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Rambling thoughts on creativity...
I had a column all planned out, this month and then life came up and smacked me around. Once I was derailed from my routine, I could never get back to work. I spent the last couple of nights trying to come up with an idea I could develop quickly, but the necessary juices don't seem to be flowing.
So, I thought I'd use that as a starting point.
Creativity is a fragile thing. It's one reason I try to have a routine, to get into and stay in the "zone" where my creative juices are flowing, or bubbling, or some other juicy metaphor. When it's working, I can go for hours without a break. To relieve cramping in my hand (from drawing, gutterbrain!), and my back and shoulders, I usually spend part of the time pulling reference off the computer, or building a 3D model in Google Sketchup. Sometimes, I use that time to color or scan finished art.
During those times, I can crank out a fair amount of work, work that I'm happy with, when I look back on it days or weeks later.
But, there are other times...
...times when my creativity is at a low ebb, to continue the fluid metaphor. Sometimes, the brain just gets tired. I feel tapped out, sometimes even physically tired. At those times, it's good to have something to do. I read, usually. A lot of times, I'll go back to a favorite book or comic and re-read it. I've got books I've read so many times they're falling apart. I usually read things, at those times, that have the kinds of characters I like to write. It helps me get back in that zone a bit. It let's me recharge.
It also helps, if I can motivate myself, to get up and go for a walk. Often times, I'll find myself imagining scenes, triggered by something I've seen while walking around the neighborhood or in the park, nearby. When I can afford the gas, I jump in the car and go for a drive. Last time I did that, I stumbled on a little yellow submarine in a small town in Oklahoma. No kidding. I've got a pic of it, somewhere. Can't seem to locate it, right now.
I also use other techniques. When I can't get out, or can't motivate myself to get away from the drawing board, I'll sketch in colored pencil, or on paper with a different color or texture. The change from regular graphite pencil can sometimes bounce you out of the rut you're in (finally, a non-fluid metaphor). I learned that technique from reading a book on animation.
Back in the olden days, before Heroblog and Ad Astra, I did very little writing. At least, very little storytelling type writing, almost none of which was ever seen by anyone else. Now, I have to keep that creative "tank" full, as well as the artistic "tank". When I was in school, the only thing I hated more than a writing assignment was when I'd have to read or speak in front of the class. It's funny that, when I'm at conventions, I have no trouble at all speaking to strangers at my table or getting up in front of an audience when I'm on a panel and talking. And, of course, most months, I'm putting one of these columns out there for dozens, or hundreds or thousands of people to see, read, mock...whatever. I've been lucky that I've yet to receive any negative criticism, thanks for that.
One of the most useful tricks I use to refill the tanks is to simply set aside what I've been working on, and work on something else. At any given time, I have 4 or 5 nebulous "projects" I'm fiddling with. Ad Astra was one of those. I had been working on it since the mid-1990s. I have a sci-fi idea I play with, from time to time. It's a twist on Edgar Rice Burroughs's Barsoom books. A lone human, stranded on an alien world, and all that. Don't know if I'll ever develop it into a story, but it's something to play with that takes me in a different direction and lets me put the other stuff on the back burner. There are others, as well. Sometimes, I do art for other people, sometimes I'll get a commission that gives me a break from the weekly grind.
The key, I've found, is to find a way to get going in a different direction, get some kind of activity going, and I usually find that I can go back to what I was doing with renewed energy. And renewed interest. Sometimes that's the hardest thing to get back, interest in the project. Over the years, I would become frustrated with projects while still in the development stage and lose interest. That was true of Ad Astra. I would work on it for a week or two, and then I would get bogged down in some detail or get frustrated because I couldn't get the look right and I'd lay it aside. Nowadays, I save any notes I make on a project, because re-reading them later can sometimes trigger new ideas for that project or something else I'm doing. I save the most complete sketches, but toss out a lot of unfinished stuff.
I know I make it sound like I've got a lot going on, but most of it is in my head and will never see the light of day. All that stuff churning around at the back of my brain helped me create HeroBlog and led me to finally work Ad Astra into a coherent shape. Since it's worked for me in the past, it's something I'll continue to do when I get stuck.
There are other recognized techniques to help artists and writers break out of their blocks, Wally Wood had his "22 panels that always work" to help him when he hit an artistic snag. Sequential artists around the world still use it, to this day. I will sometimes use a cutaway to break myself out of a storytelling rut. By jumping to another scene and another set of characters, it can have the same effect as working on a different project. Flashbacks do something similar, and also have the effect of adding depth to the story.
I guess the key is to experiment and find something that works for you. Find some way to break yourself out of the rut, because, sometime, somewhere, you're going to find yourself in a creative rut. I've heard that a lot of writers just write their way out of a period of writer's block. I can't say whether that works, or not. I know that my drawing suffers if I try to keep pushing through, without break. I can't see how writing would be that different. I figure, if you keep bearing down, when the juices aren't flowing, you're just gonna wear yourself out that much quicker. Worse, it might cause you to sour on whatever it is you're doing and cause you to fall further behind. In a professional setting, that can end up with you losing jobs.
Well, I don't know if this is going to be helpful to anyone, but it helped me fill this space this month, which I was starting to worry about being able to do. I hope someone out there will find something useful in it and if you have any tricks or techniques you use to break out of your creative doldrums, let me know. I'll be happy to share them here and I'll try them out, next time I hit a creative slump.
www.heroblog.com
Copyright © 2010 Joe Singleton
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