HOW do YOU stay focused on drawing???

where is best place to put drawing desk?
should a drawing desk be in your room?.. I mean if its close to your bed, then wouldnt you be kinna more likely ta goto sleep for a bit..ect ect...

..should you have a tv in the same room?.. what distractions are their?..


how do YOU stay focused on drawing???

Honestly, I don't. I sort of try sometimes, but I'm not very good at it. A large part of what I produce comes from being bored during lectures, which I haven't had many of lately because it's been all lab work for the past two trimesters.

Huh?

What?

Were you talking to *OOH SHINY!*

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

I'm not an artist. But, when I was in school I got out of my room when I worked on projects. The living room with the TV off was where I worked best. It wasn't convenient, or particularly comfortable but it was better than working at my desk in my room which is where I play games sleep and watched TV. I don't know what drives your inspiration. I would think that if you seek out places that do not supply your entertainment that would be best. Giving yourself only options worse than work makes work easier.

I sense that someone has a case of artist's bloc. Might I suggest another medium. I've seen many writers doodle when they get stuck, perhaps an artist could try writing. The goal is not perfect prose or grammar or even spelling. (write with a pen and paper, these things do not have spell check) the goal is merely to follow a thought through its course leaving a permanent trail.

blood and sheep skin also do not have spell check.

Here are the things that I need to get me through a drawing.

- A broad, flat surface - I need room for my elbows to rest on the table.
- Ample lighting - usually coming from the left hand side, as I am right handed.
- Slightly cooler room temperature - warm temperatures can make my hands sweat (bad for paper quality) and lower my patience. Put those two together and it'll be a short drawing session.
- Low humidity - high humidity can cause paper to go limp. The paper gives more than it should, which means you have to press harder, which also means your lines are more likely to leave grooves in the paper (all of which is bad).
- Repetitive, but enjoyable background music - gives my ears something to do. Repetitive because you don't want to worry about focusing on it (which will happen with a big play-list as, eventually, you'll hit songs you either like or dislike), but enjoyable because you want it to energize you whenever you start to focus on it.
- Constantly remind yourself: "It's not a race." - professional artists have deadlines, yes, but rushed artwork doesn't look good. Better to have kick-*** pencils, than a bad-quality inked/colored piece.
- Artistic Reference - crucial for getting through tricky poses or backgrounds or whatever. Having a photo, or something on hand to reference can help smooth out the rough areas.

So, there you are. These are just the things that help me.

I don't draw, but I will say that trying to do anything involving a significant amount of cranial input with a tv in the room is less than ideal. Unless you strictly leave it off. Television kills my creativity and ability to think faster than anything. Especially when its something you're kind of forcing yourself to do in the first place.

For drawing there are a few different modes of work...

For doing pin-ups you need a comfortable, well lit area with a good flat surface and I would recommend music or something that helps you tune out. That's right... tune out. You need to pretty much stop thinking and let you instinct take over as well as focus so that you lose track of time and keep you from thinking of other things. It's more of a Zen thing than anything else.

For sketching and doodling all you really need is to carry around a pad with you and just draw whenever the feeling comes over you. Not doing this is really responsible for the lose of so many cool ideas probably... I know I've had thousands ideas and no pad of paper around to draw it out that are just forgotten... likewise unlike the pin-up mode this mode is more a whimsy unfocused mode that you should either be focusing on concept or something else like a tv show... or a teacher ^.^

For animation...you need the same thing as the pin-up but with a light board and no music or zone out. For animation you need to actively engage with what you're doing and refer back to other pieces and little things which means you need all your faculties concentrated on the work you're doing...

I'm guessing you're talking about focusing on pin-ups... Well the secret is that it takes practice. Notice I said zone out and let instinct take over. Well to do that, you gotta know what you want drawn and how to draw it. Those two things are essential to doing good work and if you don't have those you are sketching and doodling in my opinion...

The other secret is that there is 3 ways that every creative person I know of works... That is
Passion: I'm going to do this because it is all I can think about doing...
Pressure: I'm going to do this because I have to do this for some reason...
Preservation: I'm bored and if I don't do something I'm gonna go insane...

Passion types have the problem of doing the art regardless of other things.
Pressure types have the problem of only being able to produce when pushed to their time limit.
Preservation types need to be locked in a room and deprived other stimuli.

These 3 types also mix to different degrees and often one is the key to activating the other two...

For example I'm more the Preservation type, but once I get going I'm more the passion type. I literally can't not do something. If you put me in a room with nothing to do I will create something and I will often be fixated on it till I'm done with it. Surrounded by technology it's hard to be bored, so I'm also a Pressure type in terms of doing things in general. So this means While my creativity is often triggered by the Preservation mechanism I have to be pressured into putting myself into that situation.

So what I'm saying is, in general, you gotta know your key and then use it. Which means the first thing you gotta do is learn about yourself and reflect on what has caused you to focus in the past and then put yourself in that situation.

Only when you know that can you really take extra advice like one of the worst things for Preservation types to do is to stop and look back on their work in the middle of working on it. Because that then gives them stimuli and kicks them out of the creative mode.

Heh. Usually I'm a Preservation type but today was a Passion day, apparently... my hand hurts now...