Side Project

A little side project that I worked on, at the beginning of the year, was a picture collage. I had the families at my church, with children aged 2-12, send me a family portrait. I then took all of those pictures and worked them into a scene of the St. Louis Temple, using the building itself as a clipping mask. This was no small task considering there were 27 families that sent me pictures. So, when I had completed my task, I suddenly remembered we had a new family move into the area...this of course meant rearranging everything to fit one more picture. This gave me a grand total of 28 families. You will notice that there are 2 blocks of color; one with the year and the other with CTR (choose the right). The year block was to take up space, but the other block was placed as a reminder to make those right choices. 

My result isn't perfect, but, it works and it was a spare-time project that I did for the kids. I did show some my fellow church members 2 different versions—one with the pictures following a more 3 dimensional bottom edge, and this one. Obviously, this is the one that they all preferred. The final image was printed out on photo paper and put on the wall at church where all the kids, and their families, can see it. Measurements are 18"x16".

Epilogue to "Steal Like an Artist" ~ Austin Kleon

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It had a lot of variety to it which helped to keep my interest up. Kleon did a great job in getting quotes from people from all walks of the art world. These quotes then led to a curiosity about the person and my diving into finding out more about them. Kudos to you Austin Kleon for making me learn!

At the end of his book, he has a list of "Recommended Reading." I haven't had much time to spend on this, but, I did purchase one of the books on his list — "Ignore Everybody and 39 Other Keys to Creativity" by Hugh MacLeod.

So far this book is also a good read. Parts of it read a lot like Kleon's book.

His big thing is that he started out doodling on the back of his business cards, to pass the time, while in New York at the beginning of his career. Needless to say, those very doodles became his trade mark and that's what he does now. He's been asked "Your business card format is very simple. Aren't you worried about somebody ripping it off?" I love his "Standard Answer: Only if they can draw more of them than me, better than me."

Along with Kleon, he says "don't quit your day job" which I find interesting. I guess they both must have had some bad experiences. Another thing I found interesting is that MacLeod is a blogger. I have to admit, when I first started blogging I wasn't a fan, but, I have really grown to enjoy it.

I found some of his chapter titles to be quite humorous.
"If your business plan depends on suddenly being 'discovered' by some big shot, your plan will probably fail."
 "Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten." — for this one he says something that I don't want to forget "I'd like my crayons back, please." I'm going to include an image of his Table of Contents so that you can see all of the chapter names for yourself.

 
Like I said before, I'm not finished with the book, but, I wanted to share some of it with you. I'll leave you with some of his business card cartoons. Enjoy!

"Creativity is Subtraction" ~ Austin Kleon

In the final chapter of Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon, we are talking about there being so much "stuff" out there. With everything you see out there, it can be creatively overwhelming. So, you should set limits on your designs. Limit the number of images, colors, words, etc. and in doing so your designs will come more easily.

I know it sounds crazy thinking that you'll get more ideas with less "stuff", but, it's true. Without limits you are looking at everything and trying to see how you can just include so much of this "stuff" in a design. But, by limiting yourself, you're able to focus on those one or two perfect things to include; I'm sure you'll make a much better choice. Plus, there's nothing wrong with white space. Some people think that if they have the space, they just have to fill it with something. Wrong!

Since we are talking about putting constraints on our designs, I thought I would limit myself with a quick little project. I limited myself to one image and some typography. It's not much, but I think it might give you a chuckle. Abracadabra, here's my Easter Card!

It's really supposed to be peeps wearing tactical gear, but, I thought of the opportunity of a "dude" talking to his homeys.

I hope you get my sense of humor!










As you know, this book has been full of quotes, and this chapter was no exception. There was a quote by Jack White that was pretty fitting for the chapter.

He gives some good advice here, so I thought I would check out and see just exactly who he was. Boy was I surprised!

Here is some of his bio: "Jack played guitar and sang in the band The White Stripes. They released six albums before breaking up in 2011." He has been in two other bands, too, and won multiple awards for his music. Not only is he in a band, he also writes music for movie soundtracks (62 credits), plus he's an actor (7 credits) and a composer (2 credits). I'd say that he's a pretty creative guy, wouldn't you? I'm including a video of a song that most of you should know, it's from the James Bond move Quantum of Solace - "Another Way to Die."

Be Boring. (It's the only way to get work done.) ~ Austin Kleon

I'm up to Chapter 9 in my review of Steal Like An Artist, by Austin Kleon. This chapter is called Be Boring. (It's the only way to get work done.) and I will be covering the main points that it is trying to make.

I believe that Austin is basically telling us to take care—take care of yourself, take care of your money (stay out of debt) and take care of your life (through routine, calendaring and scheduling). These are all really good advice and can help with all walks of life.

As most people learn, you have to have a routine when working on a project. I was taught a really good way to start out projects and how to keep track of them, use a process page. I'm including an image of part of my process page as an example of the steps I take when working on a project. This shows that the steps taken for each one can be different depending on what all is involved in the project.

Just remember, even if you have a 9-5 job that doesn't have anything to do with design, make time to be creative and add that time to your routine. 

Austin is adamant about "Get yourself a calendar." I couldn't agree more. I have a calendar and a special app that helps me keep track of when everything is due. The app I use is called iHomework and it can be used not only for homework, but for scheduling projects, in general. It allows you to put in custom "Assignment" types (i.e. proof, brief, blog, sketches, key frames, story board, etc.) along with reminder alarms, who it's for, even partner names with contact information. You are then able to click on them when you have them completed and they go into the "completed" category. I LOVE this app! I'm including a screenshot of it so you can an idea of what it's like. 

 

 

Be Nice. (The world is a small town.) ~ Austin Kleon

Each week I've discussing the book Steal Like An Artist, by Austin Kleon. This week I'll be pointing out some of the more important points from Chapter 8 Be Nice. (The world is a small town.)  

A couple of old phrases popped into my head the minute I read the title - "The world is getting smaller all the time," which in essence means that as electronics get more sophisticated and humanity keeps expanding, there aren't many places that we (people) can't explore. Then the other, "Don't burn your bridges" - which pretty much means that if you're leaving a job (because you're going elsewhere, not being fired), leave on good terms because you may need to go back there to work in the future. Also, you may be working with them at some point on a project and you don't want to ruin that possible opportunity. Each of these do a good job of describing most of the chapter, but it also discusses making sure to keep smart people around you so that you can always be learning and creating.

I saw this quote in the chapter and just had to include it. I just laughed when I read this, because how many times have you been working online and ran across something that just really made you angry! I know I've seen things posted places that make think "How in the world can someone really believe that?" or something similar. So, I can imagine someone touching me on the arm and telling me "Quit picking fights" (as I struggle to keep myself from commenting on a horrible post I read) "and go make something." Anger, as with other emotions, can stir up the creative juices, so use it to your advantage and create a masterpiece!

Austin also suggests for us to surround ourselves with people who are smarter than we are. I also think that this could mean to be around people who are different than you are. We (people) can learn so much from our differences and in this learning we can become so much more creative. Just imagine how creative we could be if we surrounding ourselves by these smarter, different, people. I just knew that being "different" would come in handy some time!

For your enjoyment, I'm including a Far Side cartoon that I remembered when reading this section. Surround yourself with those smart people, please!

 

Geography is No Longer Our Master ~ Austin Kleon

Chapter 7 of Steal Like an Artist, by Austin Kleon, is all about how the internet has allowed us to go places that we would never have been able to previously. It is aptly called Geography is No Longer Our Master. I find this true in so many different ways. With just a few key strokes you can visit far off lands that before you would have just dreamt about. You are able to see an almost endless supply of pictures from exotic lands that you would have had to search out in multiple books in the library before. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE libraries and books (I have a huge library myself) but when the internet is in your house and at your fingertips, the world is now that open book.

Steal Like An Artist

 While reading I came across something the author said about "Your brain gets too comfortable in your everyday surroundings." At first thought I was thinking "Isn't that what I want? A nice comfortable place to live and work in." But then, on further thinking I realized that the author is talking about when you can get in a rut or your work can become stagnant. That's when you need to mix it up a bit. Go somewhere different. Meet new people and try new foods. Step out of your comfort zone for a while. Austin also thinks that everyone should move to a different place. He says "You can always come back, but you have to leave at least once." I guess I could say that I've done that. I went from living in a small farm town to moving to a bigger college town where multiple cultures abound. The only people I knew here were my husband and son. I felt out-of-place and a bit lonely. But, to be honest, it was the best thing I could have done! I made new friends, I love the area, and I started a new career - Graphic Design.

The author mentions that he grew up "in the middle of a cornfield in southern Ohio" but now lives in Texas. He thinks that most of the people who grew up where he did, Texas would be as different as Mars. I feel kind of like this when I go back to where I grew up. Everything is so much different than where I live now, and it seems like an entire different lifetime when I lived there. Your life will be so much richer if you add more experiences like these to it. So, I travel and then I go back to where it all began and see the differences. The following quote from the book kind of sums it up nicely.

Steal Like An Artist

I read that it helps to live around interesting people. I also agree with this statement. I love having friends in all different walks of life. I have a lot of friends that are students, but I also have friends that are lawyers, engineers, artists, physical therapists, psychologists, doctors, homemakers, dentists, you get the idea. I can't even list all of the professions! I also have the privilege to have friends of varying nationalities. All of these things help to enrich my life. I learn so much from all of them and hope that they, in turn, learn something from me, too. I volunteer for different things at my church, school, and with Boy Scouts, and get to meet even more people this way. Every new person brings new experiences and these can spark new ideas and creativity. I even find myself bouncing project ideas of different people to get their perspective to see if they might spark an idea that I might not have thought about previously. So, keep meeting new people and making new friends. You never know who might give you that next great idea!

In closing this week, I would like to backtrack to a previous blog entry. This would have been about 6 weeks ago, and the blog entry was "Read, Read, and Read Some More." I posted some books that were on my "to read" list. I'm happy to say that I was able to get one of them last weekend and read it in 2 days. No, it's not a little 30 page thing, it had 322 pages. I just love reading. I devour books, and when I get a book that I am really enjoying, it's hard for me to put it down. This book is part of a series by Karen White - The Tradd Street Series. So far, there are 4 books in the series: 

The one I just finished reading is Return to Tradd Street. I own all of them and have read the first one multiple times and will re-read the others, too. It is a series set in Charleston, SC present day. It does mention some true historic things in it, but is almost completely fiction. It is about a woman, Melanie Middleton who is a real estate agent who happens to also be able to see and hear ghosts. This makes life in a town as old as Charleston quite interesting and sometimes scary. She has some great friends, some antagonists, a romantic lead (or two) and a mother who also has "the gift". Her mother is also able to get complete "stories" from items when she touches them, thus leading her to wear gloves most of the time. In this book, Melanie is pregnant and dealing with her everyday life and some troubles that pop up along the way. There are some people causing trouble along with some dearly departed doing the same. I don't want to ruin it for anyone, so I won't go into any more detail. I had been waiting to get my hands on this one and can't wait for the next book in this series. It was a really good read!

 

The Secret: Do good work and share it with people ~ Austin Kleon

I'm having fun working my way through the book Steal Like an Artist and am now on Chapter 6. The name of this chapter sums the content up pretty well — The Secret: Do good work and share it with people. So, there are two parts to this, "do good work" and "share", both of which are important. 

The first part can be a bit disconcerting. The author puts it in terms that make complete sense; while in school, everyone there, even the teachers, are either paying or being paid to help each other have "good work". But, once you're out of school, there aren't people there every day to tell you that you're doing a good job or to tell you how to improve your design. He even shares a design given to him by one of his friends, and I've included it below.

Then we have the concept of sharing. It sounds pretty simple, but actually doing it can be a little overwhelming. The main advantage of this day–and–age, is that we have the internet. I don't know about everyone else, but, I know that I'm a bit nervous about putting my work out there for "God and everyone" to see. In fact, it kind of terrifies me a bit, but, everyone starts somewhere.

The author mentions that the internet is an incubator for ideas. I think that is a great idea! Imagine putting something that you're working on up on your blog. People look at it and comment on it. First of all, people are looking at your work - that's a step in the right direction. Then, they are commenting on it, both good and bad. This is a good thing even if their comments aren't very nice. You can learn from these. By seeing the comments and working off of them, your design might go in a direction that you might not have ever thought about on your own. Even if that direction doesn't work out, you've tried something new and learned from it. 

Austin says that "I've found that having a presence online is a kick in the pants." I find that kind of funny because it can be taken two ways—either as a "kick start" of sorts, or as "I really wish I hadn't posted that." He points out something that some people may not realize, most websites and blogs are set up in reverse chronological order—most recent is first and oldest is last. "So, you're only as good as your last post." That in itself, is enough to make sure that your blog posts are as complete and clear as possible so that you get your point across and draw in viewers for the right reasons.