Disconnecting to Reconnect

I’ve been reading a blog by Dan Goodwin called ‘A Big Creative Yes to the creativity within’ which gives advice, motivation, inspiration and all that good stuff on sparking one’s creativity. It’s been a very insightful blog to read since many of the topics I find pertains to me (and I’m sure thousands of others) His words have caused me to reflect on where I stand now on my ever extending path of creativity and let out a bemoaning sigh as I realize that it’s being choked off by all of the different projects and responsibilities I’ve been accumulating over the years. I think if I have any hope of rebuilding my creative spark so it’ll burn brighter than ever, I need to fully recognize what projects I’m trying to do right now so I can start reducing my list to something much more manageable.

Step One - Creating a List

The mind is a wondrous thing, I’ve found myself surprised on numerous occasions by how much information it can gather. And how well it’s stored all of the different projects I’ve been working on over the past several years, many of which I can still claim as a WIP that hasn’t made much progress. Please bear with me as I list out these projects as they come to mind. For the sake of privacy, sanity and whatnot, I’m just going to publish the list of things that pertain specifically to my artistic endeavors and not my own personal obligations.

Recca’s Champions

Musings

Aerie

Digmon - Nexus - Rising Dusk

Muse’s Ramblings

Art Study List

Bird List

Gryphon List

Colored Serpents

Countless individual picture ideas

Opening up an Ebay/Etsy Store

Opening up Commissions

Managing DG Studios Fan Page on Face Book

Managing relations on Face Book/Deviant Art

Revamping my website

MusingsAerie Blog

- etc.

I suppose with it being all listed out it doesn't really look too terrible, but the magnitude of everything needed to complete these projects makes the list endless. Recca’s Champions, Musings and Aerie for example are all ideas for graphic novels, all of which are planned out to be several chapters long and with a decent sized cast of characters. The Art Study List, Bird List and Gryphon List combined make up 200+ potential drawings.

Step Two - Reducing the List

Reducing this condensed (Yet infinitely long) list will give me some goals to strive for that will be much easier to manage. I don’t want to completely forget any of this though so I’ll store all of these into an ideas notebook that I can look at every so often to keep my motivation fresh. Though with as big as this content is I’m thinking that a few computer folders might be an easier way to record everything rather than a physical notebook.

- Recca’s Champions

- Countless individual picture ideas

- Revamping my website

- MusingsAerie Blog

- Musings

- Aerie

- Digmon - Nexus - Rising Dusk

- Muse’s Ramblings

- Art Study List

- Bird List

- Gryphon List

- Colored Serpents

- Opening up an Ebay/Etsy Store

- Opening up Commissions

- Managing DG Studios Fan Page on Face Book

- Managing relations on Face Book/Deviant Art

I’ve crossed out twelve of the sixteen categories on my list, leaving me with four things left. If I focus my attention on these four things instead of all sixteen then I can gradually get to a point where I can choose another four and keep going. I think the biggest challenge is making sure that I stick to it instead of going back to juggling everything again.

Step Three - Set up a Daily Routine

Ok, so now my list is looking much smaller and more manageable. My next step now is to get to working on these four projects. I’ve seen on two different blogs now that working at something a little at a time all the time is more effective than working in huge chunks of time less often. This is something I know I’m bad at. I generally like to wait for the weekend to draw, but then the weekend always seems too busy so I put it off…it’s a vicious cycle. I’m going to need to start some experiments to see when is the best time for me to fit in those small sessions of time where drawing is all I do every day. Then I can concentrate on the bigger blocks of time available.

This leads me to my first self imposed assignment:

- I will draw 20 minutes a day for the next consecutive 14 days starting now.

- My subject matters will be ACEO’s of the characters from Recca’s Champions

- It is my goal to finish each ACEO within that 20 minute time span. Meaning I should have 14 ACEO’s by the end of this assignment that I will share on my next blog entry.

Wish me luck,

~Amy