this sketch is finally starting to take shape, at first, pet was gonna be blowing bubbles but I like the idea of a Kumari-like characer standing on top of it....
So I haven’t been drawing everyday. I haven’t even drawn this past week, except for a teeny bit today. if I don’t do it for a day or two, it’s so easy to lose momentum.
It all derailed when I spent time looking for a new screenprinter and getting ready to sell at the B-girl Be event….I could have made the time to draw at least for a half-hour everyday, or 15 minutes even, but I didn’t. After a few days of not drawing it got even easier to be distracted by other things…
“The minute that we lose momentum, we lose the thread” says Jocelyn Glei in her article The Art of Momentum. She uses Newton’s First Law of Motion as an analogy, saying that “it’s a lot less work to keep moving once you have some momentum, than it is to start moving from a dead stop.”
I read that and thought, oh my god, that’s it! I always wondered why it was so hard to start something, but easy to keep going once I actually started! I really gained a lot from reading her tips so here they are:
1. Setting small goals throughout the project is important so you can “experience incremental success in order to build momentum and confidence.”
2. “Have a consistent block of time to work on the project”…
That’s exactly my problem!!! Since I’m taking care of our daughter all day, I only have a few hours to work in the day. If I spend too much time on the business aspect, I don’t get around to drawing. If I schedule time to draw consistently, it helps me feel like I’m making real progress, and the continuity helps me be more creative.
3. Work on your project everyday. Glei says “when it comes to momentum, frequency of execution is perhaps more important than the duration of execution.” This is so true! Even if I have time to draw for only a half hour, it keeps me motivated and keeps the project rolling forward in my head. If I haven’t worked on stuff for a few days, I feel really scattered when I go into the studio and don’t know where to begin. It takes longer to get into the flow.
Every book I’ve been reading lately about creativity, process, etc. have all made these three points. I’m trying to put these thoughts into practice because when I do follow them, it really works! The third tip, “work on your project everyday” is the hardest to follow for me. I have to make more of an effort to draw everyday. If I do that, I won’t lose the thread so easily!
