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Start cultivating your creativity right now…

Roger Darnell — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:00:00 +0000

Over the past two years, I began a little family tradition which has paid off for me personally with some pretty great dividends. My wife’s family gets together during the year-end holidays in the lovely Isle of Palms area of Charleston, South Carolina. In the nearby town of Mount Pleasant, I have discovered a Goodwill store, and for the past two years, I have shopped in the book section and picked out books for each of those staying with us. Last year, for myself, I selected a water-damaged copy of a book that seemed vaguely familiar, written by Julia Cameron and entitled “The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity.” I am working my way through the book, which among other things, commands me to write three pages to begin each day, and I must admit that the results have been spectacular. As Julia writes, “In order to have a real relationship with our creativity, we must take the time and care to cultivate it.” Along with recommending Julia’s excellent book for those interested in nurturing their creativity, below I am sharing brief excerpts from the forthcoming book An Illustrated Life” from HOW Books by artist Danny Gregory, which presents the personal sketchbooks of some 50 creative professionals. Danny’s book is profiled in the August issue of HOW Magazine (look for a feature entitled “Note to Self”), where you can see some of the brilliant work from each of the contributors mentioned below. You can also visit www.dannygregory.com to check-out podcast interviews with the featured creatives.

Peter Arkle: “My sketchbooks have two purposes: First, they’re where I collect ideas for my work. I make notes and rough sketches of things that I find interesting or am amused to see or think of. Some of these ideas are destined to stay in the sketchbooks forever; others get taken out, often reworked and edited, and end up in ‘Peter Arkle News’ or in whatever commissioned piece I’m working on.”

Bruce Wymer: “Of all of my many works, my visual journals have the strongest purpose and are the truest form of art. They’re one of the few places where my thoughts are expressed solely for my own expectations, a vehicle for self-exploration, not polluted by commercialism and monetary gain. When I look through a finished journal, I can remember exactly the state of mind I was in during that period.”

Tommy Kane: “So I bought my first Moleskine book. The second the pen hit the paper, I couldn’t stop. The thing went with me everywhere. But it wasn’t just the drawing; it was also the writing. It was better than crack. I seemed to have found my calling. I have basically stopped painting, and journaling is to blame. All I can say is, thank you.”

Chris Ware: “Drawing is very rarely, if ever, pleasurable to me. It would be sort of disgusting if it was, or at least extremely embarrassing and indulgent to print the results.”

Cindy Woods: “It was moving into a nursing home full of people willing to be drawn that finally got me started. There was a chess club that met with the residents here on a weekly basis, and because they were so focused on their game, it provided a safe way to observe people without them taking much notice of me. I gained confidence in drawing this way and started to ask folks to pose for me. These introductions through drawing are how I came to know many of the people here. Since I’ve lived here more than 30 years, most of these folks are deceased now, making these early drawings all the more precious to me.”

Kurt Hollomon: “I go for more of the finished look in my books rather then the quick sketch. I tend to design my pages, more or less. In my personal journal, I write in two vertical columns and write around the drawings as I make them — just like inset book illustrations. I usually make my drawings intentional. Like they were meant to be there. I have never just randomly doodled.”

Roz Stendahl: “I love blank pages. They scream possibilities to me. They clamor for attention. They call to me from across the room while I’m trying to do other work. When I get to the final signature in a journal, I go to the shelf of books I’ve made and take a couple down, one at a time, turn them around in my hands, open them and look at the type of paper I’ve used, and decide if this is the type of paper I want to work on for the next four or five weeks. It’s a very happy moment. Sometimes I put all the books back and decide to think about it a little longer and decide the next day. But I think that’s just an excuse to look at all the books again! When I open them, I see all the fun I’m going to have filling them.”

Tommy Ewasko, Imagemaker Extraordinaire…

Roger Darnell — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:00:27 +0000

This Friday and Saturday nights, and by private appointments thereafter, The Wine Cave in Montrose, California, will proudly host Artist’s Receptions and Charitable Fine Art Sales honoring master Getty Images imagemaker Tommy Ewasko and his work, and benefiting Amazing Grace Children’s Foundation. On display and available to collectors on a first-come, first-served basis are numerous Art and Gallery Prints from Tommy’s exclusive America’s Moments and Hot Color Icons collections. Please join us for wonderful wine tasting experiences, while getting to know one of America’s great imagemakers and his one-of-a-kind works.

I personally first met Tommy in about 1978, when I was a pre-teen and he was studying photography at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Over the years since that time, we have collaborated on many projects, and finally in 2008, I had the opportunity to commission him to do some personal portraiture. Even with my knowledge of his masterful artistic talents, his professionalism blew me away. Whereas I had asked for a few snaps for posterity’s sake, he approached the project with the diligent craftsmanship which has cemented his long-standing relationships with many top entrepreneurs, celebrities and creatives. From pre-scouting the locations in LA where we shot to his uncompromising determination on shoot-day to get me numerous iconic images for every use I might imagine, he surpassed my expectations by quantum leaps and bounds, and if I do say so myself, made me look better even than I’ve felt in years.

I recommend Tommy Ewasko without reservation for the creation of extraordinary imagery.

Veteran imagemaker Tommy Ewasko is a world-class artist dedicated to producing unique, exacting and exciting creative photographic imagery. Quickly finding success in New York City following his graduation from the Rochester Institute of Technology, by 1988, Tommy’s impressive imagery had already landed him on the exclusive roster of Kodak’s Image Bank – which is now Getty Images, the world’s leading stock image agency. Tommy then expanded into Houston, Texas, where he joined forces with some of the world’s best developers, marketers and graphic designers to produce award-winning imagery for an elite list of corporate and agency clientele, while drawing rave reviews in boutique and gallery exhibitions across the United States. Currently based in Los Angeles and enjoying collaborations with a new field of creatives, Tommy also continues pursuing award-winning partnerships with the finest designers and creative directors from Houston to New York, and beyond. Meanwhile, Tommy’s works, including those seen in his Getty Images and Framespan galleries, continue to expand through his travels, his unique perspective, his craftsmanship, and E Studio, his professional imaging bureau.

MVP of Communications: Your friend, Twitter

Roger Darnell — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:41:56 +0000

Most of my friends are well aware that I spent a couple of days last week at this year’s Boards Summit conference in New York. The publishers and editors of Boards Magazine have been producing this event for 10 years now, to support and help lead people from all points around the globe who are actively involved in the commercial production industry, and other sectors directly engaged in creating breakthrough marketing initiatives. The organizers outdid themselves this year, at a time when changes are playing out faster than ever, requiring us all to rethink, revisit, and then redouble efforts to seize any potentially viable opportunities, even those where there is little or no expectation of profit.

For my part, I’ve seen that success is demanding a great deal of effort. Fortunately, I’ve been ready, willing and able to step up — and happily, very good things are happening for me, my clients, and many of my friends and colleagues. I’m very excited about where things are heading, and while the commitments of my business can at times seem overwhelming, I feel it’s my willingness to persist in facing them that is my key to success. As a businessman, I’ve had to manage my interpersonal communications at a new level over the past several months, in order to incorporate and maximize a new communications channel of which I am becoming increasingly fond. I am referring to what has been the most important aspect of my professional growth, and my marketing efforts, over the past eight months: Twitter.

Thank you for bearing with me to this point — I aim to reward you for your interest. I’ve developed some more developed thoughts on this subject, but for the moment, and for whatever they may be worth, here are my top-level thoughts in favor of going ahead and beginning your business or personal use of Twitter, if you have not already.

. If you’re already using Facebook, by adding a feature called Facebook Connect, you can easily enable your Twitter account to automically update your Facebook profile… so while Twitter is seen by many as being something “extra” that they are certain they don’t have time for, Twitter can actually enhance your use of Facebook in a direct way, that’s pretty fun to use and easy to set up.

. Twitter offers you a way to actually connect with people you want to know in a meaningful way. As shown in the funny “Twouble with Twitters,” it may seem dumb for people to publicly share very brief thoughts with a group of friends and semi-acquaintances, but depending upon your interests and your personality, you can probably think of some things you’d like to share with — or learn from — at least some people in the world, and by looking at what others are sharing using this service, it often winds up being a very interesting way to pursue your interests and socialize.

. Going to this recent business conference, I found that virtually all the really sharp people are using Twitter… and it may even be safe to say that part of the reason they come across as being so well-informed and in-the-know is because of their willingness to be “open” to this very rich communications channel.

. I also learned about people and businesses who are missing real opportunities because they have avoided Twitter. That’s a shame to me, considering that it’s such an easy hurdle overcome by just playing around with it a bit. While Twitter can get complicated with all its add-on applications, I just use it in the simplest ways, and I’ve still experienced many benefits in my education, connectedness, and communications capabilities.

. Many people seem to be waiting for Twitter to go away. It very well might, but I feel that a much better approach is to jump in and see if it may be a fit for you. You never know, it might be just the thing to help you achieve your dreams.

. Finally, I want to admit that I delayed using Twitter for over two years after first hearing about it. After attending this recent business conference, I came away feeling like those individuals who are currently actively using Facebook and Twitter are some of the smartest people in business… and being able to share these experiences with them as a common interest put me in very good company.

This past week, Twitter launched a new ability to make Lists, where you can use your Twitter account to curate lists of users according to your interests. I spent a little time and made a list of the Twitter feeds of the companies and people I hooked up with at the 2009 Boards Summit, and another one unifying Twitter feeds of industry jobs. By taking a look at my personal Twitter feed below and the two lists referenced here, hopefully you’ll see something that gives you some sense of Twitter use being a worthwhile investment of your time.