principles

Inspired by CW&T’s own Principles page, I’ve decided it would be useful for myself (and maybe for you) to share the principles which define my creative practice in a living document.

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/001

I'm going to make whatever I make when I'm making it: I can't start off a project by telling myself (fooling myself) that I'm going to draw a mini-comic or I'm going to make an endtable or I'm going to write a story; whatever it becomes in the end (an endtable with wings? fine, perfect) is what it was going to be the whole time, even though – especially though – I had no clue at the start.

/002

Being adaptable to your creative tempo changing with each project is essential: sometimes outrunning your thoughts is the way; sometimes you have to slow down and find a different path with a microscope. All are valid so long as it gets the work where it wants to go.

/003

Make something every day: the whole point of the daily Informalities. In the space of five minutes or less, they start my day and act as a graphic blog of the day that was and/or the current mood. From that point on, I dedicate my day to toiling on making things without any plan, direction, or aspiration beyond the act of creation itself and, as Leonard Cohen said of songwriting, the refilling of my self-respect gauge.

/004

Don't buy a new tool until you find yourself needing it to solve a problem with the current project: the tools that I've bought because I think I might need them at some point are the ones still in their boxes.

/005

More often than not, the (creative) decision preceded by “fuck it” is the best one.

/006

I will take any and all opportunities to use “defenestrate” in a sentence.

(latest update: tue/20260505)