DOODLING, DRAWING, AND NOODLING

I'm an artist as well as a writer. Maybe I'm more an artist than a writer. I'm more visually oriented than verbal. When I write, I set out to put images in the reader’s mind.

For some reason I can't fathom, I've been drawing less in recent years. Maybe it's because I’ve had more success with writing than art. Maybe it's that I keep getting distracted by all kinds of stuff lately. Maybe I'm getting lazy in my old age.

Since it's a new year that is already getting weirder than the last, and I've decided to make a heroic effort of finishing Zyx, Or; Bring Me the Brain of Victor Theremin before 2020 gets here, I've also decided to make a point of purposely drawing more this year.

And it's already producing results.

I've revived my old habit of doing quick, semi-abstract/surrealistic sketches as a warm-up for creative work. Noodling around helps get the juices flowing.

I’ve also been dusting off the drawing board, and working on my long overdue project for Claude Lalumiere's Avatars of Adventure, the Aztec Eagle.

Another old habit of mine that I'm diving back into is doodling. I used to do it all the time in school--it kept me from dying of boredom. These days I use a notebook (not to be confused with my sketchbooks) to keep track of all my projects. 

Somewhere along the line I stopped the doodling. I’m not sure why. Maybe I was trying to be a professional or an adult or some other pretension.

I'm so glad I'm now too old for that grown-up nonsense.

The doodling may have helped me in school. I've heard that it helps you remember things. I'm not sure about that, but I know that drawing does good things for my brain. I feel better, and dealing with all the madness gets easier.

I haven't been doing enough of it, and I need to get back to it. This is because all creativity comes from noodling around with your brain, tossing around the images, words, ideas, whatever, to the music in your head.

Excuse me. I have some important noodling to do . . .