Year 2: Quarter 4

Branden Singletary
Apr 15, 2020
5 min read

Updated: 5 days ago

Another eternity has passed.

More insights have been unveiled and thus another set of reflections must be made!

Let us review what has transpired!

Goals of the Previous Quarter

[✓] Experiment, create and unify!

The beginning of this was certainly rather chaotic and experimental, but towards the end, a degree of unity, or at the very least continuity, has been achieved and this is something I'm thankful for! Looking at my gallery as a collective whole has been such an eyesore and now that I've gotten this figured out, it should look rather harmonious in the distant future. Until you scroll down far enough, I suppose - but that's apart of the magic! Wouldn't it be cool to come across a gallery that starts off pretty orderly and as you go further back, it just starts to 'decay?'

Well, I think it's cool.

Anyways, because of this, I don't feel the need to categorize my work into the ill-defined albums I've established. I'm more than likely going to separate the ones I value from the more "misguided" ones and place them into separate albums, thus beginning a "hard reset" of my gallery.

Kind of. Not really.

[~] The Astral Triptych: Desire - Work on Storyboard.

Yeeeah... about that. I've been working on it, but not that much progress has been made on it! I haven't progressed it more than 20 pages. I don't feel inclined to share parts of it, so I won't. More on that later!

[✓✓✓] Write and explore!

There was much writing and there was much exploration. Fired up a blog to further explore some subjects I often think about! Made some videos and played around with the formatting! Did some narration toward the end of that exploration, as well and found that to be pretty fun. The reason I consider this to be a success is because I think, through this experimentation, that I've figured out a great way to deliver my content.

That is, to combine all of it into a single medium and present it as a whole piece.

Of course, when it comes to individual artworks, I plan on releasing those individually, but I also plan on taking these individual things, linking them together under a common theme, specifically a philosophical one and presenting it alongside writings, stories and narrations... one comprehensive piece.

It's going to be magical. Probably. It'll likely take some time to find the proper balance and execution of this, but it's going to be magical.

Revelations

In the midst of this whole quarantine crisis, I've reached several more points of deep self-reflection after a lasting period of melancholy and self-loathing. "Why won't I just work on the comic?" "Why can't I stick to my own schedule?" "Why haven't I created anything I actually liked in a long time?" "Why am I not having fun doing this anymore?"

I'm not going to dive into all of it, but here's what I will share with you!

The Future of the Astral Triptych

Don't worry. The Astral Triptych is too precious of an idea for me to just abandon. However, the comic idea isn't working. Not for me. I hate having to will myself to do something I just don't care about.

So! I'm not going to do it anymore.

However, I'm not going to just let all of that hard work go to waste. I will be taking some of those panels and re-purposing them into individual drawings. I will also use the script I crafted for the comic as a reference for future compositions. Alongside these illustrations, I'm going to make the lore and mechanics of the world more concrete and readily accessible for all to see. Once the lore of Desire is complete... I'll illustrate about as much I can about this instance of the universe before I jump to Part 2.

The thing I like about worldbuilding is the conceptualization, implementation and subsequent presentation of the world itself. Previously, I presented it through an interactive medium (like D&D) and encouraged my players to explore the world and its various secrets so that I could personally explore this world that I created through the eyes of a character within this world. If I continued down the path of compressing this vast universe (specifically, the conceptual mechanics of it) into the narrow scope of a linear story that offers little to no option of personal exploration, then I would be failing myself as a creator.

Once everything is mapped out and detailed adequately, we'll see about creating a narrative. Until then, let's just expand the world so that it becomes what it was meant to become - a vast alternate reality almost analogous to our own.

Productivity, Work Ethic, Personal Enjoyment & Motivation

When it comes to creative work, I don't like self-imposed schedules. Deadlines are fine, but routine isn't - not for me. I work in sporadic bursts of energy, not "allotted times of focus." That's absolutely maddening. I can't create like that. It really just leads to a bunch of half-developed ideas and sloppy craftsmanship. I prefer to create to-do lists and knock out the things on that list in successive order. This is how I get the most out of my days. If I don't have a list, nothing gets done. Sometimes, I do have a list and not a lot gets done, but it's certainly more than if I just simply didn't have one.

However, lists are just as restrictive for almost all of the same reasons, even if I'm able to manage them a little bit better than schedules.

So! I'm just going to take it easy on 'methods of productivity' and see what comes of it. As for whether or not that's going to affect activity, I suppose we'll just have to wait and see.

One thing is certain, however: the blogs are not going to continue. Not in their current form. As mentioned before, I'll be combining my philosophical musings, drawings and narrations all together into a single thing, the product (likely) being released sporadically. The blog would be completely pointless. This does create a few inconsistencies for my website, but I'll think of a means of overhauling it to fit the new format.

Finally, when it comes to motivation, I was previously guided by a sense of "divine inspiration." Or at least, that's what I would like to call it. This project and everything included in it (the creative works, as well as the community I've cultivated) is something I deeply value. I feel like I strayed away from that path in favor of wishing to acquire some degree of status through a rigorous schedule and strict methodology - the project and everything in it has been devalued as a result. Not very good, even if it was only for a brief amount of time. What could be done about this?

Well, defying my own ego would be a great start. Thankfully, this period of unwarranted silence has allowed the initial phases of that to happen. The path forward should not only be significantly less maddening and morally conflicting, but also more creatively productive.

Goals of the New Quarter

Work on the Astral Triptych!
Create and explore!

This is the second quarter in a row where I felt like I've aged about ten years. Philosophical growth being the main culprit here. The difference this time is that I don't feel like I have sense of "overbearing, self-righteous cosmic duty." Feels pretty nice. Here's to another eternity.

Until the next one,

July 15!