(no subject)

[kradeelav]

sometimes when i get bad headaches/migranes...

while resting i visualize a boulder sitting in the middle of a river blocking the water's passageway.

and it doesn't help every time, but a surprising number of times, if i nudge/picture the water eroding away the boulder into smaller stones and unclogging the river to get the water un-stagnant and flowing again, it'll help reduce the headache. i believe i borrowed this idea back in my (secular) buddhist days when experimenting with different meditation styles.

(does this take the place of a good ol' anti-inflammatory/rest/water? no, but there's a surprising amount of psychological work -- supported by studies -- that goes along pain. not Focusing on it goes a long way.) 

anyway, i'm mentioning this because it's interesting replicating that river-visualization exercise for (digital) inking -- and "feeling" where the ink feels blocked and clogged even when it feels "technically" correct otherwise. where does the ink want to pool?

like the headaches, it's actually helping shockingly often. enough that i'm mentally slotting this into my 'useful inking tips' toolbox.

Comments

[queenlua]

this is interesting in that one of my more woo "ways i think about writing" is sort of mentally diagraming "where is the *pressure* in this story" and thinking of things in terms of pressure points (how much pressure is this character experiencing, how much pressure is on this situation, etc) & thinking of where the pressure needs to *go*...

like i have techniques for "breaking down" a story that are more concrete and structured, if the woo approach doesn't work, but the woo approach is one i got from a writing prof in college & it has weirdly stuck with me! weirdly effective way of framing things!

and does feel very similar to "where is this river blocked" in spirit haha

[kradeelav]

ooooh i like that, that's loads of fun. structurally can see how it would help in terms of moving a story along where it's making you focus on action "through" a character, how it impacts them uniquely, how they *react*. (another example you may enjoy -i think of comic panels as action->reaction pairs or three panels quite a lot. character A says or does something, either they react to it, or somebody else does.)

delighted to hear how long it's helped you too. :D