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Something I’ve Noticed About Myself

Posted on Feb 24, 2009 by in Operations | 6 comments

 

Photograph of tree gnawed on by beaver

Photo by Flickr user Billy Liar under Creative Commons license

When I do a drawing that I really don’t like, it sort of freezes me. I don’t want to post it, but it’s a mammal, so shouldn’t I? I mean, it’s one out of 5,000, mark it down. But I don’t like the drawing, so I put it off and put it off. And meanwhile, I’m staring at it as it sits on the edge of my table, waiting for me to scan it, and I think its very presence makes me not even want to draw. It’s this thing that I have to deal with. Do you understand?

Last week, I drew a beaver that I really don’t like. So it’s sitting here on the corner of my table. I was going to post about monogamy among beavers for Valentine’s Day—that’s how long it’s been sitting here. I think I’ll just skip it for now and go on with the next one and either redraw the beaver if I have time or just suck it up and post it if I have no other choice.

6 Comments

  1. Hi! As a fellow animal-drawer, I say post it! Along with an analysis of what you’d do over if you could. No better way to learn from your mistakes! :)

  2. Well, we LOVE your giraffe!

    ..and you, of course!

    –kate in ABQ

  3. Tommaso—Well, luckily, I don’t have to post my mistakes to learn from them! I will probably end up posting it someday. Right now, I think I might put it in my box of drawings so I don’t have to look at it anymore. It’s not that bad a drawing. I’m totally overblowing it, you know. It’s just a silly beaver. I’ve posted drawings that I disliked much more than I dislike this one. I need to get over the perfectionism and get on with drawing. It really makes a difference when I draw every day.

  4. I feel like that sometimes about writing — there are days when a blog posts sits in a tab half-written for hours.

    I think it’s not uncommon among creative types. It’s quality control (unless it’s happening too often, in which case your inner critic needs some re-training).

  5. Clare,

    I think you’re right with your quality control theory. In this case, I just have to remember that a drawing is a drawing, and the goal wasn’t to draw every mammal species WELL!

    JR

  6. burn it in effigy, of course

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