ART – 6 Reasons Artist Should Table at Shows and/or Conventions.

Photo taken by Javier Hernandez: www.javzilla.com/

If you want to make a living as an artist, your work has to be valuable to people. Some group or community of people that are looking for what you provide has to support you monetarily in some way.

The internet is one way to reach those people, but it’s not the only way.

As an artist you may want to get out of your office or studio and go out into the world with you work. That way you can show it off personally.

Some of the best places to do this is at show or conventions.  By “shows” I would include not only local craft fairs but also, farmers markets, and things like that.

If you think that’s not you, I made a video giving you 6 reasons why you’re missing out if you don’t do this sort of thing.

https://youtu.be/5dbV5k3JEg4

Here’s the list of reasons I give in the video:

1. You open yourself to new opportunities
2. You’re a person not a website. You make a physical human connection with your audience.
3. You can make friends and connections, with fans and artists.
4. You can discover what people want from you and what draws them to your art.
5. You can learn from other artists.
6. You can make money.

Can you think of any other benefits?  Feel free to add to the list in the comments.

If you like what you read, please support me on Patreon. There’s plenty of benefits you can get there, including secret videos from me.

https://www.patreon.com/LuisEscobar

ART – 3 Tips For Practicing Even the Most Monotonous Stuff, and Like It

“A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind. This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away… to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing.”

If you’re like me, there’s always something you want to get good at or become better at. In my case it’s drawing and painting. In your case it may be playing an instrument, dancing, a martial art, etc.

Often, the thing we want to improve requires practice. Lots of practice.

The problem is, practice can be boring, tedious, monotonous and not fun. You simply don’t want to do it. But if you don’t, you don’t get any better. Is there a way to be able to practice and have it be fun and enjoyable?

Turns out, there is.

I just recently read a book called The Practicing Mind: Developing Focus and Discipline in Your Life by Thomas M. Sterner.  It breaks down the thought process behind practicing in such a way, that it makes you able to enjoy even the most monotonous of tasks.

Below are my four helpful takeaways from the book, which will help you get the most out of practicing.

Whenever you see a quote below, I’m quoting directly from the book.

Focus and Discipline

“The problem with patience and discipline is that it requires both of them to develop each of them.” ― Thomas M. Sterner

The book practically starts with this quote.  Focus and discipline are key to good practice.  Ironically, you’ll  have to practice both to get better at practicing other things.

As with anything worth getting good at, it’s all in the mindset you develop.

Here are the four tips for developing focus and discipline:

1. Stay in the present Moment

The key to focus is staying in the present moment.  The here and now.  Don’t allow your thoughts to wander to the future of the past.

Don’t go down the rabbit hole of day dreaming about anything. Stay present. Keep your mind and body focused on the task at hand.

“Frustration and boredom comes from not being in the moment.”

Frustration comes because you’re thinking about other things, like the future ideal outcome of where you want your skills to be at.  Comparing that outcome with what you’re doing now causes frustration and boredom.

You can never reach your ideal because the moment you think you’ve done so, you’ll realized that you’re ideal has moved further away.

Boredom sets in, because your mind is going through all the things you’d rather be doing, than the task on hand.

It’s best to focus on what you’re doing now than any moment in the future or any task you’d rather be doing.

“If you fall out of the moment, be aware of it and recognize it. Remind yourself that it’s happened, and feel good that you can recognize it.”

Once you do this, go back to the task on hand. Practice this during your everyday living.  When you do so, it will be easier to be focused, when you practice.

2. Keep yourself process oriented, Make the process the goal

“The goal is to learn not to master.”

Don’t focus on the idealized goal when you practice and study. Focus on the practice itself. THAT is your reward. Use the overall goal as a guide to steer your efforts. The rest of the time, simply keep it out of mind.

By doing so, you will get better whether you want to or not.

“However, when you focus on the goal instead, you are pushing it away since you’re not concentrating on the matter at hand, which is, practice.”

Also, checking your progress is not your friend either:

“Never focus on or at your progress. Progress is the natural result of staying focused on the process of doing anything. When you stay focused on the present moment, the goal comes toward you.”

3. Be deliberate.

During every practice session:

“Have an intention about what you want to accomplish and remain aware of that intention.”

Here’ how:

1. Small – Breakdown your goal into small sections or segments. Bite size pieces.
2. Short- Give yourself a short time frame to practice. 15 to 45 minutes.
3. Slow – Work at a pace that allows you to pay attention to what you’re doing. Tai Chi style.

Once you sit down to practice, here’s the recommended actions to take in a practice session:

• Do – Take action on what you want to get good at.
• Observe – Observe your results. Be completely objective. No judgment or emotions. Simply analyze your results. Are you heading toward your goal for this session? Did it turn out the way you wanted? Yes/No. What did you do wrong, how can you fix it? Take note. Even go so far as to write it down.
• Correct – Based on your analysis, if needed, do it again. This time, being more aware to work on what needed correcting the last time.
• Repeat – Continue this process, until you can do it correctly every time.

Conclusion

Learning to be focused and disciplined takes just as much practice as what you want to get good at.

The book talks a lot about staying in the present moment because it makes time stop and practice more helpful.  The writer never uses the words “Flow” or “Flow state” but that’s exactly what he’s talking about. By staying in the present moment, and focusing on the task on hand, you’re essentially hitting flow every time you practice.

That is the ideal situation to be in.

I like the advice in the book.  If you want to get more in depth with the subject, I recommend reading it.

I myself, will practice the advice, but I’m also going to seek out more info on methods of focus.  Seems like that’s so key to the practicing process.

The more I know about the subject, the better.

How do you practice? Do you have a method? I’d like to hear it.

Comment below.

ART – The Vision Vs. Red Tornado Captured By Jawas

I took the black and white version of this drawing and put some color to it.  This is  a Marvel, DC, Star Wars mashup.

I had a bit of an incentive to color this drawing, the original black and white version of this drawing will be up for sale on August 22, 2015. Colored prints of the drawing will also be sold there as well as magnets.  It’s a Star Wars themed show.

If you’re interested, here’s the info:

Once again, using the Color Scheme Designer website, I picked a quadratic color scheme and used it as my base:

I’m getting a bit more comfortable coloring these drawings. I’m not completely sure that’s a good thing.   I might need to change things up to make it a bit more challenging.  If I’m getting too comfortable doing something, it means I’m not learning as much.

Although, perhaps it was easier to color since I didn’t have to color any skin tones.

ART – Why You Should Do Creative Experimentation

I was listening to an episode of the Lean Into Art podcast the other day and co-host Jerzy Drozd said something that really got me thinking when it came to experimentation. I’m going to get to what he said in a moment.

It just so happens that I’ve been experimenting a bit.  Just playing around,  and checking out some possibilities.  Below is one such experiment.

It’s a little animation test I did, to test out what might be possible with my characters using my copy of Storyboard Pro:

I’m debating whether or not I should do a little animated something.  I’m not sure yet.

Anyway, let me get back to what Jerzy said…

Experimentation Lead To…

Anyway, as I was listening to an episode of Lean Into Art, Rob Stenzinger and Jerzy Drozd got into the topic of experimenting. Then Jerzy popped in with this little “formula” of sorts, as if he’d memorized it from somewhere, about experimentation.  It went like this:

“Experimentation leads to Practice, Practice leads to Evidence, Evidence leads to Opportunity.”

What he meant by this, if it seems odd to you, is simply this: When you experiment, you create and practice new things.  Often, you do these things so much that you begin getting good at them.

When you get good at stuff because you’ve practiced or messed around with the thing you’ve experimented with so much, it become evident you know your way around the subject.  It’s evidence that you have experience with what you experimented with.

This often leads people to ask you about the subject you seem to know so much about.  It opens up opportunities for people to, either ask you to do it for them, to teach others about the thing, or to find other useful reasons to do that thing.  It’s possible to find many opportunities to use the knowledge you gained from what you originally began experimenting with.

I thought Jerzy’s little formula made a lot of sense and I thought I’d share it.  It gives you a very concrete practical reason to experiment as much as possible.

I wish I could remember what episode of the podcast I was listening to, otherwise I’d link directly to it.  Perhaps it’s better that I don’t remember.  That way, you have an excuse to go listen to the Lean Into Art podcast and try to find the episode yourself.

This isn’t the first time that I’ve been given something to really think about after listening to the podcast.  Rob and Jerzy often come up with some amazing things during their discussions.

I highly recommend checking it out if you haven’t already.

Lean Into Art