Constraints and Self-gaming

Solve problems and push your practice using creative constraints

---

---

I made this comic on Saturday when I attended one of the free SAW Friday Night Comics workshops. This one was led by comics maker and educator, Matt Madden, and it was really fun. He ran a workshop on Tritina comics, an exercise driven by creative constraints.

Matt explains it much better here, but the basic idea is to create a grid of nine panels and then assign a specific word (or theme, colour, etc…) to each of the top three panels. Change the order of the words on the next tier of panels, and again on the final tier. I’m over simplifying (sorry Matt), but I think it’s easier to see than to explain.

It looks like this (with each letter representing it’s own specific word):

The words I chose were parenting, love, and problem.

I often build constraints into my practice but… I don’t typically think of them as constraints. Usually when I use constraints, I am trying to solve a problem or implement a particular idea or way of working that I feel unable to access. I used to think of the constraints I came up with as a way of “tricking myself” into a particular outcome, but these days I prefer the term, “self-gaming.”

---

I use self-gaming ALL THE TIME.

---

I used to hate making comics because… they took too long to draw! And it was so hard to make them! And I usually hated what I made! No matter how long I took to draw things my drawings never looked “right.”
In a desperate attempt to curb my frustration, I did a little experiment. I wrote a script for a short science fiction comic called Mimoid and then set myself strict rules for making it.

I used a set panel size for each image, took three minutes (maximum) to pencil each image, and another three minutes to ink it.

I downloaded an app normally used for workouts and did “reps”, completing the comic in record time. I still disliked my drawings but, by using a timer, I was able to let myself off the hook because… it wasn’t my fault! I only had six minutes in which to finish each image! If I had allowed myself more time to draw the comic would have been much prettier (and the comic would never have been made)! Working under time pressure like that was extremely freeing and, even though the images were a little ugly, the comic read just as clearly as it would have with more laboured drawings (perhaps more clearly).

This project has had a massive flow on effect in my practice. Making Mimoid taught me that I could purposefully change the way I was working to achieve a particular outcome. It also taught me that (thankfully) comics don’t need to be perfect, they just need to communicate. And… working fast just made me feel more productive and gave me less time to overthink things..

You can read Mimoid here if you’d like (it’s free, you just need to download it). I still dislike the drawings, but I like the story alright. I’m even kind of proud of a few lines, like, “Though sun rising… hope fading.”

---

Implementing simple constraints can have a huge impact on a creative practice.

---

I promise I’m almost done with my rant, but I have one more example of self-gaming that makes me… hopeful.

I love Quentin Blake’s drawings. They always feel so fresh and unplanned and alive, but also manage to serve the story perfectly. A few years back, I found this little video on YouTube where he explains his process. It turns out that for each final illustration he makes, he does a bunch of sketches first. When he creates a sketch that he likes, he puts it on a light box and drops a nice, thick piece of watercolour paper over it. Apparently, the water colour paper has to be thin enough that he can just see through it, but thick enough that can’t see well enough to trace the sketch underneath. This allows him to make an informed, well structured final drawing, but also prevent him from tracing and losing his his lovely, spontaneous line.
The work we want to make doesn’t always “come naturally”. Somehow, knowing that even Quentin Blake has to self-game makes me optimistic about where my own work might go.

---

End of rant!

I didn’t start this post with the intention of rambling on so long about self-gaming. I actually wanted to mention Matt Madden’s workshop and how interesting it was to hear how he uses constraints. I also wanted to do a little plug for the SAW Friday Night Comics archive on YouTube. Some incredible people have done workshops over the years and watching the recordings is a great way to push a comics practice somewhere new.

Oh my glob, thank you for reading this.

More comics and less blabbing next time.

xo

fionn