R/T 021 - The Picture Outside the Frame
This issue of Radical Things is about: Celebrating the hidden work of creativity.
The Picture Outside the Frame
Mistakes, re-working, re-thinking, covering up, adapting and starting over. It's all part of the creative process. The polished end-product is what the world sees. But it’s only a small part of the creative journey.
A few months ago I took my kids to see “Marvel - Earth's Mightiest Exhibition” in Wellington. Being at the bottom of the world means travelling exhibitions are hard to come by. This was the premiere stop and it was school holidays.
A great excuse to visit under the disguise of “It’s for the kids. Honest!”
The Hulk bursts through the wall at “Marvel - Earth's Mightiest Exhibition”.
The Texture of a Page
I wouldn’t say I’m a Marvel “fan”. But I do watch a lot of the cartoons. And I’ve seen most of the Marvel movies. Costumes and props were also part of the exhibit. The prospect of seeing a Black Panther costume fuelled my excitement for the show.
The exhibition designers do a great job of walking you through the Marvel universe. But what I found most fascinating were the origins of the super heroes. These stories also included the histories of the writers and artists who brought them to life.
There was a selection of original art and comic book pages that pulled me in. These hand-drawn master-pieces are much like the dead-sea scrolls of comic books. Archaeological artefacts that speak to a different time and place.
One of these was a cover for a special edition of “The Incredible Hulk”. It was at the ‘Inked' stage of the production process with dialogue applied. Yet something else about it caught my eye.
Its texture.
A close-up of the cover for the “Incredible Hulk King Size Special”.
Creative Layering
It was more like a collage than a flat rendered page. Much of the writing was painstakingly laid out in blocks and stuck on with glue. Pencil and ink criss-crossed the different layers.
There were other examples of this layering throughout the exhibition. Sticking new bits over old to cover mistakes. Using Tipp-Ex* to mask old lines. (*Change this to Twink, White-Out or the familiar brand of your choice). Evidence of light pencil marks exploring ideas and page lay-outs. Later to be committed in indelible ink.
It’s a beautiful illustration of the unseen layers supporting all creative works. When you see a finished product - it’s never the full picture. There’s a path littered with dead-ends, mistakes and self-doubt sitting behind it.
Overcoming these obstacles is key to unlocking personal satisfaction and your sense of creative achievement.
A page from “The Sub-Mariner” constructed with collage, pencil and pen.
Keep Trying!
So if you’re struggling with an idea or feel like you’re stuck in your creative process - celebrate this feeling. It means you’re doing something new and learning along the way.
Don’t feel disheartened if you don’t get something right the first time. When you have a creative vision, there’s a road to get there. It doesn’t happen by osmosis or magic. Arriving at your vision means placing one foot in front of the other. And when you encounter something blocking your path - finding a way over, around or through it.
Don’t give up.
Each output, thing you create or problem you solve is another step along that journey. There’s a picture outside the frame that nobody ever sees but you.
That’s the picture you should celebrate.
Watch
Scavenger’s Reign is an immersive cartoon showing on Netflix. The crew of Demeter 227 are stranded on a stunning planet untouched by humanity. They need to live long enough to be rescued. But the planet’s inhabitants have other ideas.
Original, creative and beautifully rendered. Scavenger’s Reign is a sci-fi epic with an aesthetic sitting between manga and Studio Ghibli.
Stan Lee was almost talked out of one of his most famous creations - Spiderman.
He recounts how it happened in this 2017 graduation keynote at UCLA. The story starts around 1:46 but it’s worth watching in its entirety.
It contains sage advice on pursuing your creative ideas.
Listen
Barbie is a successful independent woman who doesn’t need a man. Ken just can’t get over the fact that in another world he’d be a “Ten” and Barbie would adore him.
My eldest daughter was in a choir competition this week. Two of the male choirs sang this song. It accompanied us on the way home after winning the award for best student arrangement.
If you haven’t seen the movie - you need to feel the Kenergy!
Read
Adobe join the AI Robber Barons
Creatives celebrated Adobe’s launch of their AI-driven service, Firefly. Why? It didn’t take advantage of your ideas and intellectual property. That recently changed with the roll out of new terms and conditions.
Seeing the Big Picture
A collection of up to 10,000 ancient drawings have been found in Venezuela. You need a big stick to draw a 43 meter long snake and 10 meter tall human figures.
Do you remember when the internet was fun, weird and wacky?
If you do you’re as old as me. Illustrator and animator Dale Crosby-Close is on a mission to bring back the weirdness that dominated online videos at the start of the Noughties.
Starling in the Jungle
There’s building evidence that social media is a dumpster fire for humanity. Yet technophiles and billionaires would say “Correlation is not causation”. Well, an Amazonian tribe has been given Starlink and it’s all gone to shit.
What the hell?
It’s a phrase I find myself constantly saying. Well, maybe not that exact phrase. Anyway, it’s also an effect that occurs when people abandon their initial goals or resolutions after a small setback. If you need to be kinder to yourself, reading this might help.