ARTIST’S VIEW
…come out of
this quarantine
as an
übermensch
- Ūla Šveikauskaitė, illustrator
“When this whole madness started I tried to covince myself that I need to put my worries aside, work hard so I can come out of this quarantine as an übermensch. So I signed for a couple collaborations, took some commissions even if they were for free (because there will be dark times for illustrators and my work needs to be seen), decided that I will learn typography, animation, will work out everyday, learn german properly, write a diary, read that 800 page book that I didn’t had time to and so on. I ended up being nervous not only because of the pandemic situation but also because I wasn’t able to fulfill those huge expectations towards myself. This big pressure combined with the constant social media check resulted in a creative paralysis. Luckily after I saw how draining it is I decided to give my inner critic a break. Drawing everyday keeps me busy, less anxious and focused on something else than the virus but I try to maintain an attitude that even a little bit of work done daily is a small victory.
Quarantine is not an artistic residency where you do a lot in productive surroundings with little distractions. It’s a scary global pandemic, everyone is at least a bit out of balance and all these worries fed with hysterical media can easily kill the creative vibe. Why to add a pressure that you are not doing enough on top of that? The importance of doing nothing is so underestimated. We’re not human beings, we’re human doers. But did you notice that the best ideas come appear when you are taking a shower or going for a walk? Tense mind can’t come up with unique solutions, keeping it busy all the time is counterproductive.
On the other hand it’s good to keep in mind that it’s not a holiday and the life goes on. Having a routine, goals and discipline might be a challenge hard to achieve, but it can be very calming and give a sense of control. It’s just that self blame was never a good motivation for me. Curiosity and aspiration to create quality content works way better. So currently I try to balance between being busy illustrating, writing emails, updating my website and taking walks, dancing in front of the mirror and simply doing nothing.
”