Hit a milestone over the weekend–not one explicitly described or put on paper, but a mental one–and now I’m in need of a break.
When your brain + body just refuses to create more art, when the well feels dry and the little creator-elves inside just drop their wrenches and walk off the site…you know it’s time to do something else for a little bit. This is one of (my) life’s repeating lessons: while being in “the zone” feels good, you gotta have some balance. Know when to listen to the body/soul and pull out. Go for a hike, see some live music, have a drink if you need one, watch a movie, go on a day trip, switch up the scenery.
The warning signs were there: social skills getting very slippery. Dropping things, bumping into stuff, shaving time off my regular “wellness” practices because the zone just needed my attention. Then hitting that inevitable brick wall you should have seen coming, had you been watching the road. Not a crash, mind you, but something even funnier; simply running out of gas, just at the right time before disaster struck.
And while this is all coming off as super vague, said project I’ve been grinding on for the past 6 weeks or so has been shared, as it’s been in a work-in-progress, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Just a small snippet from a conversation I had w/ a friend who caught a glimpse during lunch:
The other comments I get in-person can’t really be shared here, but all positive and supportive. As much as I want to share WIP stuff with the world, I’m holding off for now until it’s all done. I really do value the feedback I get from “non-artist” types, as they view things from a less academic viewpoint, and more about how it makes them feel.
When it comes to creating art, I’m slow, but the intention with this project has been to follow my heart and really enjoy the process. I’d hate to reduce this to drudgery.
That being said, I’m not even going to look at it today. I’ve finished 5 characters and 5 props in about 6 weeks, and I have 3 more to go before moving on to texturing and rigging. In the meantime, I’ll fulfill my duties to my employer(s) + students, and make it a point to get away from the computer, out into the world, and enjoy a bit of life.
I’ll leave with this: a teacher once told me that creativity is born from a lack, from a void. I find this to generally ring true, but in a slightly different way than they may have intended: my creativity is lacking right now because I’ve spent it up, and my life is lacking because I’ve paid little attention to it. I sense if I fill my life up a bit, my creativity will grow lonely and call for me once again. We’ll see!
-M
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