If there is one thing that has been constant in my life it’s drawing. Even if it’s not everyday I have always put an idea to paper. I am a firm believer in exercising your brain for creative growth. You can’t get muscles if you don’t lift weights.
Sometimes these ideas look good in my head. More often than not though I end up drawing the idea out and feeling indifferent toward it. The idea always feels humdrum. That doesn’t make them bad per se. Ideas typically need an evolution. It’s like expecting a musician’s demo to be the final product. It can be pretty close to the final idea. More likely though is it will go through a series of changes before reaching that desired vision. There are no hard rules for this. It’s up to you as an artist to get in-touch with your intuition to know when something looks “done”. Something that comes with practice and patience.
For some years I struggled with what I considered finished. This roots back to high school when I had a teacher who said my work look unfinished. While it stung in the moment, she was right. This advice would later push me to evolve ideas past their infancy. To this day I still feel the need to push everything one step further. This routine has helped me to see progress in my work and be explorative. Pictured in this blog are first draft ideas that haven’t evolved. One day I’ll go back and refine them.
All this to say, whatever idea you have - draw it out. Write it down. Take a picture of something that inspires you. Creative ideas are fleeting. So strike the iron while it’s hot.
