Variation Venus

I shared on my webcomic, Crystal Visions, that I’m taking a little break to recharge. It’s been a real challenge trying to keep up with my comic and all my daily responsibilities. But I am determined to make it work! I’ve learned to squeeze in creativity during brief pockets of time, like drawing for just 15 minutes here and there. It’s remarkable how much you can achieve when you focus and plan intentionally for those short sessions.

My time is limited, so each drawing session needs to be purposeful. With just 15 minutes to spare, I find it best to concentrate on specific tasks. For instance, I can get a lot done with sketching or inking, but coloring for me is something I like to slow down and spend time enjoying. Making the most of the short bits of time I have during the day, like during lunch or right before bed, is very important.

On top of my webcomic, I recently decided to challenge myself to create a video too. I had a goal to post at least two videos this year on my YouTube channel, and guess what? I did it! Not only that, but I picked a topic I’m comfortable with and just jumped in. The whole purpose was to learn about video-making and get a grasp on a workflow that allows me to create quickly while still producing something watchable.

I used CapCut and my phone to record the clips, and let me tell you, the editing was a easy! CapCut has this outstanding feature that lets you edit via text, so I could zoom through the transcript and cut out all the “um”s and long pauses without missing a beat. I managed to finish that video edit in about 30 minutes. This was way quicker than the hours it used to take me.

That said, I don’t foresee myself churning out more YouTube videos anytime soon. I have a lot to work on, and I don’t want to add another hobby to my plate until I wrap up my webcomic. For now, I’ll stick to my goal of posting one or two videos a year.

Currently, creating comics is a fun pastime, and if it were a full-time job, I would definitely have a more rigorous schedule to finish a lot more pages. But for now, I’m content with how things are.