Just felt the need to voice some thoughts I've been having recently, even if it's just in textual form. Added #1 because I can see myself doing this occasionally and making it a series.
While I've been drawing pretty consistently since I joined Newgrounds - which I'm very happy about - for the most part it's been stand-alone pieces, which is something I only rarely did in the past. I'm mostly used to drawing comics, and recently I've been itching to just tell a story again. Start a new comic, commit to it and see it through to the end if possible.
It's not that I don't have ideas - if anything, I have too many. There's at least three stories that I have planned out pretty much in full, and I could start drawing any of these right now. But the perfectionist in me wants to do ALL of them or do nothing at all, and I have to get in the habit of telling him that working on too many things at once is generally not a good idea. Doing something properly means sitting down and really making it your priority.
The other thing is that I'm getting in my own way far too much. I know that the beginning of anything is the hardest part, and I know that none of those comics are going to draw themselves, but my time outside of work is already very limited and I find it hard to push myself to do what is essentially more work outside of my job. This kind of thinking usually results in me not even starting anything, which isn't exactly the most productive way to be.
What it all comes down to is that the only way these ideas are getting out of my head is if I put them to paper, so if I really care about them - and I'd say I do - I owe it to myself to at least try.
If anyone has any words of wisdom to contribute I'd be happy to hear them.
If not, then thanks for reading the random thoughts of an internet stranger, it means a lot!
tydaze
Perhaps you could start with whichever of the comics you think would be the shortest. I feel like smaller projects are good to get your creative momentum up. Having a project that is too big and ambitious can be a real drag because it takes so long to get to the point where you have something to present. But with a smaller project that goal is closer in reach, and once you've done it, then you get the satisfaction of having put something into the world. That will help build your motivation to tackle larger projects.
vlsrb
This is very true, and I actually applied some form of this advice to my creative process. Before I used to make up these loooong, epic stories that would develop over several arcs (my main inspiration being various manga) which - let's be honest - had no chance of ever being finished. Since then I've deliberately scaled back that ambition and got into the habit of drafting shorter, more manageable stories. Two of my three comic ideas are divided into chapters (and the third one could be easily be chopped up as well), so I guess it's a matter of picking one where the chapters will be the shortest.
Thank you very much for this reply, it was very helpful!