I am very moody and it does affect your creativity and artistic performance. I used to get so frustrated with my work that I would walk away and go do something else, but it bothered me so much leaving the work in this state of chaos that I would come back to no avail. Eventually I figured out that I was being too hard on myself. I'm not necessarily a perfectionist but just want it to be how I envision it.

As I've gotten older I've figured out how to separate my mood from my work and/or even channel my mood to enhance my work. I used to be so impatient that I would just turn my back on my work but I've realized that I need to work through the visual problems if I'm going to get any better. Sometimes those 'mistakes' often become big steps towards something new.

The only thing I fight with myself about is motivation. Sometimes I am disinterested. Unless I am super excited about something, most of the time I am lazy and need to just make myself do it.

Give it some time with the Manga. If you haven't drawn anything in awhile it will take time to fine tune your observational skills. But I do believe your mood can control your abilities for sure. I've been trying different ways to deal with this for years.

I do more stuff when I am happy and I am happy when I do more stuff ha ha. Also a bad mood usually only effects me when I am golfing... no matter where you are on the course with me, it will be raining balls of death

I usually don't feel like trying to be creative when I am in a bad mood. But sometimes I can get something out of it. But I mostly want to get out of the bad mood so I can get back to doing something productive.

Absolutely -- sometimes the words just flow like rainwater, and other times (not often) it's like plucking nose hairs.

In my 20s I would change the medium to suit my moods. During times of depression or anger the message could switch to poetry. Photography was a good tool when being wistful or wishy-washy. Sometimes I would force myself to just at least make a mark on paper with pencil. It was amazing how just touching the paper would cause something to spring to life.

Nowadays I don't feel like I have the luxury of letting my moods get in the way with being productive. There are times I have no idea what I should do, but a client's deadline looms. Fingers touch the keyboard and it happens. Then there are times when a nap can be best.

Regarding golf: I've learned to catch myself after a bad shot and feeling grumpy to remember to look up at the sky and the trees and to say, "What a beautiful day. I'm sure glad I'm here."

I can't write much of anything when I'm sad. I've always been amazed at people who say that writing helps them get through those times, because I just want to stare at a wall and listen to the silence. And when I have tried to write during those times, what comes out is the most awful, self-pitying drivel you can imagine. Maybe it's because most of what I do is humorous (or trying to be) and that just doesn't work when you are well and truly depressed.

Ironically, I just posted a blog about this. Sometimes it does. But usually if I make myself do something on a regular basis things just tend to pop out from the mix, so to speak.

I'm right with you, Drinky. My friends told me to write what I felt or to use the feeling to be creative and it only made things worse. After I'd write the crap that was coming out of me, I would read it and get even more depressed. Instead, I just try to use people and things around me to boost my moral and hope I snap out of it soon. And I usually do.

Music helps me. Its kind of like "pick a mood" I find the music with the mood I'm looking for and just let it play and it takes me where I need to go.

I use music to either compliment my mood or change it. If I am starting to feel angry or sad and want to improve my mood, I just have to listen to the right music to cheer me up. But like anything else, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.