Life's A Chibi: Trashing Projects:

An idea comes to mind out of the blue, a unique idea. That idea turns out to be something big, something that will take a lot of time and energy. You know this and will accept the challenge. You write down as much as you can about your idea, taking mental notes about particular interests and concepts. You then go to phase two: clearing all your ideas up into one solid idea. Comes phase three where you take that solid idea and you build on it, polishing it and then molding it into something amazing and unique. Your only drive is to see this project complete and to show to the world. Soon, your batteries start to die down and your lack of motivation to continue starts to dry up. You find yourself struggling on your project, finding problems and issues a lot more now. You become overly frustrated and, without any support or others critiquing your project, you start to discard it, either putting it away in a place where it will be lost or destroyed. The idea that you thought was a unique and inspirational is now nothing but a pile of paper and material crammed away in a forgotten corner.

This was a quick chibi image I did, but forgotten about it in my sketch book. Somewhat of vent art. Dedicating yourself to something can take a lot of energy and time. There are times that energy gets very low and it effects you as the creator. You have no idea how low it is until you start to get frustrated or give up quickly. You feel like you wasted all that energy into nothing that no one will care about at all or even miss if it vanishes. All that time you spend on that project was for nothing and you feel terrible and defeated.

Some don't destroy it or toss it away. They know that there is no more motivation and drive to continue the project. So they leave it aside until they build up more drive or find something that inspires them to continue their project. This can take a week, months, or even years.

Your project can easily be connected to a "plant" or "pet". You need to slowly nurture it, take care of it and help it grow slowly. Little by little, you must work on it, even if it is just for small time a day or week. As long as you don't forget that your project is there, it will still be waiting for you to continue it and finish it. It is your own project and it will be finished whenever YOU say so ( unless you are on a personal or financial deadline ). However, if you rush on it, there will be a lot more mistakes in the end and you will feel unaccomplished in it.

artwork © 2014 Alex Cockburn