Finishing up the current sketchbook, and almost finished the 30-Day Drawing Challenge:
21: Something you want. Alfred Hitchcock used a story device in his movies that he called a “MacGuffin”. It’s basically an unfilled variable that stands in for something incredibly valuable, so instead of showing you something that you might or might not think is worth all the trouble, he’d just show you a glowing box and let you project into it whatever you thought it might be, which would have far more resonance for you, the viewer.
Tarantino has used this, and Avatar stumbled clumsily over it by directly using the screenwriters’ shorthand “unobtanium” for a precious material that the technical advisors are supposed to give a better name to later. Most recently, I’ve seen it employed in the surprisingly brilliant E4 teen drama “My Mad Fat Diary”, though in this case the glowing cupboard of forbidden treasure was clearly filled with chocolate bars and other sweeties.
Anyway, what came to mind to me for this doodle was a glowing MacGuffin briefcase. I tipped my hand though and drew it filled with money: I would really like to have the means to take a year off, travel the world with Craig, write a book, and all that sort of stuff. Or take “forever” off, whichever. I really enjoy my work, but not working would still be better.
Sure, I found that seven grand recently, which was pretty pleasantly MacGuffiny, but it’s still a reasonable enough amount that I felt compelled to do reasonable things with it: eliminate my credit card debt and stockpile that two months’ salary they tell us we’re supposed to have put aside in case of emergencies. I also paid for my trip to Canada this summer, but””sorry, Canadian dear ones””that ain’t really globetrotting.
22: Something you miss. I didn’t like the premise of this one, ’cause it begged the question that something was missing from my life. When I sat with it a little longer, though, I did think that it’d be great to talk to my grandmother””my mum’s mum””about Scotland. She’d have really loved the fact that I live here.
It’s a crap likeness, but I was drawing my memory of an old photo, so it ended up more like a stock “granny” from Central Casting.
23: Something you need. Here I drew a flying, magical book to stand in for “Geez, I’d like to produce something substantial this year.” I’m constantly creating stuff, like the replacement sketchpad I made before dinner last night (I’m getting pretty quick at this), but I’d like to have a big work I can do things with. This year is for introverted creating, but it’d be great to have some reason to hit the streets next year.
[EDIT] Here’s that new sketchbook:
