That's one of the many life lessons the 22-year-old has encountered since he forced himself to be creative after a two-year hiatus.

He's not sure why he lost his artistic mojo, it just happened, and no matter how hard he tried his creative spark was nowhere to be found.

It got to a point where he realised he had to force himself to do it. And that is when the magic started to unfold.

Now he has three self-portraits that depict his artist's block journey and he's entering them in the Archibald Prize.

The judging has been put on hold due to Coronavirus but the call for entries has proceeded as usual.

"One day I just sat down and started drawing. They only took about a month to do. I've learnt I need to get my work done quickly so I don't get bored of it. I smash it out and move onto the next bit," he said.

"I've always been into realistic art work rather than abstract. I showed my uncle the pictures and he said I need to enter them. They were small, and for art I think you need to go big to get noticed, in a way, so I'm getting them enlarged and framed.

"It's about the face in each portrait, the feelings and the emotions."

Mr Chapman, a former bricklayer, is studying to become a chef. He realised he had an artistic flair when he was a child. His love for watercolour came after he was introduced to the medium in high school.

"I had some at home and it was the easiest thing to use so I learnt to use it," he said.

"I could take it with me anywhere, it was small so you didn't have a lot of preparation to do if you wanted to use it."

He studied visual art at TAFE but while he learnt new techniques he felt his creativity took a step back and his art started to become a chore.

Mr Chapman said comparing yourself to others was a recipe for inaction and self-belief was an essential tool.

"I would scroll for hours on Instagram and look at what other people were doing and compare myself to them," he said.

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