Heya so this is a long ask but is it normal to lose creativity for long periods of time? I attempted to get into art for years and ended up with a bad teacher that drove me away from art as a whole for a while. But I still had ideas for projects. Usually I latch onto a idea strongly and then move onto a new thing but this time it feels worse. Now I recently feel like I have no drive for any ideas and I feel like part of it might be due to a bad experience I had online a few months ago. Cheers

Hi anon! This turned out to be super long, sorry. I got carried away :^)

That is completely normal! I think people tend to glorify creativity as this constant channel in 'creatives' brains, and while that's the case for some, it's not the case for most people.

I tend to think of creativity as an emotion of sorts. Take being happy, for instance (I know 'happy' is a bad example to use because of mental illness and the general state of the world, it was just the best one I could think of). While everyone feels truly happy about something or another from time to time, very few people are happy constantly. However, there are things you can do to cultivate happiness, or any other feeling. Hanging out with someone you like, delivering a sick burn, watching your favorite tv show, etc. Creativity can be the same! There are ways to nurture it.

I think the best way to do that is to make sure that when you try to get back into art, make sure you're doing it entirely, 100%, for yourself. You mentioned a bad teacher, and while I don't know exactly what aspect of them was bad, my guess would be that they pressured you (sorry if you did mention what part about them sucked and I forgot, tumblr won't let me see the entire ask while I answer it which is somewhat of a problem). Pressure and expectations can make anything unpleasant no matter how much you enjoy it. I know that I've turned myself off of a hobby before, because I started doing it for other people too much, and not enough for myself. It took 4 years, and I'm just now dipping my toes back into it. Draw, paint, and doodle the most self indulgent things you can think of. And if you don't feel like drawing anything? Don't! Art should be something that do you because you enjoy it, not because you feel like you should.

If you can't think of anything you want to draw right off the bat but still want to draw something, I'd suggest fan art! It can take a lot of the pressure off to think of an idea, and can be really fun.

And as far as getting creativity back goes, again, nurture it. Listen to some new music, and think about how it makes you feel. Watch some speedpaints on YouTube, and try out a technique you noticed. Think of your favorite quote, and illustrate it. Even something so simple as drawing two dozen disembodied, weird facial expressions can help boost creativity.

Finally, don't be hard on yourself! Things take time and there's no way around that. People will say that you should draw and paint every day, but that's not realistic for most people. I know that I don't! It took me years to get to the point where I draw something even most days. The one thing that is universal, is creating things you don't like. But that's just part of learning, and is totally okay! The most important thing is that you enjoy what you're doing.

I hope that answered your question! I'll look back over your ask and reblog this with anything I missed initially. Good luck and happy art-ing!