February 19th, 2010 | Posted in Book Shop, Everything Blogged, Just a Story | No Comments »
I’m not sure what I’m doing here.
There are many, many things I’d like to be doing here- but I’m not sure what this blog’s purpose is. I’ve thought many times of just scrapping the whole thing. Starting over. I’ve actually done that a couple of times. And now I’m pretty sure I just have no idea what I’m doing here.
Steve & I watched Julie & Julia a few nights ago, and I really, REALLY related to both of those women. The ups, the downs, the being passionate about what you’re doing. . . Steve said several times “Holy cow, that’s so you!” For instance when Julia Child happily said “Ta-Da!” when she finished chopping her onions before all the other dudes in the class, or when Julie gave her spiel about having A.D.D., and “That’s why I’m bad at housework.” Of course, when Julie’s husband was shoving chocolate cake in his mouth, I got to say “Holy cow, that’s so you!” to him, but that’s not the point. The point is, I loved watching this film, and it made me want to do something spectacular.
I also just found two books on Gardening by one of my favorite bloggers, Gayla Trail at You Grow Girl, and ordered them both. I hadn’t been watching her blog for a while, but every February I just get sick of all the snow and start thinking green, and thinking about growing things that will feed us. Amazon had just replenished my Christmas Gift Card amount after my Meggs History of Graphic Design failed to be delivered by the 3rd party seller (grr), and I just wanted to start thinking green, and now I’m reading over her blog going “OH! Paw-Paws!”
There’s something there that I just don’t have. One, I think, is time. The other, I think, is focus (“I think I have A.D.D.” ha ha). The site itself needs to be about my art & my business, but I think the blog needs to be rethought.
I’ve got my first “real” graphic designer job lined up already, which is super, super, super cool (especially that it’s local. And even more especially that it’s for another artist!) So if I can just survive this 21 credit hour mad race to the finish line that is Graduation. . . We’ll see what happens.
I’ll be thinking about what I’m doing here. I’ll get back to you.
In the meantime, here are the spiffy books & the movie that have inspired me this week:
September 14th, 2009 | Posted in Books, Everything Blogged | No Comments »
“Creativity is crucial to business success. But too often, even the most innovative organization quickly becomes a “giant hairball”–a tangled, impenetrable mass of rules, traditions, and systems, all based on what worked in the past–that exercises an inexorable pull into mediocrity.” - via Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool’s Guide to Surviving with Grace Product Description.
This is one that Art-Friend-Dustin told and told and told me about, until I finally could stand it no longer and had to read the book myself. I managed to pick it up for a little less than $3 from Amazon’s Used & New area from a Goodwill store. I had no idea how lucky I was, because this little book is worth so much more to anyone in the creative business.
Gordon McKenzie started out as a cartoonist, then found himself on the creative team of Hallmark Cards, the giant-est hairball of giant hairballs. Throughout his 30 years with the business he held several titles, in the end one he made up himself, and still managed to not only retain his creative sensibility, but to help countless of other employees of Hallmark and other enterprises find a child-like sense of freedom beyond the “Hairball.”
I loved reading this book. Each chapter is a new, delightful tale, accompanied by illustrations by McKenzie himself. Such stories include a seance-like business meeting, a tree-instead-of-pyramid model for business illustration, countless instances of forcing people out of their boxes to think freely, and one of my favorites, an entire comic-strip conversation between the Right Brain and the Left Brain.
You really learn a lot about McKenzie and Hallmark, and in the process see how a business known for it’s art and creativity can become bogged down by rules and traditions. It teaches that there has to be some sort of balance actively pursued, because creativity without boundaries is chaos, while boundaries without freedom can become stagnant and will eventually die out. It’s far to easy to allow one extreme or the other, and in this book McKenzie/ focuses on how to stay creative while dealing with Big Business’s boundaries.
The lessons could apply to any sort of organization, especially in this area, where stagnation seems to have become the norm. In one particular chapter, he tells about going to local elementary schools to give demonstrations on one of his hobbies, metalworking. In the kindergarden class he asks “Are there any artists in here?” and every child eagerly waves it’s hand in the air. In first and second grades, there are still several eager hands, but some keep their hands down. As you go up in age, the enthusiasm goes down, until finally by Jr High only a few, tentative hands in the back of the class come up, the child looking around to make sure no one is looking. Individuality and creativity are discouraged everywhere, if not by those in charge, than by our peers. And here in Appalachia, you’re taught at an early age that you should “Get a real job” and leave the creative fields behind. This book teaches that creativity is vital everywhere, and shows ways to find it & encourage it.
This book was one that changed the way I think. Along with Art & Fear, it’s one of the most valuable books-about-being-an-artist on my shelf so far.
September 9th, 2009 | Posted in Books, Everything Blogged | 2 Comments »
Sitepoint occasionally has books that you can download for free by becoming their Twitter Friend. I downloaded this one yesterday, and have been reading it, and it’s actually specifically geared toward Web Developers.
As of right now there are 4 days and 11 hours left to take advantage of this, and I say it’s worth it.
SitePoint Twitaway: Receive The Principles of Successful Freelancing FREE!.
Some other books I’ve downloaded from here include The Art & Science of CSS, and the Photoshop Anthology. It’s definitely worth befriending these guys to find out when they have these books available. Each one I’ve downloaded has been better than the last.
So, keep in mind – 4 days, and 11 hours as of today’s post.
See Also:
