Reviewing the Creative Work-flow
Since I'm almost done with this project (5 posts remaining), I've started reviewing my workflow. Before I go on, I should mention that my definition of creative work-flow includes the process of looking and finding ideas up until the execution.
The most important part of every creative project remains looking and finding ideas. That's when it all starts and it defines much of the outcome.
And that's where I found a flaw in my own process. Each one of my posts has three aspects:
The thought bubble with text
I originally had ideas for some posts with a first-person view but I gave it up. Early on, I decided to go for simple photos (but still nice to look at) for various reasons:
My boy was newly born and the positions in which he could pose for photos was very limited.
Composition-wise, I needed some space to add a thought bubble and a drawing without overlapping his face.
If I was to successfully post 3 times a week, I would need to do those photos in very short amount of time.
Again, to successfully post 3 times a week, I would need to have a simple and easy setup that would prevent a photo shoot to fail: no fancy lights, no complex setups.
So I ended up with 5 minutes shoots the day prior to my posts when my boy wasn't asleep and while we still had natural light. Shots would be taken inside by a window or outside in the shadow or anywhere if the day was cloudy.
I believe that for this project, I made the right decision to go for quick and simple and I wouldn't have changed it if I was start it over. However, if I was to do a sequel, I could afford to take more chances simply because my boy is older now and some of my limitations don't apply (or to a lesser degree).
That's where I spent most of my conception energy and focus: finding the right thought to write in that bubble. I think I did well most of the time and there are a few that I'm really proud of.
Having a background thread in your head to be on a constant lookout for ideas certainly makes it all possible. Like it's the case for everyone, I was sometimes distracted and my background thread didn't get enough time for me to find great ideas. I'm still finding tricks everyday to help me get back my focus when lost and I suspect I'll continue doing so for quite some time.
This is the aspect of my work that, I believe, needs more work. Most of the time, I would end up working on the post, writing the thought bubble and then sit back and start thinking about what I could draw: except for a few exceptions, the drawing was an afterthought. It shouldn't have been.
I should have been constantly trying to imagine in my head what would be the perfect drawing to go along with my thought bubble. I should have looked for inspiration from drawings.
Furthermore, I should have explored drawings more. I know what I like in photography but I'm new to drawing and I could have learned much more if I had been looking at others' drawings.
I suspect that if I ever do another project that includes drawing, I'll find out that finding inspiration for drawing also works well when you're also constantly receptive to your surroundings. However, I wouldn't be surprised if the source of inspirations would come at different moments and from different sources.
All that said, I have to mention that I didn't really focus on what I would draw because of my own limitations. I'm learning to draw and everything is pretty much a great challenge. I probably couldn't have pulled off what I could have imagined. It's not a great excuse for having poor drawing subjects but there's some reality to it. I'm continuing to improve a lot and someday, maybe I'll be able to draw with ease what I envision in my mind.
In the end, my creative work-flow could have been improved but I'm still very happy. I'm almost done with my 60 posts and I was able to run with my 3 posts a week from the start. Some of them are pretty good too. That, in itself, is an accomplishment I'll be very proud of.
