Between September and January, I spent a lot of time working on an Instagram post for International Mobility as a response to the arts abroad program I completed over the summer.
As I struggle with ADHD and Dyspraxia, knowing how long a task will take, planning, and project management, and then the actual execution of the different stages get really scrambled up in my head. This is why a simple task like “create an instagram post about your time studying abroad and submit it by the end of August” ended up being a complex project with several full-colour illustrations, a script, and was unfinished until the end of January.
I wanted to write a little bit about how I completed this project, because although I’m very happy with the final outcome, the way I seriously struggled creating this was very eye-opening to me.
I ended up creating many fake deadlines and using the spare time I had over the winter break, as ATeam Arts wasn’t running over the break, in order to complete this project. Unfortunately, nothing worked until I finally found a workflow that I really, truly enjoyed for itself, and didn’t feel like I was grinding my bones down just to be able to complete.
The scripting, sketching, and lineart stage was an absolute slog, as I’d decided to do it all by hand and fountain pen, as I really liked the quality the lines created. In hindsight, it may be useful to develop more skills in digital lineart in order to work on commercial projects with tight deadlines.
Trying to do any kind of non-stimulating activity like sitting down and drawing from photo references with ADHD feels genuinely torturous, which is why I ended up putting off and procratinating the task for so long, but another significant issue I didn’t recognise as being as necessary as I thought it was was finding the time and space to be able to focus and complete the work. During the summer, I moved back home and had to sleep in the living room as I no longer have a room in my house and was sleeping on the floor in my living room. This also meant I didn’t have a desk to work on, which really delayed me even further. Thankfully, by the end of the year, I had a workspace and was able to complete the lineart and sketching.
The colouring stage was really fun because I really got into the flow of things. After work, I would go and visit a cafe with my laptop and drawing tablet to digitally colour all of my hand-drawn sketches. I learned how effective it is for me to work in a cafe environment because it’s a place with, first of all coffee, which really allows me to focus and lock in, and it’s just uncomfortable enough that I won’t feel the need to take frequent breaks or find something else to do. There is enough background noise to keep me mentally stimulated while I focus on a task, and most importantly of all, with strangers and cafe workers around to surveil you, it creates peer pressure to appear productive.
Doing this project was challenging, but I learned so much about workflows, the conditions I need in order to complete work. After having a conversation with my mentor about the process of completing this project, it also prompted me to get back in contact with my GP and make some progress on a medical diagnosis (other than ADHD as a SPLD) so I can get medication in order to make the whole process easier. I’m on track to have this set up by Third Year. It also created a piece of work which I am proud to put in my portfolio.
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