Lost creativity

Post Reply New Topic

When I was younger, I used to draw and sculpt in various mediums all the time. I had this irrepressible drive to just create.
But then over the years, I started creating less and less. Now, in my 40's it feels as if that great talent is gone. I miss it.
I'm not really sure what happened. Maybe years of ongoing depression killed it, or maybe an artist not being an artist for years has made me depressed, It's a chicken/egg kind of thing. Sometimes I think working as a professional graphic artist squeezed my creativity dry.

Any other artists suffering an extended dry spell?

Constantly. There are times I'm working on a story, and it's flat, lifeless, with literally no real, worthwhile detail or descriptions. Sometimes I get out of the funk and make it work, while other times I have to work on something else.

I think I go through phases of input/output. Input is when my creativity is on hold so I read, gather information etc. Then this usually gives over to output where I can be very creative.

But I don't think I have suffered many years of no creative thinking.

I can empathize with you--over the past year, I feel like I have lost all of my creativity. This has coincided with significant feelings of depression. I know a lot of people who become extra expressive when they are depressed, and they turn to art, music, writing, or drama to release their emotions, but when I feel depressed, I am too lethargic to develop a coherent idea, let alone read a book or even focus on a movie. I am glad to hear that I am not alone in this. Even more damaging is my acute fear that I will never regain my creativity, which leads to procrastination and prevents me from at least attempting to do something artistic.

I'm surprised you said you thought depression killed your creativity. I'm recovering from depression, and even though it's not fun at all, I developed this unique ability to think poetically. I'm not sure if it was just a coincidence that it happened at the same time, though. But I'm sure you still have that creativity; you just feel like you don't because you don't give yourself the chance to use it.

I do feel as if it is harder for me to feel creative when I have been depressed or under a lot of stress. A major part of depression is a loss of interest in things, and interest is the core of creativity, so it stands to reason that you would have a difficult time being creative as a result of that depression.

I have taught art to adults, and I think creativity is like anything else--if you fall out of the habit of it, it is difficult to get back into the habit of thinking creatively. Try taking a few workshops if you can, on techniques that are specific and focused rather than vague (for example, choose a workshop on "multi-media journal making" rather than "the basics of watercolor"). Experiment with one project; then do a variation of that project; then a few other projects based on further variations; etc. It is amazing how much easier it is to generate ideas if you start with one idea and see how far you can take it. For instance: you might know of an amazing view that you would like to paint. So get up really early for several days and paint it at sunrise. Then, over the course of another week, paint it at noon. Then go back for a third week just before sunset. Three paintings (or more!) from a single idea! In my experience, this approach is excellent for rebooting your ability to think creatively, because you are approaching each idea you have from a variety of angles, and as this becomes habit, you'll generate lots of ideas more readily.

Also, check out any book by Eric Maisel, a noted creativity coach: Brainstorm, The Van Gogh Blues, etc. They are awesome and his techniques are very effective.