Maintaining Motivation

Today I thought it would be an interesting discussion to write up about one of the most important skills in life. Motivation is one of the most valuable tools in an artists, or anyone’s, toolbox, and yet, so few people seem to truly have the drive to work at it.

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I know what you are thinking, the hand raising in the back of the classroom “uh, Patch…motivation is a noun describing a reason to do things, not a skill which normally is described in verbs, such as drawing.” On this, I choose to strongly disagree. Acquiring motivation doesn't happen overnight, it doesn't come out of nowhere. I liken it to when you are drawing out in public someplace “trendy,” Starbucks or something, or people view your work, and they are like “O-M-G, you are so-o-o-o talented, I wish I could draw! Less-than-three.” Every artist hears that and they appreciate the sentiment, the compliment, the kind words, and uplifting intention, but really “talent” didn't get the person where they are. Hard work did. Countless hours of hard work, and to simplify it down to a quality that people colloquially akin to someone being born with such as “talent” is to diminish all of that effort. Motivation is very similar. You aren't just born with it and never again have another chance to roll the d20 and get a critical hit from your previous critical fail.

“Okay Fine, it’s a “skill,” but if it’s a skill, how does one get better at it?”

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I am glad you asked voice in my head, thank you for not speaking a language I don’t know this time!   Well, to be someone that people refer to as “motivated,” I would say you need to develop a habitual work ethic.  If you truly are going from ground zero, due to depression, or years of laziness, then feel free to start small.  Maybe just tell yourself that every single day, before you leave your bedroom, you will draw a circle.  EVERY DAY. Something that small.  Or you could just take a deep breath and be like, “Thou shalt not wallow in bed for an hour deciding to get up on days after a really good party when I have the day off and I have plenty of stuff to do, but I want another 5 minutes of sleep, that never ends up another 5 minutes of sleep, and I know that but the covers are so warm, and just 5 more minutes, okay time to get up, just 5 more minutes.” Then realize you wasted 3 hours of your day, and did nothing you wanted to do. Start on working on these things, these little (or sometimes bigger…) pushes to get out of bed. Breaking these little lazy habits. Then grow from there. Truly kick yourself if you fall back into these negative space bad habits.

Like all skills in life that a person wants to practice, you need to objectively look at your behaviors, and decide which qualities to keep, and which to throw away. Do you have bad line quality? Then you need to restudy it, redraw it, restudy it, correct it, redraw it, practice, practice. Critically assess your mistakes. Are you unmotivated? Critically assess the areas that time is being thrown away from doing things you “want to do, but never get around to” like that book, or that drawing, that’s been on the backburner for 2 years while you tell people about it, but it’s so hard to pin point down that key plot point that’s missing while you are playing League of Legends.  Which brings up another, very quick topic.  Plan your day. Play league, great, it is fun. But plan the time around it. If you want 2 hours of League time, and you need to practice drawing, and you have a day job, how can you make that all work? I would say proper planning of your day is definitely part of developing motivation.

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“Alright, I’m convinced, but what does that have to do with art and vidya garmes…”

Seriously, if that was your thoughts, I will find you. I will FIND YOU, and I will paint yellow daisies and ice cream and unicorn farts all over your super edgey grim dark depression piece that represents the void in your soul since he walked out of your life. Being self-motivated is a HUGE part of art, and if its even possible, it’s an even bigger part of indie game design, when you have no boss staring you in the eyes every day, no “beatchu” sticks to keep you in line, and all long term glimpses of glory, but you have deadlines to hit.  It is one of the hardest mountains to climb in that kind of work environment, and its one that everyone needs to scale. So get out there and start scaling…preferably in Y.

Want to help us stay motivated? Check out our Indiegogo campaign and help us Save the NORA! Click here for the Indiegogo Page

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By Patch Johnston, Character Art Lead for NORA