Comfortable Shoes Studio

Artfire Sale

I'm running a sale in my artfire shop. I'm moving back to etsy. I'm sure many of you will be happy to read that. I'm offing 25% off everything except my art. I don't want to spend the time to relist everything on etsy. So you get a good deal on journals, journaling supplies, and jotter notebooks. I haven't made a book in ages so these are some of the last of my handmade books. I'm not sure when I'll be making more. Code is LAMEPOLICY and is good for one use and 60 days.

Realistic vs Unrealistic Goals

I've been planning on doing a little side project from all my other projects, because, you KNOW I need another project! The side project is loosely called "You Said Something, It Was Really Important." (OR, "You Said Something, I've Never Forgotten.")* It consists of photos from my journal, taken all hi-res, made into a PDF and then loaded to MagCloud. From there you'll be able to get a magazine or a download or both. Awesome.

As I was concieving this little project it took a lot less time in my mind, shooting pictures should take X amount of time, creating the PDF should take X amount of time, I can get it done in a night!

Not.

Shooting hundreds of pictures takes hours, not an hour. When you take a picture of a journal you end up having to figure out the BEST way to get the image and it took a few minutes of set up and a couple of tries to get a set up that worked properly for most of my journal page. Also , please note that a large sheet of plexi glass keeps your pages flat and a polarizing filter helps cut the glare and makes colors pop. Once i figured that out I STILL had to wade through the good and the bad in the journals. Some of the stuff is too personal and other still could get me fired from the DayJob if I publish it. I tried to keep a good balance and stayed on the edge- you get to see some stuff that I haven't put online, in hi res, printed glory AND I get to stay employed. It's a win!

In the end I realize I've got more than once zine's worth of stuff or one really FAT zine full of stuff. I'm struggling with how big do I want to make this thing? 50 Pages? 90 pages? 150 pages? Add to that, if I do 150 pages then I'll probably never do another, and I think I want to do another. Also the cost of the thing goes up dramaticaly if I do more than 50 pages. I want to keep it affordable. (BUT, how cool would a 150 page zine be?)

The other part of this is, I really thought, once I shoot the pictures I can flood them into publisher and get my PDF done. Yeah not so easy. There is no easy way to flood 50 images into publisher all at the same size. They all come in at different sizes, need to be resized to the correct size, put in the RIGHT spot, contract and color tweaked so they look correct, background color chosen, etc... Graphic designers of the world I salute you. (Also please tell me that the Adobe suite is easier to use than publisher... Future goal: get a Mac and Adobe.)

So I'm about 33% done and feeling kind of bummed that I won't be able to finish this by the weekend. "You Said Something" won't be ready for another week or so. I'm still debating if I add captions or not. How many words do I add, if I add any at all? Maybe that should all be hand written too... You see where I'm going here? I'm one of those peopel that dives into a project like this head first, no plans and figures it out as I go along,I give myself unrealistic and unattainable goals and then I'm surprised when I bung it up.

So now I know ho wmuch work goes into this, I'll make sure I set more realistic goals in the future.

Review: Jinhao 602 Fountain Pen

Every now and then I get a surprise in the mail. Today I got a Jinhao 602 fountain pen, a gift from Christie. She suggest I review it, so I'm being dutiful and doing so.

Pulling the pen out of the envelope I found it in a black flocked case. It felt rather heavy for it's size. The black paint is smooth, the gold colored trim is nice, even if it's gold (I prefer silver.) the grip section is oddly trimmed in brushed steel. It doesn't match the rest of the pen, even if it is comfortable. The pen is very slim measuring about 3/8th of an inch in diameter. It looks good.

The nib is steel but colored gold. It is hooded so only part of it can be seen. The nib is stiff, with no flex or bounce. It produces an even fine to medium line with good ink flow. It would be great for sketching. The nib offers a little feedback but it's not scratchy

The downside is that the cap does not post well, as this is a small pen it would be more comfortable if it were posted.

Overall this would be a very good pen for sketching, priced a little more than $5 you won't be heartbroken if it dies or you lose it. I was surprised at how well the pen wrote, it was remarkably smooth for $5. (Not as smooth as the Serwex Special I reviewed earlier.) Not a bad deal, head over to eB@y and search for one.

Unposted length: 4.5 inches

Posted: 6 inches Capped 5.5 inches 

Less than 1/2 inch in diameter.

Cost: About $5.50 shipping included on eBay.

A good value for the money if you like thin pens with fine nibs.

Unlike the Serwex Special I reviewed a few weeks back, this is not a candidate for abusing with India inks. The hooded nib means getting the feed out of the grip for cleaning is nearly impossible. India ink will gunk up this pen and render it unusable in short order. 

Chongolio on Youtube

I' not sure how I missed this guys videos but now that I've found him, I'm kinda in love. He offers nononsense BS free art journaling ideas and advice, and it's good. Oh He also uses some images of gears in his AJ. Watch them all, give him some thumbs up love and share his stuff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Head over to his youtube to see the rest of his videos. Good stuff.

Watching some RSAnimate

Yesterday I met with a friend of mine, he's a terrific artist and we had a nice long chat over great coffee. During our talk we spoke of the TED talk about school killing creativity. When I got home I looked up the talk, it's a good one and linked below. You should watch it.

In some ways I think that our root fear of play and experimentation in our art and journals, where does it go as we age? We were all pretty creative when we were 5 and 6 and even 7. But at some point we all want to draw realistically (this is tied to developmental milestones) and I think get frustrated and quit. If you look at most kids at specific ages they all go through this. Some of us never get past the frustration.

The next video is about the paradox of choice. It's not directly related to art, but I think you'll see why I put it up here. I think we get into a mode of overwhelming choice when we walk into an art and craft store. It's why it's so easy for companies to shove crap down our throat when we don't really need or want it. Step 1: Overwhelm the consumer with too many choices and Step 2: Prey upon that and TELL them they NEED specific parts to create a project. Never-mind that you could unlock their creativity by teaching skills rather than spoon-feeding a specific project. But then unlocking creativity isn't as good for the bottom line as selling a specific project that requires the person buy items off a list. (Think #cultofstuff)

 

 

 

The final video, in which I think I could do an entire post about, is about the movement about staying positive, and that you can bring everything to you by presenting a positive front. Slap a smile on your face and everything you've ever dreamed of can be YOURS! I'm not afraid to say that sometimes my life and my brain are dark dark lonely places. Sad. I've got a relatively good life- a nice enough house, a car that runs, a lovely wife, a DayJob that pays my bills, and good health. Honestly, I've got it better than many people. I'm happy about that, I won't lie. But there are days when I hate everything about life. It's not wrong to say that sometimes, life isn't fair and life sometimes sucks. That's realistic.

I'm not suggesting we all let it hang out. No, I think we should be realistic in what our lives are like, it's not all sunshine and roses, sometimes it's dog crap on the floor and a flat tire on the highway or a bad day at the job. Not being honest about these facts of our lives is as ridiculous as always painting a smile on your face and pretending they don't happen. These dark spots are WHY I art journal. I pour the shit out onto a page and then turn it. I paint dark little scenes on watercolor paper and then pour ink on it. Denying these aspects of my life isn't honoring myself. Hiding it away doesn't make it go away. No matter how many pretty pages you paint in your art journal doesn't make everything alright.

The process is what makes things right not the product. It's okay to slather paint on a page and just turn the page and never look at it again, every page does NOT have to be finished. MOve on, just like your life moves on. It's the nature of an art journal that you move on. You grow as a person and grow in the art journal. Don't let false positivity hold you back from creating something that is wonderful because you are afraid to explore something that is not happy or perceived as not positive.

 

A Challenge for the Weekend

I'm not usually a huge fan of issuing challenges but here's one I can get behind:

This weekend make some art that is destined for the trash. Don't let anyone else see it or feel free to show it on the ComfortableShoesStudio facebook wall. But set yourself free and see what you learn from creating something without the pressure of making it pretty.

For one weekend make stuff that has meaning only to you.

For one weekend make marks on the page that please only you.

For one weekend mix your paints in colors that you are afraid of.

For one weekend use colors taht challenge you.

For one weekend make a page in your art journal taht you haven't planned out.

Scribble. Doodle. Write.

Do somethng in your art journal that you've never done before.

Set yourself free.

Draw for the Trash

Matthew Archambault of Drawing Tutorials Online wrote:

It's super important when drawing that you don't put too much pressure on yourself to draw for the museum wall. Draw instead for the waste paper basket and you too will have that care free attitude when it comes to drawing.

It's a point I've been thinking about over and over and over again for the last few months. A question I've asked myself repeatedly is, "Why do I enjoy sketching and drawing so much but many people I've met don't?" I think Matthew's point is exactly why. When I'm working in my art journal I'm not thinking about making great art or a finished page. I'm simply working on the page, a page isn't good or bad, it just is.

This is a drastic difference from the way I see many new art journalers approach their page. They want each page to be a perfect piece and get very discouraged when the page doesn't end up just as it is in their head. Putting pressure on yourself to create exactly what is in your head is a exercise in frustration and I think it's why so many people give up on art journaling and return to scrapbooking.

I always put an emphasis on process in my classes and on my own art. Process will eventually get you to the end result you seek, it isn't an easy or guaranteed path but it's rewarding.

Some Observations: On Paper and Frisket

Iv'e been working on a variety of papers, settling on Canson's XL Watercolor paper, for a variety of reasons- it works well with the watercolors I'm using, it's cost is nice and it has a relatively smooth surface that my pens rather like. It's also got 2 sides, a right and a wrong, ot a front and a back; which ever way you prefer to call it, but I like the judgemental aspect of right and wrong... In this case. Any how.

One side has a little more tooth an grab to it than the other, this is the right side. The reverse side AKA WRONG is smoother. It also has less sizing... This affects a number of things- how ink and paint react with the surface. Less size means it's more absorbent.

This is good and bad.

It's bad when you use a mask. I applied a liquid frisket rather heavily to the surface of one of my paintings and the frisket grabbed to the paper so strongly it ripped when I removed it. Quite badly. It was crazy frustrating.

I went ahead with the mixed media piece anyway, knowing my paint would adhere the ripped pieces down and it would be okay, but I had to change my plans for color and other ideas for the image, and I know that the torn piece could come back to haunt me.

Additionally in my frisket/mask adventure I've found that the frisket REALLY doesn't like the spray inks. If the frisket is too thin the spray ink "leaks" through it. A total pain in the ass. So I've learned to put on one thin coat and then a heavier coat to seal it all up.

Journal Flip: Moleskine #4

Thisis Moleskine #4 I filled it up while I was in Buffalo, NY attending a funeral for a family member and shortly after. A visit to Buffalo is always interesting.

 

Anyway, the idiots have been thumbing down my videos again. It's driving me nuts. It just reminds me of the need to thumb OTHER people's videos up. If I like a video I always thumb it up. I figure it does something to restore some balance to the positivity of the world.

Anyway, go check out my vids and give them some love.

 

Weekly Round Up: Videos

I had a late night at the DayJob that prevented me from loading up all the videos I wanted to this week, but  it's a good change from the status quo and it also lets me change up my style of posting. I'm probably going to switch frm a daily video post to a 3 or 4 times a week post. I'm starting to do pieces that are much mroe involved and hav a lot of depth to them, as such I'm completing fewer per week, thus, not so many posts per week. I'm debating how I'm going to edit the videos, I'm not sure if I'll go longer with the video or keep them short and simple. I'll figure it out as I go along.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My YouTube Channel Name

Since it comes up pretty often, here is the offical story of my youtube channel's name.

I intended for it to be ComfortableShoesStudio just like this website. Seems easy right? Except YouTube only allows 20 characters in a name... I Typed in the full name and didn't look to see that it was right. Bad move. CSS is 22 characters long. YouTube dropped the I and O off the end. After signing up I stayed logged in and loaded my first few videos. Then I loaded a few more. 

6 months later I ended up signed out and couldn't log in. I requested my password to be sent to my email on file. It was then that I realized that I was signed up as ComfortableShoesStud. *Headdesk* At this point I'd already loaded up a bunch of videos and had a bunch of views, so I figured, screw it, leave it as is.

Lesson learned though, ANY time I sign up for something I check to make sure that everything is spelled correctly before hitting "Agree" or "Continue!"