Every once in a while I'll drag out a sketchbook run some pencils and ink around the page because I have a killer idea for an image that I must commit to paper before it evaporates. But for the most part the art side of the book is, and will be, the most difficult and demanding aspect of the novels creation.
Why is this the case I hear you ask? Well unlike writing where you can write pages of work before your realise its errors and plot holes and the nessitation for rewriting, where as with art or illustration the mistakes are instantly obvious. Also, there factors the artist, if they're producing figurative work, has to have beware of as whiles they're working. Factors such composition, colour theory, anatomy, perspective, mood, lighting, technique all come into play.
Simultaneously. Whiles you're working. You have to have a clear goal in mind for end product as well as, at the very least, some mastery of your tools.
I've dreaded putting pencil to ink to paper because I have a keen enough eye to know that work does not match up (yet) with my ambition.
But here's there thing: no ones first work ever does.
You have to do a ton of work before your work comes in line or at the very least begins to approach your ambition.
That fear, that dread, is a barrier that you need to fight against. Because the world is filled with people who reached this stage and stopped dead. They could not continue. No light at the end of the tunnel.
You have to fight to be better. You have to be hungry. You have to be self confident to the point of arrogance but be humble enough to both ask for and take advice. You have to be humble to enough to shut the fuck up and L.I.S.T.E.N to advice and criticism given you by professionals who work in the industry you wish to break into. The phrase "Yeah but..." should never exist in your lexicon. From this moment onwards it shall be considered a blasphemy. Punishable with scorn and ridicule.
Do you really think that Christopher Hitchens or Masamune Shriow or Joanne Rowling or Jean Giraud (Moebius) or Warren Ellis or Ridley Scott or Frank Frazetta turned their nose up at advice or criticism given them by their peers?
Really? You think so?
Ev-ery-one you admire has gone through it. And I'm afraid that there are no shortcuts.
None.what.so.ever.
You just have to do the work.
You have to fight to be better.
Ira Glass' thoughts on the matter are more concise and to the point then mine.
You have to stay hungry. You have to have your eyes open. You have to be confident. You have to be humble. You have to be prepared to make sacrifices.
And you can never, ever give up.
Because those who inspire you never did.
Don't be a pussy.
Now get back to work.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
I said it before and I'll say it again. I beg to differ. You're trying to take a journey that should be a wonderful experience and you turn it into a chore, a battle through hell.
ReplyDeleteIf I may take your words and change them slightly:
"Do really you [sic] think that Christopher Hitchens or Masamune Shriow or Joanne Rowling or Jean Giraud (Moebius) or Warren Ellis or Ridley Scott or Frank Frazetta didn't enjoy the process of creating?
Really? You think so?"
You can literally see these guys were having fun Joseph. You can see they couldn't wait to get out of bed to get behind the drawing board. They didn't rush it, they lovingly put down each and every mark. You can see they felt sorry when the drawing was finished. And they experimented, tried this, tried that. I've studied Moebius closely recently. Each page even in one single story is already so different. He'll use this type of cross-hatching on this page, a radically different approach on the next page, very different colors, he'll try this, try that. He was just sitting behind his drawing board having fun with it, I am sure of that.
The trick is to make sure you enjoy doing it. You'll be that guy who is the overnight success only people didn't see you put in the work for fifteen years before that :-) But you must have fun otherwise you won't last those 15 years and you won't become good at it.
I've been successful in other walks of life Joseph. The details don't matter. I am urging you to find back the fun.
It is clear you are talented, ambitious and passionate about this so it pains me to see you go through this struggle and to go at it the wrong way.
Study anatomy, real anatomy but also copy anatomy from books. Draw from life, model, but also for examples skeletons, all with love and care and joy. Museums in London are free; walk around there with a sketchbook, carefully and slowly copy paintings and sculptures. Take it slow. Enjoy the process already!
This book changed a lot for me:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Illustrated-Life-Inspiration-Sketchbooks-Illustrators/dp/1600610862/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336811633&sr=8-1
Have an el cheap-o notebook, the cheapest you can find so it doesn't bother you that you are ruining pages. Use it next to your regular sketchbooks. Have it with you with whatever works; pencil, pen, whatever. Use color. Paint. Make collages. Whatever. THERE ARE NO RULES. And just doodle, write, do whatever in it. Ruin page after page. When you feel a fear of creating art, afraid that you'll ruin the sketchbook turn to this private diary-like notebook and feel the joy of making marks. Jot down story ideas in it too.
And don't be afraid to make ugly things.
And don't ever show its contents to anyone. Promise yourself that. It is a private creative diary.
I urge you to try it.
Don't be surprised if some of the most interesting works you've done in a long time emerge on the pages of that scrappy notebook and your life drawing starts to emerge in your fantasy drawings. Try it for a notebook or two. What do you have to lose?