I've started going through a PDF I found which collects Walt Stanchfield's teachings on Gestural Drawing for Animation (apparently he taught animators at Disney). It's really interesting and useful, and one paragraph in particular has stuck in my head:
Realize that the human body is like a dynamo, it is an energy producing machine. The more you use up its energy, the more it produces. A work-related pastime like sketching is a positive activity. Inactivity, especially in your chosen field, is a negative. Negativity is heavy, cumbersome, debilitating, unproductive and totally to be avoided. Take a positive step today. Buy a sketch book and a pen (more permanent than pencil), make a little rectangle on the page and fill it with a simple composition.
So today will be productive. And tomorrow more. My to-do list is big again, and some really interesting commissions have come in recently that I'll be sharing in the future.
I love the line 'Negativity is heavy, cumbersome, debilitating, unproductive'. I dwell on small crap far too much sometimes, and it really is totally unproductive.
This really makes me want to try that square composition now! My sketch book will probably end up with many squares. Thanks for sharing this paragraph to us.
Thanks for sharing this paragraph to us.