Ordinary Things

Jim Rohn  once said: "Lifestyle is really nothing more than the art of doing ordinary things extraordinarily well."

That got me thinking: how do we decide, individually, what is "good" art and what is "bad". Of course, there is no such thing as good or bad art, but why does one piece go unnoticed, while another stops us in our tracks.

We know it's not the craftsmanship, or subject matter, or how much time was spent making the piece. It's none of those things and it's all of those things.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to quantify art, especially when it comes to creative endeavors. I don't spend every waking hour in search of the "magic formula". To me, good art is a reward in itself. But wouldn't it be nice to have some kind of guideline as we put more and more hours into our work?

I think so. And that brings me back to Jim Rohn's observation. Sometimes an artist will manifest something that's never been done before. And that is amazing when it happens. But it rarely does. So what should we do with the rest of our lives? What do we do when divine inspiration doesn't seem to be coming through?

Doing ordinary things extraordinarily well sounds like a worthwhile goal.

Here's an example. We use words everyday (or almost every day). Everybody can do it, everybody has to do it. Some people use words in such a way that nobody wants to listen to them, others make a living using words, and there is a select group of people who say a single word and the whole world listens.

With that in mind, let's see how this applies to visual storytelling:

letters and sounds are strokes and lines,
words, idioms and grammar correspond to tonal values and structure,
sentences and paragraphs are composition.

All these elements come together for a single purpose: communicate a story, deliver a message.

When these ordinary elements are prepared and presented extraordinarily well, it makes for an extraordinary story. When done right, amazing results appears to be effortless. To quote Jim Rohn once again, it's easy to do and it's easy not to do. Time will go by anyway. Best to put our time to good use and do small ordinary things very well, one little thing at a time.

Here is my final for Anthony Jones' Painting with Confidence class.

Final week was rough for me. I finally took my painting to a refined finish. Getting from a blank page to first image was easier and quicker than getting from the first one to second. Learned a lot in the process.

Confusion of Natural Progress

Reaching goals is a straightforward process, in theory: you estimate where you are, you decide where you want to be, you work hard, you arrive at your destination.

Easy, right?

Would've been great if it were. It never works this way. All good plans fall apart as soon as they touch reality. Think about it this way: a ship or a plane leaves from point A and arrives at point B. One would think that it's possible only because it stayed the course the whole way. Quite the opposite. Most of the journey is spent off-course, being pushed around by wind and gravity and many other forces. And yet, at the end of it all, the vessel usually arrives safely at its destination.

I had the hardest time embracing this concept. For some reason, I expected to be able to draw better on Tuesday than I did on Monday. And why wouldn't I, I put in the effort and the hours, I'm entitled to a visible increase in skill, aren't I?

Apparently not. Until the invention of the modern engine, vessels used to rely on wind or muscle power. But the wind has a tendency to change direction, even reverse it, while muscles need rest. And when the vessel is not being pushed ahead by human will, it drifts. There's no way around it.

I used to stress and worry when I was drifting. I would go to sleep feeling good about my progress only to find myself the next morning being unable to replicate the success of the previous day. That would often trigger anxiety and frustration. I should have rested or doodled, or did something else entirely, let nature take its course, but instead, I would push on. I wasted precious energy and focus which would have been better spent later, saved for a time when the wind was ready to fill my sails and put me closer to my destination.

On the journey between the two ports, drifting and detours are inevitable. The calm motionless waters are there to remind us that we should also be calm and relaxed, we should trust that our vessel will take us where we intend to go.

Struggling and worrying when the forces of nature are not working in our favor leaves us fatigued and unable to take advantage of opportunities when things finally turn around.

Regardless of favorable or unfavorable circumstances, our job is easy to define: we ought to make sure our prow is always pointing at our destination, no matter where we are at sea, and always be prepared to give our best effort when the winds and the waves start pushing us toward our goal.

I'm learning to embrace this and be comfortable to take one step forward even if I seem to kept ending up two steps back. Even when my senses are trying to trick me when my journey forward inevitably goes off my imaginary course, I still know where I'm going. And if I know where I'm going, there's a very good chance that through the storm and the still, I will arrive in due time.

May we always have wind in our sails and a hand's width of water under our keel.

Week 4 with Anthony Jones

I'm improving, but my values still need a lot more work. I will keep on practicing. Here are a few pieces from this week.

On Practicing and Frustration

I confess, the further I try go, the more I struggle. I tried every possible method of learning that I could think of and every time it seems that the reward for the time and effort invested into practice was disproportionately small. Sometimes even negligible.

So I started paying more attention to the general theory of learning and acquisition of knowledge, not just ways to improve my drawing and painting skills.

After observing Anthony Jones, how he learns and how he works, it became apparent to me that I'm doing something wrong. For several months now, Anthony kept insisting that my practice should always be mindful, above all else. Here's what he taught me:

1. set a goal and attempt to reach it (let's say, draw a proportionate human figure in 10 minutes)
2. when first attempts fail, figure out what went wrong
3. ask questions
4 form a possible solution
5 test it
6. go back to step 1

In other words, engage in deliberate mindful practice. Not just practice for the sake of practice, but practice by trying, failing and thinking.

For some strange reason, although his advice and approach makes perfect sense, I still have a hard time following it. Usually around step 2, right when I fail, my 4 decades-long habit of bringing everything I've got to a fight would kick in and instead of thinking for 5 minutes and trying something else, I'd just attack and attack, only to realize, completely overwhelmed and frustrated, that 2 hours have gone by and all have to show for it is nothing but a heap of failed attempts with no solution in sight.

I know you must be reading this and thinking I am an idiot. And you might be right. But I'm not alone and I'm writing this article for stubborn, hard-headed people like me. People like us don't fail for lack of trying, we fail because we fight, then we get exhausted , then we pass out. Then we do it all over again. And sometimes we crush our obstacles, but usually it's our bones that get broken first.

So here are a few things to possibly consider for us, the "shoot first, ask questions later" crowd :

"Remember that practicing is learning: learning to practice is only a specialized version of learning to learn, and learning starts with thought. Remember, activity is key. Now get off your butt and go practice. Or rather, get off your butt and go learn."

I linked the rest here:  Henry Myers and his excellent article "The Case for Active Practicing"

Currently, I practice, on average anywhere between 6 and 16 hours a day. And with all that, I'm still not getting the results one would expect from so many hours invested into a craft. I keep seeing accounts written by established artists who insist that a healthy and productive daily practice schedule should be somewhere between 2 and 6 hours. No more. I've yet to wrap my mind around that one, but here's a good article by Noa Kageyama, Ph.D. supporting this perspective with reasonable and sound arguments, I feel compelled to review and adjust my own views on the matter.:

How Many Hours a Day Should You Practice?

So here's what I'll do: I'm willing to try to go against my nature and do something different for the next 4 weeks.

I will not work hard and I will not try to overpower unmovable obstacles.

Instead, I will work in 10 minute increments only. For every 10 minutes of work, I will spend 10 minutes thinking and observing and another 5 minutes resting and relaxing. Then I will spend 30 minutes experimenting. And only then will I approach my task again for 10 minutes

That's it for this week, kids: even more unanswered questions and a tiny bit of progress. But maybe I'll get it this time? We'll know soon enough. Cliffhanger! :)

Here are a few sketches from my painting and design class with Anthony Jones

If I could leave you with a single thought, remember that practicing is learning: learning to practice is only a specialized version of learning to learn, and learning starts with thought. Remember, activity is key. Now get off your butt and go practice.
Or rather, get off your butt and go learn.
- See more at: http://stringvisions.ovationpress.com/2011/12/the-case-for-active-practicing/#sthash.Kf0Uv17o.dpuf

Learn Squared: Week 2 Studying with Anthony Jones

Week 2 was both brutal and eye-opening.

Week 1 ended with my realizing that I'm nowhere near where I intended to be at this point in my training. Everything was hit and miss, heavier on the miss side. I decided to completely submit to the training procedure Anthony was advocating and follow it as precisely as I possibly could:

1. study, test, review, study, test, etc.
2. time everything in 5 to 10 minute intervals.

Here's are some of my most productive tests for the week:

And here's what I found out while reviewing my test results:

1. My related lines were too far apart, while my unrelated lines were too close together.
Solution: Fix this and the drawing flows almost on its own.

2. Ambiguous strokes and lines, laid down without a specific purpose, confuse the viewer and prevent a good story from being told. It's like telling a story about a princess and an apple while using random words related to heavy industrial equipment.

Solution: Keep lines and strokes clean, meaningful and precise. Random messy marks create dirt and accomplish nothing.

3. Thick broad lines describe the concept of the story,
Medium lines present the plot, characters and setting,
Thin lines make the story come alive, they make the story real, by giving it detail, pacing and rhythm.

Solution: use all 3 types of lines (strokes) in meaningful priority.

So that's been my week. Lots of ups and downs. But I learned a few very valuable lessons along the way. I hope your week is going swimmingly. Thanks for reading this.

At Terminal Velocity

Hello everyone,

I'm approaching the finish line of the timeframe I've set for myself back in 2012 when I started this project. I'm almost at the end of my official training. Of course, that does not mean I will not train anymore. I will continue to do so daily, if all goes well, as I've been doing for the last 4 years.

My final big push is currently underway with Anthony Jones' "Painting with Confidence" class at Learn Squared

Today, I will post my notes from the first week of my Painting with Confidence class and show a couple of studies I did as part of my homework for the first week.

1. Stay focused on 1 or 2 things at a time
  - do it well, as best as you possibly can; use precise, clean thick/thin lines and precise clean strokes
 - after test, write down what you did wrong
 - write down what you learned
- identify a shape precisely before you size it
- size a shape precisely before you place it
2. Test/ Focus, Correction (with everything from point 1 in mind)
3. Discover how to get it right, don't guess
 - from biggest shapes to smallest + negative (see example in the image)
 - always thin lines, except:
  . ambient occlusion / contact shadows
  . cast shadow side
 . exact point of overlap
4. Overlap + cast shadow (thick/thin lines) go hand in hand
5. Rendering skill: 10 - 20 hours marathon to finish 1 painting
6. Knowing that push-ups make you stronger will not make you stronger; practicing push-ups without correct form and knowledge will usually be an ineffective waste of time and effort.
- doing studies is how you gain knowledge, but not skill
- doing careful practice and thoughtful repetition is how you acquire skill, but limited knowledge

Here are some of the 10 minute studies I did for this class

That's all for now. I expect I will make 1 more post before I close this blog and start a new one. Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to read this.

New Year, New Practice Method

Hi everyone. I've been busy taking Anthony Jones' class and later practicing everything I've learned from the experience.

I've put in place a new approach to my training, which is based on these principles:

1: Excellence: As Thomas J Watson, the founder of IBM,  once said, "The formula for success is simple: double your rate of failure".

My number 1 training principle is "double your rate of failure", i.e. increase workload and output and don't be concerned too much with the outcome quality as long as the work rate is maintained.

2. Speed: do not backtrack (draw over the same line twice), do not go back and correct.

I had to learn to speak and read Russian when I was around 8, since nobody spoke English in elementary school in Moscow, I city I ended up in after spending most of my childhood in New York and Montreal. The way I did it was by saying short words quickly and many times during the day. I was talking a lot of nonsense in the beginning, and the kids around me probably thought that I was an idiot. Also, they all had a good 7 year head start on me. But within a year I caught up with my peers and eventually my proficiency with the language got me into one of the country's top linguistic schools.

3. Efficiency: Time it! 30-10-5-3-1

Work for no more than 30 minutes at a time, then see what is slowing you down (thank you, Anthony Jones, for this amazing training method). Figure out how to improve performance and time it again. Test, Fail, Evaluate (rinse and repeat).

Once the process is smooth, decrease time available to complete the task (30 minutes, then do the same in 10 minutes, then 5, 3, 1). Yes, it will probably fall apart around 5, but do it anyway. Then give yourself 30 minutes again and do the same thing you did an hour ago, but 3 or 6 times faster.

The human brain is highly adaptable, use it well.

4. Sustainability: easy, easy, HARD, easy, easy, BOSS FIGHT!

If you ever played video games, I'm sure you've experienced being frustrated by clicking buttons for 3 straight hours and not getting anywhere, only to find yourself breezing through the difficult part a week or so later in no time at all, right?

I'm still perfecting this, but I decided to apply basic game design patterns to my art training and the enjoyment and productivity have increased significantly.

5. Balance: 52 -17 or 25-5

Not long ago I read an article about workplace productivity. A major research institution did a study and found out that human beings are most productive when they alternate working at full focus with periods of complete rest (as in walking away from the desk and doing something completely unrelated to any work, or even not doing anything at all).

So either 52 minutes of work and 17 minutes of rest or 25 minutes of very intense work and 5 minutes of rest.

Also, I've committed to a sketch-a-day personal challenge. I started with studies of reference photographs and eventually switched to making my own designs. The rule is that I will make a 30 minute sketch daily (or no more than an hour, hour and a half daily design). Here are a few recent designs.