I was waiting for a phone call earlier this week and started doodling a cartoon diary of my weekend. Not my best set of drawings, but it captures the essence of the day and how I was feeling, so thought I'd share it here.
Another reason for sharing is that I'm aware of a tendency to try to make work 'perfect', or at least as good as I can get it, which takes time. Like everyone else, I have a limited humber of hours available, which means that a lot of stuff never gets finished, or seen by anyone. Often, this is the way it should be. If I'm going to ask people to give up their time to look at what I've done, I want it to be worthy of their attention.
On the other hand, I think that it can be useful to share early drafts of ideas — in all their flawed beauty! I'm always interested to hear demos of songs I really like – to see what was there from the start. It's reassuring to know that they didn't come out fully formed and brilliant, but messy and a bit out of tune.
It's important to acknowledge that there's a process to making stuff, and what we start with is often kind of ‘bad’. It reminds us not to get too disheartened when our first drafts don't read like a book or sound like a record. Sometimes, I actually find that I prefer the demo – it captures that first flash of inspiration and excitement, which can get lost in the attempt to make something 'perfect'.
So, here's my very imperfect diary doodle . . .
Thanks for reading. I hope you had a good weekend. If you find yourself on course for a 'Sadderday' – grab a cup of your favourite brew and stick on some tunes. Always works for me!
In case you're wondering, the LP in question was 'Dim Probs' by Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals). It's sung entirely in Welsh. I’m trying to learn to siarad Cymraeg, but at the moment I’m still not proficient enough to catch all the lyrics, not that it matters – a good tune is a good tune, right? Plus it’s a great way to learn a language!
All the best, Dave
