Creative overdose…

The last days were awesome. I start to realize the positive impact of not working full time in a agency, and yes, it feels good. Yes, there are hard times, but also in agency i got periods of really high stress which were far away of being healthy.

I think being your own boss, you get ups and downs, but the ups are really really high, at least, that’s what I have to deal with since I left my job. I got anxiety crisis, but also what I can call “creativity crisis”. This mean, after some down days, were I haven’t been able to produce anything good, that I got no motivation and got a bit depress, then are coming the high times. Then, get ready because it wont stop before some days! I mix up my things, get the night cream on my face at morning, overbake everything because I’m doing 5 things at the same time, my notepad is getting totally full of ideas, my sleeping schedule just disappear, I go from 9 hours of sleep per night to 4, 5 or 6, and once in bed, I keep the notepad beside, ideas are still ruining around in my head and I just cant sleep.

I could find that quite exhausting, but no, I realize now how I’ve repressed so much stuff, so many ideas in the last years, because of my own censorship and the so well know “whatwilltheothersthink”, so ideas just stayed inside me… I feel like I just “pressed the lid on the cauldron” for too long, and now I have to deal with a somehow kind of creativity overdose. But it feels really good, and I hope it stays like that for a while…

My best creative moments…

First of all, late at night.. I always used to get up really early to go to work, and after my day of work, I got totally tired and felt in bed not later than 11 or 12pm. Since I’m working at home, I get up around 10am, and start the real work (illustration, painting, or anything creative) around 10 or 11pm until 2 or 3am. I don’t know why, maybe because this is totally private time, nobody’s calling, everything is so quiet, the day is over and I did my other task during the day so I can really totally concentrate on my personal stuff.

Second thing I need, something nice to drink. My usual cinnamon yogi tea with honey (I have to take care to not forget the oven on when boiling water), or my all time favorite baileys.

After that, my environment. Nice music (I’m actually playing out loud the bjork live concert from last October in Chicago), plants (especially tulip and lilac!), my favorite books lying all around, colored post it everywhere, and everything else which makes me feel good. Its so nice to work at home…

And with all that, the best is to have one or my two cats sleeping in the room, or even under the light on my table.. Then everything is perfect (oops, I almost forgot, the TV as to be turned on in the living room. I cant hear what’s on but it feels god to hear some background noise

That’s all for now, but i guess there will be more soon…

Make friends with your pencils

I like to draw and write. Theses days I realize how just a nice new tool (even a 1 Euro buy) can save my creativity and inspire me…

At my last weekly visit to the art store (this “weekly visit to the art store” is one of the main event in my week. I get ready for it everyday, adding small things to buy on my list, things to look for, etc. Sometime, I can even spend 1 hour looking around to all the inspiring material without buying anything! Its like a dream place for me.. a magic garden… So now let’s get back to what I was writing about… ) I bought a nice 1 Euro small drawing/writing book and a huge block of paper with spiral bound (I always have one beside me, it is like a creative house, like entering my own creative garden, and I can open it or close anytime, like now when I need space for writing…)

With those 2 paper books, I’ve got caught by some really nice pencils. I got one green, one pink, and one blue. I’ve bought theses only because I liked them and they inspired me…

So, once home with my new tools (or toys), I got the small 1 Euro book spilling of ideas and drawings colored with my new pencils in less than 2 days. I guess, just to get “inspirational” instead of “practical” material really helped…

About my new pencils…
They were larger than others (the “normal” ones), called “Kids Colors Jumbo”, and water soluble… I couldn’t resist them. But hey, hm, how will theses “new comer” fit with my old time favorites pencils… How will they react in my hands, how will they make the paper look like.. How will we live together.. This can sound a bit silly (even stupid I know), but in fact, that’s the way I felt since I’m so used to all my pencils… (and yes, it always makes me sad to see them getting shorter day after days… but I must find positive sides to it, as the pencils get shorter, as the scrapbooks get thinner, my creativity is opening up a bit more everyday!).

About all this…
Let’s make friends with our tools, let them be friends together… (even if the yellow doesn’t fit with the brown pencil, they might like each other…)

That’s about it for now, I must let my Faber-Castell grip 1337 pencil and get some of this Sunday quiet air which will feed me of new crazy ideas to write about…

Written and Illustrated by

Written and Illustrated by : A Revolutionary Two-Brain Approach for Teaching Students How to Write and Illustrate Amazing Books

This is a interesting concept about how to use the 2 sides of the brain in creating stories (writing and illustrating them). I didnt kept the book, but found a lot of information about how to work with the creative brain and the rational brain in different approach. Lets see if i order it back sometimes…

Drawing for the Artistically Undiscovered

Drawing for the Artistically Undiscovered
This book is really awesome one, i also got the one they did about watercolor (Watercolor for the Artistically Undiscovered/Book and Paint Set) and i got lots of fun only looking at it. It is, like too often, suposed to be for kids, but hey, if you feel like drawing, go for it! It is made with humor and fun, and you can feel it on everypage. Its a simple and creative way to play, as a ‘adult’ we should have more of that kind of book. Its not because we are getting older than we dont need illustrations and colors in the books we read…