How Artists Deal With Illness

Ill will Poor physical or mental health can affect people in a number of ways. But how do artists maintain their creativity under adverse conditions

- Tom May

There’s no sugar-coating it: illness sucks, and can dramatically affect your ability to create art. But it doesn’t always make it impossible.

Devin Kurtz, aka TamberElla, works as an illustrator and background painter at animation production studio Rough Draft in California, despite suffering from a chronic illness called CVS (cyclic vomiting syndrome) since she was six. “Luckily, I’ve improved a lot over the past five years,” she says. “I hit a low point around 17, and have since prioritised sleep, healthy food and listening to my body. I have good medication, a good specialist and know when I need to get to hospital, so some of the fear element is gone.”

Making art remains tough, though. “My condition tends to express itself when I’m under a lot of stress, so allnighters and pushing myself beyond my limits are out of bounds. To get any personal work done outside of my job, I have to really prioritise the time I feel ‘well’, and use it in a productive way.”

It also influences the kind of art she produces. “I think it’s helped me avoid some of the traps people fall into: of feeling they should be creating a certain type of art, rather than what they want to do,” she says. “I make art that makes me happy, full stop.”

And her advice to others suffering illness is simple: “Remember that your value as an artist is in no way connected to your productivity. We’re surrounded by influences telling us to ‘put in 110 per cent’, push our limits and encouraging other damaging habits. But remember, you’re taking care of your body not just for the ‘you’ of today, but for the ‘you’ of the future. So take care of yourself first and foremost, and ignore voices telling you you’re being ‘lazy’. You’re being, in fact, incredibly brave.”