With great relief, I delivered yesterday some artwork on a job that I have been working on off-and-on for quite a while. One of the aspects of working at home is the lack of structure and, for me, that sometimes can be a drawback in that it results in a lack of focus… There are those days where a good drawing doesn’t seem to flow out of the pencil…
On days such as those, while working at a 9-to-5 job in a company, surrounded by producers brandishing schedules, I’m obliged to stick at it until a good drawing does appear or submit whatever comes out of the pencil, no matter what it looks like.
But when working at home, it is tempting to walk away from the desk and wait until the muse magically appears… That tendency was compounded by the fact that this particular job had no firm deadline, which allowed me to procrastinate, spin my wheels and meander to my heart’s content.
Until last week anyway, when the hammer finally came down and I was told to wrap it up this week, which required a desperate push to tidy up all the scribbles I had been doing over the past few weeks and arrange them into some kind of a presentable package…
Maybe I need to work in a shared studio again… I am getting a little weary of working at home and stewing in my own juices
Suh-weet! There’s a nice feeling to this. I like the muted colors and how they make the jet streams really pop.
Yep, working at home can DEFINITELY be tough. You’ve got a great drawing posted. I too like the muted colours and how the jet streams pop. I’m a fan of speed lines as well. Don’t know why…
yeah i hear you jamie-
i’ve always found that working from home, while it has distinct advantages and freedoms, can also be frustrating, lonesome, and nebulous. there’s a certain strength that can come from creating in context with other artists, and having a deadline that isn’t self regulated can help you break through those pockets of distraction and sluggishness…
i also love being surrounded by other artists because i’m constantly being reminded of other perspectives and methodologies…also, you get a fresh take on your own stuff, which can be vital in the darker patches of the creative process.
sometimes i wonder what the perfect harmony is…i know we all share fond memories of a shared studio space that has enough people for variety, but few enough to maintain intimacy. lots of folks who work in big studios can feel overwhelmed by the sheer numbers and the inevitable meddling of middle management. but strangely, i think those things can help the artist fight for their point of view…to better bolster their identity…i mean, if there aren’t wolves at the gates, are we capable of mustering the mighty forces required be a professional artist?
Benton>> Thanks. I was pleased with how the job came out in the end, despite all my noodling around at the early stages. I definitely get better results when I either use fewer colours or muted colours or both. When colouring using analog media, my natural tendency is to use a fruit-salad palette; an overpowering barrage of hyper-saturated colours. So one of the great things about working digitally is that I can slide that saturation down when required.
John>> yeah speed-lines… I think it is a relatively easy way to make some thing look more dynamic. Plus you don’t have to draw a “real” background!
Derek>> thanks for commenting, Derek. One of my happiest creative experiences was working with you at Maverix, and in particular that 4 month period where you, Bosco and I all knuckled down and made our first self-published comic books.
As to your idea of a Darwinian environment forcing artists to fight for their visions, I think that definitely works for some people. I know that a lot of artists confess that deadlines and pressure brings out their best work. However, I think that other artists find that atmosphere creatively stifling and emotionally undermining, so I think it is a case by case sort of thing.
For me, I think I need a balance between the two. I like being part of a team or a community but I also need my alone time. Too much of either doesn’t work for me.
But you are certainly right that when we don’t have people pushing us we often don’t do anything at all. It is a constant source of disappointment to me that I am nowhere near as productive when working for myself on my own projects as when I am working for someone else…
You are always welcome at my studio Jamie- Rent free.
sam
Sam>> That is a very nice offer. that San Francisco-Minneapolis commute would be a killer though, eh?