I was so bad at doing chores and keeping up with my homework as a kid that my parents got me a chore checkoff pad. If you’re old enough to do so, think of a yellow legal pad, only each tear–off page is just the same pre–printed copy of a ludicrous amount of “chores” with check off boxes categorized into different lists, and a bunch of side bar like areas with blank spaces to write in notes and even your own thoughts or special agendas. It was the early to mid 90s and this was a novelty that could only exist before computers and smartphones. Just search “To Do List” in the App Store and you’ll get dozens if not hundreds of Task Manager related hits with more features and personalization resources than a cheap scratch pad from Kmart could have ever offered back in the day.
As a Gen Xer, I’m still genetically predisposed to relying on old fashioned, handwritten or printed media as well as on modern technology in this weird dual reality, and it was that frustratingly detailed chore checkoff pad that serves as today’s inspiration. I keep multiple lists—both physical and digital—that essentially can be broken down into three categories: Things I Need To Do (long term), Things I Want To Do (goals), and Daily To Do lists (aka, “This $#!% Needs To Get Done Now!”).
I could write a lot more extensively on the benefits of these lists, how it’s satisfying to physically drag a pen over an item and cross it out resulting in that tasks completion, or how the whole process is really just a way to compartmentalize life without freaking the hell out, but instead I’m going to write about the absurdity of the second category mentioned, Things I Want To Do and its more specific subcategory, Things To Draw. Now I actually have several of these lists—some more unconventional than others—but they all serve a very specific purpose which can basically be explained as “Staying Creative Insurance.” All creative types know and struggle with creative blocks, and what’s more, they know that creative blocks will always, always be a certainty. So to preempt those blocks, creative people will have “lists” of some kind to assist breaking up those stale moments. This act may be subconscious as I’m sure any number of artists, writers, or Fashion Taxidermists reading this are thinking, “Hold on, I don’t keep lists like that!” But I can assure you that they/you do. A “creative to do list” can take the form of bookmarked content on social media, specially labeled photo albums, Pinterest Boards, bookmarks on your browser, screen captures, a specific shelf in a personal library, scrapbooks, following other artists for daily inspiration, or praying to the Norse God Bragi for guidance on a plausible excuse to post all the hotdog related art you’ve ever done (so far). A “To Do list” or “inspirational collection” then really becomes a matter of semantics.
The other tiny tidbit you should know about these lists—in whatever form they take—are how unique and personal they are to their creator. They will almost always only be decipherable to their author (mostly, but I’ll expand on that more in a bit). We all have our own little idiosyncrasies with everything we do, but when it comes to something more personal like a list of things to do created expressly by and for the only person in the universe designated to see them, those itemized collections can be downright hysterical even if their context is relatively clear (which often it is not). For example, to this day I am haunted by a very old to do list of things to draw with one item simply listed as “Date.” The confidence I must have had when I wrote that is staggering! Was it in reference to an outing I had with a girl? A specific holiday? Did I think there was something to add to Salla’s quote in the monkey death scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark? What’s even wilder is I actually remember the physical act of writing that down, but not the context as to why. If that wasn’t infuriating enough, I kept that drawing prompt idea on said list for years in fear that if I did remove it, I may lose whatever inspiration it ever possessed! It was important enough to write down for some reason.
Case in point, I’m at a place in my life now where even if I suddenly had unlimited time and motivation, all my to do lists would perpetually exist in the same state as my Netflix queue; I’m not going to get to most of it, but I’ll never clear either out as both stand as monuments to my interests if not as one to my goals.
For the purposes of this post however, I’ll be sticking to two “lists” of mine in relation to wanting to draw something very specific. The first is what I’ll call my “Definitely Draw This!” List which is literally a collection of pictures, and screenshots I collect and add to regularly. Incidentally, when I think of my actual “Things To Draw” list, it’s this collection of images I consider as the main one. It’s on a small thumb drive in a folder simply labeled •To Do. The bullet point ensures that no matter what else I save to that thumb drive, that particular folder always remains at the top. A quick browse through it shows mostly images of dynamic poses, facial expressions, architecture, and design styles I want to illustrate. Many of them I already have too, but like my Netflix queue, I don’t remove them after I’ve accomplished what I wanted to. In most cases it’s because those images continue to serve the inspirational purpose as well.
But like my “Date” prompt I mentioned earlier, there are a few pieces that make me wonder why on earth they’re in this folder. Some may take a minute to get (Did I screen cap this book title because I wanted to read it? No, it’s the typography… yeah, that’s it!) Honing in on features, hairstyles, fashion choices, or even specific style choices usually helps, but occasionally I’m at a complete loss.
My second list is more of the scraping–the–bottom–of–the–barrel variety. I love, love, love to write; but art is visual and it’s easier to save a picture with a clear mental note (e.g. “mimic this line art style”) than an overly detailed and usually tedious written direction. If I have an idea that I don’t yet have a visual idea for, I write it down as thorough as I feel I need to in my Notes app. In some cases, this can be relatively short as the prompt in and of itself carries those personal idiosyncrasies I mentioned earlier. For the most part, these have invisible, secondary ideas attached to them like a password or riddle that I and only I would understand. It doesn’t always work as in the “Date” scenario, but usually it does. For example, the prompt “Updated Hamilton” might make most people think I want to do my own take on Lin–Manuel Miranda’s musical, but in actuality it’s an idea to resurrect my own stab at comic writing where one of the antagonists from my strip Lazy Comics is named Hamilton. More detailed prompts like, “Italian/Greek girl, prominent bigger nose, hair in bun on head almost like Egon Spangler” give a pretty clear description of who to draw but offers no context as to why. I know however that this specific caricature was supposed to be part of a series of colorful real life people I observed down the shore when I went to the beach. I certainly won’t take pictures of complete strangers without their permission, and I also know (that in this particular case) I’ve already created a specific style and look, so descriptive written features will allow me to more boldly caricature someone without directly capturing their specific likeness. As for “Fist for a nose”? That’s a “Date” reference again.
