Getting back into it
Life gets in the way. A new job, a kid, burnout, or just losing the thread for a few months — it happens to everyone. Coming back to creative coding — or really any creative practice — after a break can feel worse than starting fresh. You remember what you used to make, but your fingers don't move the same way. Somehow the things that used to come easily now feel just out of reach.
Launching Fragments and being part of The Great Lockin of 2025 (if you know, you know) really took a lot out of me. I was — and probably still am — exhausted, and a bit burnt out. I decided earlier this year to take a proper break and focus on my health and well-being. I'm starting to feel hungry again, but I wasn't sure where to start.
Here's the good news — and this is pretty universal across creative practices — you're not starting from zero. Muscle memory comes back faster than you think, but resist the urge to go from 0 to 100 in a single 10-hour binge. What you need is a structure for practice that fits real life.
What actually makes you better
After 20+ years of making things, five things keep showing up in my own practice, and in the practices of others I've worked with:
- Inspiration — find something that genuinely excites you
- Functional knowledge — just enough skill to be effective
- Experimentation — break things, chase happy accidents
- Repetition — small, intentional sessions on a schedule
- Rest — let your brain process what you've been working on
They feed each other. You need all of them when you're rebuilding momentum.
You don't need to be an expert
This one matters after a break. It's easy to look at incredible work on Shadertoy or FragCoord and feel like you've forgotten everything. I feel that all the time.
The shift that helped me: stop aiming for perfection. Aim for functional knowledge instead. You don't need to master linear algebra. You need enough understanding to make something that feels like yours. Breaking complex shaders into smaller parts and understanding how they work is one of the best ways to build that knowledge.
Even a small bit of knowledge compounds. The best outputs often come from combining simple techniques in unexpected ways — not from knowing everything.
One thing that inspired me to write this article was realising I'm not alone in this. I've had many conversations with people who took a break from creative coding and felt like they'd forgotten everything.
How to structure your practice
So where do you actually start? Here's how I'd structure practice to rebuild momentum. This isn't just for creative coding — it works for writing, drawing, painting, or music too.
Start stupidly small
Don't open your last complex project and try to finish it. That's a trap I've fallen into many times. The last thing I was working on was a set of shaders focused on volumetric raymarching, like Singularity. I'm deeply obsessed with how these flowy, cloud-like shapes are created, and because it was the last thing I touched, I was sure I'd pick it back up easily. I was wrong — even my own work felt intimidating.
So, instead, start with one simple thing:
- A single shape on screen
- One color palette
- One technique you used to know well
Think of it like a diamond: start narrow, expand through experimentation, then converge on something you like. I wrote about this in more detail in the Thinking in Code technique. One thing I'm extremely proud of about Fragments is how much it helped me get back into practice after a long break — even rereading my own notes gave me a push.
A circle. A gradient. A repeating pattern with fract(). That's enough for day one.
Use prompts when you're stuck
Creative blocks hit harder after a break. Prompts remove the "what should I make?" decision so you can just make.
- Genuary prompts work any time of year
- Pick one technique from Fragments and spend a session only on that
- Copy a simple shader and change one variable at a time
Prompts aren't the only way out of a block. Revisiting something familiar works too. I'd had feedback recently from a student on the Noise lesson — they felt it needed more explanation. That pulled me back into the technique: I refined the lesson, made some additions, and cut what wasn't relevant. Fresh eyes on old work gave me inspiration to revisit older shaders and see if I could improve them.
Build a weekly rhythm
Consistency beats intensity. Five to ten minutes every other day will take you further than a single eight-hour session on the weekend.
I can't stress this enough. It's the single most important thing you can do to improve your skills. Showing up regularly, even for just a few minutes, builds momentum and makes progress visible.
A simple weekly structure:
- Two sketch days — make something new, however rough
- One study day — remake something you've made before, or copy someone else's work to understand it
- One experiment day — change values, break things on purpose, chase accidents
- Rest days — walks, showers, doing nothing. Your brain is still working
I have a kid, a full-time job, a mortgage — all the things. This rhythm is the only reason I still make things.
Structure a single session
When you sit down, keep it tight:
- 5 minutes — warm up. Open your boilerplate, render a shape, confirm things work
- 20–30 minutes — one focused goal. "Add motion." "Try a new palette." "Layer repetition."
- 5 minutes — save your work, note what to try next time
- 5 minutes — share your work if you want to
Don't context-switch. One goal per session. That's intentional practice.
Remake things on purpose
Developers are taught not to repeat themselves. Artists use repetition to build mastery. I've rebuilt the same mesh gradient over a dozen times — each version refined my taste and stripped away complexity.
When it feels hard
Progress is not linear. When you're stuck, walk away for a bit — go outside, touch grass, listen to some music. Lower the bar, or copy something simple and tweak it.
Watch out for these traps after a break: jumping into your hardest old project, comparing yourself to people who never stopped, reading instead of making, or skipping rest because you feel behind.
The short version
Coming back after a break is normal. Your skills are still there — they just need a runway.
Find something that excites you. Practice in small, focused sessions. Remake things. Experiment. Rest. Give it a month of consistency and you'll surprise yourself.
If you want a deeper dive into the creative process behind all of this, the Thinking in Code technique covers inspiration, experimentation, and the full workflow from simple shape to finished sketch.
Ready to get back into it?
Fragments is built around the kind of practice this article describes — small, focused sessions, techniques you can layer together, and a creative process you can return to whenever you lose the thread.
You get techniques to practice one at a time, fundamentals when you need to brush up on the basics, and over 120 shaders with full breakdowns to study and remake.
If you're ready to rebuild your momentum, sign up here.