Moon Town is back up!
For those of you who have been missing it, my online graphic novel Moon Town is back online! I’m slowly restoring the old pages, redrawing where I feel it is necessary. Go read, enjoy, tell your friends!
The Cult of Done
There are so many things in the way of getting your personal projects actually completed. Bre Pettis presents some pretty compelling advice on how to shift from being a person who *wants* to create that project to being a person who does it, and moves on. It’s called “The Cult of Done” and its tenets are as simple as they are life changing. The basic idea is that “Done is the engine of More”, which means, if you get a project done, you get to actually move on to the next one. And then the next one. And so on. The opposite, then, is also true: abandoned projects lead to more abandoned projects. (Where that comes into conflict with the rest of the “cult” is that they recommend abandoning projects that are going nowhere. Not sure how you square that, but I suspect it’s a division on the issue of commitment. If you’re not working on a project, you’re not committed to it, and therefore, into the trash bin it goes.)
Anyway, go check it out, because the blog post is done!
They also have a Facebook page which is also done.
To all this, I would add a secondary thought, because although the following talks about Quitting, it is also about Not Quitting, or more importantly, Quitting Quitting. Ceasing to be a Quitter. And I think that’s worth considering alongside the Cult of Done:
“What will make you change? For most of us, it is not self-help books, courses at the learning annex. We are immune to any number of long, sincere talks with our friends about the Problems that Do Not Go Away. We are immune to resolutions made at the last minute of the last hour of each December 31st.
You know how sometimes the smallest thing can end up changing your entire life? A casual comment by somebody that you barely know. An ad you happened to spot in the newspaper. A chance encounter. One little moment. And later when you look back, you realize that that… that was it. That was the moment. That was the pivot point around which my entire life turned and spun and went into a totally different direction.
And you know, you don’t get to choose. You do not get to choose this pivotal moment. And sometimes, as anyone over a certain age can tell you, the pivotal moment can be kind of stupid.”
- Ira Glass, This American Life, “Quitting”
Finally, consider this from my buddy Doug TenNapel, who advises people not to wait for some Magic Moment to create. Basically, don’t wait until you know how to do something before you do something: learn while doing BY doing:
“I didn’t learn to be a father before I had kids. I didn’t become an expert at marriage before I got married and I didn’t get good at graphic novels and video games before attempting to make them. Our desire to do the thing comes long before we’re good enough to do that thing. I fell down 15 times learning to waterski before being able to do it. So why do so many gamers and comic book artists wait to make something before some magic moment happens?”
Little Nemo in GoogleLand
Today’s GoogleDoodle is a fun, animated, interactive comic strip commemorating the 107th anniversary of Winsor McCay’s “Little Nemo in Slumberland“, a wonderful, beautiful, charming addition to the newspapers once upon a dream.
So, here’s my question to all my fellow comic artists: is this the future of our medium? Do we need to animate our pages like this? I know some of you will hate this, and others of you will love it. I sort of love it.
My fellow comic readers and enthusiasts: what do you think?
Abhilash Narayanan
Talent deserving wider recognition: Abhilash Narayanan is a creative Designer & Animation Director Working at Vyga Animation in India. He’s got some amazing work, and some really fun character design. Check out his blog.
