Art block!

So I've kind of been going through a little period of burnout/artist block and thought maybe I could resurrect my blog as another outlet, while I figure this shit out. This happens to me every once in awhile and I used to get freaked out about it, until I realized instead of hitting a wall, I was running into the side of a step. Hopefully, when you're an artist what you do or have done in the past isn't enough anymore and you have this need to push yourself to do better and grow. But if the answer about how exactly to do that isn't entirely clear, it can be very frustrating. So I'll either go play video games, take a walk, watch movies, or just push myself to create anything no matter how bad it is. Honestly, I still haven't figured out which of those is the right answer, or more simply whether it's just a matter of taking a break or better to work through it. I do always manage to get through it, but it's scary as hell when it happens. I find myself falling into this cycle of thinking I'm washed up, I've lost my "powers", freaking out thinking my work will eventually dry up, and people will forget about me, etc. But then I'll get an e-mail about a job or from a fan, maybe I'll see a movie or play a video game that inspires me and then I'll get out of my funk. So that's where I'm at right now - right in the thick of one of those funks. I did however do this sketch cover the other day. For a couple months I've had a stack of blank sketch covers chilling in the corner that I have slowly amassed over the past year and have been meaning to knock out. Normally I do them with Prismacolor markers and even though I was getting pretty good at layering different colors to create new ones, you are pretty much limited by what you have/ are willing to spend money on. Some colors I would have to (ugh) go to Hobby Lobby to get them because I couldn't find them at my mainstay, United Art and Education but they jack up their prices on art supplies, because they're dicks. But it dawned on me that I should just say screw it and try actually PAINTING a cover - I could mix pretty much all the colors I needed and also could do some looser style pieces. The only downside I saw is not knowing how the covers would react to wet paint being applied to them i.e. would they get super wrinkled and buckle? But I was sick of seeing the stack and just kind of jumped in. I'm happy to say besides a little bit of warping that will probably go away in time the paint didn't really affect the cover at all. Best of all, by painting it, things went a lot more quickly AND in my opinion, the final product looks more energetic and stands out more than one of my Prismacolor ones. It'll be interesting to see how doing things this way translates to a Star Wars sketch cover.