So I have achieved mild success as a freelance artist. I'm completely self employed basically. No other source of income, and I make enough to put aside a little bit every month.
However for some reason I have insane trouble motivating myself to actually do the work people pay me money for. I bum around still in the neet mindset, do fuck-all every day and just order pizzas and spend my money on stupid shit. I could probably make twice what I make now if I buckled down and had a professional approach on things. Say I tried to consistantly work atleast 8 hours every weekday. Would probably pull in 3-4k a month. Instead I'm satisfied making just a little bit more than I need, lol.
What is going on here? I thought this was my passion. I thought once I start getting paid I would be drawing 18 hours a day every day? Does the amount of work, sweat and tears it takes to 'make it' kill the passion? Does it just take so long that you develop as a person and by the end art is just not that interesting anymore?
Anyone else experienced this?
Think about the environment you're living in. It plays a huge part.
Motivation is a bitch isn't it? One of the joys of going freelance. Sounds like you don't have the healthiest diet and you probably are out of shape too. I'm not freelance myself so I don't have to struggle with self-discipline that much but after I started working out I've noticed I have more energy for my own projects. Taking care of yourself is essential.
Just get your shit together. And do it.
On another note, share how you started and how you got exposure please.
>>2470399
You think so? How? If it was a shithole maybe I'd be motivated to get out. But it's a nice cozy 1 bedroom apartment with everything I need in a nice city. I live infront of my pc anyway, playing vidya and nerding out. I fucking love the hermit life.
>>2470424
Good point. I do eat like shit. But I'm in good shape still. Used to be heavy into lifting and /fit/ a while ago. Then while trying to get good and build a freelance career I stopped lifting because the gym membership was costing me too much. This is definitely something I need to get back into, I agree. Could change everything for the better.
>>2470439
I just got reasonably good, built a large enough body of work to put on a website and started replying to job posts everywhere. I have extremely little exposure and no following whatsoever anywhere. My work is not very appealing to non-client audiences I think. Which sucks. Having a following opens so many doors and possibilities but it's maybe nice to know that you can make money without it. I'm just not at all into fanart or appealing to the masses.
>>2470443
Thank you for the answer mate.
On the diet part. It does play a huge role. You need to move around and eat healthy food beacause or lifestyles revolve around sitting behind a computer for days. Nootropics are also pretty neat. Noopept and piracetam get me going real nicely in the morning. Take care
Maybe you've just build up bad neet habits. You just need to force yourself to adopt a new working habit, so designate a certain amount of your day to working. Eventually it becomes automatic.
You might also want to set up a reward system e.g. not gonna eat dinner before i finish this, or something like that
This is actually incredibly common and why most artists work in studios. A lot of people can't work alone, at home, freelancing, because they never get anything done. Out of every professional artist I've ever met, maybe only two are actually good at the freelancing thing. The rest of them can't do it and must return to a studio.
You can try to discipline yourself until you get it right, which would probably include rehauling a portion of your house into a zone, away from all the fun stuff, so you can focus, but you might also just be the type who might be better in a studio, OP. Most professional artists are this way OP, freelancing just doesn't work for some people.
is this swagtron by any chance?
Rent office space with other freelancers
>>2470391
>Say I tried to consistantly work atleast 8 hours every weekday.
That's a great idea. You would earn much more for sure, and you could use that money to, huh, take a vacation. Yeah that sounds good. You could also buy the vidya and music you pirate now. And you would be able to buy a great car and house, though you can't actually afford them in the long run and that could put you into debt but who cares, you're probably American, you guys eat debt with your burgers for breakfast.
See these guys? >>2470466 >>2470470
>force yourself to adopt a new working habit
>not gonna eat dinner
>away from all the fun stuff
They get it. They understand that work is the most important thing in life. More important than having fun and even eating dinner sometimes. They'll be successful and "good at freelancing". You on the other hand will not and people will pity you because you are the unfortunate guy without the work ethic, though they'll also say it's your fault for being lazy. They on the other hand, who work all day are the happy and lucky and intelligent ones. Right?
>>2470391
You don't need motivation, you need discipline.
First you need a schedule.
Then hit the gym or do any sport, i currently go to the gym and swimming.
You also need to eat properly.
Remember that the fool will spend his money on worthless things. The wise will spend his money to better himself.
Ah and if you play videogames, drop that shit right now. For someone with your mindset it's extremely harmful.
maybe you are not doing the type of work you'd like to be doing. i think that happens a lot too. you realize the stuff that makes money is a bit different from what you most enjoy and suddenly it feels like work and not much else.
>>2470641
This, but don't drop vidya completely. If you really need to unwind playing an hour or so without regrets or guilt can help revive your imagination.
Also, start personal projects.
Guys above are right. Issue isn't in art not being your passion, but you simply have no schedule, no developed process and can't freelance.
Develop a process. Have a timer, work and have breaks according to it.
Don't work in your bedroom. Best if you'd have separate room you can lock and which would be only for doing your job.
You need fix your life and balance leisure with work like any other people. And also interact with other people/have something besides your work.
Do it, live normal life. In any other case, you will see art/your job as why you fail, while it isn't the case.
>>2470682
>Develop a process. Have a timer, work and have breaks according to it.
does anyone actually do this? seriously
>>2470686
Not that guy, but I do. I set my computer up to blast me with alarms every hour. It works pretty good, up until the part I became addicted to working and now ignore the "take a break!" alarms.
>>2470674
Yeah but i think is better to drop most of media when you're in a weak state of mind. At the very least for six months or more.
>>2470713
What the fuck are you talking about you nigger hermit. Drop your life
>>2470713
Not really, if it's not a gradual change you probably just burn out and crash
>>2470631
(you)
How does one develop a process? I haven't even had a regular sleeping pattern in almost a decade. Renting office space would probably be the adult thing to do, but I don't feel ready for that. Why though... it's like refusing to grow up. Discipline is something I seemed to have an endless amount of when it came to studying and improving. But that was self-directed, I wasn't coordinating stuff with anyone per email and having to follow instructions. I think that's something that takes away a lot of the joy for me. The people that are truly free to create what they want and have a following supporting them (running a successful patreon for instance) are the ones that really made it. Fuck, how I envy that.
Quitting vidya is something I did a long time ago and it definitely freed up so much time. Now I'm overindulging again to cope with the momentary depression of realizing that what I thought was a dream life is actually kind of mundane and lonely. And getting 'really really good' feels utterly unachievable. So much so that it's not worth pursuing if one can live a stress free life instead. How awful to give up on your dreams like that lmao. God. No spark left in me.
>>2470474
No. But if it was I bet he'd deny it just to keep a low profile.
>>2470391
so you basically learned to draw anime in an ok-ish way with actually good brushes, and now you are getting paid for it by idiots? And you're complaint is that you are lacking motivation
I wonder why
>>2470391
With freelance artists, can you do this whole thing under a pen name/alias or do you have to use your real name?
>>2470771
>how does one develop a process?
>I haven't even had a regular sleeping pattern in almost a decade
Maybe getting regular sleeping pattern would be a first step.
>No spark left in me.
Memeing hard I see.
>>2470391
Don't burn out and overwork yourself, sometimes you need to schedule time just for your own stuff, so you can just have fun with it
>>2470391
Try making runs of low price commissions and see how much you can crank
Since this is motivation\discipline thread, how do I get good habits? I am now struggling to even start learning stuff seriously, but each time there is something that distracts me. Wat do?
>>2470391
thats because you turned your passion into your main source of income and thus you automatically look at as a chore instead of a recreational activity.
>>2475383
Forcing yourself. Set an hour a day or a goal of x amount of figure drawings for example as goal.
Plan it so it's every day at the same time, for example an hour before going to bed.
Force yourself to draw during that hour every day. After a while it will be a habit.
Make sure those goals are realistic, don't make it too much from the start.
For example: I will do 30 1-minute figure drawings every day at 11 PM for one week.
Change the goals and time as it gets easier.
>>2478058
I think this is actually true. I don't think I'd encourage anyone to pursue their passion as a career anymore either.
>>2470771
>keep a low profile
What's the point of that? That's not how the game works and you are only shooting yourself in the foot thinking like that.
>>2475383
I found that starting that draw every day challenge where you have to upload your picture is helping me tones.
