Hidden beliefs can ruin you
The first new Space Deer strip
Hallå my pals!
Jonas here with another issue of Indie Notebook to get some ideas out of my noggin, and to inspire you to do the same.
A couple new subscribers joined last week! Welcome! I’m happy to have all of you here!
Now I just wanna get straight into something I’ve learnt recently…
Hidden beliefs can ruin you
I’ve been sharing my art and stories on the internet now for about 13 years. For most of this time there’s one stupid belief I’ve carried with me without noticing it. Before I tell you what that belief is, let’s look at this comic page I drew in 2014.
It hit the sweet spot in every way for me. The character, the art, the setting, the tone and the story. It felt like bliss, like I was doing what I was supposed to be doing with my time. I made a few more comic pages, some were great, but they seemed to get gradually worse and then I felt like I had used up the character completely.
I couldn’t think of a single new thing to do with this character, anything I thought of felt too much like what I had already done with them, or completely pointless. I didn’t wanna get stuck in a groundhog day where I just keep drawing superficial and same-y comics without a point.
But as I ran away from and avoided this groundhog day I accidentally threw myself into another one.
Most days I’ve been waking up and wondering “what new thing could I make today?” I might’ve had around 100 ideas for different projects since I moved on from Space Deer, probably more. And what has come out of them? Hardly anything, maybe 2 or 3% of what I start resembles anything finished.
I’ve been stuck in this loop for at least 10 years now, for no good reason. Only out of fear for my own lack of imagination and quality of thinking. It’s easier to think up an idea for a whole new world of characters or a video game, then it is to commit to anything and do it well.
13 years of sharing my art online and I still have nothing substantial to point to, be proud of, and say this is what I’m doing, this is what I’ve made. And I think it all boils down to this one false belief I’ve carried with me all this time.
“Always make something new, never repeat yourself.”
I never realized that I believed this, until I heard someone tell me about it in a book or on a podcast. It was a hidden belief. It was probably on Creative Pep Talk or in one of Austin Kleon’s books. Anyway, whoever it was, they had seen this false belief in their own life and they had some great points about it.
Most people have no idea who you are and have never heard your idea anyway.
Your ideas belong to you, do whatever you want with them.
Good art and stories never expire.
When I heard this, I realized that I needed to change my relationship with my creative output. I decided to go back to my roots, repeat myself - but better, and then try to go beyond it.
So I redrew my first Space Deer comic. I’m basically saying the exact same thing, but with a slightly different tone. To me it emphasizes the message of the story much better (it’s might be much easier than you think to do something you’re thinking about). In the original comic Space Deer was much dumber, almost oblivious and not at all surprised that it worked, he just chuckled.
I thought the bliss I felt for my old Space Deer comic had been used up since I couldn’t think of anything more to say. Now I believe that back then I had just found some surface level specks of gold. If I keep digging with this deer as a shovel I might find real gold ore eventually.
Be cautious of what you believe.
That was my thoughts on hidden beliefs and how important it can be to spot them.
A while back I said that I was gonna make a Space Deer graphic novel, but I’ve been honest with myself and realized that I don’t need that kind of seriousness out of a side project right now. I need to be able to finish pieces rather quickly and to be able to share them as often as I like. A comic strip is a much better way to do that. So I’m slowly making a bunch of comic strips to build up a buffer and then one day I might start posting them regularly. Until that day, I will just share strips here every now and then. Think of it as the comic strip section in a newspaper!
Mini Notes
🎧 Podcast - Tim Ferris Show: interview with Derek Sivers
I churn through so many podcasts as I’m drawing, I like very interesting and really long podcast episodes because it helps me focus (and it’s just cozy). I hesitated to listen to anything from Tim Ferris’ show because the titles were not that appealing to me, but I picked this one randomly and it’s one of the most fun podcast episodes I’ve listened to lately. Derek was not at all like I would expect a CEO/entrepreneur to be like, very diverse topics in there. It even lead me to buy his book Anything You Want.
Also, I noticed just now that this episode was uploaded on my birthday. lol
🔴 Youtube video - The drawing advice that changed my life
This guy decided to draw silly birds every day. At some point he got real bored of it and started to think of ways to make it more fun. He added social commentary. Eventually that became the real focus, the bird just made it easier to get started every day. You will not be able to resist making your work more interesting if you force yourself to repeat-repeat-repeat.
📝 My book - As Long As The Red House Puffs
We’re still gauging interest on this book I wrote with my partner. Let me know before the 6th of November if you want one!
❓ Question time
I was just wondering. Is there anything you’re struggling with right now or wondering about?
Feel free to shoot me with any question or explain a problem you have, it can be about anything; creative conundrums, life stuff, either very specific or very broad. Anything goes.
I would like to pick at least one of your questions and try to answer it, as well as I can in a future issue. You can either comment on Substack or just reply directly to this email!
Thank you as always for reading Indie Notebook! The best way to support me right now is by sharing this newsletter with a friend.
Take care and have a creative week.
ps. note to self: it was really fun to write this one. took 2 hours and 35 minutes, longer than usual.
I am up for a copy of As Long As The Red House Puffs :)
Regarding your decision about not doing a Space Deer graphic novel, it's respectable that you stopped and listened to yourself, I think. Knowing yourself is so important. I'm personally glad though that you're still planning to do some Space Deer stuff.
That reimagining of the old Space Deer comic is very intriguing. It gives me some manga vibes.
Hm, something I'm struggling with or wondering about...
How about this: what is the best way to think of an audience as you're doing something creative? Should one even consider an audience? Should one just create for oneself and see if others will go with it?
I was just thinking about my hidden beliefs lately, and I realized even though I try to be highly introspective, the format of my introspections leaves blindspots! I would reflect on my day without realizing the act of reflecting was making it worse! (I used to highly enjoy reflecting and spout positivity constantly, but I hadn’t realized that had gone!)
It was through feeling particularly good and reading back my introspections that I found something needed to change.
For me, this goes on to prove that hidden beliefs can really easily hide under the radar. Not introspecting on introspections is like a criminal hiding in a police station!
> I was just wondering. Is there anything you’re struggling with right now or wondering about?
This seems quite fun. I find crafts easy to improve at — it’s just a very large amount of time, effort, and iteration as my brain adapts to it — and commitment is the real obstacle. Friedrich Nietzsche said “He who has a Why can bear almost and How.” Indiana, what is your Why? What makes it easy to pursue your crafts and wake up every morning? Why do you do what you do, and how did you set yourself up in such a way that the answer to that question is easy?
I thought that would be a fun question to ask :) Have a nice week.
P.S. The space deer is so cute, I love it