Greg Manchess on Procrastination

Spectrum cover by Greg Manchess

Illustrator Gregory Manchess is one of the top talents in his field.  He also spends time teaching workshops and online.  I stumbled upon some of Greg's tips for overcoming creative blocks at the cooperative blog, Muddy Colors, to which he contributes.

I love the dramatic lighting
 in this winery piece by illustrator Greg Manchess.

He suggests block is caused by three things:
Perfection. Procrastination. Paralysis.

"I used to start a piece needing it to be the best thing ever: perfection. It had to solve every problem of my portfolio development, it had to stimulate, it had to thrill. . . It was too much to accomplish. So, I hesitated: procrastination. The more I hesitated, the bigger the problem became, until it was so great I couldn’t start since it would surely fail on any level: paralysis. Idea abandoned.
It was simply fear."

Check out his 7 tips to fighting inactivity.

Among them, don't be afraid of being an imposter.  Battle throught the fear until you reach a discovery. Hearing Greg Manchess say he gets scared about projects was quite a jolt. Also, Failure leads to success. Expect to fail a few times so your work can evolve into something better.
Then begin. It's okay if you don't quite have it figured out yet. Nothing gets solved or accomplished if nothing is begun.