Weekly Sketch Review | Turkey Dinner

Another round of highlight worthy sketches for another week. Enjoy! If you wish to stay a while, this week I wanted to talk a bit about persistence and consistence. This topic comes from encountering some emotionally down points when drawing and painting recently, and an article posted by Wacom. A short interview article with an amazing Disney artist, Aaron Blaise, about his “Four Tips for Artists Who Want to Succeed”.

The article touches on two things that I have discussed before, but are so important that, talking about them again will help me reaffirm their importance for myself, and hopefully others. I will try to tie these into my feelings as of late, which I believe many artists, aspiring artists, go through on their, long, artistic journeys.

Persistence

This is my new favorite. I have found myself to be stubborn from time to time, more often then I think probably. Thankfully, this is a blessing, more than a curse most time. With that stubbornness comes the drive to continue to learn new things, and to learn them well. This has been very fulfilling in most of my endeavors, including art and programming.

This stubbornness does not come without it’s down side though. The most noticeable adverse effect that I see is burning out. When I am pushing through a project, and I am churning out good results, then the end of the project rolls around, one of two things usually happen. The feeling that I have done enough, and I can take a brake (the biggest lie!), or, the feeling of zero inspiration. Of just not wanting to do what I was doing anymore.

These two points are where I think persistence contrast stubbornness in the extreme. When one is persistent, they will continue with something with confidence in a good result. Okay, stubbornness will get us that far as well. Now here is the difference. Moderation. To push through a project is one thing, to push through a project at a steady pace is another. This leads to my other favorite point.

Consistency

Ah consistency. For those of us who feel we have a million things we are doing everyday (whether its true or not), consistency is like the Holy Grail. We write to-do lists, we setup reminders on our Google Calender, we try to develop habits, and 90% of the time, we fail. It’s not that we aren’t getting things done, we just are not reaping the benefits of being consistent.

My personal experience with consistency has always been good, when I am consistent. My abilities, with whatever I am consistently doing, obviously increase. I feel better about what I am doing, and I can’t wait to see what I produce.

So, what’s the problem with trying to be consistent, and why is it so hard for me to do? And, why do I go overboard with persistence? I have been able to narrow it down to a few things so far.

Turkey Dinners Always put Me to Sleep

It not necessarily just the turkey, but instead, how much food I put on my plate. Unfortunately, I am not talking about my dietary habits in this instance. Earlier I mentioned people who have a million different things they are trying to do, I am one of those people, and I don’t like it either. Problem number one. I have always been curious, and I was raised to try things, and fall in love with what I try. Problem number two. There is the complex anxiety of knowing that I wont be able to accomplish everything that I wish to, because there just isn’t time to do it. Just like that Turkey dinner, you may be able to get it all onto your plate, but it doesn’t mean you are going to be able to cram it all down.

The closest artistic analogy that I can think of to fix this is to reduce your pallet. Pick out the colors that you think will tell the story the best. Now by applying that idea to what I put on my plate for dinner… Maybe I should prioritize the things that will define me best as a human being, and tell my story in the best way possible, to future generations. Easier said than done. How do I know what will tell my story the best? I don’t know. Maybe a bit too deep, but I believe it is something we should all consider on our artistic, or our non-artistic, journeys.

Take the time to look through some of Aaron’s great instructional videos on his website. I just watched a video about straight and curved lines, nothing new for me, but definitely something I am not consistent with in my line work.