Can we talk about depression? I have pretty severe depression

>>2694078
That's really hard, friend. Depression is a thing that's not usually defeated with one singular solution. Instead its something you've got to pull yourself out of, its kind of like a spiral. Tackling it on all fronts is what will make it lessen, try to develop healthy habits in everything you do. Surround yourself with good people who make you happy. Keep being positive and you can pull yourself out of it, the key is being persistant, especially because its never really gone, only managed.
Consider medication, but be cautious. Sometimes it honestly makes it worse. I've seen far too many people on depression meds without any improvement.
Keep trying anon, I'm rooting for you.

>>2694078
I imagine you with that anime face and makes me want to glomp you : 3

I just tell them I have a huge backlog, that way it makes me look busy and popular and makes thrm forgive the long lead time ( as long as you communicate with them in weekly updates)

>how to deal with depression?
>>>/adv/
>>>/google/

>>2694093
>>>/lowcontent/

>>2694078
get into therapy or at least start forcing yourself to adopt better habits.


set timelines that are bigger than you need but make yourself do the work.


the only way you crawl out of depression, (unless its seasonal/bipolar), is by developing a routine or a system that will get you into a healthier lifestyle and you adhere to that no matter how you feel.

>>2694078
First if all, don't take commissions. Second, take care of yourself.

Depression isn't an excuse not to do something you owe someone. People like to say it is, but it's not.
I have schizoaffective disorder and a pretty bad anxiety/panic disorder that used to prevent me from being able to leave the house, so believe me when I say I know what debilitating mental illness/depression feels like.
In the past i used to take months to finish commissions (longest was a year for a friend...) or end up cancelling them all together.
I am currently making most of my living off of commissions and can finish 2 or 3 a week now.

It is not an excuse. Its also not professional in the least to do.
If you can't promise to get then done efficiently and on time then do not take them until you can.
Stress of commissions being due will just make you feel worse anyway.

You need to focus on taking care of yourself.
This includes getting on meds/seeing a therapist/getting on disability; if any of these options are available in your country.

Eat healthier and EXERCISE.

You need to find ways to deal with depression, you need figure out how to be a functioning human in society in the long run, or get on some disability program if you cant.

Yes it's extremely difficult and shitty but depression is a handicap you just need to learn to work around, in order to do that you need to take care of yourself and learn coping skills.

It's hard but after over 5 years in my own personal hell Ive learned to manage my mental health, I can recognize certain toxic thought patterns and stop them, I spent a long time on meds before I was able to understand my brain well enough to deal with it on my own. Now I am able to self motivate and get shit done.

I believe in you anon, along with everyone else on this board who has similar struggles. Take care of yourself.

>>2694155
If I don't take commissions how will I get money?

>>2694208
There's no way you're living off of commissions if it takes a month to finish one.

Get a real job where you have a boss telling you what to do so it doesn't come down to having to motivate yourself, or figure out some kind of financial assistance if you really are completely handicapped.

just take payment after you finish, that way you'll have no pressure
>>2694260
how does one develop his drawing skills spending time on a 'real' job, it is more depressing than having a month for a piece

>>2694208
By sucking it up and working through depression

It's literally just a chemical imbalance

>>2694096
>spoonfeed me, because I'm lazy

File: image.png (336KB, 1920x1080px) Image search: [Google]

336KB, 1920x1080px

I had severe depression and anxiety attacks that would happen frequently. I had suicidal thoughts often and the drugs I thought would be my escape only served to numb my feelings and make the attempts at suicide easier. Funny thing is, when you get to that point it isn't about attention, it's about escape from the madness around you.

You know what helped me? Reading the New Testament twice a day. It sounds cheesy, but reading the Bible has turned me from a suicidal shut in who had lost all sense of emotional feeling, to somebody who goes out, helps others, and posts art relatively regularly compared to how I used to be afraid to post one piece.

Of course, if you don't do this I'd advise being careful about what doctors will give you. At one point my doctor gave me a pill that made me little more than a zombie who would just do what they were told. All form of thought stopped besides when people asked me something or asked me to do something... so yeah, careful with that.

>>2694288
This. Careful with those SSRIs, after 3 months on a low dose of Prozac I had a lot of trouble with visualization and imagination and that's what I'm natural at. Not to mention the weight gain and inability to cum. Pretty fucked tbqh.

Can we talk about how I can't sleep anymore

just kill me

>>2694273
How can you make money by spending so much time on a commission? At that rate you may as well not do them, you're obviously not drawing so you're not developing your drawing skills either way.
Getting a part time job would give you more money than you were probably getting doing 1 commission a month and you can spend free time on actually practicing. It's more than doable and if you don't understand how that's possible then I'm sorry.
That's what I did for 3 years before I started doing art full time. It's not art big deal like people think it is.

>>2694078
>into art
>into anime
>wants strangers to know their depressed
fits

>>2694322
Exercise. Run as hard as you can for 30 minutes a day, it really does help with sleep.

If you're not partial to therapy or medication, I suggest using art as your coping mechanism.

This is coming from someone who is severely depressed and has been hospitalized for it twice. I hate the way meds make me feel and I can't stand the idea of someone listening to my thoughts/problems just because they're paid to, so drawing and painting became my outlet. I force myself to do it even when I'm freaking out and it always calms me down.

Good luck anon, I wish you the best.

>>2694286
>i know google
>nobody else does

>>2694208
>takes a month to finish a 6 hour commish
>money
gr8 b8 m8
gtfo, attention seeking piece of crap

File: img191cre.png (1MB, 765x476px) Image search: [Google]

1MB, 765x476px

>>2694329
Art can be great for this, but it depends on your approach. I feel like a lot of the people on this board are too worried about making "presentable" drawings and as a result get frustrated when they can't get something like anatomy or perspective right.

Sometimes you gotta just, like, let go, man.

Also I feel like medicine is very important. Depression (real depression, mind you, not moody snowflake syndrome) stems from a deficiency of certain neurochemicals. I've begun to think of it more as a physical condition. It's more than just a perspective or circumstance that can be fixed with positive thinking like some people (ignorant neurotypical cattle!) would like to tell you.

If you don't like (or need) medicine, fine. But some people think it's just an "easy way out". It's not. For some it's the ONLY way out.

>>2694322
Try magnesium citrate powder in a glass of water each night, get it from ebay or amazon if you don't have a helpful high street.

>>2694078
Boohoo my depression prevents me from meeting deadlines.

Nigher i tried to kill myself twice in the past three years, nut up and shut up

>>2695139
too bad you didn't succeed

>>2695139

Why did you not go through it? Why are you not following your dreams?

>>2694155
retards like you are the worst. You assume everyone's issues are exactly the same as yours, that their life is the same as yours, and their entire situation is the same.

The "eat healthy and exercise" thing is horseshit for anyone with a brain disease. Might as well throw meditate in there as well. That shit get's tossed around like it's an actual cure and assumptions that someone doesn't already do that shit anyways.

>gee anon why don't you play football
>I'm in a wheelchair
>durrrr not an excuse. Being paralyzed is just a handicap

Your post reads like someone that's bipolar for sure. "I was super depressed but now I'm fucking amazing and can do anything! Take control of your life! Everyone is weaker than me!"

ya manic bi-tard

>>2695163
Succeeding more than you,neetboy. Keep lying about how you get commissions to strangers and pretending you don't belong in the beginner thread

File: FuckedUp.jpg (243KB, 634x781px) Image search: [Google]

243KB, 634x781px

This is what depression looks like.

Last year I started keeping track of every minute (more or less) that I drew, and setting weekly goals.

The first three months went really well. I didn't always hit my goals but I was drawing almost every day.

Then the depression started firebombing me. I've suffered from it for most of my life and it usually hits strongest in the spring and fall transitions. And for whatever reason, at the end of April I went from drawing upwards of six hours a day to barely scraping out a half hour. After a month I gave up on setting any goal more specific than just drawing, but that didn't work.

I've failed to maintain a drawing habit since then.

>>2696668
>zeros start popping up
>suddenly just goes black

>>2696671

That's when I was out of town.

>>2695180
tfw i think this way

tfw also bipolar.

Can you faggots fuck off to /adv/ or /b/? Stop posting these unrelated threads on the art board.

>>2696688
It's related to art though because it affects productivity and a professional career a lot.

>>2694078
So you're working on private commissions? They have more leeway at least if you communicate with the people. I've fucked up multiple freelance projects with well known companies because of missed deadlines due to depression, you can't just say "oh I'm depressed it will be late" for those.

As for ways to cope, I guess therapy or pills, though I've only done therapy myself.

>>2696656
He meant succeeding in killing yourself you fucking autist

>>2695180
Sure thing anon. I don't get manic episodes though. I hallucinate and get paranoid when i'm depressed or under massive stress.
I'll probably kill myself before I'm 30 or end up trapped in some kind of psychosis.

In the mean time though mental illness is a handicap, lots of people have it in some form. It's one I've learned to deal with for the most part and navigate around so I can still be productive, except on the worst days.
It's climbing out of the hole and knowing how to stay out, or at least not slide too far back in.

I think most people are capable of doing this with the right help and understanding of how your mental problems affect you.

There is no miracle cure, I mentioned exercise and eating better because physically not feeling like garbage can help your mental state, and it's basic advice next to 'get help, get meds, etc' and should go hand in hand with that kind of stuff.

Not saying it's easy or depressed people are fully capable of even getting out of bed all the time, but really none of this is easy.

I'm not really here to pick fights over this, I was too positive in my original post but I don't really have anything else to say.

>>2696668
Oh hey, I remember when you first posted a screenshot of that in a thread. I started keeping one up too after seeing that.
Sorry to see you're struggling, I had about 8 months of zeros or blanks cause of the same reasons.
I hope you start doing better soon and wish you the best anon.

File: FatBatColor.jpg (296KB, 602x613px) Image search: [Google]

296KB, 602x613px

>>2696799

It's been rough and it's really only been this last month where I've been drawing regularly but it's nothing like I was doing before.

Thanks anon.

File: 1475113255794.jpg (17KB, 640x374px) Image search: [Google]

17KB, 640x374px

Get some of these and finish that commission in a few days!

File: feeel.jpg (32KB, 297x275px) Image search: [Google]

32KB, 297x275px

At least you are able to draw well enough to do commissions.

How am I supposed to make it through the 1-2 years of daily practice with no rewards that it takes to get decent with depression? There really isn't anything I want aside from being able to draw. There is nothing distracting me. No tv or video games or friends. Yet I just can't bring myself to sit through hours of boring exercises. I just end up sleeping (despite having had enough sleep already) or just mindlessly browsing imageboards reading about topics I don't care about to pass the time until the day is over.

>>2697793
Stop doing boring exercises, start trying to draw what you want to draw. Then work on the flaws in those drawings.You can make yourself a plan of 20 books you want to go through, but you'll kill yourself before you get through 5. Draw what you want to draw, get better at what you want to draw. If you genuinely have depression, then cleaning, showering, etc. is enough of a chore as it is, you don't need to add more to your day. Get a sketchbook. When you're watching a series or a documentary or movie, doodle in the sketchbook.

>>2697793
Huh? There is no point in doing the exercises. Art books always get it wrong.

No wonder you are depressed. I would be depressed, too, if I made boring and pointless stuff for over a fucking year 4 hours every day and then ran around like an autist counting the minutes.

No, you won't improve doing that either. But you will get depressed, probably even clinically.

See >>2696864