walk with him, going into places (even just the grocery store works!).

Do what you like the most and don't think about art when depression goes away, you'll have again the energy to draw a lot and fast!

[dcieve_]

watch TV.... or take a walk outside.... but i'd prefer watch TV or some random vids on youtube.

Do what you like the most and don't think about art when depression goes away, you'll have again the energy to draw a lot and fast!

agreed, the thing is you have to draw yourself away from anything related to drawing. (get it? draw yourself from drawing.... drawings)


and last:

go get a girl/boyfriend