The stuff you don’t see
A while ago I decided that I wasn’t going to publish all my daily drawings. Partially that was because I knew I was going away, and I didn’t want to publish a month’s worth of, well, very everyday drawings when I got back.
It was also because I wanted to give myself a chance to do stuff knowing that I wouldn’t have to show it to anybody. I could draw more from my imagination that way, and if something turned out really badly, no one would have to know.
It’s been freeing, but that’s had its good and its bad points. On the one hand, my daily drawings from this last month have definitely been more about playing around with whatever’s in my head at the time. Which I like. As it turns out, I draw more naked people if I don’t have to show anyone.
And then there are the weird pages that never would have happened if I’d been drawing only the objects around me. Like this one, featuring my knee, a neuron, and some kind of screaming robot. Um.
On the other hand, publishing every day kept me more honest. There are more days than I’d like from the last little while where it’s all just a bit half-assed. Too often, drawing is the last thing I do just before bed, and you can tell all I want to do is shut off the light as quickly as possible.
So: a bit of bootstrap-pulling necessary now. Taking more time, publishing more, and probably less drawing just before bed.
