How do you deal with creative blocks or get your creative juices going again?
When I feel a block and not inspired, the biggest thing that helps me is getting out of the house. There’re so many hiking trails around here so I get out, take a little hike or a little drive in the mountains. That’s one of the reasons I live in Colorado is for nature — taking a hike fuels me so much. And the sun and breathing all of this makes me feel so much more alive.
[And] I work better with deadlines. If someone’s like, Hey, when you have time, just draw this. I’m like, No, you’ve got to give me a deadline.If I’m slow with production, then I’ll do more painting, more drawing. That’s always the challenge, to keep busy, busy. But I like the free time too. For me, I think doing nothing at times is the best mode of re-energizing myself for creative things.
Like, I just got the Nintendo Switch a few months ago and I’ve probably played Zelda for 50 hours. [Laughter] And I love it! It’s great. I mean, I think about that video game like art. That world is so in-depth and the storytelling, the sandbox, you can choose wherever you want to go, you can follow the things, you can not follow things, you can just explore. It’s like this weird metaphor for how I want to live my life. I’ll go down the rabbit hole where I have to solve these puzzles. It’s so great, I really love it.
I think that free time really helps my brain to be creative, to create the next thing that I need to do. I like the freedoms of that.