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The road is both smooth and bumpy so hold on tight, let go, and come along for the ride. What will you need? A good heart, a few minutes, some courage, a lot of art medicine, a sketch book, and the re-membering of how to play and create a new world with every breath you take! May you be blessed more than ever!
For the last several months I have been working freelance on a film as a concept artist. Each new week I have found myself standing in front of a new story to begin creating art around. The Director is very hands off, he says. "have a go with the Thunder Spirit story," and so I do.
One week of work in a specific direction. Over the weeks what I found most interesting is that there seemed to be a creative flow that once I was aware of it was very supportive. That's what we all need as artists - support, mainly from within. I may have said this before but my experience being creative is that it's the most beautiful and difficult thing I know of. To stand in front of a blank canvas, an empty story to write, a week of concept art to create is a very humbling experience.
For years I have been exploring this subtle and profound territoryof the Creative Spirit. Here are some of my insights that may be helpful to you next time you begin a creative project.
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1
- Show up. Know
that in the END it is "always" better than you had imagined. All
you really have to do is keep showing up.
I
have making art for over 25 years. As long as I continue to work on a piece
it always gets better - all ways!
2 - Clean Up. Clean up, organize, get ready. And do this on the clock, it's still part of your project. Create the space for everything to come to you.
3 - Live . Think of the week as a life, something gets born, grows up, matures, gets old, and dies - or is complete. Thinking this way allows you to begin slowly, you work at a natural pace, not rushing anything. Laying the foundation of anything allows you to build well on top of that. I even say some prayers, ask for help, do a blessings on the project, light a candle, - this really helps me focus and be open for something greater than myself to be involved.
4 - Research. Hit the library, the book store, your own library. Gather any and all information that supports your project. Gather other books even related to what you are doing, example : other books of concept art. Do this also on the clock. This is part of the foundation. Put these books and images all around you. These inspirations will begin to sink into you. When you feel stuck, just walk around and look at everything you have gathered, the next idea is only waiting for you to be open to it.
5 - Warm Up. Before you actually put pencil to paper, stretch your body, take a hot tub, do some other art / play totally unrelated, something that warms you up.
6 - Loose Beginnings. Begin to draw (or write, or dance). The first pass at anything should be very loose and free, see how open you cna really be, open and grounded. With drawing, totally throw out any and all preconceived ideas about drawing well. Begin to make piles of any and all ideas. Your real job is to just go. Done well, this can be the most joyful part of the entire project. Don't edit yourself and DON'T spend more than a few minutes on anything. If you find yourself slowing down, feeling like you went down a dead-end - stop! Begin another idea, it's never far away.
7 - Trust. Continue the trust the process. Trust yourself. The more intuitive you become the more you will see that everywhere you look are new ideas that support where you are at. While I am even driving, sitting in the steam room at the gym, I get some really great "hits" on the project.
8 - Focus and Support. Stay focused. Cancel other dates and things that don't support this work. If you have a partner, tell them what is up this week and ask them to extra help - kids, meals, etc. Contain your energy, consistency here is a key, keep moving, keep in hte flow. Stay up late. When everyone else goes to sleep there is more creative energy in the air. Or get up early - get to your creaitve place at 5am.
9 - Use Everything. Use any and everything. Using a model is so supportive. I got my neighbor teenage boy to go shoot arrows (the film is Native American), climb trees, even get into a swimming pool with me using a cheep underwater camera.
10 - Mid week. Keep the initial idea phase up longer than you would originally think. A great idea is better than a good painting. I like to keep this idea time up until the end of day 3. I now have a pile of ideas that I have only made ONE pass on and not looked at all. I now look at everything. Make two piles, good ones, bad ones.
11 - Second Pass. Now that I have my good pile I begin to go over them for the second time. With concept art I use a lot of tracing paper and pencils. I would also do quick paintings for the really good ideas - the KEY pieces, not spending too much time on anything. Keep it moving. Day 4 would be the day to do second passes on everything. Sometimes a second pass would be all it takes. Many times it takes one more. Rule of thumb - plan on three passes, this really works well.
12 - Pulling it all together. By night four I would begin to scan in all my drawings and paintings. Day 5 would be digitally touching up anything that still needed to be worked on. With this project I delivered all my work through the web. I placed everything into a digital format and placed them in DreamWeaver and ftp them to a password protected place on my web site.
13 - Acknowledge Yourself. Other people will have great and not-so great things to say about your work. The most important person to acknowledge is yourself. YOU DID IT!!! Now take time just for yourself to really get how hard you worked. This form of inner acknowledgment is priceless and really one of the most profound things you can do.