This week I have a horror story to tell.
On Tuesday I was working away on a short deadline comic - I had 3 pages (about 30 panels) to get finished by the end of the week. I’m used to short deadlines, I wasn’t phased by that at all. Until a blue screen warning flashed up telling me I had a memory issue. It was a bit annoying because I’d just drawn a cute car and Photoshop didn’t recover it.
Anyway, I restarted, recovered my work, then about 5 minutes later it happened again. Then again. Rinse and repeat until eventually, my hard drive disappeared.
I’ll just repeat that: MY ACTUAL HARD DRIVE DISAPPEARED.
Now, I’m not wet behind the ears - I store everything on the cloud. Apart from my programs. And I was so comfortable with my set up that I stopped backing up my settings and brushes and just used sync instead. Big mistake. All my brushes that I’d collected and created over the years - gone. I’m now using my old stripped down PC - it took me 2 days to format, update and install everything I needed to get back to work. And I’m sat here on Easter weekend trying to recreate my brush library. My machine has to be sent back to the manufacturer to repair - they expect to get it back to me in three weeks.
I’m surprisingly calm about this. There’s a little part of me that’s like ‘hmm - how will she cope without that 6000 brush library. I wonder if she’ll remember how to develop a colour palette without relying on the ones she’s built over the years. I wonder if this is a delayed breakdown in the making’.
I’m a Gemini - we’re like that.
I have no idea what I’ll get back. It’s kind of exciting. It’s a bit like starting a new job, starting over. Or dumping the contents of your food cupboard and and starting from scratch. or your wardrobe. It’s an opportunity for change and growth. I can streamline. (Disclaimer: I am unnaturally positive and am aware how annoying that can be).
The light at the end of the tunnel is that my Provensen book arrived yesterday and it’s just as glorious as I imagined it would be. It’s called The Art of Alice and Martin Provensen and makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Here’s an example of their gorgeous work (I love Mr. Hippo’s face):
So I’m going to sit down with my book, cup of tea and new brushes and see where this Saturday takes me. I’ll update my Instagram (maxineleemackie) with anything good that comes out of it.
Max
**While I was writing this, the courier came for my broken PC 4 days early. Today is a good day.