DC Conspiracy[dots pattern]

4.25.2005


This is an image I drew in my sketchbook as I was reading Breakfast at the Victory by James Carse. The short explanation is that when Carse was a youth, before a wrestling match, he was looking for guidance on why he wasn't achieving the winning results that he wanted. The coach advised him to stop thinking so much and just DO.

This got me thinking... Posted by Hello

When you write or draw, do you think everything out or just plunge in stream-of-consciousness style? Why do you think your "way" works best for you? Does one way inhibit you while the other frees you? Or can you work both ways?

I think I work in a stream-of-consciousness-free-associate way for illustrations, but I think I tend to work in the opposite fashion for the comics pages or book stuff. Now that I brought the subject up, I'm not sure! I'm interested in hearing what others think about their process.

Deb at 9:31 AM  |  link to this     

3 Comments

I think I do more than I think. (I think).

Seriously, for the most part, it's a matter of relaxing and letting go. Good things usually happen when I'm very relaxed. It usually starts with a kernal of an idea, which I will mull around in my brain for a bit before I commit anything down on paper. And what first goes down on paper will more than likely be a very rough concept, which will have to be visited over and over again until I know that I can give it life, or kill the darling.

I find artists who obsess with 'the creative process' to be usually self-absorbed navel-gazing twits. You can waste your entire life nit-picking over 'the process' and never actually do anything. Get your head out of your navel (or your ass) and just do it.

patricia at 4/25/2005 9:36 PM   

Well, I'm putting a lot of effort into a project now, my baseball story, and I'm working closely with Hoarse & Buggy to make it a strong story.

I was jazzed about this project. I still am. Seriously jazzed. And I wrote the story, tightened it, got it approved. And then I went straight to script using only mental notes instead of plotting out the issue and putting thought into how it should work. I found what I thought was a good starting point and wrote it and it really, really sucked.

Josh sent it back to me and asked, "You started at the wrong place."

SO I thought about it some more, found a new starting point, plotted it out better and now it kills.

So, whereas overthinking isn't the best thing, sometimes you have to at least think.

Jason at 4/26/2005 10:08 AM   

Hmmmm. Well, I do think that the incubation process is key...not necessarily overthinking the work you're doing, but letting it cook on the back burner, still in sight range, but not the focal point. Sounds like that happened a little with you, Jason.

Deb at 4/27/2005 3:41 PM   

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