Why I like stickpeople art these days

I'm acknowledge the fact that not the best artist/creative/visual artist in the world. I allowed my ego to get the best of me. The result? I stopped growing as a creative.

I haven't drawn a decent projct for a long time (except for my watercolor painting..an output of an artworkshop I enrolled in)

I substituted drawing. Writing is easier than drawing. I'm not the best writer out therem my writing sucks. However it does feel great when your works are appreciated.

I've been taking my masters degree in public administration for almost a year now. I honestly hated it at first.

But something marvelous happened.  I had fun with the people I met. I've come to realize I like to meet new people, especially when we have a mutual goal in mind. In this case--- obtaining our masters degree.

Individual eporting is a staple in graduate school. Each subject always gives you a topic to discuss. I was actually scared with my first reports . I'm not fluent in english (but I am in Tagalog) , so I mostly speak in tagalog.

Being a reader and a wannabe scientist that I am.... I experiment on myself. When I read a very good book, I test all my learnings.

For example, from Art Markman, I learned that the significance of the Rule of 3. THe moment I started to report, I incorporated memes and stories in my reports. I also simplified my report in 3 major points and connect my topic to something the audience knows. Creating memes can be tiring, so I decided to draw my own interpretation of examples in reports.

I use simple stick people. My inspiraration? Http://www.waitbutwhy.com

The simple stickfigure drawing left an impression on me. You don't need to be that good if you want to tell a great story/messsage (okay, sometimes it DOES matter). It's not what I used to draw. But I have to admit, I am immensely amused with the blogger's stickpeople. I always smile when I read his blogs and see his images.

And that is the tale why I decided to draw using stickpeople, an art form very popular amongst preschool-elementary children (depending on the child's artistic abilities too) . I had nothing lose.

By drawing stickpeople, my focus was to capture the stickman's emotions through facial expressions and gestures.

And I think it paid off.

When one classmate asked me to draw a couple of stick guys to complement his report, I immediately said yes. I had nothing to lose.

After presentation, I had another officemate who told me she really like my stickpeople art. "You could feel the emotion from those tiny figures. It makes me happy!" . She had actually no idea I drew the stickguys from my imaginaion until CJ told the class he asked for my help.

Will I stick to stickpeople forever? No. This is just a phase. A part of my improvent as a creative. I limited myself to anime/manga inspired art. I stagnated.

To live is to learn. To live is to adapt. To live is to inspire and be inspired.

 Some of the stickpeople art I drew for CJ. His topic was about Mercedita, a woman who lived under the bridges in Manila until she died of Tuberculosis

Bodyweight Issues: A reflection

I was about to leave the office premises with my officemate, Bogs. We planned to go to the local gym 3 blocks away from our office.

Beside the exit gate, a senior officemate looked at our direction and called my attention. "You know, you've grown big. Whatever you're doing, please stop it. You look good the way you look now."( rough translation from our dialect to English)

Since she was several years my senior, I smiled and politely replied. "Oh, that's just muscle!" But you know what she did? She insisted on her earlier statement. That had me pondering.

Truth is, my weighing scale tells me I have grown bigger. When I entered the office in 2013, I was 52 kg. Since then, my weight fluctuated from 50-53 kg. I have an on-off relationship with the gym ( #1 reason is that it is pricey) Then one day, after doing bodyweight exercises.... I saw I was 56kg.

Holy shit, what am I doing?

I've read countless blogs telling me that the scale lies. It could be 56 kgs of fat... or muscle. Darn it. Did the additional 3 kg come from fat... or muscle? I have absolutely no idea.

And I have belly fat. God knows you can't spot reduce fat.

So while we were walking to the gym,  I suddenly told Bogz. "You know, it's very funny. When I was 12, I was as thin as you. Like really thin! I almost resembled a skeleton!. I was 46kg back then. People told me I was too thin. When I was 14, people told me it was good that I had gained weight. I was finally 50kg. Now that I'm in my early-mid 20s, people tell me that I shouldn't get too fat, that I already look good."

I went from skin and bones, to appropriate weight, to whoa-you're already-appropriate-what-are-you doing-with-your-body.

 What ticked me off was my senior's perception on how my body should look. As if their opinion is the basis for my body's fate.  Kinda ironic how I'm like that as well... I behave as if my opinion is always right. Hahaha. Shadow projection there!

When I was 50-52 kg, I could hardly push myself from the ground, nor could I deadlift, nor could I do some barbell squats. Yet at 56kg, I can perform 10 pushups, I can perform bench presses, barbell squats, barbell deadlifts, overhead presses...... etc

Yet I've noticed that everytime I pick the weights, some unsuspecting harmless friend/acquaintance casually tells me I've gained weight.

I bet I can perform more pushups than they can.

My experience today gently reminded me of learning to be more appreciative of my body. 

I know I'm not that sexy. I don't have that prized 6 pack. My skin tone is uneven because I start to walk a lot. My My 1st molar is gone. My teeth isn't pearlywhite. I'm not flawless. I've had a belly fat as long as I can remember.

But my body has been very supportive of the physical endeavors I do. 

It helped me carry heavy objects. It helped me push my bodyweight off the ground. It helped me stay warm when the aircon is too cold to bear. It helped me stay fit. It helped me reach the destination I want.  It helped me perform my activities of daily living. Yes, name all the activities I could do with my body!

Yet what does my body hear from me? "Oh my God, my belly is fat." "My arms are so... fluffy"

I think it's time I give due credit for my body for the support it has given me all these years. After all, I do thank my belongings for supporting my lifestyle. Why shouldn't I show the same gratitude for my body?

* I know how thanking your belongings sound... weird. It's a practice I learned from reading Marie Kondo. It made sense for me. Thanking my belongings made me appreciate them and that taught me to handle them with respect. Pre-Kondo days, I would just toss my shirts inside my cabinet. Nowadays, I take time to fold my clothes. Yup, my clothes look better, and my cabinet does not look bad either!

I said yes when I didn't know what to do

My classmate approached me that Saturday afternoon while waiting for our professor. "Do you know how to make a tarpaulin?"

Without looking at her, I nodded my head. "Yes"

........Oh God, what have I done. 

The  last tarpaulin I designed looked like crap. But still, I gave it a shot. Effort trumps Effortless is my battle cry.

After receiving the theme for our seminar tarp, I created the layout in Photoshop. It took me an hour of editing the text and images, as well as conquering the inner voice in my head telling me "Oh wow, that sucks!"

"Hey, not bad!" I told myself after I was done. I had done 3 prototypes. I liked the third one and sent it to my classmate for printing.

It was a decent looking tarpaulin design, with inspiration from "It's more fun in the Philippines!". Yeah, that slogan and font style saved me. I figured I needed to "copy" something to come up with something new. After all, Austin Kleon said in his book, "Steal Like an Artist"... Nothing is original.

*** 

"See you later! we'll have lunch!"

And so, the occupants of the IT department left me alone in their office as I sat until the printer was finished churning out the 60 sheets of Certificates I was waiting for.

I need to do something productive. Hey, why not learn about the Pen Tool in Photoshop? I think Kent has PS6 in his desktop.

Little Nurnur played with the pen tool and googled for tutorials while waiting for the certificates to be printed. After 15 minutes, I got the certificates, went back to my table and played with Photoshop.

Truth is, I can't remember the last time I allowed myself to be patient with Photoshop. I played with the Pen tool. I read the tutorials. I tried to understand how to use the vector mask and layer mask. I learned how to make perspective grids in Photoshop. I played with the Free Transform Tool.  I took time (as what I picked up in Scott Peck's The Road Less Travelled)

Taking Time was a luxury I never afforded myself when I was learning how to use Adobe Photoshop. Tutorial? What for? I'm good! I don't need that! 

That mindset was my downfall. My Achilles Heel.

I'm aware I have to repeat the exercises to drill it in my head. To make in innate. To make it a habit.
It was fun yet challenging.

How an Intern made me Walk my Talk

Ola!

I was supposed to create a 5 expression sprite of Akane Tendo from Ranma 1/2. (but I do have a different output)

I wanted to see if I still I could still.... you know, draw anime/manga inspired stuff.

I do have plans of establishing a sideline of drawing character portraits for Visual Novels and Indie JRPGs. But from the looks of it, I think I still can. Though I have to admit my skills have regressed a lot.

I won't excuse myself. It looks horrible. (others might say it's decent). But yes, it looks cute and horrible. It only shows how stagnant I've become.

There's still room for improvement. It's not too late for me though.

Another reason why I decided to blog about this is because of an Intern whom I had a friendly chat with. The DSWD has this summer job for out of school youths and working students. They are assigned to the different units and projects in the department. There are about 5 Interns assigned in our floor. Since she had finished her job, she sat beside me and talked to me.

This intern is 2 years younger than I am and she's from a neighboring school way back in college. The lady's a 4th year Irregular BS IT student.  So we where chatting and chatting and chatting...when she mentioned to me how her classmates (who graduated on time) now have stable jobs.

Deciding to motivate her, I advised her to start a project. Any project. And post it online. Keep making and post them a lot. Who knows? Someone might find you and seek your services.

After I distilled that advise, I was thinking inside my head.

Shit!

Here I am, giving to a 22 year old, and I'm just sitting and talking about my golden days!

I HAVE GOT TO WALK MY TALK.

Book Reflection on Charles Duhigg's Smarter Faster Better: Choice and Why Muscle

Hola! It's been a while. 

I've abandoned several projects. Work has been eating my time (or should I say that I haven't prioritized my time which is why work has been encroaching my creative and leisure time? That's for another post.)

I love to read books.

Books are the perfect boredom-reliever/mood booster/motivator for me. I'm aware that other people view them as sedatives, but for me, books are life!

Last Sunday, I was window shopping at the National Book Store at the SM City Ecoland branch in Davao City, when I saw Charles Duhigg's second book. I never read it despite having the epub version. I was skimming the back cover when a sentence caught my eye. It was all about motivation and the US marines. 

Okay. I will definitely read that book!

I bought Daniel Goleman books that day, yet I chose to read Duhigg's book. As of writing this, I have yet to finish that book. Duhigg's a wonderful storyteller, but I really don't like the fact that the narration jump from one paragraph to another. It's confusing, but still, my patience was rewarded when I finished the first chapter. 

And this is what this blog post is all about.

Three learnings from the Motivation Chapter:

1. Exercise your "Choice Muscle"

Growing up, I was a wimp (or that was how I saw myself. Like Quintanilla (in the book), I didn't know what I wanted to be. 

I was dependent on my mom. I was used to being served. I never really thought for myself, like what I wanted, what course to take, what job to apply to. I was the type who "went with the flow". 

Upon reading and reflecting this chapter, it was during those moments when I chose to take tiny action steps (by writing my outcome and what actions to take) that I learned to strengthen my "choice muscle".

The choice muscle (okay, I personally coined this phrase. It sounds cool!) is where you make daily choices, giving you a sense of control. 

It was the moment I decided to transfer to my own bedroom (after sleeping in the same bed and room with my mom) that I gained a tiny sense of control. It was also the moment that I deliberately donated boxes of unused clothes and books that I also felt a sense of control, that "hey, I made this choice! congratulations!".

2. Exercise the "Why Muscle".

According to what I read, when you are confronted with a hard situation./chore, ask yourself "why"? There is something about why that gives you a sense of purpose to continue the activity. 

I have yet to exercise my "why muscle", and I've started today! 

Why am I walking from the highway to my house when I could just pay Php 10 and save time? Because it's my chance at exercise, and meditate as I walk home

Why am I choosing to forgo television? Because I want to make time for other important activities. 

2. Effort trumps effortless. 

I have been told how smart I am, or how gifted I am at art when I was young. I think that was what killed my creative habit. or drawing habit. It's the notion that you are a "natural" and that you don't need to make effort to create, it comes naturally to you. 

I think by adopting that mindset, I stopped drawing. I stopped pushing myself to excel and learn new skills. I was content that I was "great" and "natural" at art. Looking back, it was those activities where I exerted effort that made me truly proud (like how I learned to whistle, or wiggle my ears)

When you work hard for something, you value it more. When you give effort, you strengthen you internal locus of control, "that I can influence my destiny with my actions".

I have yet to finish Duhigg's book, it's an interesting book to read and the learning are applicable in real life. 

I really wanted to write my thoughts about this chapter. It's my favorite part of the book. I can relate with the character, Eric Quintanilla in the book. He was indecisive and unsure about the future, until he enlisted in the Marines. While I know I will not enlist in the Marines (or the Philippine National Police since I have a friend asking my if I'm interested to join), I definitely know I will exercise my choice and why muscles. 

I have been exercising my Idea Muscle for 10 months now. How hard can it be to exercise two other muscles?