My Art, Work Versus Fun

Personal

This post is about my struggle of doing artwork for projects and creating art as a hobby to have fun with it.

Post List Discussion

• My Art Journey growing up
• Doing Art as for projects
• Doing Art as a Hobby
• How to enjoy something that is used for both

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My Art Journey growing up

My favorite thing to do is to play video games, and my second is to draw and make artwork. I started my art journey when I was ten years old and still enjoy doing it. What I liked to draw the most was video game and anime characters and as I got older, realistic and backgrounds. In my teenage years I became more open to draw anything, thanks to my art class in high school. We were given a sheet that a had a long list of things to draw in a sketchbook and we could choose anything from it. Half of the list had to be done by the end of the year because it was a big part of our grade.

Going into college, I stepped back a little from art and focused on video game design and development because I wanted to become a game designer. This is also the time I started taking art more seriously, from realizing how much I need to improve. The moment came to me from taking a concept artist role for our game team in class.

I received negative feedback about my work, and started to look at what the students in the art program were doing. I never done digital art before and was suggested to take a basic drawing class. From this, I started to practice and learn how to draw from scratch again on my own.

The art classes I took pushed me, and I learned about animation, character design, and experiencing what taking an art job can be like. Since then, I am more passionate about art and want to learn as much as I can because didn’t go to an art school or took all of the animation classes there.

These are design concepts for a weapon and redesign of a character.

Doing Art for Projects

Having fun is still a part of creating artwork, however it does feel like work sometimes. The obvious is practicing getting better, but the other side is creating work that will be used for someone or a project. I wanted to make video games for a really long time, and I like to draw. So thirteen-year-old me decided to design a game and create everything. I designed and drew ideas for characters, locations, collectables, abilities, and more. Years later I realized this is a lot of stuff.

It is good I was drawing, but it hurt me as an artist because I didn’t practice enough. I believe I did become better from the video game work, but not as much as I should. It was interesting learning new things, from doing the art for my game. Now I try to draw for my game ideas, and also practice separately to get better.

Art ideas and practicing in my sketchbook.

Doing Art as a Hobby

Making the art for my game feels great, but what is more exciting is doing art because of choice. Working on art for a project (like a game) is a requirement. I have assignments that needs to get done and that makes it feel like a chore. Making artwork that is focused on anything, and doing it anytime makes it a hobby to me. For example, I can draw my favorite characters in Super Smash Brothers or do a pencil sketch of a flower. The art has no purpose at all, except to help me practice and enjoy the process.

Now that I am older, I need to create concepts all of the time and it’s difficult to draw for the sake of it. Because of this, I miss art as a leisure activity and not worrying about making mistakes. I came up with the idea to have a sketchbook, to freely do anything that comes to me. I am currently using this to help me try new things and to practice in areas where I lack. I can make errors because it’s for a learning experience, and no one else will see my work.

It does slow everything else down, but I am having a really great time with this sketchbook. I learn so much about art in the last three years. I highly recommend for artist to have a sketchbook for trying new ideas and draw whatever that comes to you. If you can’t think of anything, look for an art challenge from YouTube and Tiktok to try, they are fun and gets you out of your comfort zone.

How to enjoy something that is used for both

I am still finding the answer to this question, and that is to make time. It’s a weak answer, but for now that’s all I can say. If something you enjoy doing has become a job, or important duty, then try to have the time to make it enjoyable again. For artist the sketchbook idea is good, but there could be ways for other topics like sports, cooking, and video games.

YouTubers are a big example, because sometimes I hear them say “I remember doing this thing because I like it, now it’s really for YouTube content”. I can understand this because I have a gaming and projects channel that I have to play a game for videos, but I also try to play not recording.

A good way to look at this, is at least it’s something you enjoy. I think doing work for what was entertaining is better than doing something that is just a job (until it to gets stressful). My advice, try to make it exciting again and don’t forget the passion and why you liked it in the first place. Having goals and finding things that motivates you is a good way to keep you doing the work. For the kids out there, who want to have a career in art, enjoy the journey drawing and make sure to practice. Learn as much as you can before its time for you to begin that career, either working for someone or start your own business.

Thanks for reading my rant on something that is going on with me personally. These blog posts will be written different because its just me discussing on a personal subject. Don’t expect to learn anything, but if you have, its wonderful you did. If you are an artist, have you ever had this going on with you, and what advice would you give about this subject?

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