tonycliff
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The Seal is Broken!
🕑 Added 2021-02-20 00:30:25 +0000 UTCThey may not look very glamorous*… yet… but I have roughed/"pencilled" out the first three pages of DD4. Going straight from the thumbnail, I have "broken ground" on the clean line art.
This is only really post-worthy because it is emotionally significant. I was talking to a friend today—let's say "Suzie"—who was relating a story of her friend—let's say "Kevin"—who in turn was new to painting and unhappy with the results. Suzie reassured Kevin, "what are you talking about? It looks great!" To which Kevin replied, "but I just want to skip to the point where I know what I'm doing, where it feels good."
Dear Reader, let me assure you
it never feels good.
Any time I have to switch into a new mode, establish a new routine, a new habit, exercise a set of atrophied muscles, it feels bad. It is scary and miserable and I am convinced I do not know what I am doing. You might call it anxiety. I am not sure.
I have been complimented on the colour artwork in Delilah Dirk, and every time I've sat down to start the colour process on each book, it has been terrifying. I don't know why. That's just the way it is. That's the way it was here, with these first pages of DD4.
And in this case, I was trying something relatively new. I've skipped the step where I would draw roughs, enlarge them in the computer, tighten them up (and fuss over imperfections), and print out those roughs as the base for my pencil work. Going straight from the thumbs is a new thing for me. Accordingly, I was a bundle of nerves last weekend, knowing I would have to tackle this. And now I've done it—set the blue pencil marks on the page—and I'm excited to keep going. Are these pages perfect? Nah, not really, but they're something (I'm even secretly pleased with a few parts), and a mostly-pleasing something is better than a nothing. Just another instance of the "done is better than perfect" maxim.
So this post is here to be the reminder that I always seem to need no matter how many times I learn the lesson: it always feels awkward and anxious and nervous to shift into a new task, but the only thing to do about it is get some work done, and then the feeling passes.
* Frig, how do I get my iPhone camera to set a consistent white balance? No, nevermind, I know, I know, download Halide or something like that.
Comments
Jana
So glad it's not just meeeeeee who gets a little anxiety starting!
seanwangart
Always great to hear other creators say this. I do a sci-fi book and every time I have to start concepting a new ship or alien, I worry that it will be uninspired. But I am also a big believer that getting a page done is better than getting it perfect. There's always the next page!
Cat Farris
Yeah!
Tony Cliff
Like, book 2?
Tony Cliff
Weirdly, I almost wouldn’t trust someone who wasn’t at least a little trepidatious? Maybe? Note: this does not apply to plumbers or carpenters or other such craftsman/tradesmen
Tealin
Daaang you draw some nice ships! What you say about being daunted by starting reminds me of an interview with a famous animator, where he divulged that he is still afraid of starting a new scene, EVERY SINGLE TIME. This time it's not going to work, this time he'll forget everything he knows, this time it'll kick his butt. It never does, but the next scene is always the same. I remember hearing/reading/seeing that and thinking 'wow, hard same.' And yet it's affirming, in an odd way, that even The Best people have the exact same problem.
Cat Farris
Extremely relevant to me right now as I prepare to transition from pencils to inks on GHOUL!
