Getting Started

For a long time now I've been fighting with one problem. This problem affects all artists at some point, and, to a lesser degree, everyone else. Getting started.

Being lazy sucks. You never feel like doing anything and then later you feel like crap because you haven't done anything. I'm there all the time. I hate the solution because it's so simple and yet, even for as simple as it is, I refuse to acknowledge it or do anything about it.

I guess I'm writing this because I feel like I need to start doing things again and with greater frequency. A while back I got some of the most profound and depressing information, an epiphany during a TEDx program on YouTube. The message is "You'll never feel like doing it." and that was exactly right. I never feel like doing the things I want to do. Getting started is the worst part of it.

You'd think that with that realization I'd push myself to overcome it. So did I. But rather, it's easier for me to do the opposite. Forget that realization because it makes me even less able to start. That hardest part of it all is the easiest thing to do, and I hate it and myself for not doing it.

I guess I'm fishing for external motivation, or maybe just someone who's like me and can offer some advice other than "Just get started." I know there's no better advice and the best of what I've created has come from a spur of the moment idea that I for got how to get started and just did it.

I just realized something while writing this, something that I think will help any one of you. You've already gotten started. Whatever it is that you're working on, you've already started on it.

For example, I have hundreds of drawing ideas that I desperately want to do and I can talk about them all day. You'd think that just having the idea or talking about doing something might mean I haven't started on it yet, but you'd be wrong. By having the idea and thinking it through a little, even just a little, I've already started on it. I already know what it is and all I have to do now is go pick up a pencil or my tablet and draw it out. It's the same for a story. I've got the ideas, now all I need to do is continue thinking it through by writing it down.

Everything you do is an idea, starts as an idea. Why not make that idea bigger or better by going and getting the thing you need to bring it out into the world? You're not starting anything, you're continuing it, finishing it!

Go finish your ideas! I know I am. Show me what this has inspired you to finish.

Comments

[sevenofeleven]

Actually there's a Ted talk about that.
This guy interviewed a bunch of successful people to try to find out why there are successful.
He came up with eight factors.

The part I remembered was if you have passion, you will do the other things that lead to success.
For writing, if you really want it, you will do what it takes.

Passion is very important.

Let me know if you want the link to the passion Ted talk.
I might have it bookmarked.
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Visual arts like drawing/painting are a bit different than writing.
Its easier to find objective criteria than for writing.

Draw a tree.
Is it good? Look outside and see.
Check pictures on the internet or check pictures in a magazine.
Adjust if needed. Also it depends on style mood, etc.

Write a story.
Is it good?
What do you compare it against?
You need another person(s) to give feedback.
You can't use objective criteria to judge your own work.

Yes, there is software that will check for grammar and other areas but it won't tell
if your story is interesting. It won't tell if the chars are flat or well developed.

[Ravvij]

4154481 I would very much like the link to that video!

Well, being an artist, I can say it's not always easy to just draw something. Sure I can draw anything I can see, but I want to draw from my imagination more often than draw from realism. So, in a way, drawing is actually much harder than writing. Writing itself is a technical skill and not always subject to the freedom of style and design that drawing is. Also, there's the "has this been done before?" problem you'll come across more often in writing than drawing.

[sevenofeleven]

4154679
Here are the videos.

Passion

Eight traits of successful people
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOl0v54DaXo

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Also, there's the "has this been done before?" problem you'll come across more often in writing than drawing.

There is no such thing as a totally original story.
If there was, how would people relate to it?

I have seen different people draw the same stuff but sometimes they add their own spin and it's more interesting.

I don't worry about being original, I try to tell a good story.
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Well, being an artist, I can say it's not always easy to just draw something. Sure I can draw anything I can see, but I want to draw from my imagination more often than draw from realism.

I have read in magazines and books that drawers should start with the basics.

One example is anatomy. If you understand how the body works, this will help you draw people better with more natural poses. Once you understand the basics, you have a foundation to draw from your imagination.

Realism might be your building block to draw from the imagination.

Have you heard about a magazine called ImagineFX?

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So, in a way, drawing is actually much harder than writing. Writing itself is a technical skill and not always subject to the freedom of style and design that drawing is.

I don't know about that. You might be right or maybe that's right for you.

I don't agree that writing is a technical skill. I can agree that most or a lot is but not all.
If it was all technical, computers without human guidance would be doing it.
So far computers can't. Yet.

As far as style in writing goes, I don't know.

When someone says I have a particular style...
That's when the bat flies toward my head and I'm not allowed to duck. Ouch.
I can see it in other people's work but I don't see it my work.