Drawing vs Writing

As I get closer to finishing He Who Fights yet again, I was thinking a lot about the difference between writing and drawing. Obviously one consists of words and the other scribbles on paper but the mental process is just as different. When I write it takes all my concentration. I can't listen to music with lyrics for instance as the words clash with the ones in my head, yet when I draw, I can listen to anything. I can even have the TV on, because my brain is transmitting out. To be honest, it can almost feel like a form of meditation as I can draw without thinking of anything. Stress, worries, life. They all fade away as I scribble away.

When I was a child, drawing made me happier than anything and, in part, my current enjoyment of it probably has a lot to do with the residual memories that resurface while I'm sketching.

There's also the time factor. I can spend an hour or two drawing and have a pretty decent picture at the end of it. HWF has been a two year job. Yes, I write in hour long or two hour burst but I'm simply putting down a tiny piece of a much bigger picture each time.

When I think of how much has changed in my life since I started writing this book, its amazing. Looking back over this blog, you can easily see the dips and rushes of enthusiasm for writing it. The hard work. The knock backs and boosts.

When I was younger, about 18 years old, I had an interview at an ad agency. I'd gone along woefully under-prepared but the man, probably hoping for work from my father's ad agency humoured me. He then asked me why I thought I was creative. it threw me then because I'd not really done anything apart from getting a pretty average mark at A Level art.

Now, obviously I could point out my long career in advertising and the stuff I've made plus the awards and all that stuff. But there's no need for that. The reason I know I'm creative is that there's this urge in me to make stuff. Not just the ads that I'm paid to make but all the other stuff that floats around my brain. It's like a river pushing against a dam and whatever I do, write/draw/make ads, is just me letting a little bit of it out so there's room for the next thing I want to make.

Drawing is a quick release of that pressure. Writing is a longer, slower drain. Both are as vital as breathing to me.