Faces on Friday redux

I don't think I'll ever be quite done learning to draw faces.

I can see that I've come a long way from a year ago.

I don't draw a face every day on an index card any more but I do keep them in my sketchbook. Once a week or so I'll be sitting in a crowd and pull them out and draw several all at once. Every once in a while now I can look at the sketch and recognize the person I was trying to draw. That's progress.

 I also keep working in my sketchbook.

 Some are very quick and rough.

 It's still difficult for me to get the proportions on the upper and lower face to work together.

One step at a time.

So the adventure continues. 

Here is one of the original "Faces on Friday" posts.

Every once in a while it's fun to pull out the stack of cards and compare.

Creative Wisdom from Pixar's John Lasseter 7 of 7

John Lasseter’s 7 Points (by way of Scribble Junkies)

7. Surround yourself with creative people whom you trust.

“Bring only those new members into your creative team, whom you consider to be at least as talented as you. If they also have a pleasant and nice character – even better. Most managers don’t follow this approach, as they are insecure. Insecurity and creativity do not get along with each other well. Most managers surround themselves with yes-men, and in result, the audiences get bad films to see.”

…and lastly, as Lasseter once told a group of graduating students at Pepperdine University

“never let anyone kill your dreams.”

As an aspiring artist, don't be afraid to associate with people who are more advanced than you are. There is so much to learn. Be humble and grateful and realize that you will have the chance to pay it forward at some point. Don't be intimidated. Simply realize that they have walked much further down the path than you have. I have been greatly blessed with kind and generous mentors whom I aspire to emulate.

Find a generous mentor. There is no need to copy their art because you are completely capable of creating your own unique work, but go ahead and aquire as much wisdom as you can. Learn the best of what they have to offer. Go ahead and copy their work ethic. Soak up their business savvy. See if they have organizational skills that you can adopt. Pick and choose and learn as much as you can from the best of the best.

Then go do your own work.

Walk your own path.

Here is the rest of the series:

1. Never come up with just one idea

2. Remember the first laugh

3. Quality is a great business plan. Period

4. It's the team, stupid

5. Fun invokes creativity, not competition

6. Creative output always reflects the person on top

7. Surround yourself with creative people whom you trust

Creative Wisdom from Pixar's John Lasseter 6 of 7

John Lasseter’s 7 Points (by way of Scribble Junkies)

6. Creative output always reflects the person on top.

“Poor managers harm the creative process.”

John Lasseter knows from personal experience. After landing his dream job as animator at the Disney Animation Studios in the late seventies, his outspoken individuality and creative extravaganzas quickly made him enemies among mediocre middle managers at Disney. Within a few years, Mr Lasseter became a victim of internal politics and got fired. Committed to go his own way, Mr Lasseter became one of the founders of Pixar in 1986. Twenty years later, following Pixar’s acquisition by The Walt Disney Company, Mr Lasseter returned in triumph as chief creative officer of both animation studios.

“Laughter, being crazy, freaking out, behaving in ridiculous manner are hard work. A manager who spreads his bad mood and who forbids his employees to have fun impairs their creativity, and thus harms the enterprise. I would fire him. Animated movies are not least a bang-hard business. I cannot risk so much money, only because a manager indulging in his bad mood harms my business."

Again - because I teach I automatically think of how this applies to the classroom. I've heard of some frightful behavior by teachers and try my very best to avoid those behaviors. I was in one classroom and someone's phone went off and the whole class whipped their heads around looking at me with those "deer in the headlights" eyes. Apparently their last instructor had charged each student whose phone went off $10.00 for taking her time.

Ahem. While in most settings a cell phone going off can be very rude, most of the classes I teach are for fun. They aren't graduate level courses in hallowed halls. Sometimes there are more important things going on in life than what we are doing in class. 

So this is what we do when phones ring in my class.

We do a dance.

 It's called the cell phone fling.

I was in my son's kindergarden class once and the kids were heads down working hard on math, or something. Suddenly the teacher's phone goes off with some wild dance tune. I was a little shocked. Then a huge grin lit up my face as all the kids got up and did the cell phone fling for about three rings then sat right back down and got back to work. It was the teacher's method of letting the kids get a few wiggles out at random times during the day. We all need to get wiggles out once in a while. 

So - what is the worst "diva behavior" you've experienced in class?

What has been the best kind of surprise you've had with a teacher in class?

(NO NAMES please!)

Here is the rest of the series:

1. Never come up with just one idea.

2. Remember the first laugh.

3. Quality is a great business plan. Period.

4. It's the team, stupid. 

5. Fun Invokes Creativity, Not Competition

6. Creative Output Always Reflects the Person on Top

7. Surround Yourself With Creative People Whom You Trust

Inspired to Quilt: On-Line Quilt Show & Conference

A little snippet of some of the fun we'll be having at the on-line quilt show sponsored by 

Willow Bend Creations.

Click on the link to the right to register!

Introducing The Kindness Chronicles

Remember back in in December when we were focusing on making the world a better place through simple acts of service and kindness?

Well I'd like to introduce a new, on-going feature on my blog.

When I was interviewed by Rice' Freeman-Zachary about the project for her podcast, she asked if it was going to become an ongoing project. I hadn't thought too much about it. I really do try to keep service in mind all the time so I didn't think of it as a "project" but of course I'd love to keep it going.

Small kindnesses mean a great deal - the last group I taught for left me this lovely flower to brighten my hotel room.

Leave it to a go-getter like Jane LaFazio to push me into getting things done. Or actually, to go ahead and make plans and get things done whether I've got my rear in gear or not. She put together this beautiful button and suggested that we post on the first Sunday of every month, telling about some of the little acts of service we've done. We're not trying to brag - at all - just give you all more ideas that you can try as well. Really - it's fun to do little things that brighten someone's day.

Would you care to join us? If you'd like to add this lovely little button to your blog please go ahead and copy and paste this into a widget for your sidebar. It's got the html embedded to link back to this explanatory post.





If you send me a link to your kindness blog post I'd love to list it in my next Kindness Chronicles post. It's so easy to bring a smile to someone's face. Let's make the world a better place, shall we? 

For Your Inspiration: February

Pansies by Lyric Kinard

Hydrangea by Lyric Kinard

Daffodils by Lyric Kinard

Artist Spotlight: Nancy Cook - A Sense of Scale

What happens when you take the sketch of something you've drawn... something nice and small and detailed... and you blow it up REALLY BIG!?

Burr Oak sketch by Nancy Cook

Maple Seed Design by Nancy Cook

Scale is a basic principle of design and composition. It always relates to the size of the work of art in comparison to the size of us as human beings. Taking something tiny and often overlooked and spending the time necessary to draw it in great detail gives an artist a deep appreciation for the beauty of the form. I'm constantly telling my students that sketching is more about seeing than anything else. 

How do you convey that sense of beauty to your viewer - the wonder and awe of the complexity of nature? One way is to create your work of art on a scale much, much larger than the object you are rendering. Nancy Cook takes a seed, a leaf, a branch - and blows it up larger than life with beautiful details in her textile work. She gives us an easy window into the understanding of nature's beauty.

Burr Oak by Nancy Cook

I was very fortunate to see an exhibit of Nancy Cook's work at the North Carolina Botanical Gardens in Chapel Hill this week. (Unfortunately it comes down next Tuesday the 28th.) It's worth seeing - and then wandering the beautiful landscape - sketchbook in hand.

Echos of Tulip's Summer by Nancy Cook

So as you sketch, as you observe, keep in mind a sense of scale. Might your sketch be a study for a final work of art? What scale would you like to work with? What will your final product be?