Being a serial artist has given me a unique perspective on self-discipline. People are often impressed that I’ve been able to create Poet every week for three and a half years with hardly a break. One of the truths I have discovered in this process is the importance of creating bad art. That is, there will be times when your mind is empty of ideas, when inspiration simply won’t come, no matter how hard you work at it. It is in these moments, I think, that you demonstrate whether you are, in fact, an artist, or merely a hobbyist. Anyone can create inspired. The challenge is to create while uninspired.

Working on a comic strip that must be delivered once every week, I have encountered this difficulty many many times. My solution is to just create something, anything, to fill the time, to continue in the habit of creation, even if it doesn’t rise to my strict standards of “good” art. It’s a little like “The Bridge on the River Kwai”. You keep yourself busy, even knowing that the end product may fall to ruins, because when inspiration does hit you, you don’t want to be sleeping on the couch — you want to be at the ready, pen in hand.