My biggest weakness in illustration...

recap of my recent(ish) illustration retreat with Vivien - Part One

My friend Vivien and I talk a lot about art. We talk about life as an illustrator, what we want out of this career, what we don’t want out of this career, etc. Oftentimes when we are in the slog of a long project, or in a lull between paying client work, we can get a bit lost.

This past November, we both felt a bit lost. We had a couple “work” days we could spare, so we booked a trip…with a purpose.

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A Getaway Cabin | Middle of the Woods, East Tennessee, USA
(This is not an ad for Getaway, it’s just what we did.)

Find a direction that leads toward where we ACTUALLY WANT to go in this career. Stop spinning our wheels for nothing, and make an action plan.

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In the days leading up to the trip, I jotted down notes and thoughts as they came to me, hoping it would inform our plan and/or pose a starting line of sorts.

Staring at that compiled page of scribblings and probing questions, I saw that I had broken down the illustrator’s process, as I understand it, into three phases:

AND *spoiler* here’s the biggest realization I had. I don’t believe anyone feels strong in all three.

For example. I am veeeery comfortable in the ideas phase. I will cozy up in the ideas phase for days, even weeks, thank you. Filling page after page with “what if’s” and “maybe this’s” I am a spider building my comfy mind-map web.

Let me tell you I was SHOCKED when Vivien said she hates this phase. Allow me to present to you the following exchange as a dramatic reenactment.

*open on Kayla and Vivien in the cabin*

“I hate the idea phase,” Vivien muttered while unpacking hotdogs and iced coffee.
“But that’s the easiest one”, I said, “the hardest part is knowing HOW to execute the idea—the process phase, ugh!”, taking a seat at the table to stare at her.
“Not for me!” Vivien exclaimed. “I don’t know how many times I’ve sat my desk, staring at a piece of blank paper, with no ideas—only elevator music playing in my brain.”
“Hmmm…that’s how I feel when I have to take an idea to final. I have absolutely no clue how to begin—there are infinite options. And what if I don’t like what I make?”, I responded as I turned to look at the trees out the window.
“What?!” said Vivien, turning away from the mini fridge to stare at me. “But the process phase is the BEST part! You can use any medium and it will still look like you made it! It’s the time to have fun and play around with materials!”
“So you like the pr—” I started to say. “You enjoy the id—”Vivien began.
…“I HAVE A GREAT IDEA!” we cheered simultaneously, grabbing our notebooks!

*end scene*

After that exchange we began listing exercise prompts in our notebooks. For me it was prompts like fill one sketchbook spread with a mind map stemming from one topic; or set a 20 min timer and sketch as many compositional thumbnails as you can.

And Vivien, she listed prompts like draw a character 10x with different materials each time. Then list 3 things you liked and didn’t like about each one.

And then…we switched notebooks.

*End of night one.*

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As the narrator of this recap and abridged flashback, it’s my obligation to give you info when you need it; to guide you through the thoughts and actions with plenty of time and space to process.

Come with me now, into the present—specifically back to this previous diagram in the text. I’ve added my own personal annotation.

My skills and interests seem to stack up like this. I’m sure there are others with diagrams just like mine. Or maybe you’re more like Vivien (best in process, weakest in ideas).

Ask your art friends (or anyone who works in a creative field) where they might fall here. Grab someone with opposite strengths and weaknesses to you and come along with us in part two.

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Up Next

In part two of this recap, we’ll look at what happened after we switched notebooks; how it informed the next day’s plans; and how we try like hell to avoid our tasks.