Melissa McGaugheyEpisode III: Work, Life Balance
Updated: Jun 17, 2021
So, at the beginning of last week, I had high aspirations for the work I was going to get done on the first chapter of my comic. I was going to finish drawing and do ALL the coloring!
I mean, so what if our 14 week old puppy's obedience classes were starting? And, he had another vet/vaccination appointment? (Meet Maric. Love Maric. I mean, look at his stupid cute face! :)) ).
And, so what if you have to move all the furniture in all of your rooms upstairs because your super generous wife told you you could turn the master bedroom into your studio room?
Pfft, you've got to paint both your new studio and the room that will be the new bedroom to get ready for new flooring to be put in, too? So what?
Oh? You contracted pink eye from when you volunteered at the library last weekend? Big deal. What's that? Oh, you're trying also to have a social life, work full time, and keep a regular gym schedule? Whatever. Bitches get shit done.
What I did manage to do on my comic this week was about 30 minutes of penciling and lots of YouTube tutorial listening. I listened and watched lots of great comic coloring tutorials, but the resource that stayed with me throughout the week was this one:
I have listened to so much of this channel, that I feel as though Ursula and Bones are my personal webcomic mentors. In this episode, Ursula talks about working her day job and having a busy life and balancing that with creating comic work. Basically, it was just what I needed to hear this week.
I feel at my best when I am creating. If I haven't created or produced something, I start to feel anxious, irritable and unproductive. Honestly, I'm kind of a bear to be around if I haven't worked on any creative pursuits within my day. I can usually get around this by making sure I have at least 30 min of quiet time a day to make some kind of progress on whatever project it is I'm working on.
However, life happens and weeks like this past one occur. Typically, I am really hard on myself about it. I get crabbier and crabbier, telling myself that I'll never get there. I'll never finish. And, in some occasions, even less kind things.
But, after listening to this episode, I was able to cut myself some slack this week. Because hey, you there, young aspiring artist, you ARE good enough. You DO work hard enough. Sometimes life just gets a little crazy and you've got to enjoy the ride, not bemoan the fact that you aren't working on your projects right now.
Ursula also had lots of good advice about setting realistic deadlines for yourself and holding yourself accountable. So, I also set a deadline for the release of my first chapter! Which I'm about to share publicly for more accountability.
I will be releasing my first chapter by a page a week starting on November 30!
Another tutorial that I really got into this week was this one:
Matt Rhodes again, Art Director at Bioware, creator of Tellurion, describes his process for character design. He takes the character specs and origins story from the writer and creates a character like solving a puzzle. His discussion about his thought processes as he works through a design is fascinating. I definitely jotted lots of notes and am prepared to try this for myself with some characters that I haven't fully fleshed out yet and are slated to appear in later chapters.
This week will be another crazy one for me with Maric's obedience classes continuing, our new floors being put in and wonderful family visits this weekend. So, I will continue in my efforts to be kind to myself as the week progresses and I don't get as much done as I would like. I will get there. (And so will you!)
