Many artists aim to get into a state of flow because it makes creating art effortless and joyful. Your creativity is flowing freely and your ideas simply keep coming. That only happens when you enter a creative flow state. But how do you get into the flow state in art? In this post, I am sharing with you my experiences of getting into the flow as an artist and how you can remain there long-term – or forever!
How do you get into the flow state in art? This is a question that many artists keep mulling over.
After all, the ‘flow state’ is something very desirable for artists, because, when you get into a state of flow, creating art becomes an effortless and joyous activity. Time just slips by without our noticing, we are more productive and feel more fulfilled.
The flow state is not a new concept. Many ancient philosophies already knew about it, such as the ancient Greek school of Stoicism and Chinese Taoism. Modern research has confirmed that it is a real experience.
Let’s look a bit more into what the flow state is for artists.
What is the flow state in art?
You’ve surely heard artists speak about how they get so absorbed in the creative process that the hours feel like minutes and that they even forget to eat.
That happens when you enter a creative flow state.
When you are in a state of flow, you are “being so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost.”
This is how psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi first defined the flow state in the 1970s.
However, one thing is very important to keep in mind: you can only get into a state of flow if you possess the right level of skill to perform the task at hand. In other words, the perceived challenge of the task must be neither too difficult nor too easy with regard to your individual skillset.
If you try to create a piece of art that exceeds your current level of skill, the experience becomes frustrating. On the other hand, if you create something super-simple that doesn’t challenge you at all, you won’t feel satisfied either.
Only if there is a good balance between skill and challenge will you be able to get fully absorbed in the activity. In fact, there’s scientific evidence that the flow state promotes positive thoughts and emotions. That’s perhaps also the reason why art has proven benefits on our mental health.
All in all, you can think of the flow state in art as an intrinsically rewarding experience that makes you blissfully happy and joyful.
If you feel that being an artist is your calling and you decide to pursue your passion, you can practically spend your whole life in a state of flow.
The old saying,
“Find a job that you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.”
is more true than ever when it comes to the life of an artist. Why? Because when you enter a creative flow state, you become unstoppable in your art!
When you tap into your creative potential, you don’t care about what others think about your art, you are not scared to make the art you love, dealing with rejection becomes much easier, and making money with your art is not your priority anymore. You are just doing what makes you happy. ☺︎
I had lots of fun making ‘Teatime‘. Creating the long, flowing gown and the robe from one stock photo of a dress wasn’t that easy. But I really enjoyed the process and I am absolutely happy with the end result. If you want to learn more about my creative process, then have a look at the Making of ‘Teatime’.
How you get into the flow state in art – and stay there!
For me, flow is something really wonderful to tap into and aim for. When you get into the flow state in art, creating feels just effortless. You have an abundance of ideas that you want to execute. Plus, you feel very stable and energized internally. Generally speaking, you just feel at the top of your game.
…and who would not want to feel like that? You see, that’s why it is so important to be in the flow state for artists.
I believe we all deserve to be in a state of flow. It makes life so much easier. You don’t want to be constantly forcing yourself against every aspect of your life, feeling exhausted and tired.
One obstacle to getting into the flow state in art may be the beliefs you hold in your mind. If you believe that you have to be working beyond your capacity to achieve success, then this mindset is definitely hindering you to get into a state of flow.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be working hard. But I am saying that if you feel everything has to be super-difficult in order for it to be worth it, then you’ll need to work on your mindset first. Because a struggle mindset towards work and success will not help you enter a creative flow state.
So, before I can give you any other tips on how you get into the flow state in art, it’s starts here with your beliefs.
Because, if for you, happiness and success has to be coupled with extreme difficulty and exhaustion, then that’s what is going to show up for you. So first off, you’ll have to unlearn some of the things you’ve heard about being an artist. For example, things like:
- “You cannot make money as an artist.”
- “Art is just a hobby. You need a real job that pays the bills.”
- “Real artists are prodigies. If no one has discovered you yet, you will never make it as an artist.”
I’m sure you’ve heard quite a few of those myths about artists, and maybe you are still believing some of them in the back of your head.
Then it is time to clean them out! Because, first of all, they are not true. And second of all, they are just hampering your artistic growth.
So, first you’ll need to change those limiting beliefs. When you adopt an abundant mindset, believing that things just work out for you, you don’t need to act on the energy of scarcity anymore. When you believe that there’s enough for everyone, you’ll be more confident of being able to make a living as an artist.
When you believe that there’s enough for everyone, you won’t be jealous of other artists anymore because you know that there are enough splendid ideas for you to execute. You are not scared to make art anymore because you understand that there will be enough people to like what you do.
Stay positive with daily affirmations!
You will also understand that there’s an abundance of ways to become a successful artist. Because part of having a scarcity mindset is assuming that there’s only one way to get there.
There are many successful artists out there, but they all have different stories of how they got to where they are. You never know what opportunity is going to come knocking on your door. Your job is to get into a state of flow and trust in God or the universe – or whatever you want to call it.
‘Lemon‘ is one of the first pieces that I created at the very beginning of my artistic career in 2010. I still remember how I enjoyed experimenting with photography, color and the little water drops in Photoshop. Now, more than a decade later, creating lip art is still one of my favorite things to do!
Once you’ve created the notion in your head that things can be easy for you and you can enter a state of flow – you deserve to be in a state of flow – you can actually work on getting into the flow state in art.
A good starting point is to figure out what feels forced to you. I use the word forced to refer to anything that doesn’t feel natural or that feels disconnected from you. Anything that is exhausting. That is taking energy from you.
If you take the time to be honest with yourself, your intuition will tell you what feels natural and what feels forced in your current life. However, if you let denial and your ego get in the way, you might convince yourself that everything is fine. That it’s just perfect.
It’s ok to understand that there are certain areas of your life that need work and that maybe you could be in a different place with. It’s going to take some time for you to feel like you are actually ready to take actionable steps to achieving flow. But the first thing you have to accept with that is that this area needs work.
For a lot of us, the area that needs the most work is our current work – or day job. When I worked in the corporate industry, it felt very forced. But my logical brain told me that this is the way to go. Look around. Everybody is working 9 to 5 jobs. That’s just what people do. And if you are not happy with it, it must be your fault. There is something wrong with you. It’s not today’s conditioned society. It’s you.
We have all seen our parents go that route. We are seeing our neighbors and friends go that route. You just get a corporate job that pays the bills. But it is important to realize that it is ok if that’s not for you.
You have to stop thinking so logically. That might be hard at the beginning, but it’s important that to start to feel more than you think.
Working a corporate job never felt right for me. I never felt fulfilled and happy. Nor was I able to use my creativity. It seemed at the time like the world was against me. I had been studying for four years – happily, I got my degree, and now I was sitting in a crusty-dusty office all day long, without doing anything that felt rewarding or fulfilling in the least…
But what was I actually doing? I was forcing myself to be in that space. It felt like things were just never in flow when it came to me working in a corporate space. Eventually, I had to hit rock bottom to realize that this isn’t right for me and I really can’t see myself here for the rest of my life.
Then I asked myself what I actually could see myself doing for the rest of my life.
And that is actually a very good question to ask yourself in order to find out what brings you true joy and happiness – and eventually lets you remain in a state of flow. What can you see yourself doing for the rest of your life?
I started thinking about the last time I genuinely felt joy working on something. And I noticed, it is when I am creating art. Finally, I accepted that I was made to be in the creative space. That was a huge step in entering the path that I needed to be on. And to get to the path of flow.
Once I took the baby steps to starting my own digital art business, I got closer to being in that state of flow. It didn’t happen overnight. But eventually, I was able to take the full jump and start creating art full time.
And when I did, it was like the ideas were bursting out of me. I was just so excited every morning when I woke up to create something. Be it some artwork or some content for my art blog. I truly breathed it.
If I could wish anything for any of you, I genuinely hope that you find something that makes you feel alive. Because I can truly see myself doing that forever. Because I just love doing it.
So what helped me get into the flow state in art is really just having fun and enjoying myself. Then you get immersed in that state of flow. And it’s so cool.
The scary thing that I sometimes think about is that if I had listened to my logical brain when I was working a corporate job, I would have never made it as an artist. Oh, Angie, you have to pay your bills. You can’t be self-employed. That’s too risky. If I had listened to these thoughts of how unstable I would be as a ‘starving artist’, I would never be here talking to you today.
Your logical brain is heavily fueled by your ego. Your ego, at the end of the day, wants to protect you. And how does it do that? It triggers fears, always painting a picture of the worst-case scenario. In fact, the thought of being the starving artist is one of the worst artist fears that a lot of creatives struggle with.
But sometimes you have to shut your ego up and realize that you are so much more powerful than those fearful thoughts that your ego tries to bestow onto you all the time.
We all come from different circumstances and backgrounds that have conditioned us to feel like things come the way they do. Maybe you come from a background of a creative family where making art was a big part of your childhood life. Then it is much easier for you to take the plunge and become an artist now that you are grown up.
But maybe you come from a background where things always just felt hard and difficult. Maybe you learned from your parents that making a living must be really exhausting and nerve-wracking. But now that you are older, you can take a moment to reflect on those things you have learned growing up. And to realize that you have the power to change them. It just takes a little bit of work…
But as hard as it may be, I know for sure that you can get into the flow state in art, too – especially if I can get there.
Am I constantly in a state of flow? Absolutely not. There is turbulence here and there where I get thrown out of track. But being able to get into the flow state in art is honestly one of my favorite things to do.
I myself have anxious thoughts, too, from time to time. You always know when you’ve entered a creative flow state because this is when your ideas would just be popping left and right.
You feel so inspired and have so many cool things you want to create that you don’t even have enough time to do them. But you’ll be a lot more relaxed internally, opportunities would just be coming your way and you’re not even going to understand why…
For me, the thing that helped me the most in my creative endeavor was starting an art blog. It wasn’t Instagram, it wasn’t DeviantArt, it wasn’t Facebook… No. For me, building my own artist website was really cutting it.
Nowadays, finding success as an artist through social media or art sharing sites is becoming more and more difficult because of the sheer amount of pictures that are being posted on a daily basis. But with your own little space on the web, you have so many more possibilities. In other words, an art blog is your ticket to kickstart your artistic career!
Because if you want to get into a state of flow and stay there for a very long time – or forever, you will need to find a way to make money with it, right?
Starting a blog opens up so many opportunities that you cannot even think of before you haven’t tried. To just give you a few examples, here’s what you can do with an art blog: first of all, you can attract organic search engine traffic, meaning people who are genuinely interested in your art and who are actively searching for the type of art and content you create.
Moreover, you can speak about your art as much as you wish (not only within 200 characters), send newsletters to your subscribers, build partnerships with brands, do affiliate marketing, sell your art, and much much more.
Starting a blog isn’t as hard as you may think. And if you are doing it right, you can get it ranked in search engines real quick.
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I hope that this post helped you learn more about the creative flow state. Feel free to share your personal views and experiences in the comments. I’d love to hear from you! Make sure to sign up for my email list below so you don’t miss out on new blog posts and other cool stuff. ♥
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WOOOOW. What a great article, Angie. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and being so real and honest about everything.
Thank you so much, Rayana! I’m always glad when I can inspire other artists by sharing my experiences (: