- The funny thing is,
when you get away from that,
and your heart can be pure towards a project,
that might only make a 10th
the amount of the money, guess what you do?
You enjoy it.
Who cares about being number one?
It's okay to be number 47 here in Portland.
And I think I'm about number 45 or 46.
So things are good.
(upbeat music)
I feel most creative when all the scary stuff is done,
and I can breathe, and I can just play with graphic design.
It's that weird, rare instance,
when I get to make some just for myself,
that I may or may not share with the rest of the world
or my feed,
but I made something that surprised me.
It's a rare thing.
But if you learn how to harness that
you can go build something really cool out of that.
(upbeat music)
Daily rituals?
I love watching the public freakouts
with those (bleep) people getting kicked off of planes.
I could watch that (bleep) all day.
I think it's making a list,
putting the scary stuff at the top,
sprinkling a couple fun things
at the bottom of the list,
and getting through the list.
And at the end of the day,
it's really cool just to sort of
turn that page in field notes,
and get ready for the next day.
That's a good one, too.
That sounded actually positive.
(upbeat music)
I've actually been able to get more done.
We've been locked down, you know?
It's allowed me to sort out what is, and isn't important,
and then focus on the stuff that matters the most to me.
Instead of worrying about jumping in the car,
and going down to a client meeting.
Now I had more time to worry about things like data.
So I cleaned everything up, digitally.
Now I know it's a nerdy answer.
But on a sort of a human level
it's also allowed me to move more.
Like, you know, we're working out a little more,
we're eating a little better.
Oh, this is just getting too personal.
But that is the truth.
(upbeat music)
I would say, being versatile.
When a client throws you a curve ball
your ability to be graceful, to have to work a little extra.
When you think you hit something,
and the client's seeing something else,
and you have to go and add extra time,
and suddenly you're starting to lose money.
But it's just going to happen.
Think of it like a little bank.
Sometimes you have to put money into it,
sometimes you have to take out of it.
And there's an ebb and a flow to that.
(upbeat music)
As a kid from the Midwest,
who up with worrying parents,
everything is sort of feast or famine,
and you take the jobs that are going to pay.
And that was always priority number one.
So I did whatever the hell it took to get ahead, right?
And luckily I was able to do that with graphic design.
But how things have changed?
I've been able to loosen up a little bit,
and believe a little more in myself,
instead of waiting for the client to come to me,
and provide me that source of income,
instead getting weird, and creating it for myself.
(upbeat music)
When making logos, I'm a little bit better
at being able to refine just how many versions I make.
And that just comes with listening, making notes,
and getting to know the client's problems,
and then doing a little bit of research,
and digging into it,
instead of showing them, you know, sometimes,
a couple hundred things,
maybe only showing 'em a (bleep) little hundred of them.
(upbeat music)
Looking back,
it's always something are technical.
It's like learning the software a little bit more
or understanding like really simple things,
like naming convention, and folder structure,
because it's all about navigation.
I try to lead now, making good decisions with my data.
(upbeat music)
You guys,
how do you overcome creative block?
By being creative.
This stuff is not that rough.
Aren't we lucky to have awesome computers,
be using colors, and typefaces, and fonts?
That washes over me.
And then suddenly I feel better about things.
So I don't know.
It's like, I remind myself all the time,
how lucky I am to do this.
And that frees me up, you know, and kind of resets me.
You know, there are legitimate times
that people are having a hard go,
and there's ways to solve that.
And that might just be taking a break,
taking a nap, trying something new.
But for the most part,
just people being a little poopy about things, you know?
and not doing the work that it takes to make this stuff.
(upbeat music)
Somebody who shows me not necessarily the light
at the end of my tunnel,
but the light from their little tunnel,
I think of my buddy Cody Hudson, because,
if you go look him up, it's called Struggle, Inc.
And you see these kind of like
organic forms, and stuff,
that are just so powerful to me.
And what he teaches me every time I look at his work
is that sometimes it's okay to be really mellow.
And then when I to think of guys like Tallboy,
or High Road Design, or even my buddy Boss Dog
down in the desert, that you can make skulls and sharks,
and creepy little ogres and stuff,
and just the sense of when you look at their work,
but they're having fun making it.
Not everything's about a buck.
Not everything's about a brief.
Not everything is about you know,
some sort of like over marketed,
Excel spreadsheet of things you're forced to say.
No.
Sometimes it's just about having fun with this stuff,
and making it.
And sometimes that'll be the best work you make.
(bright music)
Thank you for asking
about the self care, you know, conundrum.
I make sure that my chi is perfectly aligned with my,
It's ice to take a walk, go move your body a little bit,
get a big old gulp of fresh air.
It's nice to grab my guitar, and learn something,
you know
and be creative in a different way.
And I'll feel a little better at the end of that.
(upbeat music)
Turns out when we were in the big shop,
and doing all the meetings about meetings,
and all that kind of stuff, and emails about emails,
we were wasting a couple days a week.
Now that everyone is home, we're actually saving time,
to do stuff like be with their kids,
or go outside, or go work.
I kind of stumbled into that years ago.
That's when I started to dream, make my own stuff,
save my money, pay down my debt,
and start making my own way.
And so far so good.
(upbeat music)
I dunno if it should be a one word answer.
I don't know, what the hell's creativity?
Orange.
Creativity is creating a space for yourself,
where you can sort of surprise yourself.
And that might be just by being super organized,
so that part is handled,
and then when you get to go play.
You just make cool little decisions
that you didn't see coming,
and you learn how to harness those things
into new territory for yourself.
I don't know where that stuff comes from,
but it's out there.
You just have to learn how to grab it.
(upbeat music)
Don't be afraid to believe in yourself, you know?
And if something feels good,
to really push that thing,
to believe in that thing,
to roll the dice on that thing,
because sometimes that's where
the sort of gold is to be found.
It's not necessarily chasing these carrots on a stick,
with big clients, or big projects,
or flashy things or cool things.
And really to focusing on making things that,
to my eye are beautiful,
that offer something more than some cynical take
on a baby Yoda, you know what I mean?
(upbeat music)
You want more of that?
Well, good news.
There are hours of this face over on Skillshare.
Go dig in.
- [Voiceover] Thanks for watching.
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