The flyover

When doing a large creative project, it’s valuable to do a flyover. Imagine you need to see the lay of the land for something—maybe you’re preparing for a battle, or maybe you’re just trying to figure out where the sand trap is on a golf hole.

A flyover gives you a sense of where everything is. You don’t have the details in place, but you understand where danger lies, and generally what your plan of attack should be.

One good way to do a “flyover” in a creative project is to simply do a really crappy version of the whole thing. You get a sense of the shape, but you don’t have the details yet. You’ve put a mound of clay in front of you, you’ve beaten out the general shape of a cherub. Now, you can start worrying about the features and the chubby cheeks.