Blog @ Canadian Geek

Today I wish to type about setting a clear goal.

It’s not as easy as it might sound.

“I want to be a comicbook artist.” This was my goal for many, many years. It’s a fine goal but it lacks clarity. Why? Well, what type of comicbook artist do I want to be? Want sort of fame level and size of fan base do I want? Do I want to paint comics or just draw them?

“I want to be a penciler for Marvel, DC or Dark Horse, with at least a one year contract”

or

“I want to help self publish a 120 page comicbook, for which I’m the penciler.”

These are specific goals. They have a more defined end to them and therefore are easier to define a path to get to them. The first goal is so vague that it’s hard to tell if I have reached my goal or not.

The second thing about a goal is it needs a timeline. This is very hard to do and will take much practice to get right. Take some time to really think about your plan and what sort of timeline will work for you. If your first date doesn’t work out for you, don’t give up! Reset your date with your new knowledge and try again.

The third thing is make it attainable. You want a goal that is challenging enough that it will keep you interested and engaged. Also it should be challenging enough that when you complete it, you feel better and stronger for having done so. But pick a goal that is attainable for you. Don’t fret though if you don’t think you can attain the goals you dream of. Set smaller goals that are of the same vein! As you complete these “lesser” goals you WILL become stronger and one day that goal of painting that Avengers graphic novel will seem more then in reach!

So be specific, set a date and make it just out of your reach (so that your forced to grow to reach it) but not so far out of reach that you leave yourself floundering for years on end. (Boy, do I know about that! lol)

Take care and don’t give up!

Bri

I’m about to share some info I got from a seminar at Comic Con put on by Douglas Neff. It’s all about goal setting! (as my catchy title lead you to believe )

He talks about ten (why is it always ten? ) magic coins. They are as follows….

1. There is no magic.

2.Make a clear goal.

3.Get some help.

4.One step at a time.

5.Play to your strengths.

6.Do your homework.

7.Expect breakdowns.

8.Know your nemesis.

9.Find your balance.

10. Never ever give up.

Over the next little bit, I’m going to share with you what he said on each of these points along with how I’m trying to work them into my own life.

1. There is no magic.

Any teacher or author who tells you there is a “magic” solution to reaching your goals is lying! There is no such thing. People who achieve their goals on a regular basis have learned that success always comes down to one thing, HARD WORK. The good news is that hard work doesn’t need to be hard, if you follow some simple guidelines and are willing to put in time and effort, you’ll have a good chance of making your dreams come true.

Well, there it is. The first step to making your dreams come forth is to understand that wishing for it and hoping for it won’t make it happen. Putting in the “hard smart work” is the only way in which you’ll have a chance. The flip side (and therefore good news) is that your dreams ARE in your control. They are not just up to the fates. (boy I sure hope your dream isn’t for a Captain Ultra live action film, some dreams should never come true)

So hold on to that! Every time you find dreams slipping away, it’s not fate or the stars “stealing” it from you. You have control.

Unless your trying to make that Captain Ultra film, then your just doomed!

Stay plugged in for more.

Bri

“Wow, thanks nice,” someone will say about a drawing of mine and the first words out of my mouth are…

“No, that sucks.”

This is the worst possible thing (aside from “Want to see my human ear collection? They’re fresh!”) that you can say. “But what if it does suck?” I hear somebody out there ask. Well, sucky is in the eye of the beholder.

There are a few things that you’re doing as you say “No, it sucks.”

You insult the person, making the statement! They made a judgment call, based on their own thoughts and feelings. You just told them that what they think and feel don’t mean squat.

You devalue your work in their eyes and as an artist, even if you never plan to sell a thing, you don’t want to make your work worth less. If you’re showing your work to others at all, chances are you wish for them to enjoy it. You want to make people glad they took the time to look. When you tell them it isn’t any good, they start to believe you.

You probably are not as bad as you think. I rarely look at anything I draw and think it’s all that great. If I do the feeling goes away soon enough. Kidding aside, I am my own worst critic. Many artist are. You may just not be the best person to be making any judgment about your work at all.

On this same note, you probably have a whole mess of negative internal dialog in your head already. Telling others that your work sucks only helps to reinforce the negative statements rolling around in your mind already. Why add to the pile your trying to work though?

The simple fact remains that so many people ARE NOT ARTISTS AND NEVER WILL BE. This is, of course, true of every profession and skill type. I will never be a figure skater. So when I see anyone do a turn on the ice I say, “Wow, you’re good,” because I will never even get THAT far.

If someone compliments your art, chances are it’s something they can’t do themselves. (Not always the case, of course)

Smile, and say “Thank you, I’m working hard at it.”

Bri

Wow, oh wow!! I had the extreme pleasure of meeting Larry Hama. He was of course at the Toy Expo this last weekend.

I first walked up and talked to him to get my TP of “Nam” signed. He told me about the French version where the watercolours are done with a lot more care, and beauty. A very nice, and quite pleasant person.

I then wanted to say a little thank you to Larry Hama, and Daniel Logan, so I gave them each a copy of my “Faster Polar Bear, Kill, Kill” pic. Mr Logan thanked me, but Mr Hama was busy with someone else so I just laid it down, beside him, and walked away.

Then I decided I’d kick myself for not getting a pic of myself with our two guest. I got the one with Daniel Logan, and then the one with Larry Hama. It was this time I said “I hope you enjoy the picture, I gave you”

This is where the real “wow” came in!! :D:D

You know those lessons that you receive in life, many, many times over, until one day your ready to hear them. These were the lessons I received that day! He told me “You started drawing the bear head, first.” I smiled, and admitted the truth.

“You need to know exactly what it is that your going to draw before you draw it.” Sitting me down, he drew a very rough sketch of how he would have handled my polar bear image.

“To instill menace into a picture like this, the best way is over looming shadow.”

He continued to sketch. The polar bear was looming large and very impressively over the girl. He started to find shadows to help heighten the sense of danger.

“See how all my shapes and ‘forces’ lead the eye to the point of impact” My pic had a girl plunging a knife through a polar bear. Check out “On Gallery Walls”, and look for “Faster, Polar Bear, Kill, Kill” on the Canadian Geek forums. Anywho, the lines, and direction of all the shapes on his balanced the image, and focused my eye on the impact. The real “story” of the image.

I then asked him about finishing the image. How did he get this image to the finished stage? (I was thinking light-table, redraw) He told me he always worked straight on the board that he was handing in. Redrawing the image, your bound to lose the dynamic energy that you had in the original sketch. I was so happy to hear this because I always wanted to work this way, but always felt like I was doing wrong. Thumbnails was always beaten into my head, as the way to go. I’ve never gotten thumbs to work for me. They are too small, and I’ve not had much luck with them.

The thing I do need to do more of, is spend time, blocking the images on my pages out. Really paying attention to what “story” each images is telling. Then take a knead-able erasure , and knock the image back to the faintest of lines, and work from there.

It was too short of a time spent with the man, but extremely eye opening!!

Thank you, sir!!

Bri

“I’m a damn good artist, and it’s about time I let everyone else see, how good I am.”

This is a quote from me this weekend.

For some time now, I’ve been making a very common mistake, in regards to my art. It’s the “I have enough time” Syndrome. The syndrome in which, you always tell yourself, and others, that you don’t need to get started on a project right away, because you still have enough time to finish said project.

This (dare I say) epidemic, is due, I believe to our ability to block out, from our minds, one simply fact.

This fact is that SHIT HAPPENS!!

People, including yourself, get sick. Old family, and friends pop out of nowhere, and want to see you. Your car breaks down, and you need to spend time fixing it, or getting others to do the job. Or even more common, we underestimate the amount of time, required, to do a job, or as in the case of my latest “Harbor Life” strip, we forget how much time we don’t have due to previous engagements.

When it came to finishing my last strip for HL, I decided to start a day or two earlier, then I had been, for the other two. Here’s the problem. I forgot that The 12 Hour Challenge was that up coming weekend, (well I didn’t really forget, I just didn’t connect, in my mind, that it would mean less time to work on the strip) and due to it, I lost two whole days, to work on it. Henceforth it’s sub par.

The point is that even though I was trying to follow the advice I am about to pass on to you. If I had really taken it to heart, I’d have had it done (done well, that is) in plenty of time.

Here’s my advice. If you have a project with a due date. GET STARTED NOW. Don’t wait till you think you have enough time, cause chances are you still wont have enough time.

Chances are if you continue waiting till you have to start a project, you’ll end up never showing people, just how good you can be.

As with all things I seem to talk about on here, I’m struggling with this very issue now. I have my first comic due, next month, and I have “enough” time to finish. I’m hoping that it’ll be the project that let’s everyone see how good I really am. If not, I promise myself that my next book will be that project. I refuse to sit on the side lines any longer, because, I’m acting like a wiener, and not giving myself enough time to bring my “A” game!!

Join me. This year you can do great things

Bri

I’ve had to accept a new fact of my new life (the new life where I do more, and take charge of it). This fact is that I don’t always get to choose the time, or even the duration, of my tasks.

I have this sort of tendency to want start something and stay with it, until one of two things happen.

1. I start to mess it up, and it starts to go downhill on me. (this is a topic for an other post :))

2. I finish.

I don’t like to start drawing something, I know I don’t have the time to finish, or at least put a noticeable dent in it. This is no longer an option. I’m finding that I do have a lot of time in any given day, but it’s not always in large chunks. The first big step I’ve had to take, in getting more done, is learn to work in smaller time frames. I have an half hour? Get some drawing done. It may end up being an panel, or it may take that long to just get some gestures worked out. Either way, I have a bit more done, and I’m that much closer to getting my projects done.

As I said in the beginning, not only do I not always get to choose the duration of my drawing time, but when I draw has to be flexible as well.

Most of us have “primetimes”. Times of day when your at your peak. I always wanted to wait to draw during these times. (Early morning or late evening are mine) I still try to draw during these times when I can, but I also have to fit other times of day into my drawing schedule. If I have some time in the afternoon, I now take the time to fit in some drawing.

It’s really about sucking it up, and treating this drawing I do more like work.

Isn’t work a bad thing?

No, it is not. Work is what we all (well the able bodied) have to do to make a living, and give back to society. Whether that be pumping gas, healing the sick, or drawing comics. (if you want to argue that the realy wealthy don’t have to work either, I won’t call you wrong :))

If I want to make this business of making comics, a career, then I’m going to have to treat it like the work it is. Working at the times I can, not when I feel like it. If I’m only going to draw when I feel like it, it’ll always just be a hobby.

Bri