European Trip - Backpacking

in 6 days, I will be going to Europe on a 13 days vacation with one of my best friends.  It's my first vacation in 2 years, and I can't wait for it.  Lisbon, Portugal to Barcelona, Spain to Copenhagen, Denmark to Munich, Germany and finish it off at Amsterdam, Netherlands. How do I feel about it you ask?

I wish I could dance like this magician

This should be a great time to relax and be away from computers.  I use a PC at work along with my Macbook, and use my iMac and my Macbook at home.  On top of this, I'll get to see new places, & meet new people.  I'm bringing my shitty old camera that has a decent lens with me, having recently bought a 2nd battery & 2 extra memory cards.  As an illustrator, I should have a lot of new content and references to use for future illustrations.  I will also be able to imagine more when I paint, hopefully due to being at drastically different settings than the one I live in.

So I urge fellow hard-working creatives, get your fucking ass out of the chair and go to a completely different place to enjoy yourself the earliest you can.  You need it, as I need to insert my ideologies forcibly onto you even though you're not asking for it at all.  In all seriousness, I hope and think I'll have a great time and urge others to go on some crazy/relaxing adventures of their own. :)

Make Time for Personal Projects

One thing I would recommend to almost everyone is that you make time for personal projects.  I say almost everyone because some people are already doing everything they wanted to at a company, but that very specific minority is a bit of an exception.  There's also a few that work 60 hours or more with the company they work for, which means they simply don't have the time to do so.  There's also the bosses of certain companies who are doing everything they want at the time.  I personally do this by releasing 1 youtube speed painting of an illustration I make the 1st of every month, a Christmas card that includes the Grinch for Christmas obviously, and a personal project that is a bit hush hush at this point in time.

I think based on the PhD in psychology that I don't have, that doing things you really love on your own time makes you generally happier.  It gives you a great sense of purpose.  I don't know how everyone is, but I have to do certain things my way for some personal projects, which makes it easier doing something else either for a client or your boss on your full time job.  You're already doing what you love on your time and really enjoying what you do (hopefully) during the jobs that pay the bills.

Office Politics

I'm a pretty straightforward kind of guy.  I tend to say things as they are, likely with some sarcasm added and tend to act like a child essentially everywhere other than any time when I work.  I believe that if someone is paying you money for any type of work, you are getting paid to do the work on top of being as much of a professional as you can be.  The two have to go hand in hand.  Anyways, where I am getting at is that the only place you can't disconnect all conversation or let issues escalate further is the work place.

The problem with getting in arguments or lettings problems with a co-worker escalate is that it's always there.  You can't come to work the next day, and the co-worker magically disappears because you don't want to see them anymore.  The problem is the diffuse the situation without acting like a bitch.  Just agreeing to anything, you may end up having a complete asshole co-worker who may take advantage of you being too nice.  Then they are there every day, like the stereotypical unnaturally big high school football bully that's dumb but lashes out their family problems and insecurities at you.  So you have to handle it delicately, like diffusing a bomb.  Have I ever diffused a bomb or been in such a situation?  No, but I've seen a lot of movies of people doing, that's got to be the same thing.  Plus, I have no better metaphor.

office politics

The less time you interact with a troublemaker at work, the less likely there's going any trouble.  However, do not try to ignore going to the washroom/water cooler/etc because that's when you look like a bitch, and they could sense it.  Use short answers.  Don't ask questions when addressing them that could take more than 1-2 words to answer unless it's work related.  Keep the conversation short.  I generally laugh at passive aggressive people when they talk to me like I don't understand what they're doing.  It's hilarious how angry they get, but this might rank in the asshole but deserved way of handling such a situation.  This should be obvious but if someone bothers you, being passive aggressive or insulting them will just make the situation worse.

Now I rarely ever get in confrontations work or elsewhere (not sure how to write that part without sounding like a high & mighty douche).  I have been fortunate to have awesome co-workers for the most part everywhere I worked at.  In real life, I instantly end it because I don't need high school negative drama and in the work force there's been two incidents that I remember which happened and I had to handle them as best as I could.  I don't like drama and therefore surround myself with people who don't either, and I'd suggest you do the same.. based on my imaginary PhD in psychology and a lot of movies that I've seen.  I really feel bad if people take my advice to heart or as law.  Here is a disclaimer that if things go horribly wrong, don't sue me because my opinion should not under any circumstance be taken too seriously.

Speed Painting 26: Guardians of the Galaxy

August 1st. Guardians of the Galaxy the movie comes out. This movie was practically begging me to illustrate on my youtube channel where I create one youtube speed painting a month on the 1st of every month. I focused on Groot and Rocket for this illustration. One because I didn't want to illustrate all 5 of the main characters, and two because they seem to have a pretty good bond together.. based on 0 actual knowledge and only basing it off off the 3 trailers I've repeatedly watched over and over again. Played with light and colors a lot. Still a long, long way from where I need to be, but it was still a great exercise for me.

I have to go see the movie. You have to watch my video first. You read this far, might as well spend over 5 minutes watching a video that hopefully you like. I'm really exuding a lot of confidence in that last sentence...

Show Others Your Tricks in the Creative Field

This may be an area where it may depend if my advice is good or bad.  I don't want to superimpose my ideology on this subject since it isn't always the case.  When it comes to what you know, I always am of the opinion that you should show others your tricks.  I am competitive guy, but I think being competitive should be beating someone working your ass off rather than being the weird, I'm not going to show you anything since you're my enemy.  Friendly competitive creative work is always best, especially since you have a more positive attitude on this subject.

a really bad & cheesy helping hand photo

You know some Photoshop tricks?  Show them to someone you either work with or that asks for it.  Someone who could do the work a bit faster in AfterEffects if they tried using the hotkeys, show them.  In group projects, this will always be beneficial since your co-workers will know more and do the work more effectively (and likely better), which means you all benefit.  They will also appreciate you more and the working environment is much better.  If they are decent human beings, they will help and show you their tricks so you can also improve yourself.

The only situation that I can think of where it would be a bad idea to show someone your tricks is to an asshole.  Someone who has a metaphorical knife that they constantly try to stab you in the back with and will use anything against you.  In that case, the obvious answer is not to be so forthcoming in regards to showing your tricks.  Again, this is my outlook on this but there's plenty of professionals that are more reluctant to help others, and I can't put their ideals down.  That's their outlook on this subject, and this is mine.  You have to choose yourself what type of person you'd like to be in the creative world.

Podcast Beyond

This one of the 3 podcasts that I listen to as I sit in my cubicle, for those that also need something to listen to.  This one is a bit different, it's about games, specifically PlayStation hosted by Greg Miller, Colin Moriarty and a third chair.  If you have any interest in gaming or PlayStation in general, I'd listen to this when you put your headphones in.

 Beyond!

The good thing about this Podcast is obviously that it's enjoyable.  They have charisma and don't always stick to games all the times like heartless, boring robots.  It goes off the rails most of the time, which is always good.  Ok, I can't really sell this anymore to you.  If you sit in a cubicle, you use headphones and want something to listen to while being a gamer or wanting to be one, this one is a solid shout.  It comes out on Tuesdays of every week.

http://feeds.ign.com/ignfeeds/podcasts/beyond/

Apple Rant: Updated Programs, Shittier Products

Lets hope no Art Directors ever read this post if I'm ever looking for a job in Toronto, otherwise I probably won't get it.  About 50% have some weird blind loyalty when it comes to Apple.

I bought the new iMac and it has the new OS.  Shortly before that, my Macbook broke down again and had to replace its hard drive.  The people at Best Buy upgraded my OS to the newest one, which made me quite happy at first.  Then I started to use Pages.  The UI must have been made by some high school students that don't know a thing about design.  Something as basic as changing the font, you have to use "command + T" just so the font options show up instead of.. I don't know, maybe having it at the top of the fucking program like it's always been?  I'm not one of those people who instantly hates change, but why do you make changes that make a program worse?  The UI is a mess and even the add/remove options for it are clunky, which is not typical of Apple's UI in their programs that is always about being as easy and fast to get to the point as possible.

I use Quicktime Player to record my screen for my youtube speed paintings.  I realized when using this that the only options are the ones they give you, one.  One option.  60fps, with the given HD settings that won't change.  The issue at the moment is that when I edit work using the HDV files on Adobe Premiere, they go as high up as 30fps, and the original videos along with the settings don't particularly match up.  This causes me issues during my editing stages.  Shouldn't the updated programs be better than its predecessors, not worse?  I've looked online and Apple apparently dropped the ball with many features missing, which includes more than the two programs I'm ranting about.

Then you get the inverse trackpad.  You move your mouse left, it moves right.  You move it up, it moves down.  Can someone.. anyone, explain to me why Apple does not give you the option to change it back to how I use my mouse?  It's fine if they give people the options to change it up if that's effective for them, but why do I have to go and download the Reverse Scrolling app just so my mouse works properly?  This is the typical douchebag hippie thing that Apple does to show everyone how different they are. 

Now that I've trashed them enough, it's good to know that I've likely burned a bridge to one of the best places I could have possibly worked at in the future.  There is however, always the possibility that I didn't look hard enough for some of the options, because I tend to make tons of mistakes so please don't take my comments as law.  Look it up and research it yourself if you must.