Which road to take
I’ve always been good at brainstorming. Maybe too good at brainstorming.
Currently I’m working on two different creative ventures, and while both are creature they operate on very different business models. On one hand I need to actually have a clear business plan, target specific customers, sell value prop, and the list goes on.
On the other hand I am making ‘real art’. Building RPG content. Illustrations. Writing fiction. These endeavors thrive on the end product. They to an extent sell themselves. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t choices to be made.
Success requires focus. Not just while you are working, but in what you produce. It does me no good to one day make a caricature, the next day ink a comic page, and the third day make an abstract watercolor painting.
One strategy I’ve adopted to at least temper what some might call analysis paralysis, or what others might call procrastination is to have something daily that is easy to force myself to do and is to an extent mechanical. What is something I can do that reliably moves the needle but doesn’t require high level decision making? What is something that forces me to at least grow a little bit?
False-exercise is the enemy. In the past I’ve done daily gesture drawing. This felt great at first but within a couple days my progress stalled. I pushed on with the false hope that I will eventually get better, just through reps alone. This is not the case. I wouldn’t expect the exact same set in the gym to help me grow, why would it be different for any other skill? The real difference is in perception. You know when a set in the gym is hard and is pushing or limits or is wildly easy. But with are we just want to have fun. Fun is fun, but more often than not it doesn’t push us forward.
The trick is finding a daily exercise that is moderately challenging, and changing it before it gets stale.
As I ponder what my future life should look like I’ll leave you with my current solution to moving the needle: Drawing from reference followed but noted critiques.
Ryan
