Guest Post by Mleiv – Motivation, Part 2
on March 10, 2011 at 5:00 amPosted In: Blog, Making Graphic Novels
There WAS a guest post by Emily Ivie of mleiv.com here but recently that she let me repost on my blog. It was a great article about motivation but I decided to remove it because Google recently announced that they will penalize blogs that have duplicate content. So… sorry. I gotta play by the rules.
Sorry bout that!
I like this, and am happy you got permission and posted it where I might see it. Much applies to writing prose – now to apply it!
thanks for sharing.
It;s easy to lose focus when you have responsibilities hanging over your head like the sword of Damacles. You can’t forget about feeding your family, but you also can’t let it weigh you down and disrupt the good work you’re producing.
I’d like to point out that for all those people who are trying to make a go of it online or considering it, that they read the works of prominent bloggers and other folks making a living with online marketing. You don’t have to buy into their products or services, but you can see how they hustle to make things work. A lot of them are willing to share tips on how to stay motivated, how to move forward, how to cope with fear, etc.
All this applies to things we as Graphic Novellists are trying to do.
Thanks for posting this, Jason. :)
Perfectionist?
Thy name is mine.
You wouldn’t believe how many things that I did were completely ruined by being a nitpicking perfectionist. Just have to let your intuition run free, it is the greatest tool to making an accomplished drawist. Nitpicking just drains the natural flow out of your work and makes it stiff (at least if it is pertaining to linework).
I recognize almost every tip in this series. That’s why I’m NOT a musician and I spend my time regretting this fact.
Kids, this series is GOLD. Print it out and read it every day.
It was the Spanish Surrealist painter Salvador Dali (1904-1989) who said “Have no fear of perfection. You will never reach it.” In fact, I frequently retweet that quote daily.
Thank you for posting this! All of this applies to other arts as well. When I read this, I imagined all of the hours spent on being paralyzed by perfectionism when I could have been finishing music compositions…
“even your best work will seem pretty pathetic in a few years” – that’s completely true.
Motivation and self discipline is a very difficult pet to tame. Although it can sometimes be easier to have good things land on our laps or have people tell us what to do, many rewarding things can still come out of pushing (with a lot of damn effort) out of the square.