Time Management

Current tactic:

Set a timer
X minutes working, 5 minutes off.

I noticed I tend to be most motivated with the ticking clock at a figure drawing session- gotta get it done before the end of the pose! So I decided to bring that home.

Been experimenting with various times for working- have been starting with 5 minutes on, then increasing by five minutes each time. Despite the somewhat inefficient use of time in the beginning, something about those first ones being short seems to get me going.

Self-Direction Process v1

1. Get inspired
1. Blogs
2. Books
3. Idea File
2. Start Small
1. Feeling first
   
2. Technical second
3. Refine
1. Retain feeling
   

Blowing up from a thumbnail:

• Establish/solidify the viewpoint.
• If you're losing lines, start a new layer or mark the correct line with another color.
• Adjust vectors- keep evaluating.
  
• Flip horizontal
• Stay with feeling, provided the construction is happening along with/underneath. If it's necessary to work something out and go formal, dip in only as long as is necessary to figure out the problem and get back to feeling.
• Find lines of action
• Thumbnails that are too geometric might not translate especially well. It may take some extra finagling to find your way, and it might be a struggle to inject the feeling afterwards. Don't be afraid to change, but even a geometric thumbnail has some original feeling you need to preserve.
  
• Mind your inter-character vectors when thinking about construction & lines of action.
• Draw the more important vectors in, even if they're invisible.
• Watch for happy accidents.
• Don't think it through if you can feel it through.
• Is there a better line of action?
• Don't be precious, unless it's about preserving your original feeling.
• Scribble down your idea. Flesh it out later. Again, watch for happy accidents.
• Stop to relax.
• If you end up making lots of corrections when flipping horizontal, don't be afraid to start the next layer using the flipped version- especially if the other side is saturated enough with marks that you can't see the corrections through the layers.
• Act out the pose if necessary.
• Recognizing what's off is sometimes better than trying use your brain to analyze or plan it out.
• Different characters/parts in different colors can help- especially when there's overlap and you need to draw through another character without losing lines.