The Holidays

     Hey everyone, I am back! Alright, I wanted to mention the holidays and a few ways you can get excited for them. First off, many people feel that the holidays are not very important or special and should be barely acknowledged. Then, there are those people who love the holidays and look froward to them all through the year. Now out of those two people, which would you rather be? The excited one right?! But it is not always easy to become exited for things, I mean when you are little it is easy and it is wonderful. Excitement is what makes life worth living and as far as I am concerned, everyone need a little more excitement. So, here is how you can come across some excitement for the upcoming holidays.

     Last year I was not excited for Christmas till the day before, and that was absolutely no fun. So this year I have taken it upon myself to become excited. Here is what I have been doing:

     First since I love graphic design, (like most of you who are reading this) I use many electronic devices; my phone, computer, and Ipod. I figured since I look at them about everyday, I should make them festive. So I searched Deviant Art for the most perfect desktop wallpaper. I found a beautiful snowy golden one with little birds on it. Now every time I open my computer I am greeted by the snowy wonderland. I also have an Ipod Touch which I decorated with a Christmas tree lock screen and a green main background. I also spiced my Ipod up with seven Christmassy apps, three of which are advent calendars. So overall, my electronic devices are pretty festive. By looking at these images everyday, you gotta admit the excitement starts building up. An even better way for doing this by creating your own backgrounds.

     What next? Well after you get all of that beautiful graphic design love out on your electronics, it is time to steer back to the basics. When I say basics, I mean BASICS! I am talking paper snowflakes. Yes I know that paper snow flakes are something you make all through elementary school and once you get out, they feel like a little kids activity. But when it gets down to the look, they are very unique and cool looking. So here is what you do: You cut ten four by four inch white printer paper sheets. Then you fold the sheets to make a snowflake (if you are so old you forget how to do this, you can find directions on google).  It is difficult to cut the snowflakes since they are so small but once you do, they will be perfect. Now once you have ten little snowflakes, you tie a piece of white thread (each different size threads from 5 to 10 inches long) to each of them, then you tape each of them to the ceiling over the head of your bed. If you have time like I do, then you can make many more then ten and go all out with snowflakes all over your room. This way when you wake up you find yourself in the winter spirit. Plus the are very fun to look at. You can use different size snowflakes, but always keep them on white paper, if you do a lot of colors you start getting the springtime flower look.

     In variation to the last decorations, you can easily tape snowflakes up on your walls. This year I got two parakeets so the hanging thread snowflakes may be bad for the birds. I am putting snowflakes up on my walls for the sake of this. If you do put them on your walls, just put them on the top of your walls, If they are all over the place then you feel cluttered and do not get the great look you are going for. Of course as artists you are all welcome to change up this recipe to your own liking. Also, have fun with it, if you are sick of cutting out snowflakes than go do something else for a while and come back to it. The end result is worth it though.

     Next, think about holiday shopping! I know this is very scary to many of us who like to hide in the house while our family does all of the shopping. Many people I know, like to skip the shopping because it is overwhelming and unnecessary. But in truth, shopping is part of the holiday season. When you start thinking about what you are going to get people, you get excited to give things to them and to receive things yourself. Last year I waited till the last minute to go shopping and I felt no excitement or joy from it. Shopping was a hastle since I had no idea what to get people and frankly, I didn't care. But this year I started thinking about presents for my family a month in advance, yes this was extreme but I am so excited to get them these things! For me presents are a big part of the holidays but the best part is giving them to others. It is so wonderful to imagine their face when you give them a present. So start thinking about what you want to get people, even though it may sound early.

     My last tip for getting some holiday excitement is to decorate your house with the people you love. No, I do not mean decorate the outside of your house with cheap plastic candy canes, I mean decorate your living room with warm decorations you have gathered over the years. Since I celebrate Christmas, my family gets a Christmas Tree. My family has gathered about a hundred unique ornaments over  the years. Each ornament has a meaning and if it is one that we don't care for, we leave it off the tree. What I am trying to say  is that decorating a Christmas Tree is so exciting and beautiful. I love decorating with my family but over the past two years I have been left to do it by myself. Now this is no fun, the fun is to be with people you love and reminisce while adding each ornament. So have fun and set out some cookies, and decorate. People decorate for the reason of fun and celebration! Try it.

     So those are my tips, I hope they help you and I hope you become more excited for the holidays than you ever have before.

Let Them

Warning, The following post has next to nothing to do with graphic design. Abandon ship now, or read on.

Yep, as a warned you, this post is just about something I wanted to talk about that does not involve graphic design. So if you are not interested in graphics than this post may actually be interesting to you :P. Anyways, today I woke up to an old world full of little white snowflakes and drooping trees. My window is conveniently right in front of my bed so I could immediately see the outside universe, this meant that I could see the weather and realize that I had absolutely no intention of getting out of bed, crawling into the shower and getting ready for my day. But alas, five minutes after I awoke, the obnoxious screeching of my alarm clock threatened me to seriously get out of bed. So I did, I listened to the pressure my alarm clock was holding on me and I got up! I went to the shower, turned on the water and sat on the floor waiting for the water to warm up. Before I knew it, I was marching towards the car to go to school. My shoes were missing and I rudely accused my mother of throwing them somewhere. She calmly looked around and once I had given up and was ready to leave barefoot, she found them. I stuffed my feet in and drove away with my sister.

Whether it was the snow or my cozy bed or loosing my shoes, I had no right to get all snippy and start my day wrong. As soon as I realized this, a rainbow appeared in front of the car (nah just kidding), I actually felt terribly and figured today was just wasted day where I would just be upset. I knew tonight was going to be awful (because of "certain" things) and decided to not even try to make it better. Then I arrived at school, and had laughter crawling all over me. I felt unexpected joy and forgot my morning and tonight altogether. I saw then how one person can completely change your day, as long as you are willing. I was willing, I was so willing to let my day be overcome with joy. This day went well, and who would have thought it would. I certainly did not. My point here is, if someone wants to make your day better, let them, let them sweep you away with joy. You will be grateful in the end.

Here are November project ideas:

1. Create a vehicle that uses only parts from a different object.
      Example: A bike made from chair parts
2. Paint an image of a family pet dressed as something else.
      Example: Your parakeet dressed as an angel
3. In honor of winter, draw or manipulate snow into places where you usually would not see snow.
      Example: On a teddy bear in your bedroom
4. Make an eye manip and add aan element of winter into it.
      Example: A grey blue eye with frosty lashes and flecks of snow in it
5. Re-create something you have made in the past.
      Example: Drawing of an old face you drew

--------More coming soon---------

Ideas and Projects!

     Hey everyone! I know I have not been blogging over the past week, and I have generally moved away from the topic of Graphic Design. So I come to you today with a brand new page about ideas.

     Ideas are the key to a successful and meaningful image, whether they come from you or someone else. Often I find myself at a choice of making a picture or watching television. My choice is usually television because I have no ideas for graphic design. This is terrible because as a student I want to become better at Photoshop and without practicing, that won't happen. So I have created a brand new page for my blog with all sorts of ideas and projects. I hope you enjoy some of the ideas because they are very fun to think up. Check out the new page and I would love to hear feedback and see some of the images you have created from them.

Self Discipline and Success

     Is self discipline a direct link to being successful? I say yes it is, and since I am the author of this blog, I am giving my opinion on the idea. To classify someone as a successful person is to classify an animal as "happy." Success can be seen as, having a great job, having more than enough money, loving life, or having polite kids. There are more than enough ways to classify someone as successful. Because of this, it would be very difficult to directly place anyone into one category of success and that self direction would lead to some sort of it. Thankfully, with the wise brains of us humans, we can come up with opinions! Aah, yes, opinions are always a way to classify something that may not be completely correct. So why not believe the opinionated theory that self direction leads to success.

     Learning lessons at a young age is completely different than learning something at an older age, whether it be a few months older, or several years older. Once humans can comprehend what is wanted, they react to it, but before that certain age there is no guarantee that someone will understand what is desired. Anyways, what I am trying to say is that if someone has a low amount of self discipline, there is a chance that that persons control will change as they age. I for one, would not have known if doing something was absolutely terrible when I was four. Now that I understand more, I can retain myself from doing what I shouldn't. I do have a fair amount of self discipline and I plan to be successful in life, at least my idea of successful.

     The idea that self discipline is connected to success is completely understandable. The base of this theory, in my eyes is that if you have the self discipline to aim for success and wait for it, you will be successful.

     In terms of graphic design, self discipline is something you absolutely need. As a graphic designer, you have the ability to be flexible and work on your own time, when you want. If you are anything like me, you probably put off projects and get lazy toward the end of a project. The sad truth is that, the end of a painting or photo-manipulation is just as important as the beginning. If you let yourself slack off, than you better bite the bullet and get on top of your projects! Success is waiting at the end of self discipline, why would you ever want to hold back success?

Children are our Future

     Today I am talking about an incredible kid with an inspiring amount of knowledge. She is a teacher, writer, poet, and blogger. Yep, all of those things, and when I say writer, i mean serious writer, book writer. Her name is Adora Svitak and she stands for listening to the children of the world, and letting yourself believe in kids ideas and behavior. Adora gave a presentation at TED to an audience of brilliant people, she did this to get her strong ideas out into the world and have people re-think how they do or do not understand children. Adora is an inspiration to people like me and hopefully like you. Her speech certainly brought up some strong opinions and ideas in my eyes.

     As my opinion goes on how to listen to children and let them guide adults, I am all for it. I have always been short and have always known that I was treated with a little less respect from adults. For example, when going to a restaurant the waiter always brought my family to a table and gave my sister and parents normal menus while handing me a children's menu. Of course I hated this, it happened to me till I was fourteen! I wasn't even supposed to order of the children's menu. But the true reason it bothered me so much was that the waiter assumed that I was too young to order off of a normal menu. Adults have always seen me as a child who is too young to speak for herself. But the thing is, even if I look young, I have the right to be respected. For all I know, I am smarter than a few adults and just as well, I know lots of kids are smarter than me. The point is, if the human race really wants to move foreword, we better listen to those who will change the world.

     I was just thinking about the word "elder." Everyone thinks of an elder as someone who is older than you, someone who you look up to, and someone who makes the decisions. This meaning to the world elder is taught in roughly every children's movie and book. Even my favorite movies like "Happy Feet" describe elders as the ones who really matter and control the rest of us. The thing is, what happens when the elders die? what happens when adults posses such power that they make kids intimidated to look into their eyes? Actually, that already is going on. Public speaking is number one in people's fears, and for many kids, this is because they are worried that their"elders" will reject or laugh at what they say. In fact many times kids public speaking fears is useless due to the fact that what kids say probably will not make an impact. But what kids say is absolutely just as important as what adults say. When people say "respect your elders" the quick response should be, "respect your children."

     So next time a kid comes up to you, listen to what they say because I for one have become discouraged enough to not share my ideas or opinions aloud anymore because they are surely not going to make  a difference if no one listens. The kid beside you may have the most brilliant idea but to know their idea you have to take care and listen to them.

     If you are a kid, never ever let your age affect your amount of impact on the world.

Talkin about inspiration!

     Alrighty guys, I know it has been a day or two since I last posted and perhaps that is too long for you to hold interest in my blog. So, here I am, pulling you back into the world of graphic birdie. Today's post is all about inspiration for what you are working on in graphic design. My forms of inspiration are a bit different from looking at a photo or listing of ideas. Hopefully you enjoy my ways of becoming inspired to draw something!

First method of inspiration: Music
     Turn on the radio! make sure you do not listen to music you have heard over and over again. Listen to the new sounds and voices and meanings, imagine the instruments playing and what the singer or band looks like. Never look the song up on YouTube before you finish your painting, it may influence what you imagine. You are welcome to draw the people who you think are singing but I suggest you look into the deeper meaning of the song and draw that! Maybe you are making a background, with this method of inspiration, you can smoothly or sharply create a background just by closing your eyes and following the patterns in the music. So, get out your radio and start working! Who knows, you might just find a new favorite band.

Second method of inspiration: Smell
  Yep this one is a funny one, but it works for me. Alright, in this form of inspiration, take out a strong smelling food or light a candle or go outside right after it rains! Smells are often connected to memories, especially for me! So in this process you may remember something sweet, sad, funny, or beautiful, it may be the smell of your mothers old perfume or the smell of your old best friends house. It may remind you of a trip you took once or it could remind you of an old car. You never know what smells will bring up in your memory which makes this form of  inspiration so much fun. Once you find a smell/memory, draw it or photo manipulate it or collage it, Make sure not to make it perfect, use some abstraction, this will bring in the image of a foggy or forgotten memory. Not all people remember by smells and if you do not, form a fun and creative fake memory. This is meant to be fun so if it is not working to bring any ideas up for you, try something else. Never let a form of inspiration tire you out or bore you, that defeats the purpose.

Third and final method of inspiration: People
     People are incredible in how they all have their own agendas and goals. For this form of inspiration, go to a public area like a park bench. Or go ride a bus (safe bus of course). While you are in a public area, look at the people around you. Imagine what they are thinking, where they are going, why they are so calm or anxious. Create stories in your mind about thee people as a whole or individually, then go home and create a piece of art from your stories. Never take things literally with this form of inspiration, just let the basic ideas from people around you, come into your head and inspire you. Also, be polite of the people you see and never interrupt them or tell them your theories. Imagine yourself as a ghost, pretend no one can see you and you are just looking into the world from outside. Enjoy this form because you can get some pretty crazy ideas from it. Try different ages of people, maybe go to a school or a nursing home sometime.

I hope my unique forms of inspiration help you out a bit. You can't lose anything by trying them! Be safe though, never go somewhere dangerous or smell something hazardous. Have fun and feel free to share your art with me from these forms of inspiration!