Art and Fitness:
A Strong Unspoken Relationship
Generally, artists are not very physical. It's not a component of our jobs like other fields are, but I am beginning to experience that making an effort to have a good balance of both can elevate your art and work ethic. On this page, I will go over how making a strong effort to make your life more physical will improve your creative and professional mind.
Artistic Benefits
Allow me to begin by saying I'm not a professional on this subject matter, but am speaking from observations of correlations between my artistic skills and strides to lead a more physical lifestyle.
When you're an aspiring artist as I am, it can be very frustrating to see that your hands do not perform strokes as well as you would like them too. What I've found is that as soon as I began to incorporate weightlifting and push ups into my regime, my hand's motor skills significantly improved. I was quickly able to create long, confident strokes and lighter sketch linework with much more ease. When you work on your biceps and grip with weights, those muscles are made to truly awaken and it's a great help to illustration.
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As artists we need to be able to identify our strengths and weaknesses. Working out and pushing yourself is the most concrete and physical way to see where your roadblocks currently are. It does not stop at just identifying your physical limits, but you begin to gain a sharp eye on your current limitations as an artist and professional. It's activity that takes a lot of discipline that sharpens your mind and as creatives, our minds should be as sharp as they can be.
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In a more prideful sense, worrying about my physical health as a character designer is important to me. My main original character, Tatsu is very fit and is meant to be a strong role model. But how can I present her as a role model and not take inspiration from her myself? It would be hypocritical to present audiences a toned, physical, and healthy character and then be on the opposite of the spectrum. It would be a wrecking of my integrity.
A More Professional Mind
Everyone has difficult decisions to make, constantly. The more productive I get, the harder my decisions get. But ever since I made working out at the gym a nearly daily routine, I'm able to make the best decisions when I'm at a loss. Allow me to give an example.
Going into my third year at my animation academy, I had to choose two focuses. The teachers also had to be in agreement with the decisions to proceed. I had initially chosen Design and Storyboarding. My teachers comfortably endorsed my choice in storyboarding, but not in Design. They pushed me to choose 2D Animation instead, and I was very hesitant. I had the choice to either strive to prove that I'm fit for the Design course, or listen to my teacher's recommendations. I was stuck on this decision for a while until I made a visit to the gym and wrecked my muscles doing weights and wrecked my stamina with cardio and my mind was able to come to a decision. I realized that it would be selfish to remain stubborn and possibly rob myself and others of the potential I have in the field of 2D Animation. It's kinda like when you sweat when exercising, you're not only losing calories, but defogging your mind. I'd say it's also humbling to feel the strain of exercise, which leads to better decisions. So I got the endorsement in 2D Animation instead of Design, and I still believe it to be the correct decision.
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Speaking of decisions, the hardest decision to make relating to this topic isn't just to go to the gym, but to decide that this is part of your life. Forever. It requires the correct mindset, a mindset I would say that has to see the gym as not a tedious task, but as an exciting activity to improve yourself, see progress, and get the most honest feedback from your body and mind of your strengths and weaknesses. Something that makes this decision way easier is to go with friends or family with a mindset to grow and have fun. If you can make this strong decision, the gym will help you in some of your more important decisions.
"But I'm Too Busy..."
Look, I understand that time management is not easy. It's an acquired skill. However, saying you can't make time to go to the gym if you know the benefits is making excuses.
Going to the gym has certainly made me even busier, but making the commitment is worth the extra effort. Keeping up this nearly daily routine actually helps my mind be far better at scheduling. There are certain tasks I anticipate at times will take longer than they actually end up taking. Clearing my mind at the gym allows me to realize much more often that many things I'm anxious about are easier than I first thought. So if you give the extra effort to fit visits to the gym to your schedule, you'll be able to schedule and time manage all your other tasks much more efficiently.
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Conclusion
There's a general lack of physical health among animators because we focus more on our creative minds. But for the sake of our health and creative minds, I believe more animators should make strong efforts to lead more physical lifestyles. We all have problems, but I almost guarantee you your issues will become much clearer to solve if you use exercise to clear your mind and strengthen your creativity.
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