How Discomfort Can Benefit Your Creative Practice
My ideal studio space involves a comfy chair where I can recline with my iPad on my lap or a counter where I can sit or stand to work. It would have soft music, good snacks and tea, and my collection of reference books nearby. But something interesting happened when I was forced to work in the complete opposite set-up - I hit a flow zone early, took new risks, and came out the other side energized.
When I say discomfort can benefit your creative practice, I don’t really mean physical discomfort. As much as possible, we should use ergonomic workspaces, take regular stretching breaks, and be careful not to be sedentary for too long. Taking care of your body is important if you want to create art comfortably for the rest of your life.
When I say discomfort, I mean a working area that is not ideal. Is it too small, too crowded, too loud, too unpredictable? That’s the type of discomfort I’m talking about.
My Uncomfortable Studio Space
I had the pleasure of participating in an event that allowed exhibiting artists to do live drawing or painting. The event was in a small club-like space with a live DJ. This meant in order to draw live, which I very much wanted to do, I had to set up a tight, efficient area to work. I used an easel and drawing board to stand at, with a small selection of drawing tools and a box of markers on the floor. I had a clip-on light for my drawing board in case it was too dark to see my sketches. And over the course of the four-hour event, my goal was to draw as many characters as I possibly could.
Working on my wiggly easel with the first page of completed characters taped up to the pillar over me for inspiration
The result of all these atypical conditions was that I was working on a wiggly art surface using pen and markers, had little room to move or adjust my position or the paper, kept up conversation with passersby while I worked (over loud music), and worked fast.
And it was awesome.
Discomfort Equals Adaptation
This unusual setup forced me to accept a few things:
I would not be creating my best work, and it didn’t matter
There would be mistakes I could not fix, and I’d have to carry on
Quantity was more important than quality
These are great lessons for art making in general, but especially in certain situations. If you are in an art block, feeling stuck, warming up, or learning a new skill, all of these lessons can keep you creating through the discomfort.
And the results paid off! While all of the above lessons applied, I also had unexpectedly positive outcomes that I would not have encountered were it not for this particular set of circumstances:
I took more risks with shape language, so I had a theme for a character if I was feeling stuck
Colour choices were fast and unplanned, resulting in combos both good and bad
My outlining could not be perfect or precious, so instead I embraced a more loose, sketchy line that was a completely new look for my work
I proved to myself that I could keep working, even through bumps and distractions and the occasional so-so result, without giving up for four whole hours
I was squeezing characters in all over the page to really fill up each (expensive!) piece of Strathmore Marker Paper
While none of the work that came out of this event was a masterpiece, I learned more about my process and experimentation than I had in a long time. And each character I created (which wound up being twelve total) has the potential for further development, if I want. It was like a giant party for a brainstorming session. What more could I ask for?
My final drawing of the night
