This is an attitude I’ve developed in my many years of freelancing in comics, commercials and recently games. Sometimes you’ll have to solve problems all by yourself, and sometimes you’ll be lucky to have people to help solve them with you.

Say you have 8-11 days to colour, letter, composite, animate, add vfx, edit, render, encode and upload a 6 min interactive motion comic before its corresponding TV show airs.

What you don’t do is say “I CAN’T DO THIS!!”

Surgeons don’t say that, nor should you.

“But art isn’t a real life emergency!”

YES IT IS. WHEN THERE IS A DEADLINE. CAREERS AND LIVELIHOODS ARE AT STAKE DANGNAMMIT.

When shit hits the fan at the last minute and you’re stuck with a figurative impending nuclear explosion, you first need bravado. Anger helps too so long as you can channel it into productivity.

Anything to keep panic the hell away from you so you keep your hands busy working away at a solution. 

Once you figured out how you’re going to approach a problem, have a mental list of priorities handy to help break down tasks in smaller chunks. Gauge how much time you have on hand make as much room as you can for error, because things can get worse.

I’m pragmatic and cynical that way.

Don’t be afraid to improvise solutions. Emergencies are the best scenarios for those. If something doesn’t work one way, try another and another until there’s nothing else you can think of off hand. If you have 5 minutes free, ping a friend in the biz for extra advice while you google. 

And when the storm clears you might end up with a brand new production pipeline when you’re done :).

(via axl99)

^ What she said.  Your mind believes what you tell it.  If you constantly feed yourself with self-deprecation, you will never get anywhere.