So I missed the exact one year anniversary by a few days, but who's counting, really? Not I. It's hard to believe that it has been a year since I started this thing. I really need to post stuff more often, because there certainly isn't a year's worth of work up here.
It's funny, because I've read all these articles about how having kids can kill your creativity. That was a scary notion to me after our first was born. I discovered that there is some truth to it, but it isn't entirely the case. My brain definitely works differently, and not exactly better, but I've decided that it is working more efficiently. At least as far as creativity is concerned. Before we had the kids, I was constantly sketching and creating characters and story ideas on nearly a daily basis. It all just came very naturally to me. The only problem was 90% of it was crap. Sure, I was excited about them as I threw them down on the paper, but when I looked them over a little later on, I could see how awful they were.
Now, because I'm living the sleep and free-time deprived life of a Dad™, I don't have the luxury of creating 9 turds for every one good idea that I have. I have to have characters that interest me, that really justify the building of a whole world around them, and that have a decent story attached to them. And I have to say, it's been working pretty well lately. The time I do have to work has been alot more productive than it used to be. And I thnk I'm enjoying the process more. I'm certainly not trying to say that every concept that comes along is gold, but I've got a much higher ratio of good to bad.
Kids are a huge blessing, but if you're an artist thinking about having them, be prepared to spend a fair amount of time figuring out how to work in your new situation. It took me about a year to figure it out the first time around. The addition of our second has added a new dimension, but it would be alot harderif I hadn't learned some valuable lessons before.
