Have you ever noticed? When the hero finally decides that he’s going to pursue the quest, it is just the beginning. The beginning of the fight. The beginning of his struggle.
That’s how it has been for me.
>Come on, of courseI’m the hero in my own life’s story. Aren’t you?<
Just because I made the decision to commit to my dreams, the doubts and fears didn’t stop bombarding my mind. In fact, they doubled up!
But, now that I’ve decided, I’ve committed,nothing can stop me. The doubts and fears hit me like mosquitoes throwing themselves on a bug zapper.
Dddzzzzzzztt!
There goes another one.
Mmm… Smells a little acrid.
Like roasted mosquito wings.
Ha!
You’ll find that the fight is just beginning when you take your leap of faith.
Sometimes the fight seems to intensify.
As if something in the universe doesn’t want you to succeed.
Ha!
Just remember the smell of mosquito wings.
The anti-creative myths
There is an unending series of thoughts that will resist your decision to follow your creative dreams. Don’t you believe them.
To help expose the lies, I’m starting a series on the “anti-creative myths” — those ideas that pop up and try to become our pet excuses for not creating what fires our imaginations.
This series is not in order of importance or frequency or anything other than “as I think of it”. Please join the conversation by commenting — what anti-creative thoughts tend to stop your creative efforts cold? How do you combat your worst anti-creative thoughts?
This post will serve as an index for the series. Enjoy! And may these myths fall ineffective before our collective defenses, exposed now as the lies they are!
It’s either genetics or the intrinsic paradox of the creative personality.
In childhood, I loved to create. My dad always encouraged me. He’s an artist at heart.
But I was also driven to pursue straight a’s. My mother is utterly practical, pragmatic and highly logical. Her presence was a constant reminder to stay focused on “reality”. And yet I read books like breathing: constantly, as if my life depended on it. Escaping into worlds created by others, I quickly yearned to create such worlds of my own. I wrote stories that challenged my teacher’s preconceptions about what was possible: Indiana Jones goes to Narnia.
In my teen years, I used my intelligence and the opportunities my parents provided to graduate early and go to junior college at 16 years. To satisfy my mother’s practical demands, I worked during the summers. But when I finally decided on my major, somehow I chose art.
You’d think I was off to a great start on the creative life.
But then, after graduating with an A.A. degree at 18 years old, I figured it was time for the foolishness of youth to end. Time to get “a real job”. My mother’s practical voice drowned out the daydreamer voice of my dad. And I started working for a temp agency doing office work. I was a receptionist. A filing clerk. A data entry drone. A technical writer and illustrator. A software manual publisher. A software interface designer.
I became a writer/designer of online help manuals when hypertext started its world debut as the World-Wide Web in the early-mid 90’s. Just in time to enter into HTML and web design on the ground floor. Today, I have over a decade of professional web design experience.
But I haven’t finished my first graphic novel.
I haven’t done a single digital painting that I’m satisfied with.
I haven’t finished my first movie script.
The things that matter most to my creative heart were neglected. Not for lack of interest. Not for lack of time. Not for lack of talent, software or opportunity.
It wasn’t even the fault of my left-brain-dominant mother.
Mostly, it was out of fear.
The shifty, shady, insidious root of fear
I could fill a tome thicker than a bible with the excuses that have traveled through my gray cells over my lifetime so far. Excuses not to do my art.
I’m convinced that these excuses are not born within us, though we certainly give them homes. I believe there is a dark force in the world that desires to steal every good thing, to kill every wonderful creation, to destroy every destiny. That’s just what I believe.
Whatever the source, when we examine our reasons for not pursuing our art, it’s surprising how many excuses are rooted in fear.
Fear of rejection.
Fear of neglecting important things.
Fear of failure.
Oddly, fear of success.
What has changed?
I share this story to give a backdrop to my presence here in this part of net-space. Because of my professional design background, I have all the technical tools I need: software, hardware, speedy net access. My artistic skills are somewhat polished, and I can draw or illustrate electronically just about anything a client might need.
But I’m new to the manga and digital art world, where my heart truly lies. And so I speak with the voice of experience — yet with the humility of a newbie. (Probably a good policy to stick with, regardless of how “expert” one becomes in a field.)
You see, I made a decision a little while ago. A decision that has changed my life.
I chose to believe.
To believe that what I dream is what I’m created to do.
Who I’m created to be.
No longer an office drone.
No longer a doubting Thomas.
No longer a victim of circumstance.
A believer.
A creator.
A writer.
Every week now, I write.Something.
Every week now, I draw.Something.
Every week now, I overcome.Something.
I am artist.Hear me roar!
What about you?
So? What areyouwaiting for?
Have you taken the leap yet?
The leap of faith?
What have you dreamed all your life, but never dared to believe? Leave a comment and share! Let’s believe together for the fulfillment of our destinies!
Yeah, okay, so why is this blog here? And what’s in it for YOU?
There are thousands of us out here: creative artists or writers with great dreams of making a living doing our art. And there are thousands of obstacles between us and our destinies, and probably millions of excuses that we’ve allowed to block our progress, in one way or another.
Well, NO MORE.
I’m here to say “I’M LIVING THE DREAM” and I believe you can, too. So stay tuned and sign up for my RSS feed to get regular shots in the arm from Dr. Thea, CgD. Everything from resources you can use (Photoshop brushes, links to great online freebies, etc) to practical tips on being more creative and achieving your dreams, one step at a time.
Tried and true
And listen, you’ve got my commitment that this isn’t empty, regurgitated theoretical advice I read in a book somewhere. I’m gonna tell it to you like it is for me every day. If I give you a tip, it’s gonna be ’cause I walked it out myself and proved it works.
Ready for the ride? I am! If you’re on this creative journey, too, let’s link arms and travel it together for a while. Two heads are better than one, they say. When it comes to creativity, it’s absolutely true. Just imagine what we’ll have when there’s a hundred or thousand of us together? Sounds like heaven to me.
just a little something I’m sharing with the world
just for you, all my loyal readers, i’d like to share this free download: an elegant HTML/CSS website template.
if you have a regular HTML website (rather than a blog) and are looking for nice (and free!) website layouts, then you may appreciate this resource. the design is completely customizable, a simple yet robust web template.
(click the image to see the live demo)
website template description and features:
two HTML pages: the home page and a sub-page template
centered fixed width content
full width horizontal bars of color (aka Web 2.0 style)
never pass up a chance to learn something from other creative projects!
i was deeply touched by the recent Transformers movie.
>to listen to a very cool Transformers theme by Mute Math,
see this YouTube video (it will open in a separate window —
start it up,
then come back here to read
with the theme in the background… heh-heh) <
although the cartoon has pretty much faded into my childhood memories, i can find in the corners of my consciousness a fondness for Optimus Prime and his metal compatriots. two quotes stand out in my mind:
Optimus Prime’s deep voice ordering, “autobots, roll out!”
and
Starscream (appropriately) screaming, “retreat! retreat!”
lesson #1: the sky is no longer the limit
i was walking through an electronics store when i first saw the movie trailer. it stopped me in my tracks.
i caught my breath.
tears came to my eyes.
it was a spiritual experience.
not because i love Transformers so much. i don’t really care about them. it was because of the possibilities that opened up before my inner eyes when i saw those images.
someone had brought a cheesy animated cartoon to life in a way that made them look utterly, completely REAL.
ANYTHING is possible now.
lesson #2: the secret to entertaining a wider audience
the second time i watched Transformers, i realized what a clever thing they’d done with the presentation of the story.
they had three major interlocking, overlapping plotlines, and each appealed to a different segment of movie-goers:
the war story, with the brave soldiers
the teen romance story, with the geeky boy and hot chick
the hackers story, with sci-fi robots and the unlikely alliance between hackers and the government
isn’t that brilliant?
macho guys watch the movie and like the soldiers and big robots.
chicks watch the movie and love the romance.
teens watch the movie and relate to the main characters.
etc.
there’s the “cool car” element, the awkward family moments, the hilarious “sector seven” idiot agents mocking all things MiB/X-files/secret government agencies. the Spanish-speaking soldier spoke to the cultural divides in America. even a silly little Taco Bell dog for pet lovers.
in some ways, the handling and timing of all these elements muddied the story, but their inclusion touched a wider audience.
want your story to have wider appeal? choose your main viewpoint characters and main plotlines with thought towards major demographics.
just make sure you still love the story you’re telling. if you’re bored or not into some of your characters, it will probably show. create characters you care about, just stretch yourself and create ones outside your own usual characteristics (age, occupation, personality).
i love this about a lot of Japanese manga, too. they have so many characters, you gotta relate to someone in them!
your turn
so what did you notice in this movie? any lessons learned?
even if you weren’t watching it to learn anything,
think about what you really liked.
why did it appeal to you?
think about parts that bugged you.
how did they miss the mark?
comments, please!
bonus: my fav quotes
“it’s like a super-advanced robot… it’s definitely Japanese.”
“he’s not a rodent, he’s a chihuahua.”
ironhide: “the parents are very irritating. can I take them out?”
optimus: “you know we don’t harm humans.”
re: the Nokia phone turned decepticon:
“the itty bitty energizer bunny from hell…”
fellow prisoner: “what’d they get you for?”
sam: “i bought a car. it turned out to be an alien robot. who knew?”