How can I get my motivation back after losing my art?

Didn’t you send me a copies of your story and art work?

Oh no Mimi… That is terrible.
(((Hugs)))

Take a rest for a short while.
I guarantee you will eventually recover. Your new style will incorporate everything you learned from your old work – and will be even better!

I’m so sorry @Mimishu1995. That has to be devastating.
First, let me say I’m pretty much a computer and phone illiterate, but is there any way your work is saved up in the cloud? Maybe someone that has great phone skills can help.

@Brian1946 I just sent you the story on Drive. I didn’t send you the artwork.

@LuckyGuy thank you so much. ((((Hug back)))

I hope you are right and I will recover soon. But right now I’m feeling really horrible.

@chyna the app I used for drawing saved its files inside itself. The only way to cloud store them was to manually send the files to a cloud service. I saved some of them in the part, but I didn’t extract the recent files out, so I lost them all when the app was deleted.

I still have the PNG files of those drawings saving on various places, but the app files are lost, meaning I can no longer do any edit in the drawings. So if there is anything I want to change I won’t have the ability to.

Argh! I’m really sorry to hear that!

Losing my creative work is one of my least favorite things, and one of my least favorite risks of creating things electronically!

I have found though that with creative work, after I’ve done grieving it, I am often able to recreate it later. After the pain of losing it has reduced, I can often create another version as good as the first, and building on my experience of having done it before. (I also use the pain of loss as inspiration for keeping copies of my electronic work in multiple places.)

So sorry @Mimi.

I’m so sorry that happened! How awful! Hugs!

Well if detectives can get cell phone information well after it was erased , from the cellphone companies, I am sure that they have your originals stored somewhere too.
Check with cellphone company and or authorities if needed.
All cellphone records are kept by cellphone companies etc

Found this site link below on data recovery:

loudwards.net/how-to-recover-data-from-a-broken-phone/#:~:text=Most%20data%20recovery%20software%20will,should%20use%20“data%20recovery.”&text=Connect%20your%20Android%20phone%20or,recover%20iOS%20or%20Android%20data.

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/forensic-analysts-get-deleted-data-phone/

Setbacks like that can be very discouraging. Maybe try working on another project for a bit until you get you mojo back. It’s spring. Get outside and do some sketching.

The stupid jerk who stole every single thing I owned, got all my work. Four completed novels, a few short stories, synopsis for several other projects. On top of that, my medical things, like the testing kit for my blood sugar, my inhalers, mobility scooter. Losing stuff that is a part of you is super painful.
Right now, I am working on rewriting one of the shorts, but it is not going well. It is going to be too short the way progress is so far. Obviously I have forgotten much of what I wrote the first time around.
I hate that man so much, I have filled the air with bad juju across four states.
Because he stole the devices they were stored on, I have only one means of writing now, paper and pen.
I’m saying all this to show I understand completely.

The best thing you can do is understand it might never be recovered, but try anyway, and in the meantime, start something new. You might touch on something which can get you enthusiastic enough to ease the pain. Even a little bit of happiness is better than none.

I heard a story about an art class (I think at UC Berkley) where the students burned their work at the end in a big bonfire. The idea was that the art is in the doing. Treat those works as practice for the real versions. I suspect your next attempts at them will be even better than the ones you lost. It sucks losing stuff, but try to see it as an opportunity to do even better.

@KNOWITALL @Hawaii_Jake thank you for all the hug and support ((hug))

@gorillapaws I didn’t think of it in this angle! Yes, I still have the skills from working with my art. I hope that when I have calmed down, I will be able to apply this thinking and go on to make art again.

@Patty_Melt Oh man, I almost forgot you got your work stolen :( Well, at least you are not alone now. I’m still trying to find something to ease the pain a bit. But reading this thread is making me less depressed for now :)

@all I have been doing things and talking to people for a while. I’m feeling a bit better than the time I posted the question. The sadness still come up all of a sudden from time to time, but it is getting more manageable. I still don’t feel like drawing yet, but I hope I will soon…

I know what you mean about the sadness coming up suddenly. I have been experiencing that too. Some of the moments are worse instead of less. I hadn’t shed tears, even three weeks after, but then two days ago the thought was there suddenly again, and all the sudden I started crying.
I think I had hope for awhile of getting at least something back, but now the futility is more obvious.
I think all we can do is start over, and feelings will just do what they want.
We can’t do much about controlling feelings, but we have plenty of control over whether we let those feelings ruin us. We can put our focus on going forward, or we can collapse.
I vow to push forward the best I can. I know you well enough to feel confident in your strength. It feels like running from a shark. You push until you are exhausted. You get to the shallow, and running is more exhausting than the swim.
Unfortunately, you and I hit an undertow, and have to do the same escape all over without a rest.
Just keep swimmin’ that’s a Dory reference from Finding Nemo.