I’ve been guilty, at various stages in the last few years, of falling back into an old habit. To dream up images in my mind’s eye (normally while watching mindless television), and being satisfied enough with having invented them that I don’t feel the need to draw them. Why draw them when I have already imagined them, right?
In my head, these images are perfect. Great line, colour, composition, and character. In my head, I can produce many of these perfect images very quickly – way quicker than if I were to draw them. I can tell a whole visual story in a few minutes and, well, the job is done.
If I try to draw these images I can see so clearly there’s a risk they’ll come out differently. Worse. Imperfect. Sub-optimal. My hand can very rarely perfectly translate what the mind’s eye conjures. So, instead of taking the risk, or accepting imperfect, much better to not start at all.
But therein lies the problem. An undrawn image is, well, exactly that, undrawn. And if I don’t draw it it doesn’t exist to anyone but me. And if no one else can see it, how can I validate whether it’s any good, or could be better? And, without that, how can I make progress as a storyteller or artist.
But if I emphasise getting the images out, things happen. I increase my luck surface area. I get feedback from others. I learn from my own failures, difficulties, and successes in the process. I grow.
If I don’t get the images out of my head, they don’t go away. I can’t move on. The same images just swirl around in various circular ways and, well, I end up at the same place I started – the beginning of nowhere.
Only by getting the images out do I have a children’s publishing career. Only by getting the images out do I get the warm and fuzzies when a child or caregiver responds to the work. Only by getting the images out do I feel an energy to keep moving forward, to take bigger and better risks, to answer the burning questions that only come from doing the work.
So, my advice to my future self whose reading this some time soon, if you’re feeling stuck – get the images out. It’s the only way to get to all the good things that come from those images. Most of the good is centred around building relationships and community with others; one of the things I value the most, so it’s guaranteed to be worth it.