First the ephemeral,
I decided to finally set out and create that comic I said I wanted to make. All things considered, it’s the only thing I regret not doing. Well that, and not owning a Maserati.
Anyway, I feel good about starting the comics creator journey. The writing of the comic has been not too difficult. (I’m not a writer and can happily allow myself the mistakes I must make.) But with the art on the other hand, I’m terrified.
I’ve quickly realized my self image is cocooned around being an artist, and I find it hard to allow myself the room I need to fail. So, I had to come up with some ways I could break through my fears. Here the are a couple of the ideas that have helped my mindset change a bit.
Now the practicalish,
Leaving room to fail along the way will help to keep you going.
Somewhere along the path of becoming an “artist”, I ended up losing my aspirations. What I’ve come up with to remedy this is to go back to calling myself “an aspiring artist” in my head. This way my small and even big failures feel okay.
Screwed up that line? It’s okay, I’m still learning. Didn’t quite nail that perspective? No prob, I’ll get better the more times I attempt it.
The official name for this way of framing a problem is called a growth mindset. It’s the type of thinking that allows you to move through your mistakes, without having your ego take too many crit threats. Which is kind of a god’s send for folks like me who already have a thin skin.
Quiet that critic!
I’ve worked as an artist for a while. Though I’m not new to art, I’m a new comic artist. That simple mental shift has allowed me to quiet the critic that has always been so present, and all too vocal in my art life. (I have also taken to telling myself this is the first time I’ve been 34. As I’m only partway into this birthday mistakes are bound to happen.) Not allowing my inner critic to over rule my creativity before I put pencil to tablet hehe, digital has been a breathe of fresh air. I recommend using this mindset or experimenting with other ways to drown out any inner, or outer critics for your own creative sanity.
Any progress is good progress.
Look, I wish I could tell you this grand story about how I got up on my horse and prolifically created like 10 comic books from my new found reasoning. But, realistically, after I came to all these grand realizations, and I got a whopping five of sixty pages done. Yep. Cinco. I hear you tittering out there, and I don’t appreciate you for it.
Though it’s not much, it is how far I’ve come. Considering the fact I’ve never drawn much past a single page sketch for a comic before this. I’m pretty darn happy about it. While I’m not quite prolific yet, I am on my way, yay me and that’s the most important part.
And lastly,
Framing is everything!
Instead of being bummed that I’ve only got five pages done of my comic, I just decided that’s all I need to begin. And I started a new comics line called Hella Novella Comics.com Where you can get my stories in 5-8 pages per month. Now, off to the Black Comix and Art Festival (BCAF 2018) with me. Next time, I’ll tel you how it went! Bye..