Outfoxing Your Reluctant Artist

January 6, 2009January 6, 2009 / still a dreamer

bluefootedbooby Actually, this is a follow-up to the earlier post, with a bit of success to report. Sunday was another day that I had time available to work on my children’s book dummy. Once going, I love working on this. Getting myself to sit down and start? Another story. Procrastinating, avoidance, outright fear … whatever you want to call it, it’s all the same in the end. Years ago, someone very close to me said, “You know, we could really talk about this forever, but sometimes you just have to nail your ass in the chair and do it.” Well said. Couldn’t agree more.

Ergo, the plan outlined in the earlier post. This has been working rather successfully in the few short days that I began. You’d think, since we’re all in the same person, that we couldn’t outfox ourselves, but clearly, it’s possible. Above is Sunday’s drawing. Clearly, I had a bit more time than Monday, whose sketch, made at 9:30 p.m., is nothing I will post. Having applied my butt to my drafting chair on Sunday, I drew the rather endearing Blue-Footed Booby you see here. I was helpless to walk away from the dummy which I’d just happened to leave lying on my desk. Quite crafty. So I worked on it.

For the weekend, I got two sketches done, but also figured out where the remaining two page spreads would go in my PB, roughed them out, and did a fairly good sketch of one of them. That was my plan! Even I am surprised that this works.

Are you someone who paces, distracts yourself, and otherwise has discovered 50 things that all need to be done N-O-W when you finally have time to devote to your creative work? You might try this – you, too, can be outfoxed.

Jump-starting Creativity after the Holidays-Equine Sketch

January 4, 2009January 4, 2009 / still a dreamer

penink-colt2 The holidays take up a lot of time one way or another, and it’s easy to lose our creative drive as holiday demands drive us in 15 different directions. Speaking for myself, I need to get back into my drawing and was looking for a way to jump-start my drawing efforts again. I’m quite sure a variation of this will work just fine with writing as well.

I wanted to make it fun, something I wanted to do, AND relatively painless. So I gave myself a challenge. I gathered up all my calendars from 2008 and a couple for 2009 I’d been mailed as fundraisers and stacked them on my drawing desk. My challenge is to draw one animal – yes, all my calendars are animals – every day AT my drawing desk. That’s an important part.

My drawing desk is in the room with all my art supplies, so if I’m feeling I might not do justice to a wolf in pen and ink, I can always grab my pastels. That’s the obvious. The secondary gain is that once I’m at my drawing desk, where my other current projects lie, it makes it much easier for me to park my butt there and settle into some of the more time-consuming projects I have to do.

I’m no stranger to procrastination, so while I may be wanting to pace the room awhile before settling down to work on some serious illustrations, or finding the opportune time to clear out and dust an entire bookcase shelf by shelf, I’ll already be sitting there in work mode. Tricky, eh?

That’s my plan anyway. Maybe it’ll work for you, too! My own challenge is on, and here’s my first sketch.

Inspiration

October 6, 2008May 16, 2012 / still a dreamer

Where do we get our inspiration? How is it affected by our moods? Though not the case today, once was a time when the sadder and more tragic my life was, the more I wrote. To this day, I’d say some of my best poetry came from a sad place.

But why not joy? Why not both? Why not the endless mysteries of life? I find my inspiration to write and draw comes from such a myriad of places … searching for a fall image in my clip art or on iStock, I find myself momentarily lost in the soft, misty photos of autumn trees and roads, and I know down that road lies a story. And I can tell you it’s a wistful one.

Looking at a wmv file of dolphins creating their own rings underwater and then playing with and bursting them with their noses, I see a tale of wonder. I know there’s a story of swimming with them, to really be among them, and share moments of our intertwined lives and ancient histories. It might first be a tale of wonder, then of empathy and joy and lightness. In shimmering, watery blues.

While I work at the computer, I listen to the radio through iTunes. I’ve rediscovered one of my very favorite music genres on FolkAlley.com. I’m once again entranced by the simplicity of folk music, and struck by the endless stories complemented by six and twelve string guitar. The music takes me back to another time when feelings were alternately bright and shiny, rich and deep, overwhelming and frightening – living away from home for the first time and in New York City. I’m at home with folk music. While connecting me to the past, it remains contemporary. The stories it tells bring me images for illustrations and I’m dreaming in rhythm.

Some days I feel myself a portal for infinite possibilities … inspiration everywhere. How about you?

Distractions of Life

June 13, 2008June 27, 2011 / still a dreamer / 6 Comments

One of the most frustrating things about returning from a writing conference is that it doesn’t seem to take long before the life we knew before we left seeps – or charges – back in. Two days at the Annual NJ SCBWI Conference were exciting, absorbing and brimming with promise for my future as a writer and illustrator. This had been preceded by hours and days of prep – creating a new illustration for my submitted MS, tighter editing, printing out first pages, readying a speed pitch and so on.

I came home exhausted but totally psyched. Unfortunately I was also hit the next day with a blistering sinus/migraine, but still I forged on and edited that story in the evening, cutting out another 90 words. The next day I wrote thank you’ s to the wonderful agent and editors who had critiqued my work and I began sketching for my dummy. The following day, still in a heat wave of nearly 100 degrees and shifting barometric pressure, I got hit by another crippling sinus/migraine headache. And of course, on Monday, I’d had the usual demanding pile of work, which pays my bills, on my desk to tackle.

Point is, even for a two day conference, the afterglow doesn’t last long before the distractions of life force their way back onto our laps demanding to be fed. How not to lose that momentum? I made a new commitment. I already journal every day and miss with rare exception. However, my new commitment to my future as a children’s book writer and illustrator is to spend a minimum of 10 minutes a day doing something to further my children’s book career.

On weekends, I may spend hours working on a manuscript or sketches, and sometimes in the evening as well when I’m able. However, even on those days when I have almost no energy left, I will do something, even if only for 10 minutes. I don’t want the insights and recommendations of the agent I met and the editors I sat with to fall through the cracks. To keep them alive, I need to touch their encouragement every day, even if only briefly, until I make the next block of time. A few sketches, jotting down ideas, a bit more editing of a manuscript … whatever.

The distractions of life are never going away – that IS life. But only we, as writers and illustrators, can put them off our laps and tell them to amuse themselves for a little while – we have something very important to tend to – our futures.

Just Do It! (for you creatives out there)

May 6, 2008August 25, 2012 / still a dreamer / 2 Comments

As creatives, we often find ourselves stuck – like there’s something in front of us that we know we can only trip over. We don’t want to risk hurting ourselves so we don’t go forward. While staying in place is the seemingly safer path, in the long run it is far more painful. When we don’t try, we don’t grow. Not pushing through ultimately makes us frustrated, depressed, anxious – all the emotions that we don’t want to feel. Ironically, these are good things in the sense that they are signposts showing us the way …when we look at our writing pads, computers, sketchbooks, cameras, canvases, etc and feel those emotions, we see right where our issues are. Thank them and let them go.

As both an artist and a writer, I need to make time for my craft one way or another every day. Because I journal every morning, my writing skills are always kept well-oiled and in gear. While I do need to get new things down, edit and refine, it is much less effort because the fluidity is there. Or I blog, all so I can focus on my real craft, writing for children.

As for my drawing, that takes more effort. Many years ago, when I was in Pratt, our instructors had specific requirements of us students. From when we first took 2-D (drawing) in freshman year, we were required to have our sketchbook with us 24/7. And so we did. When I began to become more involved with photography in my junior year, we were required to carry our camera with us 24/7. Both these exercises had the same result – if you had it with you, you used it.

We began to draw and photograph each other, the cat, the campus, the subway – didn’t matter – it became a routine because that sketchbook or camera was attached at the hip. Admittedly, one felt like a fool after awhile having it there and ignoring it even when going through a dry patch. The bottom line is, make it easy for yourself, be kind, and without criticism, just do it.

All the moaning and excuses in the world won’t get any project advanced, but tinkering about with our craft will. What I’ve found is that even while we’re busily avoiding exactly what it is we truly need to get done, we can trick ourselves by doing something else. For example, I have a heap of work I want to do to strengthen my portfolio. It’s a big task and a lot to do. I really am psyched. But the enormity of it sets me back a bit. Should I do nothing? No – I decided to just draw other things – a little oil in the gears, and then I’m going.

This tree frog I drew has nothing to do with portfolio requirements. It had everything to do with actively kicking aside whatever might be there to trip me. So for all of us – take the back door approach if you will – draw, write, paint, doodle something … anything … just do it!