Temporary New Medium + Lecture on Burnt-out

EDITED:

7-23-13: Burntout Lecture - advice

*** Temporary New Medium ***

I apoligize for my lack of professionalism at the moment, and can assure you that I really only do that kind of quality for myself. Many would find this distasteful, unprofessional as it doesn't grace me or my art, but it is a necessary step towards rehabilitation from my living situation and post game-dev-ism and is merely temporary. It's also allowing me to experiment in a medium that I'm new in, and allows me to maintain a sense of flexibility without professionalism being an utter killjoy. Perfessionalism can be hazardous both to the mental health of the artist and their progession, which is why I often teach my students to be mildly dedicated when going through rough times or experimenting with something new. Flexibility is something all artists should be familiar with, both on a personal level and a professional.

In relation to this, Brim Star has been neglected for the longest, while Marionettes has been getting all the attention (when I was drawing/designing mecha) and I felt as though it has been patient enough and the tools I've attained (Tablet/Latop/PC) makes things much more enjoyable. So expect to see a wide majority, if not all my Brim Star Mecha colored this summer.

Once I have a majority of Brim Star mechs completed, I'll be moving onto Marionettes. I think it's safe to say I'm abadoning my previous to-do list for the moment, or until I feel that it's order-of-completion is desirable. Indeed, putting constraints IS ideal, because it simulates to real-business-world, but during burnout, it's more ideal to work on whatever makes you happy. Happiness and Patience, is paramount.

I do have some worthy advice: If you're in my shoes (burnt-out) do it right the first time. Clearly I'm not exactly doing that recently, as I STILL haven't finished a single mecha in ages. However, any progress is good progress, especially when ones creativity is fragile, taking smaller managable steps is paramount to recovery. Proper diet and environment is another, but that's often out of peoples hands.

So far, I'm regaining lost footing step by step, and most importantly I'm having fun thanks to the flexibility of the computer. I'm able to prototype much faster since I can draw with color without making a horrid mess on paper, I don't have to worry about erasing too much, tweaking the design is easy as pie and solving proportion errors ie easily solved by the Art-Programs' Tools. Though this isn't going to last forever, once I have my drive back I'll be going back to paper for my design purposes for a long list of reasons, many of which are easy to guess, others are for reasons that I won't list so I don't provoke irony; do pardon my vagueness. 

Professionals seeking my employment needn't worry about attaining sloppy and unprofessional art from me, you will always get Cut and Polished Gems because your business is dependant on it; if your intrigued and skeptical of my claim, send me a test and you'll be pleasantly surprised -call my bluff! ;D. Granted my current philosophy of "doing what your can" isn't professional and one should always seek professionalism and pride in ones work, cause it is a window into our mind, cause a job well done is it's own reward that will appreciate through time. But... There's really not a lot one can do with that reward in the real world. It really can't get you monthly pay checks, unless your employer truely sees your potential err... Regardless of my wishy-washy-ness, despite my history of putting designs off to the side, and my recent unprofessional work, don't breath-too-deep into it. 

*** Burnt-out ***

Burn-out: Beware of it. Given enough time and strife anyone can succumb to it, and it's very difficult to regain ones footing, and former drive. Avoiding it is also equally challenging, for your passion could also be your undoing, or it could be your job and your finally reaching burnt-out, so perhaps moderation is key if applicable; unless your lifestyle happens to work more in your favor. For recovering for Burnt-out, my advice is this:

ADVICE:

---Do whatever art you can. Any amount is good, but still try to put in a little more. Be sure to look at your work the following day to analyse what needs to be done next. In doing so, your bound to come across things that need fixing and will have a higher chance of being coaxed into working on it.

---Be kind to your body and you mind. Shed your obcessive perfectionalism, you'll pick it up again before too long and it will "fit" like it used to; being that artists are often very hard on ourselves, which is often detrimental to progess.

---Maintain a healthly diet, and try to find places/locations and people that make you happy; bonus points if they like your art-work and want to learn more about it. Exercise is good too.

---Try to finish something soon. Art is rewarding, but the trek can be tiresome, and we all just want to kick-back and stare at our creations. This can be problematic when your project is nearing completetion and your spending more time looking at it than finishing.

---If you have difficulty focusing, try the Grid-Method, where the entire project is divided up by a squared grid (much like how Anthropoligists and Gardeners use strings stretched across the area. This will help you maintain focus, and can help you finish your project faster one square at a time; though this doesn't directly apply to designing, but mostly coloring cause designing requires the eye/mind to hop around.

---Take a few hours to watching/studying/enjoying your favoriet sources of inspiration. Surely they'll help jump-start your creative-mojo.

---Strive for quality work: We're all very eager to sumbit our latest Art to be seen, we crave the recognition, respect, and fandom. We also enjoy spending a few hours staring at our accomplishments because it feels victorious, empowering, and indeed a job well done is it own reward. But unless your Art has quality behind it, you won't get very far and could be harmful as opposed to rehabilitative. We're not asking for a Mona-Lisa, that will come later, do what you can and try to make it presentable. The more quality you put into it, the better you'll feel, you'll get more feedback and you'll be more prone to continously output more art and gain more happiness from it.

--- *EDIT 72313* : Draw even if the desire is miniscule: This is very important to do, because your acting on desire even if it's nearly non existant. Your've got a tiny ember to start a fire, too much "air" forcefully will put it out, so small breathes will help let it grow steadily, or doing nothing could snuff it out. Granted you already feel awful, but try to do a little something on that tiny impulse, it can help you feel better and get the ball-rolling.

---Read. Get the mind moving, nothing is worse than boredom and confinement, it breeds discontentment which is nothing more than a downward spiral into deeper depression.

---Find love with common-interest. This is a no brainer. We can be very bitter internally whether it's the lack of it, or the lack of common-ground/interests. It MUST be genuine, or superfical emotions will only mask over the emptiness and remain once the romance has left. Also, the nice thing about commons ground is that it removes the awkward self-alienation from others. As artist we often seek solitude or a creative environment (like an art school) to gain creative vibes from others. So if your lover is also a graphic artist (or shares the art-medium-interest you have,) you won't feel guilty about not doing anything with them, cause in truth you really are sharing an experience with them! In addition, beware of letting your body go to seed, as this will only precipitate a lack of confidence and thusly make it more difficult to find that right person. I once met Dick Dale in person, and he gave me some very sound advice: Keep the body clean, and the mind will follow... Same applies to Romance. Few people want a malnurished person (they too could suffer from your same ailments and seek companionship to better themselves, in which case if the chemistry is good, I say go for it, because you'll be helping each other greatly.

---Have patience: This is one of the biggest mood killers, and the road to recovering can be long, but if your not patient with yourself then recover can be even longer and more arduous. Be your friend, not your enemy. As artists, we're often our worst enemy and it never goes to our favor, and is an often blended into perfectionalism. Patience... IS... A Virtue... If your feeling anxious, worried, angry, it often means we have too many things on our mind and we must seek solice within to over come it. Simplfy if you can. Sometimes our work schedule prevents such a thing (indeed, things are easier said than done...), but should such a thing prevent the complete pleasure of art, then do what you can no matter how small the input is and be sure to review it the following day or a few hours later to get back into it.

---Take a Break, but not too many: It's important to take a break here and there, but when you do be sure to return to your Art to look at it from the eyes of the "fan" instead of the "creator" taking a break can help put you in a different perspective. This also implies that you should refrain from working on it more, unless your driven to do so, in which case take it up again so your don't forget the correction or add-on. Remember that your rate of error climbs higher and higher the longer you work, and can hinder development because your getting blind to your design. So taking a break can be essential, or, moving onto your side project to get a fresher set of eyes. And be sure to return afterwards to continue working towards completetion. Its encouraged to keep your idle-art nearby for the quick glances inbetween your shows' commercials, or inbetween your fav songs, this way your looking at it with renewed eyes. Take notes on the side of the page if you must, I do it all the time! And people like that case it's something interesting to look at, very much like "behind the scenes" for a Movie.

---Have FUN! If your not having fun, your doing something wrong. Ask yourself questions of why your not enjoying the current project, maybe another would be more fun. What prides can be shed that are getting the way of progression and happiness? Remember that your trying to rebuild yourself, but it's also equallity important to have some amount of dedication because your trying to complete someting. Otherwise you'll end up with a ton of incomplete art *cough cough* >_>

BEWARE:

-Of beating yourself up

-Moving onto too many other projects/not finishing projects

-poor diet

-stressful environment

All in all, remember that your in a tender state, too much forceful art is detrimental for your creativity and remember, it's supposed to be fun! Ignore your prides. Yes you did it before, yes you can do it again, but the spirit is wiling but the flesh is weak, so it's impreitive to build yourself back up again, because your prides are like clothing and they don't always fit from time to time, or they can be too constrictive. Have fun, that is all. Cut corners if you have to in the name of progress (like how I'm finishing up my B.S. Mecha designs via Digital/Computer, rather than handdrawn.) And remember, you can ALWAYS go back and fix them again. Nothing is set in stone unless it's required or unless we "the artist" wants it.

Burnt-out: Be wary of it, be kind to yourself and be patient, and learn to deal with it appropriately, cause your art is your freedom, it's your life and it's you, and you don't want to regress back to the way you used to be. Art is progession of a persons internal expression. Should you find yourself beating yourself up, say "be kind to yourself" IE: "Joe, be kind to yourself..." -my name ISN'T Joe, fyi... XD

Have fun, and be kind to yourself!