https://www.ted.com/talks/temple_grandin_the_world_needs_all_kinds_of_minds?language=en
This is a brilliant TED Talk from Temple Grandin. She does an excellent job of advocating for those with Autism Spectrum, captivating my attention from beginning to start. Her application of her abstract thinking to a real world solution makes her an inspiration to all.
Post by @IllustrationAge.
A little fellow I drew up over Easter… Didnt have my Wacom board so just did it with the pen tool in Illustrator CC and some Photoshop blend-mode craziness (too much in hindsight).
Mad RSI happening in my wrist right now! 🙂
I love this! Makes me want to start sketching.
As I progressed more and more into sketching some of the very detailed and characteristic buildings here in Washington, DC, I knew that I was throwing myself out of my comfort zone and into some real sketching challenges. This building in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood here in Washington, DC just screamed “complexity”, and I really had to approach this sketch with a degree of process in order to not get lost in the details, keep everything relatively squared-up, and capture the rich architectural detailing of this most interesting building. This was done straight with a cheap gel pen; no pre-sketching with a pencil, so I had to focus intensively on sighting size and scale relationships.
One of my favorite teachers really emphasizes on finding your own passion. However, what do you do once you know it? What steps should you take, which ones do you need to take? I stumbled upon a very helpful article quoted here:
Who are you? Do you really know? How will you find out?
If you cannot answer the question “Who am I?” with some degree of certainty, then chances are you may not be able to find out who you are by continuing to do the very same things you have done up to this point in your life. There are many wonderful things to learn in life, but one of the most important learning experiences is the ongoing inquiry into knowledge of self. This knowledge of self will guide you in the pursuit of your passion.
Make a genuine effort to know yourself
If you do not know who you are, then whatever else you learn in life will be, to a considerable extent, irrelevant because you will have nothing to connect or anchor it to. Your greatest contribution to the world will be yourself: your best self. Find out who your best self is and what your best self really wants. This will place you on the path toward pursuing your passion.
Realize that you cannot truly know and genuinely relate to others until you begin to know yourself
When you do not know yourself, your relationships with others will not be centered in genuine reciprocity. They will be centered, instead, in the often misguided attempt to meet expectations. If you are not operating from centered self-knowledge, you are susceptible to being misguided and exploited. Even worse, you may unknowingly misguide or exploit others.
Own your passion
Popular culture often encourages us to seek our ‘passion’ within a relationship with someone else; the often unspoken assumption that informs this concept is that we will discover our ‘passion’ within another person. When, as must inevitably be the case, this pursuit results in disappointment, we often feel let down and misused, unaware that we have betrayed our own interests by failing to search for our passion where it truly lies: within ourselves.
Know that not every change begins externally
The popular idea of “pursuing your passion” is often presented as necessarily involving a good bit of drama, along with a hefty dose of drastic action. But genuine change begins as an internal process of creating and re-creating a worldview that originates from within your best self. Pursuing change as a solely external process, absent the effort of reflection and contemplation, can only lead to old life patterns played out on new stages with different casts of characters. It will be, in the end, the same old story.
Don’t abandon your best self in pursuit of your passion
Pursuing your passion does not require a lot of theatrics. It is not necessary to abandon genuine responsibilities in an effort to play to stereotypic pop-culture expectations around the idea of “pursuing your passion.” Remember, your genuine passion is intrinsically connected to your best self.
Encourage – rather than minimize – the creative person who lives within you
This creative person is part of your best self. We have learned to envision success as a process of following pre-established patterns; the person who follows the pattern mostly closely, we believe, is the person who will be most successful. This kind of thinking causes us to discount and devalue our own creativity, since creative thinking has a habit of leading us toward new approaches and strategies. Make friends with your creative self and discover where your passion truly lies.
Learn to view everything as an opportunity
We have been inculcated with fixed notions of bad and good. These inflexible ideas can cause us to overlook opportunities for genuine growth and self-discovery. But what if that awful experience turned out to be the catalyst for energizing your best self toward the recognition of your true passion? It could happen.
Think outside the stratosphere
Why settle for simply thinking outside the box? Give your creative self the space to expand and pursue new ideas. Let this more comprehensive mode of thinking guide you toward the discovery of your genuine passion.
Don’t let it be about the money
Some of the most creative people in the history of the world have pursued their passion despite every obstacle, from mind-numbing, mundane employment to excruciating poverty. Whatever their circumstances, they persevered because they were guided by the flame of their passion.
Remember: It’s not over until it’s over
Don’t give up on the pursuit of your passion. Your life is a continuing series of opportunities for growth and self-discovery. Look forward to more.
Yes, the world is waiting for you – but who are you? Find out. Discover your genuine self: this is what fuels the flame of your passion. Then pursue your passion with a sense of genuine responsibility for yourself. You are here to make a contribution toward a better world. Do it!
This was taken from InspirationFeed.com
Although I don’t have hundreds of blog posts, I know many of you faithful bloggers out there do. Here’s a helpful article on how to recycle old content – meaning bringing your old posts back into your audiences’ minds.
If you’re unfamiliar with inspirationfeed.com, I highly recommend you check it out. Anyone can find a useful article there whether you’re a blogger, designer, or plain Jane. No, I’m not getting paid or pushed to advertise this site.
As we enter into the month of June and I’m finishing up my last full week of school for this year, it’s easy to get off track and procrastinate, etc. Here, I’ve included some tips on how to finish the end of something, anything, strong.
1.) Do not procrastinate. Do what you need to do when you can. Video games and friends are not as important as that project with a deadline. As Thomas Jefferson said, “Never put off tomorrow what you can do today.” Also, try to have a positive attitude about it and try not to complain. You’ll waste time and energy complaining which adds to a negative attitude.
2.) Keep yourself organized. Even if it’s writing down what you need to do, you should keep yourself organized. Let yourself know visually, in addition to mentally, what you need to get done. Check off tasks you’ve completed and give yourself a little incentive or reward after you’ve completed your task.
3.) Give your 110%. Notice that I said “your” 110%. Someone else’s best isn’t your best and vice versa. Have the mindset that you’re going to give whatever you’re doing your very best. This relates to my next point about mediocrity.
4.) Refuse mediocrity. The point of “finishing strong” is to refuse mediocrity. Even though it is the end of a project or task, you’ve still got to go above and beyond because your name will be on it. Always take pride in what you do and what you create, etc. If you aren’t proud, you didn’t work hard enough.
5.) Don’t stress yourself out too much. This kind of goes along with keeping yourself organized. Too much stress will cause you to stress out even more and cause you to perform worse than you normally would. Take things one at a time and just let yourself know that you can do it.
Of course, while in the process of working hard, it’s okay to take a break and have a little fun every now again. Just don’t let that get out of hand and take priority over what’s important. Lastly, commitment over convenience. It may be convenient to slack but commitment will have a longer-lasting, positive effect.
I hope everyone enjoyed their Memorial Day weekend! What did you guys do? I found this really cool typeface for Dyslexics. It’s very interesting and helped me learn more about Dyslexia. Very cool stuff people are coming up with.
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VLtYFcHx7ec
This is my most recent kinetic project. I’m still working on it. I had to throw this together in 6 hours so it could be better but I like it.
Discovered this font today and I’m loving the way it looks! It’s free to download at Dafont but the author has requested downloaders use it for personal uses only. A commercial license can be bought however.
Prosparrow Designs 