The Seinfeld Secret of Productivity

August 6, 2007 By in Inspiration, Writing Leave a comment

Well, this article from Lifehacker has one of Jerry Seinfeld’s secrets. And I quote…

He (Seinfeld) told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker.

He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day. "After a few days you’ll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain."

"Don’t break the chain." He said again for emphasis.

Of course, the other secret of his success was to stick to his vision. He has a clear "no hugging, no learning" rule for his sitcom. Part of the reason that Seinfeld is such a great series is that the characters don’t grow or learn. They just are what they are. Such clear statements of purpose.

Don’t break the chain!

Historical Photographic Reference

August 5, 2007 By in Inspiration, Photography, Reference 1 Comment

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Here’s a great resource if you are writing or drawing anything from the beginning of photography through the 1940s. Shorpy’s is donated copyright free images from the dawn of photography. Not only is an amazingly inspirational thing to add to your RSS feed, but there is also lively discussion of the images. If you have some to add to the pool, they’re always looking for new stuff.

You can even check out the history of cat photography! It existed long before the internet.

Also, I’ve blogged this site before, but their content, scans of copyright free beautiful books, is amazing – Bibliodyssey. They just posted a group of pre-printed envelopes from the Civil War that are worth a look.

Stop creative blocks, never psychoanalyze what you create

August 5, 2007 By in Creativity, David Theory 2 Comments

There is a lot written about how to recover from writer’s block and every other kind of creative block, but very little has been written on how to prevent it. Here’s one cause of writer’s block you can be conscious of before it happens.

From the time we are very little, we are taught that art has hidden meanings and reveals things about us to clever observers. In fact, these days it’s possible to get kicked out of school for handing in a horror story for a creative writing assignment. The truth is very different. If writing a horror story indicated a tendency for violent behavior, wouldn’t the police interview Stephen King and Clive Barker every time there was a brutal killing?

Don’t judge what comes out while you create. Don’t worry about what other people will think. If you start down that path, it will be start a crippling block that will limit your creativity to creating Hallmark Cards and those terrible jokes in Reader’s Digest.

You are not what you create. What you create is not wish-fulfillment for how you feel the world should be. Better to let out the emotions you don’t want in your life in your art. Never look at what you’ve done and say, if I show this to anyone they’ll think I’m crazy or that I hate my mom or that I have huge anger issues.

There will always be people judging you based on what you create, but they all already think you’re weird for trying to create something in the first place. I find, often, that criticism reveals more about the preoccupations and fears of the critic than of the art they are criticizing.

Process of Cartooning

August 4, 2007 By in Cartooning, Illustration 3 Comments

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Outside of writing a “How To” book or piecing something together from interviews, it’s hard to get artists to describe their process for working. Cartoonist Ted Slampyak wrote a blog entry that lays out how he works.

I am always amazed that cartoonists can continually meet deadlines, so it’s interesting to see how that happens in one case. Most interesting to me is that he does the word balloons first. I’m guessing that means the art in this serves the dialog instead of the other way around.

If you ever get bored…

July 26, 2007 By in David Theory Leave a comment

If you ever get bored while you’re looking at, reading or listening to something you’ve done, just say to yourself, "You know what would make this good…" Then, whatever you say to finish that sentence, do that instead.

You can also do this during other people’s stuff, but my guess is that they won’t want to listen to you. So, just keep those ideas for yourself.

Creativity tip: do your worst!

July 24, 2007 By in Cartooning, Creativity, David Theory Leave a comment

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Shooting for the top can be exhausting, why not spend some time settling for the gutter? Instead of trying to write a good story, write the hackiest one you can. Paint something that would make a high school art class shudder with disgust. Shoot for the bottom!

Making bad art on purpose can make you better at what you do. It lets you burn off all the ideas and bad habits you have in a bonfire of mundane crap. You can identify all the mistakes you can make and then, when you make them again, they will be as obvious to you as a giant rabbit dressed as Abraham Lincoln standing in your breakfast cereal. Once you make the worst you possibly can, you can stop yourself from ever doing it again.

I found a great example of this today, cartoonist Anthony Clark was challenged to draw 200 “bad” cartoons and he did. They are fun to read just so you can spot all the different ways comics can be bad. Of course, some of them are really funny as well.

Use your worst to help you get to your best!

link to 200 “bad” cartoons

Short-term heroes

July 22, 2007 By in Uncategorized 3 Comments

Have you noticed how hard it is to have heroes these days?

It seems like any person you pick to be a hero has a book written about them the following day that reveals a huge list of faults. You know, because we’re all human, even our heroes. Martin Luther King is accused of marital infidelity. John Lennon treated his first wife terribly. Is there anyone left without some black mark on their record?

It’s important to have people to model your life and art after. But, because of shifting standards of acceptable behavior and a media that focuses on digging out dirt, it’s almost impossible to find anyone completely worthy.  Some people go the other direction and get backed into defending their heroes terrible behavior because they admire another part of them. Enough!

Here’s a solution that I’m borrowing from the SubGeniuses. They have a concept called short-term personal saviors.

The idea is to allow yourself to look at someone as a personal hero for as long as you need them and then dismiss them. This acknowledges that people can do worthwhile things while still be humans. No one can hold your heroes against you. It also lets you pick frivolous heroes that might just help you get through a single day or project.

Also, you admire your short-term hero for only one personality trait or action. You can have a hero that you admire just for the way they wrote novels without looking to model their failed marriages and death from alcoholism.

Don’t spend any energy defending your short-term heroes, it’s not worth it. No matter who you pick, you’ll find someone who will tell you why they aren’t worthy.

Pick your hero, use him/her up and move on to the next one. Use the good, dismiss the bad. Think of the advantage you’ll have over people who spend their whole lives looking for a perfect person to have as a hero.

Robert Wilson On Deciding What To Do Next

July 19, 2007 By in Illustration, Theater 2 Comments

I watched the documentary Absolute Wilson last night. It follows the creative life of Robert Wilson the avant-garde stage director and writer. It ends with him talking about what to do next and I thought it was interesting enough to pass along:

Sometimes you say to yourself, what should I do next? And people advise you or you decide yourself what to do next. And quite often, you try to think of what is the right thing to do. But, quite often, you should think what is the wrong thing to do. And then do that.

Inspiration for Design and Food

July 17, 2007 By in cooking, design, Weblogs Leave a comment

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Today I wanted to share one of my favorite design sites, NotCot. NotCot features an array of reader submitted pictures and stories featuring interesting design. The visual part is the hook, you won’t find any big blocks of text here, just interesting visual after interesting visual. If you want more information, each links to its source. Today, they’re featuring everything from art cars covered in toys to benches made from tennis balls.

Not only that, but they have two other sites with the same basic setup. notcouture.com is their clothing site (which is just getting started and really hasn’t found its feet yet) and tastespotting.com which focuses on food. This is a foodies dream, page after page of luscious food photographs.

If you work in a visual medium NotCot is a great place to start your day and a quick way to keep up with what’s going on.

A James Lipton of your own

July 16, 2007 By in David Theory, Genius, Happiness, Television Tags: , , 1 Comment

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I was watching Inside the Actors Studio the other day and it struck me that even though its host, James Lipton, is sycophantic to the extreme, it’s certainly not surprising that people want to do his show. After all, people in the public eye are constantly judged, critiqued and have their work diminished. Instead of feeding already huge egos, don’t you think that some of the actors almost look at doing the show as a vacation from their own inner-critic?

We could all use a break like that. I had a thought. Why not make up your own little James Lipton and let him live in your head? You don’t have to talk to  him all the time, maybe you can imagine him a little one room apartment to wait in until you need him. But, when you need him he’ll be there.

At your darkest moment, call him forth. He’ll appear with his stack of cards and list of adjectives to describe how fabulous you actually are. Fantastic! Amazing! SUPER! In fact, your little James Lipton can’t help but think that you are perhaps the most amazing person he has ever met.

And those cards, such information! He has every single thing that you have ever done that he admires. There are things on those cars that you’ve forgotten or might be slightly embarrassed about, but he’s there to make you forget any nervousness. Remember, in his eyes you are fantastic.

While he’s there, you can ask him about anything you’re working on. He will love it. He will think it’s amazing. You have topped yourself!

Then, when you feel your butt has been suitably kissed and your ego stroked, he’ll ask you a few questions and then go back to his little apartment. (What is your favorite curse word? What turns you on?) Then, refreshed and confident you can go back to the harsh realities of the real world.

Right now, my little James Lipton is sitting in his apartment wearing a bathrobe, eating crackers and watching soap operas. He’s waiting until I need him again.