The Brick Wall (creative block)

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Man, I'm about creatively tapped out. It's only been a couple of weeks now that I've been trying to update my cartoon blog five days a week, and I'm just posting crap to stay on schedule right now. The last two days' entries aren't so much embarassing as practically non-existent. I know the classic advise for overcoming creative block: Just do it. Even if you can't think of anything to write/draw/play/whatever, write or draw or play anyway. Make it a discipline, and do it til you have something, ANYTHING. Because it's better than nothing.

Got any other insights?

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Friday, 12 August 2005 03:44 (twenty years ago)

Artist's Way... it'll help as you need it, I swear.

― Remy (x Jeremy), Friday, 12 August 2005 03:49 (twenty years ago)

And yeah, I know the description sounds hokey as all get-out. But it's saved my ass many, many times.

― Remy (x Jeremy), Friday, 12 August 2005 03:50 (twenty years ago)

Pretend you're someone else. Like, think of an artist you like (or maybe one you don't). What would they draw? What do you think they're working on right now? Or what would you like them to be working on? Which isn't to say you should rip off someone else's style, exactly. I mean, you're trying to emulate not stuff they've done before but what they're doing now -- which is impossible to know, for the most part. So it's not their style, it's yours, just accessed in a roundabout way.

― as it clung to her thigh I started to cry (pr00de), Friday, 12 August 2005 03:50 (twenty years ago)

pr00d's right. Also, stop putting so much pressure on yourself to be good. Think of your creativity like your batting average: if you're hitting a .278 you're doing far, far better than most people. And who cares if half of what you turn out is incomplete, unsatisfying? You're under no obligation to be 'on' all the time.

― Remy (x Jeremy), Friday, 12 August 2005 03:53 (twenty years ago)

And if all else fails, there are always the oblique strategies.

― pr00de: as it clung to her thigh I started to cry (pr00de), Friday, 12 August 2005 03:54 (twenty years ago)

heh - my challenge right now is to simply be productive. Good comes later, I figure.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Friday, 12 August 2005 03:58 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, I hear that. So maybe set yourself a modest goal every day?

― pr00de: as it clung to her thigh I started to cry (pr00de), Friday, 12 August 2005 03:59 (twenty years ago)

This is an odd strategy (thanks, Julia Cameron!) but it works amazingly well for me: Find a picture of somebody who embodies your inner critic. That loathsome, vile, nagging little voice. Mine's Charles Laughton from Mutiny on the Bounty. Get a photo and throw it on the wall. Every time you get hit a creative wall just look at it and scream, or draw an X or hairy eyebrows or something. Sounds stupid, but it also does a good job of forcing you to externalize your angst.

― Remy (x Jeremy), Friday, 12 August 2005 04:05 (twenty years ago)

x-post, responding to Dr00de

Well, that's it exactly. My goal is to post five cartoon strips on my blog, one a day, Monday through Friday. The problem is to draw something, especially a cartoon strip, you have to start with an idea. I tried to sidestep that by making the gimmick that I post the strip without dialog and leave it to the reader to fill it in via comments, but I'm not getting much feedback, which was supposed to help me come up with - you guessed it - more ideas.

Ironically, when I hit that oblique strategies link (and thanks, I bookmarked it) the first one I got was 'simple subtraction' - for example, leaving out dialog.

(I actually keep two blogs, but they're basically identical cause I know one group of people on LJ and another on Blogger)

Here they are:

http://www.oilyrags.blogspot.com

http://www.livejournal.com/users/oilyrags

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Friday, 12 August 2005 04:07 (twenty years ago)

er, um, Pr00de

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Friday, 12 August 2005 04:07 (twenty years ago)

The added bonus is that everyone around thinks you're fucking nuts, so you learn to nip your frustration in the bud and cut-off the need for a screaming match with a photograph.

― Remy (x Jeremy), Friday, 12 August 2005 04:07 (twenty years ago)

Austin, those are wonderful.

― Remy (x Jeremy), Friday, 12 August 2005 04:08 (twenty years ago)

Aw, shucks.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Friday, 12 August 2005 04:09 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, I think I almost prefer them without dialogue.

― pr00de: as it clung to her thigh I started to cry (pr00de), Friday, 12 August 2005 04:12 (twenty years ago)

My favorite stuff in comics has always been pantomimed and heavily gestural, reliant on body language and facial expressions and all that. I'm one of those freaks who (almost) prefers Pink Panther to Bugs Bunny.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Friday, 12 August 2005 04:14 (twenty years ago)

Are you thinking yourself to a stop?

― Remy (x Jeremy), Friday, 12 August 2005 04:19 (twenty years ago)

Uh...maybe? What does that mean?

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Friday, 12 August 2005 04:20 (twenty years ago)

Overthinking what you're doing or what it's about? Rather than just drawing and seeing what pops out?

― pr00de: as it clung to her thigh I started to cry (pr00de), Friday, 12 August 2005 04:21 (twenty years ago)

Ah. Yeah, that's sometimes been a problem. Especially since I can't afford pot anymore.

(about half joking there)

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Friday, 12 August 2005 04:23 (twenty years ago)

Do you allow yourself time to just sketch around?

― Remy (x Jeremy), Friday, 12 August 2005 04:26 (twenty years ago)

This thread has some writer's block advice and so could be useful for the writing side of comics:

http://ilx.p3r.net/thread.php?msgid=5005562

― RR (restandrec), Friday, 12 August 2005 04:26 (twenty years ago)

I think pots partly the reason why I'm NOT creative much anymore :( and it is depressing the fuck out of me.

I love yr cartoon concept Austin! May I add you to my LJ FL?

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 12 August 2005 04:28 (twenty years ago)

No, and that HAS been a real problem. Back when I was in school, we'd loosen up for about a half hour in any given class before getting down to the real work, and so I was getting a lot more done and it was a lot better.

Fuckin' earning a living bullshit...

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Friday, 12 August 2005 04:28 (twenty years ago)

Hell yeas, Trayce.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Friday, 12 August 2005 04:29 (twenty years ago)

Being addicted to message boarding isn't helping me with time management for drawing any, either, of course.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Friday, 12 August 2005 04:31 (twenty years ago)

Austin, I think the latest one you posted is actually the most interesting. I would say to just keep at it, continue what you're doing, and see where that takes you. I know that's not the most helpful or concrete piece of advice but I think the idea of pushing yourself to put something, anything up each day is a good one.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Friday, 12 August 2005 04:31 (twenty years ago)

I don't have writers' block... I just can't seem to find the *time* to be creative any more. Which is perhaps even more of teh suX0r.

― Alce Tea-Skirt (kate), Friday, 12 August 2005 06:57 (twenty years ago)

My problem is that I can't write anything without instantly realising that it's actually really, really terrible. Finding the energy, too, is another problem.

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Friday, 12 August 2005 06:59 (twenty years ago)

I had a breakthrough last night after I realised that drawing was actually supposed to be 'enjoyable'. my brick wall had become hardened over the past year and I came to the conclusion last night that I have been thinking far too much about the whole thing, too much pressure on having to create something that other people would appreciate rather than stuff that myself just wants to have fun with.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Friday, 12 August 2005 07:54 (twenty years ago)

My personal problem at the moment is that I've put myself under pressure to actually deliver something to someone (in this case a small demo to a promoter), which means that I've robbed myself of the space and time I need in order to create something I'm happy with.

In all aspects of my life I work better under pressure, but music is the one exception--feeling that I need to deliver something very, very good and very, very soon has put me under too much pressure and it's stifling me badly. I get frustrated and annoyed because things don't come together quickly, and each minute of useless music is another minute closer to the actual deadline.

― tissp! (the impossible shortest specia), Friday, 12 August 2005 08:44 (twenty years ago)

I like those kinds of deadlines - especially in music. Because I tend to such perfectionism that I could go on mixing forever. (Kevin Shields, anyone?) Deadlines such as for demos force me to make decisions quickly. And quick decisions are often gut reactions, which tend to be better in aesthetic judgements.

Maybe that's what I need. A deadline. Oh, yes, and also my laptop to be fixed. And another day every week.

― Alce Tea-Skirt (kate), Friday, 12 August 2005 08:49 (twenty years ago)

And some amphetamines. (Net effect of creating an extra day)

― tissp! (the impossible shortest specia), Friday, 12 August 2005 08:50 (twenty years ago)

(Possibly)

― tissp! (the impossible shortest specia), Friday, 12 August 2005 08:50 (twenty years ago)

Sigh. I miss speed. It's so not good for me, though.

― Alce Tea-Skirt (kate), Friday, 12 August 2005 08:50 (twenty years ago)

Speaking of which, it's coffee time now.

― Alce Tea-Skirt (kate), Friday, 12 August 2005 08:50 (twenty years ago)

Don't worry about the messageboard addiction. I believe that we have almost a metabolic productive/non-productive time ratio. If you weren't posting you'd be playing solitaire or eating or cruising the web for indoor-outdoor ping-pong tables. I prime the pump by churning out a bunch of crap until the good stuff starts coming. Just the movement of your pen-hand will stimulate your brain. It's like how forcing the zygomatious (sp?) muscles to form a smile actually improves peoples' moods.

― Beth Parker, Friday, 12 August 2005 12:13 (twenty years ago)

The Oblique Strategies have been very, very good to me over the years.

Also: screw the feedback--I can't come up with any for those strips, but I like 'em!

Again, assuming that the point is to make something rather than something good is a useful strategy. Or you can try to make something deliberately bad but complicated, which is fun to do.

― Douglas (Douglas), Friday, 12 August 2005 12:42 (twenty years ago)

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