Get your red pens out. It’s time to edit!
Part Three of my series on the creative process
Missed the previous posts? Here they are: Intro | Part One | Part Two
This is the most time consuming stage of the creative process. This is when you’ll grab your grammar police badge and mark up your first draft with a red pen. Be ruthless to yourself. This is when you’ll step back from your drawing and fix any stray shadows or messy lines you missed. For graphic design, this is when you’ll make sure your image’s attributes are correct (aspect ratio, for instance). Is something stretched too far? Is it squished too thin? Is everything spelled correctly?
Once you get that next draft going, it is time to consider getting a second pair of eyes. Word to the wise, keep your battered rag-doll of a first draft buried within the confines of your hard drive. I learned this the hard way. A first draft is something that only a mother can love.
Why hide it from the world? There are more flaws in a first draft than there are in a second or third. The human eye has a knack for narrowing in on mistakes and things that are out of order, especially if they are obvious. The more noticeable the flaws, the less likely you’re going to get helpful feedback.
Everyone will point out that you misspelled that one word in the title. They will flock to the banner in your graphic that is stretched just a tad too much. That eye you forgot to color in? That’s what they’ll see.
How fast did you spot the error I put in there?
…Or something worse will happen. You’ll get ripped apart. You were so proud of your initial creation, that you skipped the three Ps of making something awesome. I completely relate to this temptation and have made this mistake myself. You’ll learn all about that in my next post.
The most difficult part of editing, revising, and perfecting something is the attention span needed for such an undertaking. Trust me when I say that staying focused is the hardest part of this stage. Here are a few personal things I do to help keep myself on track:
1. Fix myself a non alcoholic drink that isn’t water (water’s great and all, but it’s boring. I find drinking a glass of juice helps).
2. Listen to classical music. Oddly enough, this one works. If you can’t stand the idea of classical music, there are a number of heavy metal bands who’ve done concerts and special albums with symphonies
Metallica – S & M
Apocalyptica
Trans-Siberian Orchestra
3. Reward yourself with something after you’ve reached a certain point. Working for a reward is always a motivator for me!
