"When in doubt, leave it out" -- Mark Twain

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A partial view of the Clip Studio Paint EX project galley

Mark Twain got it right — leave out the stuff that you spin your wheels getting right. That goes for images as well as words. As much as I treasure every precious creation that I emerges from my brain, it feels good to work with an attitude of plenty rather than paucity. I feels good to get rid of the problems that block progress because they can’t be solved by my current skills.

The picture above shows a section of the Clip Studio Paint EX project view. I’ve been staring at this for months. After I publish this book I’m going to take a week to process what it means to set a goal, create a plan, and carry out that plan inch by inch. Then I’ll start book number three in The Adventures of Jimmy Jay series.

A Day of Turmoil -- Removing a Favorite Character from My Children's Picture Book

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Today I balked at working on my book. Over the weekend I realized that I had added too many characters to the plot. My original intent was to have a jaguar cub keep the kids from getting into big trouble. In one drawing I added a toucan to the background, but I fell in love with it and promoted it to the jaguar cub’s part. Tommy Toucan entered the story. I spent many hours drawing and painting that guy, and today I was reluctant to delete him. I really didn’t want to remove him, and I became suddenly exhausted. After a nap I realized that I had grown attached to Tommy. I was clinging to him and didn’t want to let him go. I had put so much love into creating him. Still, I realized that the story was suffering because of his presence. It was clear that I had to give him back to the muses. I returned to Clip Studio and erased all traces of him. Once he was gone, my mood lifted. I was miraculously cured of my fatigue. Afterwards I sketched some jaguars.