114. Float
How flowers fall. Getting stuck, unstuck, being in the middle of it. The latest sequence with sound. A conversation with a diplomat from Dubai.
I can get stuck on what seems like the simplest of drawings, sometimes for weeks. I will draw and redraw to failure, hours eaten up as I struggle in place.
Going in circles on something embarrassingly straightforward, making what feels like zero, or even negative, progress, is terrifying. It makes me doubt myself in the worst way.
To break out of these spins, I switch gears and make—and try to finish—something else. It could be a different sequence. It could be a doodle. It could be latte art.
Being stuck is like going blank during an exam or forgetting onstage the line I have rehearsed a thousand times. The stress of it pulls me deeper in.
Ironically, struggling to escape can make it worse. What is it they say, if you find yourself trapped in quicksand? Stop moving so much. Float. Chill.
The best way I can put it is that when animation doesn’t work, it tends to be when I try to move something instead of try to figure out how it will move.
I repeat to myself: we have to be in the middle of something. In every single frame.
This perspective became an important anchor the past few weeks.
Life at 1, then 4, then 20x:
Unstuck:
Investors, find below the sequence with sound. Also, Provisions (sources of recent inspiration) and a closing micro-essay about unexpectedly sharing a meal with a diplomat from Dubai.