Constant state of practice

Chris called last night to quit the studio. He was seriously overdue on this since we couldn't remember the last time he quit. It may have been '07. He certainly hasn't quit this year, and for the life of us we couldn't remember him quitting in 08'. So yeah, he quit again, and then we immediately got back to work.

One of the things that came up in our talk last night was "being in a constant state of practice". This is the dividing line between the hobbists and the pros. I used to say it was matter of getting paid of your work, but this is more fundamental. There are people out there who have it in their head that they're not ready yet and continue to labor and toil at things trying to perfect them until that magic moment that they've perfected their craft at which point they will throw their finest work out unto the masses.

Guess how far that's getting them.

Bobby Fresh's main complaint about artists is trying to find someone willing to do the work. I'm starting to think that there are plenty of people willing to do the work, just not enough of them have the cajonés to actually give it a go. I found an artist who put out an open call for scripts for a comic idea she had. I saw potential in the story, despite the characters being horrible manga stereotypes (Otaku girls, gay guy who may be turning his best friend gay, all of which back-burnered in favor of making them interesting and readable). I did some research on the subject matter and banged out what she wanted: a plot synopsis and the first five pages of script. I was quite pleased with it and sent it to her. It was rejected as being "too big". She did not feel that she could handle drawing what I was purposing with the story. This was not a matter of questionable content. It was the scale of my proposition intimidated her. She did not feel up to the task.

She also had a webcomic. She had made that baby step out of the constant state of practice of seemed ready to jump back into that safe little haven. Easy trap to fall into, too. Self-doubt plays in the emotional spectrum of nearly every artist. There are some very talented people out there whose work will never see the light of day because "it isn't ready let".

Here's the official Duck and Cover Studios advice for those people: "Do the work". Just do it and throw it to the masses. Keep doing it. You want to see improvement? Work. The Chris Johnson working on MERE MORTAL right now is seriously ahead of the curve from the Chris Johnson who did issue #1, and that guy was seriously ahead of the dude who did THE FIFTH BEACH. You want another example read FINDER: SIN-EATER volume 1.

Practice does not make you perfect. There is no perfect. Do. The. Work.