The Realms of Aegis

Author notes

Chapter Four, Page Twelve

Finwik

on July 15, 2007

Thanks for all the great support and feedback guys. And guys! Thanks for bidding on my ad space below… Thank you so much. Every little bit helps me keep this up. Thanks so much. Also, I wanted to talk a bit about inspiration if you'll read me here. =]

Inspiration.

Sometimes I have a little trouble getting inspired. I’m sure we all do. After I’ve spent all day coloring someone else’s work or drawing storyboards, I’m tired of looking at the computer screen, I just want to watch tv, or play some games, or sleep, etc. There’s NO drive to work on what needs to be worked on, my own stuff. What I usually do is just go to the park or workout for a little bit, take a shower, anything to rest my eyes for an hour. Then I come back and get to work on my own stuff. You just have to realize, it isn’t ‘Should I do it tonight?’ it is ‘I am going to do this tonight.’ That’s just how it is, so you better get inspired.

If you know you should be working on something, then you need to get yourself inspired so what you produce isn’t half-assed. That’s all there is to it. The first key to this, at least for me, is to find what inspires me. There are a few books I keep within arm’s reach of my work area, Spectrum, Blacksad, Pride of Baghdad, Blad eof the Immortal. Skydoll, and tons of conceptart books. Art of Halo, Halflife 2, Lord of the Rings, Warcraft, etc. Now, these books are sort of related to my own work. TroA is my baby because I enjoy making the world more than making the comic. So I keep that kind of stuff around me at all times. When I play games, I want to work on games, when I read books about world creation or look at amazing comic art done by my favorite artists, I want to work on comics and create.

So identify what inspires you. Then keep it nearby. When you say, “I need to be making a page right now.” Then pick up one of these, read ten pages, then put it down and use that drive. Realize, you have to start before you can finish, and there’s nothing in the book you’re reading that you can’t one day do. Those books (or whatever inspires you) are your fuel, and your pencil is your rocket ship.

Be careful not to use these as a form of procrastination though. I’m guilty of picking up a book, planning to read ten pages to get fired up to work, then reading thirty. Don’t do this! You need that time to get your work done, read enough to get going, then put it away. It’ll always be there and you might need those additional pages for more inspiration later! =P

And don’t get discouraged, just work and create!