Beginnings

In my opinion, starting projects are normally the easiest part of the process. I never had a problem starting a project, and for me, I see problems seeing those projects through. I don't fear beginning something because when you first start something, you have nothing to ruin, but once you continue a project you have put a lot of effort into, it becomes difficult to make changes and finish it because of the fear of messing it up. I do, like most humans, have a level of procastination that I have to deal with. I put off starting the things I'm uncertain about because I fear getting myself into a situation where I have to deal with failure. I don't see this problem very much in my artwork because, but rather in my school work. I think that working on a piece of art allows for easy beginnings because of a relatively low level of preparation involved. Art is whatever you want it to be, so you can manage the fear far easier because the requirements are set by yourself. Writing a paper on a topic I know nothing about is scarier than starting a painting of a horse. I've never studied drawing horses, so after my first couple of sketches, I could realize that it'd be better in my ability to just draw it's head. With school work, you're expected to finish it within the parameters of what will get you a good grade, which is why I put off starting school projects.

Overall, beginning isn't a big fear of mine. I have started far more things than I've finished. If I am working and I can't finish a piece because I'm not comfortable with where it's going, I just stop working on it. That mentality allows me to continue to work without a fear of starting because I know that most of what I start won't be a fully realized piece. The fear of starting goes away when you know that most of what you're making isn't going to be present as a finished piece. 

I never push myself too far in regards to my art. I never set myself up for something that I don't think I can realistically do. This is especially evident in when I write plays and movie scripts. If I had it so that I was setting myself up to have to do very difficult things in movies, then starting would be much more scarier. The elevator movies we had to make are a great example. I wasn't thinking of a cool idea as much as I was thinking of a plausible idea. I wanted to make something that could be turned out quickly and easily. I knew that it'd be hard to cast boys so I wrote the script to have two girls, and I made it so that nearly anyone could have played the parts. The shots were all easy and could be changed quickly if they didn't work. Because of that, starting filming on Friday wasn't a problem for me at all because I knew that I could get it done.