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OK, so, there you go. I'm cutting my losses for tonight. I'm not even going to draw page 11. I did some preliminary drawings, but it's just too late. I'm functioning on too little sleep as it is.

But to report, I watched a full hour of Spaced instead of taking a walk or getting a coffee. I actually felt creative and ready to go. But as soon as I logged back onto the internet to check my various internet things, I immediately lost my creativity.


I think this connection is important. I've felt there was a connection before between surfing the internet and losing my creative passions, but now I'm really starting to trust that feeling. What that means is that I have to figure out where and when I can allot internet time. But the more challenging aspect is that I have to figure out how to stop myself from thinking, "oh, I'll just check it real quick" when I'm not supposed to.

I would just unplug the internet, but I usually need it for reference or online radio or something. But I think what I'm going to try instead is allotting comic-related surfing to Firefox, since I usually use Opera, and Opera has all the shortcuts on my homepage that tempt me to waste time.

I think this really is an issue of self-restraint. When it's comic time, it's comic time.

I actually forgot about this, but I have had success drawing on my bed instead of in my computer chair. I can still see the monitor from my bed for reference imagery, but I'm not tempted to up and check something. Perhaps I'll combine the Firefox idea with the bed idea.

That still leaves the matter of scheduling. When do I allot comic time? I think I desperately need that structure back.

Let's try this. Get home from work, shower, an hour of non-internet related entertainment (coffee and reading, TV watching, video games, etc.), comic work. When I start feeling that inspiration slip, I can take a walk around the block to focus my mind and then immediately get back to work. After I'm all done, then I can browse the internet to my heart's content. That way, I never get that creative-zone kill.

That means Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays will be photo reference and penciling days, and Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays will be inking and coloring days. Then I'll just try to squeeze all my site work around that solid schedule.

It's worth a shot. It could work.

It seems worth mentioning when I get distracted and start procrastinating. A real-time update on why I HAVEN'T progressed in the day. To keep me accountable and, perhaps, if I look back at these entries, I may begin to notice a pattern that I can fix.

There are legitimate obstacles I'm faced with when trying to draw my comic after work. Limited time and limited energy.

These obstacles can't be removed, but they can be worked with. There are methods to overcome the challenges of their presence.

I think it would behoove me and this blog to list the kinds of things I've done in the past that have either worked or failed to work in getting me to draw.

Originally, I used to go out to a coffee shop, grab a coffee, read, and then come home and work. The stimulation of the coffee and the inspiration from what I was reading combined with the feeling of "going out" all worked together to make me want to sit down and draw when I arrived at home.

This worked for a good six months, perhaps longer. One day I decided it wasn't working. I'm not sure if it was because I became too jacked up on the coffee, or if it was because it took too much time from my day to sit and read for an hour, or if I started to procrastinate when I got home and the effectiveness of this ritual simply wore off, but I haven't done this in a good while.

I tried napping after work. Upon waking I felt fresh, full of life, and ready to draw. I'm still toying with this option. I've never implemented this daily.

I've watched an episode of a favorite show while eating lunch after work. This seemed to get my mind off of everything and simply relax before getting down to business. Seemed to work for a while.

I've taken walks before getting down to drawing. This seemed to give me a fresh outlook on things, allowed me to organize my thoughts, get the feeling of exercise, and generally want to sit down to work when I got back.

I've done none of these things today and I haven't even started on my comic page yet. I took a shower after I got home and surfed the internet, but I never completely disconnected from the idea that I needed to get some comic work done. Perhaps this is the reason why I'm still procrastinating? I'm chasing the feeling of freedom, but never quite detaching completely, which doesn't allow me to feel inspired to draw.

And that's the issue at hand. In order to draw, I need to feel SOMEWHAT inspired. I can make myself draw if I don't feel the absolute necessity to do so, but if I think about picking up my drawing paper and I feel a strong feeling of resistance, it's hard to overcome that with willpower alone. There usually has to be an environmental shift, as well.

The thing I keep coming back to when I draw is that I like to feel as though I'm in a social atmosphere while I'm drawing. This has caused me to keep IM chats open, listen to radio shows, and even draw out at coffee shops or at friends' houses. The primary dilemma always comes down to the struggle between gathering inspiration from the feeling of social unity without getting distracted by what's causing that feeling.

Penciling, inking, and coloring are all completely different beasts and each have their own specific environmental needs.

Penciling requires thought, planning, and focus. I need to think about the composition of the page, of each panel, of each pose, of each facial expression. An environment that has worked in the past is listening to music while a muted animation plays on my monitor. The animation serves for inspiration, and perhaps that feeling of socialization, without the dialogue and plot distracting me. The music is easily pushed into the subconscious as simply an inspirational source of creative energy. The only downside is that if I’m not in “the zone,” I can get distracted by restlessness.

Inking can be done while watching TV shows, documentaries, or hanging out with friends. Music doesn't seem to do it for inking. Even radio shows aren't quite enough creative stimulation.

Coloring requires something without visuals, but with intellectual content. Radio shows are perfect here.

So now that I've laid that all out, what should I do to get myself in the mode to draw page 11?

Well, one thing which I started to consider simply by writing all this out is that today I never did anything to break that feeling that I needed to get a page done. I think I need to take a walk, or get a coffee, and then come back with a fresh mind. And when I come back, I should put on an animation and something fun to listen to.

...now, to walk or get the coffee...

I did not achieve the beginning of page 11 last night. In fact, I posted page 10 REALLY late ... around 10 or 11 pm. That might as well be a day late.

I suppose I should define my goals before I talk about failing to achieve them.

My short-term goals are pretty simple. Produce three pages a week, and update on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays on time (midnight). Don't sacrifice quality. And most importantly, always keep going. Against all temporary bouts of doubt or lack of inspiration, push forward.

Long-term goals are more difficult to quantify.

I suppose you could say there are medium-term goals and then long-term goals. Medium-term is, finish the "Suffering & Death" story arc, which will be around eight issues long. Continue to build more and more of an audience/readership. Be open to explore any promotional opportunities. Always get better, more consistent, more productive, more popular. Never go backwards.

Long-term. Make a living off of comics.

I guess long-term wasn't actually that hard to quantify.

Many will say that the goal, "make a living off of comics" is a pipe dream at best, and perhaps delusional at worst. To which I say, others are doing it, which means I can do it. Know that you'll succeed and you'll put in the time and be open to the possibilities that will make success possible. Know that you'll fail and you'll give up. Self-fulfilling prophecies.

I want to complete the entire page 11 before tomorrow. Here's to the attempt.

Today begins my detailed analysis of my own process of creation and productivity. I have been drawing the comic, "featuring Talking Guinea Pigs!" since the middle of March, 2008. I started posting it online, on my website JoeGP.com, on June 20th, 2008. It began as a thesis project when I went to the Center for Cartoon Studies, and has since evolved into my new series.

I began webcomics long, long ago, but I will get into that at some other time. Right now is just about setting up this specific through-line.

Anyway, fTGP! updates three times a week. It's about guinea pigs from outerspace. The first story arc finds them accidentally landing in 19th century Russia. It combines my three loves: sci-fi, Dostoevsky, and drawing guinea pigs. That's literally where it came from, just mashing up the things I'm obsessed with.

I'm writing in this journal right now when I should be finishing up page 10 of Chapter 3. My update schedule is Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but I keep updating on these days later and later. At first I updated at midnight, then I would get distracted or busy or tired and finish up after work, which would give me just enough time to post at 5 pm. Now it's 8 pm and I'm just about done and ready to post. I plan on exploring the nature of this procrastination and the things that help and hinder this process in future entries.

For now, I think this serves as a pretty good introduction. I'm going to get back to shading page 10, and hopefully will be posting it in about a half hour. My plan is to start page 11 directly afterward, as I know that if I start that tomorrow, then this same cycle will repeat and I'll be finishing that one up Friday night. I would love it if that didn't happen.