The project that never was !!!
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions"
is a proverbial statement that arose in the late sixteenth century. How Does this apply to this Sketch?
Last Year (2005) in my visit to Sundance, in Park City, Utah, I reconnected with a friend that has been a reporter for television for about 10 years. During the visit we both agreed to do a book, we had always wanted to do a project together and what better way for an artist and a writer to express they talents than a book. We both agreed on a contract, that stated that we would do this pro bono, on a lose timeline with a collections of earnings after the book was published.
Here is where timing is key. When I agreed to do the book the movie was only it was on the initial stages, where all is cool and the end seems far away, working at my own pace would have not presented a problem. Well because we are both busy people we kept things in the back burner and he wrote the script at his own time and I waited with no rush. Six months passed and I got the script. It was beautifully written and I in my naive ways agreed to have it done in a matter of two months. He obviously excited ran out and got a publisher. All the stars where aligned and I was set to do it. I went out and bought about $100 worth of art supplies for test. Well by this point the movie was moving at full speed and I started to feel like I was being pulled in two directions. By this time it was December and the publisher had only seen a few sketches. I cancelled a trip to Mexico and took my Christmas week off from work, to work on the book. By the third day I had only outlined half of the book and I wanted to finish that week. I was so exhausted from work that trying to finish this project was draining me. I realized very far into the venture that I had taken to much, I had never illustrated a book. I was not aware of all the work that took place.
I was talking to a friend of mine, and he expressed that there where professional illustrators that took 6 months for 30 pages. At this point, I realized that it was in the best interest of the project if I did not continued in it. So I made the hardest phone call I had to do as a professional and a friend, I called and cancelled my involvement with the project.
I am not writing this to illustrate that I am a quitter, I am writing this for all the young artist out there who in their journey to further their career will want to take as many projects as they get offered. I would like to caution that, for it is better to finish one right, than to not finish any at all. I have been in many situations where I say yes to projects because I want to further my knowlege, but sometimes it is draining. To quote everyone who knows me, " Don't bite more than you can crew."
