by Marty Coleman | Jun 29, 2012 | Competition - 2012 |
And here is yesterday’s blank napkin with a quote. The quote is from Lou Brock, one of the best base stealers, runners and defensive outfielders in baseball history.
Starting Over
I switched careers when I first moved to Oklahoma. I had been a college art instructor (part time at 3 different colleges) and a restaurant manager. In Oklahoma I became a commercial computer artist helping to create interactive educational software for kids. I started out at the bottom at minimum wage by scanning animation cels that an other artist did. I used Photoshop to clean them up and hand them off to the animator. The artist who drew the original drawings was the top dog in the office. He also used Photoshop exclusively.
Saying Yes to Looking Bad
At one point the producer came to the creative group and said she needed someone to start to learn how to use Macromedia Director, the software that actually animated the individual drawings. The top dog artist, who had first choice, was intimidated by that prospect and said he had no interest in learning it. I, on the other hand, when given the opportunity, jumped at it. I didn’t care if I didn’t know the program. I didn’t care if I was going to probably mess up at times. I didn’t care if the other creative people in the company would laugh at my attempts at animation. What I cared about was learning, growing, getting better, becoming indispensable to the team.
A Cautionary Tale
4 months later we had hired veteran professionals to draw much better animation cels and I was assisting in animating them, using that software. The Top Dog artist had been pretty much shunted off to the side and soon left the company to do roofing in Texas. Within a year and a half I had become both the Producer and the Creative Director of the company. Why did it turn out that way? Because I said yes to a task I KNEW I would look bad in at times.
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Drawing by Marty Coleman
Quote by Lou Brock
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by Marty Coleman | Jun 28, 2012 | Competition - 2012 |
I thought it would be fun to let you contribute a quote, saying or idea. What do you think this drawing is about? It is competition week so it’s about that, but WHAT is the drawing saying to you about competition (or anything else really)?
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What's the Quote?
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by Marty Coleman | Jun 27, 2012 | Art, Competition - 2012, Patti Smith |
Thank God I made it to day #3 of Competition Week at the NDD!
Knowing the Universe
The quote says God, but it doesn’t really matter if you believe in a deity or not for this to be true. The point is that the universe is awesome. It is one big amazing masterpiece. Your job as an artist is to re-‘VIEW’ the universe. You interpret it, not copy it. You learn from it, not teach it. You stay informed by it, not ignorant of it.
Realistic Competition
It takes courage to compete with someone you know is going to win. Imagine being Michael Phelp’s rival over the past 8 years. But the truth is you aren’t competing directly against universe unless you are either so ignorant of the universe that you think you are at the center of it (You’re not, by the way) or you don’t think about it at all. But the best way to create the most fantastic art is to know your world, your universe. Pay attention to the sounds, tastes, smells, images, textures of the universe. Then filter it all through ‘you’ and out will come unique and individual creative work.
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who has a talking paintbrush that posed for this drawing. Her name is Penelope.
Quote by Patti Smith, who lusts after Penelope but can’t have her.
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by Marty Coleman | Jun 26, 2012 | Competition - 2012, Napoleon Bonaparte |
I have been competing all morning to get #2 of Competition Week done. Here it is!
When Naked is Good
Naked is good when you are appropriately showing your true self to those whom you want to show yourself to. Being vulnerable, telling who you really are, your struggles, successes, failures, flaws, highlights – those are all in the ‘naked is good’ category and people respond to it. It makes you MORE popular and endearing to your friends, fans, followers, customers, clients, to see a well-rounded version of you.
When Naked is Bad
Naked is bad when you are inappropriately showing your stupidity, desperation, insensitivities, and disrespect. You aren’t choosing to be intentionally vulnerable, you are making a fool of yourself. You are ruining yourself in the eyes of others. You aren’t seeing yourself clearly, otherwise you would never expose yourself the way you are.
Witnessing Naked
Most of the people I know who could possibly be considered my competitors in one field or another are good friends or at least respectful acquaintances. I would be willing to help them to some degree and I know they would do the same for me. But in business if someone is directly competing with me for specific business I am not going to give them my insights as to why a move they might be making is a bad one.
I am not wishing them ill. I am certainly not designing any activity that would purposely make their business more difficult to run. But I am doing all that I can can to make sure I am the better person for the job and that includes leaving them to their own devices. If they succeed, I am happy for them. If they don’t, I am going to take advantage of the void they create.
What about you, what do you think of this idea?
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who doesn’t have many enemies.
Quote by Napoleon Bonaparte, who had a lot of enemies.
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by Marty Coleman | Jun 25, 2012 | Competition - 2012, Self |
You Are.
The Fight Within
It’s not ‘the competition’ who is your strongest competition, it’s you. It’s your decision to settle. It’s your decision to give up. It’s your decision to blame circumstances or others or the weather. Win the battle with your mediocre, excusing self and you’ll win, simple as that.
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who is preaching to himself.
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by Marty Coleman | Jun 22, 2012 | Art |
Most People
It started out as a napkin I was going to use one morning but I blew the text. I don’t know what it was suppose to say now, but I either left out a word before ‘both’ or wasn’t suppose to use that word to begin with. As a result I tossed it aside and started using it to test marker and pen colors. In doing so I filled the napkin up with small marks until there was no more room.
Both
I decided today I would turn the square of random marks and words into something and this is what I came up with. What do you think it means?
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who likes turning one thing into another thing.
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by Marty Coleman | Jun 21, 2012 | Chinese Proverbs |
Your Purpose
As an artist, your obligation is not to produce propaganda that everyone listens to, understands and obeys. That is other people’s jobs. Your job as an artist is to express yourself, whether there is logic, reasoning and greater purpose in the expression or not.
Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs and what’s wrong with that?
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who saw Wings in concert at the Fabulous Forum in LA in 1975.
Quote is a Chinese proverb
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by Marty Coleman | Jun 20, 2012 | Social Media - 2013 |
It’s no secret that today is day #3 of Social Media Secrets week!
Not For Yourself
If you are writing, photographing, drawing, singing, acting, or just ranting, there is one truth underneath it all. You want an audience. Pretending that you are ONLY doing it for yourself is your way of protecting yourself from the failure of gaining an audience. Perhaps you are or were the high school writer or poet who said, ‘Oh, I don’t create for other people, only for myself.’ That’s a lie.
Admitting Equals Wanting
How do I know it’s a lie? Because if it were true we would NEVER hear you admit you are poet or writer in the first place. The very fact that you are telling the world you are creating it is proof you want an audience. You might want a small audience; maybe mom, dad, and your little sister, but you still want an audience. But if you put it out for the world to see or read, then it is an audience you seek.
Be Worthy
Admit this truth and get it out of the way. Admit you have an ego, you want attention, you want validation, you want recognition. Work toward it and don’t be ashamed of it. But here is the caveat; MAKE SURE what you are creating is WORTHY of attention. If you are just being a copy cat, a plagiarizer, a derivative hack, then you don’t deserve an audience. The person you are stealing from deserves the audience, not you.
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who really truly did see a coyote standing still in the middle of the street last night while listening to a woman named Grasshopper talk on the radio and watching a giant beautiful thunderhead build in the setting sun sky.
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by Marty Coleman | Jun 18, 2012 | Marty Coleman, Social Media - 2013 |
I spoke at Blog World NY last week. I spoke on ‘Content Procrastination’ but my takeaways from the conference were mostly about Social Media. I am coming up with some ‘secrets’ I learned there. They are secrets because I am making them up now, as I go. They are not from any particular presentation or interaction.
Tradition
I often find myself wanting traditional media to pay attention to me. I like reporters, anchors, journalists, videographers, photographers and I like when they want to tell my stories. But it is important form me to remember I am also the media. I am the social media. So are you. The traditional media look to us in social media to help them just as we want them to help us.
Social
The reason it is important to realize this is power. Because traditional media has been around, is established and has clout in terms of information distribution and status, we think it is equal to ‘making it’. We get attention from traditional media and we have arrived. In some ways that is true. But when you think of it, social media is the media that goes viral, not traditional.
All
In other words, don’t be fooled into thinking you need traditional media to validate who you are. It helps, but there are all sorts of ways to get your company, ideas, books, merchandise, self, vision out there in the world.
Use them all, alert the Social Media!
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who drinks social media with cream and sugar.
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by Marty Coleman | Jun 14, 2012 | Social Media - 2013 |
Blog World New York 2012
I got back from Blog World New York 2012 a few days ago. I have been busy catching up on work, clients, fixing things, Dr. appts, etc. Now I am ready to think about what it was like; what I taught, what I learned, who I met, what I experienced. I thought I would combine that with a couple napkin drawings on some of the social media secrets I have come to understand over the past few years of working in this field.
Present/Distant
For all the talk about ‘social media’ there is a tendency for social media types to spend more time talking to people not present than those that are right in front of them. It can lead to great online connections that never go anywhere because you don’t actually find a way to personally interact with the person.
Now, that makes complete sense when you never have the opportunity to meet face to face. But when you go to a conference or gathering that includes people you have met and interacted with online, it’s important to actually be social and introduce yourself to them. Even if you have met them before, it’s a good idea to reintroduce yourself. Build the relationship in person, even if it is just a brief conversation in the hall between sessions. In some ways it’s awkward because it similar to introducing yourself to a celebrity. You don’t know if they will know who you are, if they will remember you, if they will be annoyed by you interrupting their day. But the truth is they are probably thinking about you the same way.
Jason Falls
For example, I knew Jason Falls would be at Blog World NY. I was able to go to his book launch (No Bullshit Social Media) at Blog World LA. I didn’t meet him then but over the past 6 months I have interacted with him on his blog, Twitter, Facebook and probably some other Social Media sites as well. I wasn’t sure if he would know who I was but when I saw him relaxing at a table with some other conference goers I went over and introduced myself. He remembered me from some of the online interactions and we had a brief conversation. It felt good to meet him.
After the conference he posted a message about how one of the things he loves most about going to conferences is the chance to meet his online friends in person. He actually singled me out as an example of that. That was cool, it made me feel like someone I respect in the field had been paying attention to my interactions and was equally happy to finally meet in person.
The Original Media
When you are in the social media world, in whatever capacity, you have to implement the ‘social’ no matter the media. Media is just a method of communicating. Radio, internet, TV, megaphone – it’s all media. But before all that, you have the first and most essential of media, your voice and your handshake. Use it often if you really want to complete your social media involvement.
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who really should read Jason’s book.
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by Marty Coleman | Jun 12, 2012 | Blog World NY, New York City, Travel |
My iPhone was burning down the batteries very quickly over the past week during my trip to New York. Something was up with it and it finally went kaput, really kaput, while waiting for my flight home from New York City. As a result I spent a lot of time observing and drawing, both on napkins and in my sketchbook. Here are some of the interesting people I drew and got to know.
Karen
On the way home from my week in New York City I sat next to a woman who reminded me a bit of Susan Sarandon. Her eyes were similar but it was really her voice, having the same tone and inflection, that made me feel like I was listening to the actress.
Karen had gone to the city for the first time to have a girl’s weekend with some friends. She is a world traveler yet had never been to NYC. She loved the city, could live there easily she said (I feel the same way after my stay). But after a weekend of eating, drinking, sightseeing and walking she was ready to get home to San Diego. She missed her cat. She was a very interesting person to sit next to.
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Jasmine
Before I got on the plane I spent 5 hours waiting at LaGuardia Airport (long story). I sat for 2 of those hours across from this woman, Jasmine. She slept in this position for a long time.
After a while we realized there should be more people around and found out the gates had changed. We traipsed over to the new gate together. Turns out she was also in NYC for a weekend of fun. She said she had a lot of it. She showed me some photos of her time in NYC, a lot of pictures of her and her friend mugging for the camera, a concert and more self-portraits. She wore bright red lipstick in some and bright pink lipstick in others. She was now very tired and very hungover and was also glad to be headed home. She was a very interesting person to wait with.
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Mother and Daughter and Dog
Before Jasmine showed up I was entertained by a mother and daughter sitting across and down from me waiting for a different flight. They had a teeny weenie little dog with bulging eyes who continually peeked out from under the mother’s arm.
The daughter had bright hot pink shorts, brilliant yellow socks and a big knee brace. She played on her iPhone for well over an hour without moving. The mother had on a lacy, Stevie Nicks type of black dress on. The dog blended in under the crook of her arm until it would open it’s eyes REALLY wide and look around. Then it would fall asleep again and disappear into the folds of her dress. They were very interesting people to observe.
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Drawings by Marty Coleman, who loves to draw when he travels.
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by Marty Coleman | Jun 8, 2012 | New York City, Travel Napkins |
We are going to the Belmont Stakes. We were going to watch Triple Crown history, or so we thought.
The potential Triple Crown winner, ‘I’ll Have Another’ was scratched from the race today. Expectations and anticipation are dashed. What is that really about but us humans constructing a world in our mind that hasn’t happened yet. Horses don’t do that. I am glad I am a human, not a horse. But I sometimes like having a horse’s enjoyment of the here and now.
Are you able to deal with expectations well? How?
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by Marty Coleman | Jun 6, 2012 | Blog World NY, New York City, Travel Napkins |
My first travel napkin of my trip to speak at Blog World in NYC.
I did the usual thing when you are alone at a social media conference and tweeted to the Blog World crowd asking who wanted to get a bite to eat before the opening party. Rzaz, Sus, and Apdo responded and off we went to find good Thai food.
We were all strangers so we told our ‘Why are you at Blog World?’ stories. When I told about me as the Napkin Dad Apdo picked up a restaurant napkin and exclaimed, so you could just draw on this one if you want, right? I took up the challenge and came up with this of Apdo in the city listening to a little bird.
After dinner we saw this.
Then we mosied over to the opening party where I introduced my new friends to some of the people I met at Blog World LA in November. They made some great connections and I met someone from Bulgaria.
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by Marty Coleman | Jun 4, 2012 | Blog World NY, New York City |
I am on my way to Blog World NYC to speak on Wednesday. My topic is ‘Overcoming Content Procrastination Start to Finish’. I am using the analogy of running races to illustrate ways to be productive and effective in content creation. I thought I would show one of the drawings I am going to have in my presentation.
Confidence
I am feeling confident about my presentation. Luckily I am also NOT feeling confident. What that means is I am being realistic. I know I could fall flat on my face and to lessen that risk I am doing everything I can to prepare properly. Could I still fall flat on my face? Sure. Just as in a race I can train and prepare properly and still have a lousy race. But preparing makes your confidence, though not 100%, higher and more assured than if you are just flying by the seat of your pants.
Some who could see my process of preparation might say I fly by the seat of my pants. But for me and my personality, I think I do pretty good to prepare. Let’s hope so!
Drawing by Marty Coleman, who is about to hit the Big Apple!
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