I’ve been mulling over ideas about creativity, habits, and routines, looking for some small steps that I can take every day that will eventually get me to my goals. I wanted a project and a form of accountability to help me stick to it. I’ve been doodling letterforms for ages, so a daily drop cap project seemed like a good fit, and Instagram has been the perfect platform for sharing it. Twenty-six drop caps later, and I am just so happy to have completed something. Along the way, I learned a few things:
Consistency is key. I figured out pretty quick that I could not maintain a letter-a-day habit. But I could complete at least 4 letters a week. Sometimes 5. Giving myself weekends off and not stressing if I missed a weekday here or there kept this project casual and fun. At the same time, I found that drawing and posting regularly gave me some great momentum that helped me keep going on days I just didn’t feel like it.
Stylistic consistency is good too. Part of the fun of having twenty six different letterforms to draw, is being able to try out twenty six different styles. I tried to keep my letters as varied as possible, but I also found that I was happiest with the results when I kept other stylistic elements the same. Namely, black ink on plain white paper. It’s interesting (to me anyway) to look back and see my progression. Early in the alphabet I used different papers: a grid, a lined legal pad, I used colored pencils to draw the letter “E” and tried a few different Instagram filters. Now, those are my least favorite letterforms of the bunch. It didn’t take me long to settle into a groove, and I think it allowed me to focus my creativity more exclusively on the letterforms I was drawing.
Discipline and creativity are best buds – if you want to get anything done. How many projects have I started, and never completed because I lost my mojo somewhere in the middle? So many. And this one could have easily fizzled out the same way. Some letters practically drew themselves, but plenty of them felt like work. I had to make myself sit down and just start. And what I learned from exercising a little self-control is that I don’t need fun, or excitement, the right mood, or even a burst of inspiration to create something that I am totally proud of. Work well done is its own kind of satisfying.
Making it public and pacing myself made all the difference. I put a lot of time and effort into each of my twenty six drop caps (too much time, probably). After finishing the letter “A,” I wasn’t sure I could make it to “Z.” So I didn’t think about “Z.” I focused on one letter at a time and tried to finish one a day. That was doable, so I kept on doing. Posting my progress on Instagram kept me accountable and gave me a cut-off. I didn’t want to go too many days without posting anything, and once a letter was instagrammed, it was finished. No more tweaking. Time to move on to the next one.
It feels so good to have finished this project. Which kind of highlights to me just how many projects I don’t complete… Now I have twenty six drop caps that I am mostly proud of and enough motivation to start another twenty six. Keeping what I’ve learned in mind, I hope to make this second alphabet even better than the first. I know I’ll enjoy the process, and I’m sure I’ll pick up a few new lessons along the way. If you'd like to keep an eye on my progress, follow me on Instagram :)
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