#trust30 post#5: Travel...

From the writing prompt:

Not everyone wants to travel the world, but most people can identify at least one place in the world they’d like to visit before they die. Where is that place for you, and what will you do to make sure you get there?

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Back when I was a hardcore anime fan, the answer to this would probably have been Japan, but nowadays I've kind of mellowed on that idea. I wouldn't mind it if the opportunity presented itself, but it's no longer a must. I think now I'd like to visit someplace that I'd find inspiring from natural beauty or man-made architectural wonder. There are soooo many options in that regard (Angkor Wat? Hagia Sophia? Macchu Picchu?), I really need to do some research. I have to categorize this topic as "To Be Continued"...

On a side note, I was pondering this question about travel when I stumbled on an article about an event coming to Kansas City in 2012 called Spectrum Fantastic Art Live!  I need to go to this. Some way, somehow. This. This. This.

#trust30 post#4: Post-it Question...

From the writing prompt:

Identify one of your biggest challenges at the moment (ie I don’t feel passionate about my work) and turn it into a question (ie How can I do work I’m passionate about?) Write it on a post-it and put it up on your bathroom mirror or the back of your front door. After 48-hours, journal what answers came up for you and be sure to evaluate them.

Bonus: tweet or blog a photo of your post-it.

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At work and in my personal projects (*cough*comic book*cough*) I've got sets of goals that have been rather nebulous... I make progress towards them, but they just kind of "float in the ether" 'til I feel like it's time to work on them, which is problematic.

So reflecting upon this question, here are some action items I came up with:

• Get better organized-- make checklists, charts, collect things in folders, whatever it takes to put things in the proper perspective
• Simplify-- break things down into their simplest components-- what needs to be done, what can I do right now, what needs to be put on the backburner
• Evaluate and re-evaluate my priorities
• Be fearless in attacking my goals

 Not really much else to say, I have to just get back to work.

Robot exercise

Here's an exercise using an old value sketch done in Colors! for DS, upscaled and taken into Photoshop, where I refined the drawing somewhat and spiffied it up with photo textures. Also played with blurring, the smudge tool, adjustment layers, and using opacity masks. The main goal was to try and keep it as loose as possible, just find a flow.

#trust30 post#3: One Strong Belief...

From the writing prompt:

The world is powered by passionate people, powerful ideas, and fearless action. What’s one strong belief you possess that isn’t shared by your closest friends or family? What inspires this belief, and what have you done to actively live it?

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I don't know that I have any really strong beliefs that I don't also share with those close to me, but I know that there is one belief I really want to embrace, but which I find difficult to reconcile with what's been ingrained in me-- that it's alright to fail.

I've read a number of creativity blogs and articles that expound this notion. They talk about how it's part of the learning process, that in order to ultimately succeed, you have to be prepared to fail over and over again. "Fail early, and fail often."

And on the surface it makes a lot of sense, but deep down, there's that seemingly instinctual... fear. Fear that failing will mean missing out on my only chance to get it right. Fear that failing will mean I'll be looked down upon, considered a lesser person because of it.

It's scary. But it's a fear worth overcoming, because I know that, being willing to accept failure as part of my process... it'll make me a better artist, and a better person. That's a big idea.

Benerator Comix #1

Inspired by my first #trust30 post:

#trust30 post #2: Today...

From the writing prompt:

If ‘the voyage of the best ship is a zigzag line of a hundred tacks,’ then it is more genuine to be present today than to recount yesterdays. How would you describe today using only one sentence? Tell today’s sentence to one other person. Repeat each day.

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Today is a new opportunity for me to draw something, and in the process, learn something about drawing... and maybe, if I'm lucky, learn something about myself.

#trust30 post #1: 15 minutes to live...

 I just signed up for a 30-day writing challenge called #trust30, a set of exercises wherein each day I'm given something to reflect upon and write about. I'm hoping that I can use these as touchstones to talk about my art as well. Here goes nothing...
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So the premise is that I've got 15 minutes left to live... what to say? First and foremost, I love my wife and daughter so very much, I hope that notion lives years and years beyond these 15 minutes.

Ok, so I'm just going to ramble, hopefully someone will maybe find something useful here. Stuff that I've learned, heard in a podcast, read in a tutorial, whatever.

- Regarding creativity: Go out and do something. Set yourself some boundaries-- maybe boundaries isn't the right word, more like "framework"-- like staring at a blank page, you get that deer-in-the-headlights look, just set something down on the paper, you can always change it later. That first mark is always the hardest, but can also be the easiest.

- Huh. Not so easy.

- My daughter loves fruits and vegetables. I wish I could be like her. Then maybe I wouldn't have only 15 minutes left to live.

- Drawing with Photoshop: love Layers. What's great is you can go crazy, and just subtract what you don't want later. I learned that from ctrlpaint.com, btw. Check it out. I'd go there myself right now but I've only got 10 minutes left.

- It's important to be more aggressive with doing stuff-- less about doing the passive things, like watching TV, browsing the web-- more about being active... draw a picture, write a story, plant a tree. Hug someone. I know it's cliché, but you never know when you'll only have 15 minutes left. Or 9 minutes, in this case.

- One of my biggest regrets I think is not doing that comic book I always said I'd do. Fear of success more than fear of failure, I think. Always been afraid I'm not good enough, or that I'd be revealed as a fraud. Looking at it from this point of view, seems silly now.

- I hope I've made a difference, somehow.

- And that's it. That's all I got.

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NOTE: I decided to backdate all the thirty or so #trust30 posts because they took up a big chunk of real estate on the front end, and I really wanted this blog to be more about the illustration work I've been doing. However, I didn't want to delete the posts because I thought they were useful, if a bit repetitive at times. So I sent them back 10 years, because Blogger doesn't really have any other way I can figure out to compartmentalize posts. They've been labeled with the #trust30 tag, if you desire to read them.