stubborn and single-minded, though.

So there's this weird story about me that I won't tell in detail but, basically, it goes like this. For a really really long time I thought of myself as this easy-going free spirit. And it wasn't until I was about 27 that I realized that I'm actually kind of a super routine-oriented control freak and always had been but had been harboring this kind of...impression of myself that was almost entirely untrue. 

Anyway, I'm also pretty goal-oriented. Which means I sometimes have to remind myself to enjoy the journey, but it makes me pretty determined not to give up, even when the path is rocky. I consider that a positive trait. 

So my point is that, despite the difficulties I'm having, both personally and medically, I'm stubborn and so I'm continuing to try to get things on track to do the things I need to. And I've been drawing every night, even if my hands hurt the next day. 

Tonight I didn't push it too hard though. Tonight I worked on thumbnail composition layouts for the next Let's Draw Sherlock challenge (the left side of the page is blank because that's where I had a large pile of reference images.)

I both love and hate doing thumbnails. It is something I'm very glad my teachers beat into my brain because it lets you examine different angles and layouts and maybe even try something you hadn't thought of at first. It's SUCH a good way to start any piece of art, and I think if you are doing art as a career or planning to, it is a good and important habit to be in. I am not saying that everyone doesn't have the occasional doodle that ends up getting developed, but if you start with an idea in mind, figuring out how you are going to execute it before starting serious drawing is a really good idea. 

On the other hand, it's really frustrating when you have a rough mental image of how you want the final product to look...but it's not quite solid enough to translate to a sketch. This happens to me all the time. It will be like those games where you are shown a picture for a second and then have to try to remember as many parts of it as possible. My brain will say 'OOH! This!' and give me a quick glimpse, but I won't be able to hang onto it long enough to really grasp all the facets. So, I try some different approaches and some things that aren't even close to my original idea and end up with a number of sketches and, often, I'll find that I like about half of them well enough to develop them, but each of them will be pretty different from the others and I find myself dithering over which direction to go. 

But...the composition and concept stage is really one of my favorite things. I enjoy the entire process, of course, but the part where I am roughing stuff in, sketching simple gesture-based figures recognizable often just to me and only by a couple distinguishing features, all loose and translucent...I love it. 

And that's my official ramble of the evening.