Staring defeat HARD in the face...(even with 2 months to go)

From the day we had to plan out our FMP statement of intent, action plans etc my time management and delegation has been absolutely piss poor, and i've missed every FMP deadline i've set myself. Since the (advised) decision to leave any plans i had to tackle smaller live briefs behind ive made a stuttering start with my Canadian Bird diary, and it is stuttering. 

The last two weeks, where i was going dedicate to sketchbook experimentation, has been interrupted somewhat by mural prep and painting, continued paid mural design work for Pete Barber aswell trying to work out my diary in order to fit in being an assistant on a number of his up & coming large scale murals around the country, also paid. Other smaller, quick turnaround and paying briefs have also come onboard, and the money factor is turning my head and motivating me more than the self driven uni work right now - which isn't a great thing to be admitting, but that is the name of the game right?! I WANT MONEY.


After taking stock of just how long (short) i have til the May 15th submission date, and doing some rough maths - the results don't make for good reading... heres a break down;


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BIRD IMAGES I NEED TO DESIGN/DEVELOP/PRODUCE : 39 (plus working out background elements, and collecting bird facts and adding my own bird blurb)

WEEKS TIL SUBMISSION: 7
That's right up until the day before submission, which i wont be able to do if i actually want to get a physical copy of the book printed. Also thats not factoring the PPP3 presentation prep, Creative Strategy/Presence that still needs to happen - prospective on-site work with Pete Barber (he'd need me for 2/3 weeks) as well as literally anything going on in the outside world that isn't my FMP.

IMAGES I NEED TO PRODUCE A WEEK: 5 (based on a 7 day working week & not taking into account the odd days i already know i wont be able to produce anything due to family visits)

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Sooooo, its not looking too healthy, and the more i think about it (and more time i waste documenting it on the my blog) the more it seems i'm going to have to bite the bullet and have a serious bird cull - maybe reducing the final count by as much as half?! Perhaps down to 20 of my favourite sightings, but that kind of defeats the object of wanting to illustrate the whole list. 

Maybe i was always asking too much of myself to produce a 40+ page book, to the standard i demand of myself - and maybe if i hadn't been doubting my concepts so much to begin with and just got on with it earlier i might not be as much of a pickle. But i am and i can only really see two ways out of this;

• DO NOTHING APRT FROM FMP 24/7, ABANDON ALL OTHER MODULE WORK AND COMMISSIONS. (even still, its not gaurunteed id complete it all)

• COMPROMISE MY PRACTICE - switch to a much, MUCH simpler style, with less detail and craft. This would cause me to produce work that wouldn't normally be associated with me - i should be using my 'signature' style surely?

• SPEND ZERO TIME ON DEVELOPMENT - don't make loads of scamps, cut straight to the chase.

• FOCUS ON THE BIRD CONTENT - don't get bogged down in worrying about what other elements i could be putting in the background to fill the composition? 


What ever happens, i think i'm going to fact the fact that 40 birds ain't gonna happen - unless i totally lose all discipline and start churning out super quick,scruffy-assed paintings & doodles and submit them as part of the book (although a mix of styles might be more interesting!). 20 is probably more realistic, i will aim for that (it could be a proposed Two Volume book) anything more than that new total i can now look on as an achievement rather than a failure!

Also trying to spend less time on my blog posts, but the sweet irony is; the more work i actually manage to produce on this will only mean more bloody blogging..!?

LETS GO!