Last week, I was tasked with creating an original comic book page. One of the ideas presented to me was to create a drawing and show how I would draw it in different windows of time. Being the overachiever I am, I decided to make it outrageously time-consuming. At the end, I’d created 6 drawings, with windows ranging from five to thirty minutes. In total, it was 105 minutes of sketching. Despite its tedious nature, this activity granted me great insight into my creative process when I least expected it.

When planning out the project, I wanted to draw something I could replicate over and over with ease. So, I chose something I knew how to do like the back of my hand: architectural drafting. Specifically, one-point. One-point perspective is a specific style of drafting that consists of only three types of lines: horizontal, vertical, and ones going toward a vanishing point. For example, consider a drawing of a road that continues into the distance. The lines that define that road continue toward a vanishing point, allowing the drawing road to continue forward into space.

Here’s a great example, courtesy of The Virtual Instructor

Now that I had a prompt and defined my parameters, I needed something to draw. So, I turned to magazines, books, and Pinterest. Ultimately, I came back to the photos that had been my design hyperfixation for the past few months: an article about Gwyneth Paltrow’s house, featured in Arch Digest. Her home in Montecito is connected by a series of long hallways.  The vast arches that connect them to adjacent rooms allow amazing amounts of light to flood in, taking a normally claustrophobic room and making it feel open. This allows for an open feel while creating established spaces and the divides between them. 

Image credit: Architectural Digest

Even though the article itself doesn’t discuss the function of these hallways, it took great inspiration from the concept and got to work. After a little digging, I found an old sketch in a notebook, picturing one of those hallways. That became my reference. It turns out, I had about 10 of the same sketch, sprawled out on several pages of tracing paper. 

A picture taken from my dining table at 1 AM

Then, came the daunting task of drawing. Even though it seemed overwhelming at first, once I got into it, I was hooked. The time constraints of the activity forced me to focus on the concept instead of perfection. I drew it over and over, changing little things every time. By the end, I’d learned all about my creative quirks. For example, I tend to create softer lines when I’m rushed, but more harsh and clean lines when I have more time. I also think more clearly with music in the background. When I was drawing, I found myself coming back to one specific playlist, titled “Rom Com Vibes”. It kept me motivated by allowing me to romanticize the process. 

So, what can I take away from this? One: giving myself a time limit allows me to rough out concepts before committing to them, saving time and energy that would normally be spent hyper-fixating on details. Two: drawing something over and over again lets me reimagine it in different ways. Three: romanticizing my life will always make me more productive. But at the end of the day, it’s all about finding what you enjoy about what you do. That’s what drives creativity.