I’ve been sick as a dog these past couple of days, so I laid in bed watching The Guardians of the Galaxy movies. There’s a line of Yondu’s that resonated with me, about the telekinetic arrow that he can thread through his enemies like a needle using nothing but whistles. He says to Quill, “I don’t use my head to fly the arrow, boy. I use my heart.” And I thought, what a good metaphor for my art for the New Year.

I get easily obsessed with technique, style, media. And that obsession leads to perfectionism, which does nothing but stifle my work. In 2018, I want to make the heart my focus. I want intuition, creativity and exploration to dominate my sketchbook. Discipline is important, but I think the brain learns more fluidly when the heart is allowed to guide it.

Let’s fly the arrow with our hearts this year. Oh, and get over this seasonal cold.