So what about this 'artist's block' thing? It's worth considering, as it is part of the process for me and probably always will be. Is it just pure laziness? Is it a small but significant crisis of the soul? Is it the same as procrastination in any other context?
Yes-no-maybe... I guess they all figure in it. Personally, it's something that frustrates me and makes me miserable, it's also something I feel compelled to wallow in when it gets a grip on me. That in itself implies that it's contradictory and irrational. And humming and ha-ing about it can easily become a full-time occupation in itself that doesn't actually seem to do anything to solve it - so it seems more useful to ask myself: is there a pattern or trigger for it that it's helpful to notice and respond to? And what helps to get past this invisible wall?
Well, some of the things I consider useful from looking at myself:
1) Don't get absorbed and hung up with single details that aren't resolving themselves. It does work for me to focus obssessively when I'm actually getting stuff done, but it depresses me and my sense of momentum grinds to a halt when it's not achieving something, and that seems to be part of a common starting point for 'getting stuck' in this way.
2) Instead of 'standing still', look at what I can do that doesn't require a flash of inspiration or an idealised flow of creativity - there are always plenty of mundane jobs that are part and parcel of the creative process. In fact, stick up a list of jobs somewhere visible (i.e. not buried amongst random notes and scribbles or as a document on my computer somewhere).
3) When a task seems to big or challenging to get done, break it down into smaller steps that are do-able and then come back to it. Record my progress/tick stuff off as I go. And if the smaller steps still seem too big, break them down again into even smaller steps.
4) Record my progress when it feels like it's not moving, even if I'm trying to do some of the above. Even if it feels like the ramblings and doodlings of a complete fucktard at the time, it's a valid part part of the process and, in my experience, it's actually helpful and doesn't look half as useless as it feels at the time when I get back more of a sense of positivity, momentum and perspective, and look back on what I've written and sketched.
5) Remember to enjoy it. When it does flow, the creative process is is an amazing high, and stepping back afterwards and seeing that I've achieved something that is somehow a bit better than anything I've done before is one of the very best feelings I get in life. If part of the process is stuck, look at what else I can do that's a bit crrative in a more playful and fun way.
6) If all else fails, just leave it alone - say 'Bollocks' to it for a bit - half an hour, a couple of hours, half a day, a day - but actively go and do something else that I want to and focus on that. Not something 'worthy' that I feel I should do, not something that's a distraction when I'm still thinking about feeling 'blocked'. Something fun.
7) Related to 6) - look after myself, if it's flowing or not. have a bit of common sense with the basics, like eating, sleeping and spending time with friends. I notice I have a stupid sense that there's something noble and romantic in locking mtself away from the world, staying up all night, running on coffee and cigarettes, working-working-working til I drop. Actually, it's inevitably punishing my body and brain so they don't work so well and setting myself up to hit the sort of wall I'm trying to avoid.
8) Lastly, print these points out and stick them up in a prominent place, as I think they're actually pretty good advice to myself (c:
Soooo... I do have a little bit of progress to share. What I was feeling mostly stuck with were the lighting and keying tests, which I've fallen behind with, according to my projected schedule for the project. I've mooched and have gotten hung up on this and it's held the other stuff up too, like progress with the puppet-building.
What I have done is to get more materials from my list, which is pretty much all there now - the setup for filming, including replacing my camera with a cheaper model, getting an AC adapter for the camera so I work for as long as I need to with it tethered to the laptop, having Dragon Stop-motion installed on the laptop to control the camera, having the laptop set up with a wireless bluetooth keypad that I can run everything in Dragon from while I'm filming and animating without having to skip back and forth to the computer, getting most of the remaining materials for the puppet building and - a mini epic in it's own right - getting a HUGE piece of plasterboard back from Homebase for the backdrop, including successfully begging/sweet-talking the folks at the overground station to let me take it on the train.
Today's task is to decorate it with wallpaper and under-paper-lining-type stuff to look appropriately old and torn and stained, etc and get it secured from a wooden framework I created to attach lights, camera, etc to. Sod's law, after struggling with it over what felt like an huge distance, it caufht in the wind and snapped in half about 100m from my home. But it was repairable and is now fixed up and maybe a bit more solid than it was before. It makes sense to have this in place before the lighting tests and I also need to see if I can blag some free big green paper from the uni for green-screening the background when animating The Puppet/Poppet, which will be replaced/composited with the footage of The Puppeteer. This is my other important task for today/tomorrow, as I need this in place for the keying tests.
Here's the culprit (- and don't be misled by the size of my cat, Nemo, for the purposes of scale - he's a BIG cat):
One other thing to share, indirectly related. In the spirit of doing something fun when I felt stuck, I designed some business cards which are in the process of being printed up. They were fun and kind of easy to do, but I was pleased with the look I achieved for them, very much in line with the website and some of the look and feel of 'Ties'. In fact, they get the look I was going for with the site a bit better than the site itself, so a useful resource in refining that and/or for a 'Ties' offshoot/microsite from the main website.
Front:
...and back:
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