Ever hit a point in your artistic endeavor where something that used to be effortless… you can’t do it anymore? A comics colleague recently expressed this frustration to me. Here was my reply, I thought it might be of interest to other creators. Do you have any thoughts / advice on this subject?
I am a new-ish artist, so don’t have much advice on that front. I am a long-time creator of things, though. And when I hit a rough patch on something I was good at before I’ve found that the following works:
1) Allow myself to do bad work for a while. Sometimes you have to create bad work to get your flow back. I think of it as turning on a tap and getting rusty water out, sometimes if you let that tap run for a while, the water will turn clear.
2) Work until you hit a complete wall. You’re done. It’s not getting better. This should be when you’re completely done, not just a little frustrated.
3) Take a week or two off. This is the part where your brain incorporates all the hard work you did creating bad art.
4) Start again. I’ve surprised myself by jumping up in skill level after that break.
Rinse / Repeat as needed.
Have more than one project going at a time. Then shift gears.
Sleep on it. Maybe for several nights. Your brain is working behind the scenes.
Change your perspective. Look at it from a completely off the wall position.
All good advice! Thank you! Question, when you have more than one project going, how do you keep from losing focus? When I have more than one project I get frazzled and find it hard to keep track of where I am in each. Do you make them so different in nature that the wires don’t cross?
Now, that is a good question! Since I inevitably have multiple projects going and yes, I do lose my place. So, that, in itself is a project! “How to keep track of where you are?” Kanban boards? Bookmarks? Notes? I think each type of project will respond to a different kind of reminder. For example, when I worked as a IV pharmacist and was interrupted while making IV’s (and you cannot tell by looking what you have and have not added to the IV), the position that everything was left in would tell me exactly where I was. Now, that might not work with writing. You might need a mind map for the different ideas you were exploring and a sticky note to indicate the dead end and why it was a dead end.
And of course, if you wake up in the middle of the night with THE ANSWER, either keep paper and pen handy or speak into your mobile audio notes! I confess to having kicked myself in the morning when I realized the answer came and went and I missed it!
And crossed wires produce some of the most brilliant answers!
I just had the thought that this muddle is a lot like weaving! A thread under tension is a thread in control! How to apply tension…
Hope you can appreciate the analogy!