11 December, 2011
I have to be honest, I've been feeling a little restricted by the necessary creative restrictions that come with being an Illustrator lately. I saw Stewart Lee live in London yesterday and picked up a copy of his new book which he describes as being akin to an EP that a band releases to bridge the gap between a 12" album and it's more substantial follow up; I've always admired the sheer amount of artistic direction that goes into every word that he utters on stage (which is made clear by the plentiful footnotes that accompany and often extend past every page) and it just reminded me that I miss having that freedom to create something of your own without having someone else's direction to follow. So, I've decided that I'm going to start a personal project that will hopefully result in me having a 'product' that is entirely of my own creation some time in the distant future.
 
While it might seem obvious, I knew straight away that I didn't want to go down another "100 Days of Art" route (though I am saving the 'A Final...' title as a future successor to 'Another..' for a time when my sanity has lapsed sufficiently to ensure that my reaction to committing to another 100 days isn't one of horror) as these projects are generally weighted toward quality than quantity. No, I want to do something that is carefully considered (as opposed to only considering the deadline) and completely written by myself.

Which is a problem. Because I'm not really a writer.
 
That might seem like an odd statement from someone who, if this blog is anything to go by, obviously likes the sound of his own keyboard typing a bit too much but waffling away on here and writing a story are two very different things! For one, my dialogue is always over-complicated and consisting of things that no human being in their right mind would ever say (how I got away with writing all those episodes of 'Dawsons Creek', I'll never know...) so ideally removing any written content from any story that I have to write myself would be ideal and also, surprisingly, not that crazy an idea. A few months ago I discovered the Author/Illustrator Bob Byrne who has put out various 'Silent Strips' consisting entirely of dialogue-free panels. That's not exactly what I have in mind but it's a start - I just want to put something out there that's different, of entirely my own creation (though I'm open to a little editing or constructive criticism) rather than just bringing other people's ideas to life. I mean, don't get me wrong, I've worked hard to get where I am today and I get a lot of really fun jobs but right now, to return to the stand-up comedy metaphor, I feel like someone writing someone else's jokes for them when I want to be the person performing it.
 
Of course, I have absolutely no idea where this will fit into my schedule in the near future as I seem to be perpetually chained to my computer, working, but that just gives me time to think the ideas through rather than impatiently commit them to paper in my rash enthusiasm so that's a good thing. Watch this space.