442: Creative People

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What are creative people like?

To the outside world they are like zombies, or big children.. fumbling around with their head in the clouds.  Playing, fighting. Mumbling to themselves. Taking irrelevant notes. Laughing at nothing funny.

They are the odd ones out at school or in the office. They are the strange and the weird.

Unless of course if you work on a movie set. On a movie set, everyone is fumbling around head in the clouds mumbling, playing, fighting, laughing and taking notes; and it's perfectly normal. I say this in a good way, people working on a movie set remind me of kids in kindergarten. Each in their own creative little world.

But each working towards 1 creative goal.

I think the crab curry gave me a headache.

Apart from the fireworks in my stomach, I think the crab curry I had for dinner gave me a headache. Which is probably a good thing, because it's the kind of headache that can be cured by a good night's sleep.

Thank you crab curry for a good night's sleep!

Best: Time in Action

Today at my Teakwondo Martial arts class, I could punch a bit harder, stretch a little lower and do a few more push-ups. Nothing special happened today that enabled me to do all that.

No, it's showing up week after week. I'm starting to imagine a future in which I can do a full split. Why ever for? I don't know.

Consistent action / over time = positive results.

An introduction to....

What day is it?

Have you ever asked yourself that. Have you ever let days or months go by before you stop and take stock of what you're doing, where you're going, or even what day it is?

You might notice that most of the post are numbered, as I race to post 1000 lessons you don't learn in art school. Well apart from that, I'm adding a new feature to this blog, and that's "the best and worst of me - daily reflections"

This is where I'll take a few moments at the end of everyday that I can, and examine the best or worst thing I did (or both). You're more than welcome to comment on my triumphs and failures, or share your own.

So to get the ball rolling, the  dumbest thing I did today was order a large ice-blended black forest coffee drink from coffee bean at 11pm. My Brain is simultaneously being eroded by cold,caffeine and sugar.

441: Dr. Google - The day I gave myself Chirotherapy.

 

 

When your laptop is sick, you call the guys at Dell or Mac tech support (depending on your orientation) and they fix it. But if your hand is not functioning properly, who to call is not so clear cut. Lets look at the choices.

Ming's list of people you might want to call if you have prolonged pins and needles in your left hand.

1. Mom
2. A Doctor
3. A Chinese Doctor
4. A Masseur
5. An Acupuncturist
6. A Nutritionist
7. Know-it all friends
8. The Girl
9. A priest/pastor or some other religious leader
10. Dr. Google

I picked numbers 1. and 10.

A Brief Medical History.

I was born 27 years ago.

3 weeks ago I got a job.

2 weeks ago I got pins and needles in my left hand, and they haven't gone away.

END.

How to put Doctors out of business.

1. Call mom and explain your symptoms.

"Mom, I've had pins and needles in my left hand for 2 weeks"

Your mum will probably tell you about the time your dad had the same complain and how he got it sorted, and if your dad's still kicking, then you've a good chance.

2. Stop worrying.

3. Google your symptoms, read the responses you find. Compare your symptoms, diagnose yourself, and self prescribe a remedy.

According to my diagnosis...

A knotted muscle or bone pressing against a nerve near my funny bone. And the cause of which is that I have not been listening to my mom and have been putting my elbow on the table for long periods of time, causing either muscles to bunch up or a bone to move slightly out of place.

The cure. To cover my bases I manually tried to realign all my bones and message the appropriate muscles throughout the day. My pins and needles are down 33.3% I should be back to normal in 3 days if I keep this up, and keep my elbows off the table.

So if you're wondering if you've wasted your parents money by going to med school. The answer is YES.

440: Digital Drawing.

 

I love drawing. Just paper some pens and a pencil. . . and hours and hours of time to get lost in the act of it. I also love scanning those drawings and posting them on this blog.

But I don't have hours and hours of time to get lost in. Nor time to scan the drawing.

So I drew this on my wacom.

We do what we can:)

439: Jesus Said - Let not your heart be troubled.

 

He didn't say, he will keep our hearts from troubled.

He didn't say we wouldn't have trouble.

He said: 'Let not..."

We must do it.

Testing Paypal again

438: Tactics & The Underdog Advantage.

"2.45am. LIVE. It was the first game I watched in the whole tournament. Dad had bought me a packet of Nasi Kandar and left it on the table knowing I was going to watch the game. (Thanks Dad). It promised to be a good game."

When Holland met Russia in,2008 European football championships. Holland had progressed to the quarter finals by winning their first 3 games becoming one of the favourites to win the tournament.

In contrast Russia lost their first game 4-1 to Spain. But fought back to qualify for the quarter finals with narrow wins.

Russia beat Holland 3-1 in the quarter finals, and I expected it. I expected it for 2 reasons: Tactics and The Underdog Advantage.

• Russia as the underdog had less pressure to win it, so they could go all out, where as Holland tried in vain not to lose their already impressive form.
• Russia as the underdog could study and prepare to play against Holland's winning tactics. Holland on the other hand had little to gain by changing a winning formula, and could not judge Russia's abilities or known their full strength
• The Russians had a benchmark to measure themselves against in the Dutch.
• The third Russian goal involved Russia capitalizing on an obscure rule. (there are no offsides from throw ins) Where as the Dutch may have taken this for granted.
• Winning always means more to the underdog, and is harder to achieve. So the underdog is prepared to try harder.

Can you see how you might apply 'The Underdog Advantage' to your life?

437: Animators animated survival kit.

In the tradition of Scott Mccloud's comic book about making and understanding comic books comes a 16 DVD animation about making animation, I'm a sucker for stuff like this. I really am. You can buy the whole collection for thousands and thousands of dollars by clicking this link:

Animators survival kit, the animation

436: Technology...

One day even the technology in this video will seem primitive. But today, it provides a better look at what technology can be. While technology is often portrayed as an evil in itself, this video might give you a slightly different idea...

--->Click to see a computer from the future

435: Practice simplifying.

I don't practice as much as I should. But I did today. These are drawings of me and of my friend Jordan, done from a photo. I'm learning that good art means simplifying and focusing on important details while leaving everything else out.

Clarity. Story. Music.

434: Fine Art Comics

I found some really great pictures wile doing some research online. These are fine art works of Yoshitaka Amano. (The final fantasy dude)

Comics are a fine art really.

See more at the Micheal Janssen Gallery

433: Increase productivity by batching process.

Make all your phone calls at once. Shop at super markets and watch movie marathons to save time.

the Problogger has written a detail post about how he batches his blogging process. It's a valuble lesson for bloggers and other creative producers.

Read it on Problogger.com --->

432: Quiet time.

We are collecting and processing information all the time. Sound. Visuals. Ideas. Sensations. All these jumble up to create noise in our head.

Noise that makes it very difficult for us to function properly. To think, plan and respond.

Thats why I think all of us need quiet time, to release the noise, give it form, and turn it into music.

Our thoughts can be noise or they can be music.

431: Don't Panic

Instead put things into perspective. If you really think about it... the most important thing in the world to you now, is that you are breathing air. You are inhaling. You are exhaling. If you stop then everything else is irrelevant. Focus on your breathing for a minute or 10 minutes, it's a lot harder than you might think.

In. Out.

Repeat.

In. Out.

Breathe slowly. Breathe naturally.

Focus on your breathing. Do it naturally. How long can you mindfully just breathe and not think of anything else?

Try it. Let me know how you feel after?

430: I used to dare say anything on my blog

...now I am reluctant. hesitant. afraid. self concious. and over educated.

429: Alternate Back Design for my new calling card

 

I'll be printing both versions of the back, and giving different versions out randomly, or depending on demand:)

428: My new business card lists full time and part time jobs.

namecard front:

namecard back:

If I had been paid by me to design my own name card, I would have earned/spent 34 euros. That is considering, there were no major changes to be made, as I am the perfect client:) I have an idea of what I want, I describe it to the designer (also me) clearly, and give the designer room to play.

Is this name card design, money well earnt/spent? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.

ps: the minimum rate serves as a guide.

Here are some other features of the design:

• The name card design showcases a range of my abilities : cartooning, layout, copy, design and concept.
• Putting my minimum rate on the card, saves potential clients and myself time and phone money.
• Adding my part time and full time jobs tells a story in itself.
• The words 'turn over for more details' encourages the person who holds the card to interact with the card, and pay more attention to the content.
• the content on the back is meant to be informative, create curiosity, and provide various degrees of interaction, from twitter to my cell phone number.

Thanks for your comments:)

427: Probono Design

  I don't do much work probono. But this is a rare exception, it's a cover for a event souvenir guide,

for a National Taekwondo event. My taekwondo instructor asked if I could do it. Maybe I did it because he could kick my ass if he wanted to. More likely I did it because if I didn't want them to use the same half baked designer as last year. I guess I did it because I could.

More often than not, I just say no.

Do you ever do any probono work? Why?

426: How to Twitter

photo via filckr

The first blog post I ever read was a post entitled "How to Blog".

This is inspired by that. It's a top 10 list of tips to help you get the most out of your twitter experience. From someone who's really enjoying the twitter experience. So here goes, "How to twitter"

1. Follow people like you. I follow artist, designers, cartoonist, and the other 4 people on twitter who support the same football club.

2. Follow people who follow you. It's social. Twitter is social media.

3. Follow more people than you have followers.

4. As often as you can, answer the question "What are you doing now?"

5. Twitter with your phone. It's like sending and receiving mass smses for free.

6. When answering the question "What are you doing now?" be as specific as you can. That's what makes you interesting.

7. Respond to followers who ask questions, especially when they ask questions in you area of expertise.

8. Ask Questions. Be amazed at the responses.

9. If you can't say it in 140 characters, blog it, then link to your blog.

10. Share links to cool stuff you find online. (hint hint, like top 10 lists and stuff)

Feel free to republish this list on your blog, if you link back to this blog, I'll be delighted, if you don't that's cool too. Do you have anything to add to the list? Leave a comment.

What's twitter? ---->Click to Learn more or ---->Click to go to Twitter

+Twitter like a rockstar + 17 ways to twitter

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