Most weeks when I sit down to start a new piece, I'm expecting an evolution of skill. From project to project, the difference in craftsmanship isn't very pronounced. While a better concept will ultimately result in a better execution, I "know" roughly how good a piece will look well before I've finished. It's one of the big barriers of extended practice, not being able to see yourself dramatically improve every time you do a new piece. Except for that every once in a while, something weird happens.
You can download the new poster here.
Those of you who have been following my work for a while will recognize instantly how much better this is than anything that has preceded it. This is one of those very rare moments, not of evolution, but revolution. This is a game changer, and inevitably will become the new standard by which all my other work will be judged.
So what gives? How did I make such a dramatic change in just 1 week?
You don't always have to be original
In a speech I listened to long ago, an industrial designer was trying to tell us something important. It would be several years before I finally understood his message. He said, quite simply, that most of the problems had been solved, and it wasn't my responsibility to try and re-solve them.
"Of course it is!" I thought. "If I'm going to be original, I can't build my work on someone else's ideas!"
Bullshit.
Einstein used an existing system (math) to address his questions of the universe. Picasso painted with materials made by other people, most likely in a mass manufactured setting. Beethoven composed music for the instruments that everyone else had been playing for hundreds of years prior. My point is that even with 95% of their work already done for them, it took the lifetime of massively dedicated individuals to reach the zenith of human achievement. Originality is important, but it must be tempered with moderation.
They already solved your problems
Enter the DC Comics Guide to Inking. I bought this book on a whim to get free shipping from Amazon. I rightly figured that someone who had been professionally working in illustration longer than I've been alive has a thing or two they could teach me. I got the book about a week ago, and read the first third of the book.
Wow.
I haven't even started in on the rest of it. The information contained in that book is so incredibly useful that I dare not go too fast for fear I'll miss something. But, in that first third, I learned enough about inking to revolutionize my technique. Every single thing I was doing wrong was covered in stunning detail. Not only did the book show me how it was wrong, but why. Most importantly though, it showed me how to fix it.
It was relieving in a way to realize that I'm not very unique and that I am running into the same mistakes as everyone else. Because if I make their mistakes, then I can make their victories as well. Needless to say, after seeing what this book could do for me. I went out and immediately ordered the other four in the series.
Practice
Time for the practice thing again.
It's not enough to just keep slamming your head against the wall for ten thousand hours and then call yourself the master. This needs to be very deliberate practice with the intent to improve. Ten thousand hours of drawing lousy pictures will only make you really good at drawing lousy pictures.
I just keep looking at that guy at the top of the post. I still don't believe I did that. But I will. In the meantime, it time to start the next poster sketch, and I can't wait to see what happens this time around...
