Deviation Actions
Hokage Report,
"Everything fast now was once in a halt."
What's up guys? Whew, I feel a lot better now, thanks to everyone who gave me those positive reinforcements. Lately, I've been spending more and more time sleeping. I can't remember when was the turning point, but I get really drowsy around 1am, to the point that I can't fight the sleepiness, I submit to my body's demand to rest. Maybe it has something to do with my recent activities, mainly at work. Ber-months are the most hectic, busiest time of the year for people working in advertising and marketing. It is a peek season where people are willing to spend, thus it is imperative to take actions in order to increase sales, and it is our job to do so. We've been working with a lot of print designs for the holidays that it's just so draining, sometimes I arrive at our house and go straight to bed and take a short nap just to ease my headache. There's even this one day when I woke up not remembering how I ended up in bed, I can't recall what happened last night and how I manage to wake up earlier than my alarm clock….Me and my siblings watches anime at prime time and I find Arpeggio of Blue Steel's premise very familiar, it makes me smile. Why? The story has some similarities with my hokage3.deviantart.com/art/Isl…, and to think I outdated its original manga hehe. So far, things have been relaxed and slow that it affects my productivity. I kept a 3-4 hour sleep routine every day and got used to it, but now I can't even stay up very late at night. So I wondered how an artist should feel when he is being deprived of his time to create. Are circumstances like long breaks affect his productivity? Does resting and relaxing affect his motivation to create?
Artists are restless individuals. They are driven by their will to create, and are constantly active in order to express what's on their mind before it fades away. Unfortunately, not all of us have the luxury of time to spend in art. Most of us are occupied by day to day activities outside our working desk. Dealing with mundane tasks drain us to the point of exhaustion that we end up not having enough energy to burn for our beloved hobby. Although humans can think better at night due to little distractions, thinking and performing while tired is a hard process. We stay up all night to give time for our art, and it is proof of our dedication and discipline to see things through. One thing is for certain though, we allot time for art because it is important to us. We feel really bad when we are deprived of our chance to create, feel the strokes and conceptualizing, like taking away a glass of water from a thirsty person, or a chain smoker having a withdrawal syndrome, artists crave for art the moment he is separated from it. Yes, although for some, creating things is a monumental task, artists on the other hand are eager to get busy, because of the reward they receive from finishing an artwork. When you finish an artwork, you have that feeling as if you are looking at the mirror, where you see a piece of yourself staring back at you, which is why not having to experience it for a longer period of time makes us uneasy.
Budgeting time is no simple tasks; there are a lot of things to do in one day. For an artist, the more he invests time on art, the more he feels fulfilled. Creativity is best maintained through practice. When a person shuts his creativity down for a long time, it may affect its quality and even its frequency. We don't always get that Eureka moment where you suddenly say to yourself "Man I'm a genius!", but artists regularly exposes himself to ideas that fuels his creativity, whatever that inspirational stimulation may be. With the help of constant thinking and imagination, it aids artists with conceptualizing which improves productivity. On the other hand, lesser time for creative thinking and being occupied by no-brainer tasks can affect that spark of imagination, a threat common to artists. Longer breaks diminish unpracticed creativity, causing it to deteriorate and leaves the artists to think inside the box, or literal in most cases. Worst case scenario is that we get so used to not making artworks, that we drop it all together in exchange for things easier, like playing games or having a movie marathon. Creating artworks sure is stressful, and you don't always want to be subjected to constant stress, so you look for distractions that will take your focus away from making an artwork, forcing a temporary retreat. When that happens, you are starting to fear making artworks, even find it a hassle...which is a bad end for an artist.
It's not bad to take a break from time to time. Life demands us to perform and function for the benefit of the society we live in, but don't forget that we should draw the line between what we give to our society, and what we should keep for ourselves, because it'd be sad to make other people satisfied by our efforts when what is left for us is a hollow feeling of regret that we haven't done the things that will truly make us happy.
It's been a while since I wrote a journal; I think I'll be going back to work. I had enough sleep to power me for a sleepless night…until then, this is Hokage…
