The last months have been filled with... well, all sorts of stuff. Finally moved into a new house which still doesn't have a kitchen (fingers crossed for Thanksgiving), working full time on BOB'S BURGERS (check your primetime listings) and writing and producing my pilot for Disney Jr. (final ship to our overseas studios on Friday).
Tomorrow or the next day, my office gets painted and carpeted before the end of the week. Then I can unpack the crap I want around me while I create. I use the term "crap" affectionately because it includes original comic art, sculptures, plenty of books and some detritus I've dragged through my life to inspire. Maybe I'll even retrieve Tom Servo from my cubicle at work.
Working on my pilot through all this, jamming it into the crevices of my day to get it done, demonstrated to me that I could hit a schedule on a project even while working a long day. I'm anxious to apply that energy to my own work on some comics. Big comics that I'll even attempt to get printed by real publishers. But if not, I'll just put it out on the net. That's the beauty of this virtual world we share. It's just something I've been wanting to do for a long time now (just read the archives of this blog).
Utilizing spare time on a creative project is easier the less creative the day job is. Currently I storyboard the work of other people in a style of cartoon that is intentionally restrained. That leaves me with plenty of frustrated creativity to put in my own projects -- when I'm not carrying boxes up and down stairs.
I hope I have the same kind of energy when I'm writing and producing my own show during the day. I like the characters and am excited to get the most out of that world. Will that drain my creative juices? It's not like I have a schedule to hit with my comic but I want to make a certain amount of headway each week to feel like I'm actually doing something.
Strangely, the first thing I have to do is to stop drawing and turn my efforts toward writing. I must craft a story that I'm excited about telling. But I'm going to experiment with writing less and leaving more of the storytelling to the drawing stage, perhaps trying my own version of the "Marvel style" that lays out the story but not the details.
Can't wait for the paint to dry.
Thanks for checking in.
--Tad