great idea - blog.

as a compulsive editor, i will almost certainly be continually revising much of the text in my blog posts, so i will leave a place up front to retcon some words of wisdom at a later date.

i've already been back to edit this. one sentence and i couldn't just let it be.

---

MISSION STATEMENT:

it snowed in norfolk today, which hadn't really happened yet this winter. as a result, people are wandering in late to work (or skipping it entirely) so there is a quiet, workless atmosphere around the 16th floor. i was looking at some art blogs, a keystone of my morning routine, and started to think that i might finally be ready to participate.

there are those who do their best to post something new every day, even if it's just a little sketch, and i've always liked the idea. people swear that if you practice something every day, you'll see an improvement, which i can see is true from the webcomics that i follow.

i go through periods when i draw a lot, usually not more a familiar character with whatever pen is lying around, sometimes as much as a 12 panel comic strip. almost all of it gets quickly thrown away. the medium of notepad doodles doesn't lend itself to preservation, which is partly why i'm able to be so prolific within it, while anything greater scares me away. a blank sketchbook page has become a daunting sight to me. i can’t help seeing it as something pure that a mistake would tarnish, as would the removal of such a mistake. a notepad page can be ripped away as soon as that one runaway line of ink topples it’s potential, where a sketchbook page lacking craft must remain intact, a lingering shrine to shame.

i worry that a doodle blog might make doodling as self-conscious for me as sketchbooks have made sketching. i can see myself being tempted to throw away even more doodles – or worse, doodle less to begin with – because, in producing content specifically for display, i’ll inevitably hold myself to a higher standard. it is conceivable that my vanity will lead me to opt for inexistent doodles over imperfect ones.

i’m hoping for the opposite effect, that while practice may not make “perfect,” it might build comfort. the idea is to learn to accept imperfection, the obstacle which has always hindered my artistic evolution.

if i can get comfortable enough producing mediocre doodles, maybe i’ll finally have cured my fear of looking foolish (at least in this domain), and maybe the foolishness, the mediocrity, will start to fade away on it’s own.