Why does a melancholy mood turn us into a better artist? The answer returns us to the intertwined nature of emotion and cognition. It turns out that states of sadness make us more attentive and detail oriented, more focused on the felt collage.
While studies and observations have shown a connection between depression and creativity, there is no conclusive evidence that someone suffering from depression would be "more creative." However, it's worth noting the similar traits that are associated with both mood disorders and creativity.
Individuals with depression will have less energy to put extra effort into drawing and are less likely to have detailed drawings. And the shading of eyes may represent that depressive individuals have a low willingness to communicate and tend to isolate themselves.
Some people find the sorrow art pleasurable, while others consume it to reflect on their lives and process complex emotions. Undoubtedly, a lot of artworks are relatable. We can feel less alone with our thoughts because we see that more people went through a similar experience.
Studies of artists and writers collated in Scientific American confirm that artists and writers are up to 20 times more likely to suffer from bipolar disorder (also called manic depressive illness) and 10 times more likely to suffer from depression.
Artists are often isolated, because they don't know any other artists. For some of us, the only chance we have to socialise with others who do things that are similar to us is the internet. And even there, you have to be part of a group or a “clique” sometimes to be accepted.
Drawing is tiring because it requires intense levels of focused concentration. Each drawing is a puzzle. It involves extreme hand and eye coordination, advanced spatial awareness, and the ability to see and render fine detail. The process exhausts the mind.
The short answer is yes. Drawing, painting, and other forms of creativity can be used as stress relievers for most people who try them. Studies have shown that most people who try art as a form of therapy or stress relief have experienced significant reductions in their cortisol levels when doing so.
Links between creativity and mental health have been extensively discussed and studied by psychologists and other researchers for centuries. Parallels can be drawn to connect creativity to major mental disorders including bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, anxiety disorder, OCD and ADHD.
Purpose. The Draw-A-Man Test (Goodenough, 1926) has been widely used as a measure of intellectual maturation in children, to elicit personality type and unconscious material, and as part of neuropsychologic test batteries.
Artists are both born and taught, says Nancy Locke, associate professor of art history at Penn State. "There is no question in my mind that artists are born," says Locke. Many artists arrive in the world brimming with passion and natural creativity and become artists after trying other vocations.
It turns out that depression doesn't make you creative, per se. In-fact, the opposite is more often the case: the creative person, who spends his or her time ruminating on thoughts is likely to suffer from major depression.
Many of the qualities of the introvert would seem to be perfect for artists: Thinking deeply. Happy working alone for long periods. Capable of sustained concentration.
General rule is that male is easier to draw than a female in humans. The reason is a man has a rougher skin which is a bit easier to render than a smooth skin which a woman has.
Creative burnout is the feeling that you've drained all of your creativity, and there is nothing left. If you're dreading to start work, feel tired and stressed all the time and suspect you'll never be able to create something good ever again, you might be experiencing a creative burnout.
Art builds grounding and coping skills by photographing pleasant objects. It can help tell the story of trauma by creating a graphic timeline. Through methods like these, integrating art into therapy addresses a person's whole experience. This is critical with PTSD.
Drawing is an escape from all the unnecessary things in life that get in the way of being free.”
Most notably, researchers found that loneliness rates peak among people in their 20s, and reach their lowest point among those in their 60s. Many people also experience a spike in lonely feelings around their mid-40s. These findings are as confounding as they are surprising, at least initially.
Artists fail because the lifestyle is lonely, insecure, and the hours are long. Artists also fail because they're dreamers and think that good art sells itself. Artists fail because they don't know how to market their work and run a small business.