Just Create - Herein Edition

[silvercat17]

(I was helping mom decipher lawyer-stuff from the 1900s)

What are you working on? What have you finished? What do you need encouragment on? Are there any cool events or challenges happening that you want to hype? What do you just want to talk about?

Chores and other not-fun things count!

Remember to encourage other commenters and we have a discord where we can do work-alongs and stuff, linked in the sticky

This month I'm hosting:
Pirate Fest on AllBingo - digital or nautical piracy themed prompts for anything you want to make

Comments

[zenigotchas]

I did complete my month long drawing training arc, so not only do I now have a lot of pages in my sketchbook filled!! But I also notice a change in my technique and how I approach drawings. Am I some master now? No, but I did improve and that feels really good. I also learned a lot about scheduling and what does and doesn't work for me, so take THAT executive dysfunction! I've made a bunch of notes during this time and I'm happy about that too. Kind of amazing how much progress can be made even if you're just doing small things.

ANYWAY. I'm actually having fun brainstorming for my fiction now. The OG stuff is still in the early gestation period so it's a bunch of ideas being thrown at the wall to see what sticks, but at least I'm still fucking with it and making cards and rearranging/editing them is fun.

Sometimes it can be so fun to do that that you end up accidentally putting in so many details in another project that it goes from a 3 sentence fic into a very detailed look into someone's pysche with themes of trying to make positive change while remaining stuck in the past, social awkwardness and doing your best as a single mom who may or may not also be a bit of an irresponsible cop. Oh and the timeline for another one of my fics is finally being worked on. I need to do more with these things, I think I am not doing enough because I feel I could get them finished faster if I did.

I need to figure out my next plan of creative attack. With charts.

Also I keep procrastinating on random fandom posts I've been dying to do. Not like.... Analysis but close enough to that??? I just need to sit down and finally write about the game I'm currently playing and how its character and level designs add to the surrealist symbols the game is using to tell its plot and themes. And then I need to write about the manga I'm struggling to finish (because it sucks) and how I think other adaptations from the same series handled the manga's themes better.

AND THEN I need to make ANOTHER post but about all the albums I've been listening to because there's a lot! And there's a lot of neat themes to dissect from the songs! And–

Yeah you get the idea it's a lot.

Oh and I still need to draw more.

[a_natural_beauty]

Congrats on finishing your drawing training! That sounds nice :-)

What sorts of charts will you make to help you?

[zenigotchas]

Thanks, it is a good confidence booster I will not lie.

As for charts: A lot. Scheduling stuff for starters, and mindmaps as well. Anything else I may throw at the wall to see what sticks, I'm experimenting.

[a_natural_beauty]

That sounds like a good way to stay motivated! I'm curious as to what a mindmap is, too... that sounds interesting.

[matsushima]

I would love to hear more about this drawing training arc! Did you follow a specific program or make it up as you go or…?

[zenigotchas]

It was planned a month in advance but basically:
1. I decided I would focus on ONE specific technique/aspect of drawing I wanted to improve at, in this case it was accuracy.

2. I looked up the different exercises for that and found blind contour drawing.

3. I spent a day collecting articles and vid tutorials and made a megathread for myself.

4. Then I picked a theme for my subjects and compiled a bunch of seperate folders, one for practice/studies and another for final images

5. After that I just would schedule my art projects week by week, doing 2 studies and 2 final images per week.

6. I also made small goals for the days I didn't have the energy to do much but still wanted to get things done.

Thanks for asking.

[matsushima]

I'm really impressed with how you structured this! Would you be OK if I borrowed your idea? (Like I said in my comment below, I'm not an illustrator/visual artist but I think I could benefit from doing something like this with my writing.)

[zenigotchas]

Yeah go for it

[dianec42]

Wow, that is a lot! Huzzah for accidental project planning lessons, those are the best.

[zenigotchas]

Thanks, it's..... A lot. Doesn't feel that way because it's been so small but yeah, it's been a lot lol. Yeah I almost want to make the original version and then make like, an extended cut because that'd be pretty funny, like I'm some movie director.