Working on my Art Project: Part One

A HSC body of work is seldom easy, but I tend to make it look that way until you see me two hours into starting work. That's when my sanity starts to slip and I start yelling at people.

I call this, the "Sanity Meter". For those of you not into obscure game references, the video game for Gamecube "Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem" had something called a Sanity Meter which let you know when your sanity was starting to go AWOL, and if you didn't pay attention to it, you got some delightfully scary game animations, and even the False Blue Screen of Death.

My "Sanity Meter" starts dropping after drawing a person's head wrong in a graphic novel illustration for the book I'm drawing the pictures for (the first book that I wrote in my fantasy trilogy, as it is set in the modern era, those Elves in Denim are really hard to draw. The simple mindmelt you get when you think about drawing Elves in jeans and t-shirts makes progress difficult enough).

Then I start yelling at Photoshop or Illustrator when it won't let me do what I want with it... (Computer says No...) usually Illustrator retools a line I draw on the Wacom tablet thingie without me wanting it to, or demands I use the Live-Bucket tool, which is sheer lunacy.

At this point my "Sanity Meter" is dropping at a steady rate, until it fills up again when I figure out how to solve a minor problem which leads to solving more minor problems. A drink of Milo also fills it up if consumed during a twenty minute break.

Remember, never yell at software, the reason why it is not responding to your torrential insults and raging is because poor Photoshop is cowering in the corner and crying, too terrified to give an answer, or if Illustrator has lost interest in your constant attacks at its self esteem. Grand Theft Auto games are designed to get rid of anger, not Photoshop or Illustrator, so please, give your software peace of mind by not destroying its will to live.

Sincerely, Jacob Martin, TeenAuthor.