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albatris · 4 years

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Hi hello I hope you're doing well and getting read to sn00ze soon, STS! Saturday! Yes! Cause you're an artist and a writer, I was wondering how much the two mediums bleed into each other? Does drawing something out help you visualise it better, or do they not really interact much at all?

hello hi hey there and happy storyteller saturday :D thank you for the question!! I hope ur having a cool day B)

and even though you sent this yesterday you telling me to sn00ze is equally applicable today as it is almost every day of the week so................ yep, I’ll be sure to get onto that at some point. you’re probably going to make a >:c face at me for answering this at 3:06am

anyway! this is an interesting question! and a good one! unfortunately it may not have a very interesting answer?

my initial response was gonna be that they don’t really bleed into each other at all, but then........ nah, they kinda do

(and then about halfway through typing this draft I was like But What About Undertow, and my response became “oh yeah they definitely do”, but I’ll get to that in a bit)

but yeah! I think my writing definitely influences my art! both in the sense that I tend to draw mostly story stuff, ‘cause I like my stories and drawing is fun, but also in terms of like....... inspiration! usually I have a pretty good image of stuff in my head already while I’m writing, n sometimes this image will make me go “hell yeah I vibe with this I wanna draw it”, but the art itself generally turns out nothing like what I envision and usually takes a life of its own ‘cause I’ll just end up drawing whatever looks cool hahahaha

so I get some neat experiments and doodles and weirdness in various art pieces that definitely stemmed from story daydreams, but probably aren’t super related to the story itself in the end :P y’all don’t see much of this stuff ‘cause I mostly just post character drawings lmao

(this is bc I’m most confident with character drawings, and I will fistfight Drawing Backgrounds And Scenes in a wendy’s parking lot any day of the week)

but kinda hopping back up for a sec, one example that IS related to the story is like

drawings I’ve done that are centred in ATDAO’s unreality aren’t actually a super good representation of what the unreality is actually like? or I mean. they could be. they can be! but the drawings are centred around very literal concrete representations of glitchy weirdness

whereas in the story itself (at least to start with) there’s much more a focus on the general looming Hey Something Is Horribly Wrong vibes and, like, the unravelling and bleeding together of senses, the way the narration changes (ie the way your own thought processes slowly start becoming completely foreign to you), n just........ glitchy weirdness, but not glitchy weirdness that you can visually represent, glitchy weirdness that is canonically in the category “you can experience this and have no way to process it because a human mind is not equipped to translate it and your senses have no way of taking it in”

n then I bring the body horror in full force but that’s neither here nor there

existential terror and uncanny valley vibes r hard to draw, y’know? so the drawings mostly just wind up as me having fun with the aesthetic hahaha

but yeah, art stuff stems from story daydreams, it’s very rare that story stuff will stem from art daydreams

character drawings were something I started doing just ‘cause I liked my characters and I was vibin, but they ended up being the one exception in that they DO tend to actively inspire the decisions I make in the story itself, unlike my other art

written descriptions of people are a weak point for me, generally I’ll kinda know at least the key aspects of what folks look like, but the descriptions I come up with on page are always frustratingly vague............. n drawing them out helps me fill in the blanks and give my descriptions a bit more life and personality IMO, ‘cause I mean

there’s little things about people’s appearances that are pretty personal, little quirks or habits they have, etc, that I wouldn’t think of in writing, whereas in art they just crop up naturally

and also sometimes I’ll write a description of a character or have an image of them in my head and I’ll be like Yeah This Is Them but then when I draw them my hands will just make their own decisions

and whatever the hands create is Law and Official Canon as far as I’m concerned, I will always trust the hands over my initial plans when it comes to characters, and they have not failed me so far

and now that I’ve gone on a whole spiel about how (outside of helping me pin down character details) creating art isn’t generally something that inspires a lot of story development or daydreams, it’s time for me to completely contradict that because, like I said earlier: Undertow

this is a WIP that came into existence purely from art inspiration! basically I came up with Aster’s design on the fly because someone was like “it’s genderqueer pride day” and I was like Oh Sick Time To Make A New Genderqueer OC

most of the characters in Undertow were drawn and designed long before I had any clue who they were or what their deal was. the entire premise of Aster as a character was born within like two hours from one silly doodle. then I was like “BUT WHAT IF SHE HAD FRIENDS” so I drew some friends, who ended up being Kit and Meg. n their relationships with each other and the kind of story in which they find themselves all just kind of spiralled out from a series of silly doodles and took on a life of their own :P

I think it’s a different scenario since Undertow exists purely as a vessel for shenanigans and self-indulgent nonsense, so I was feeling a lot less pressure to be grounded and serious, I could just throw things around like “amnesiac clairvoyant delivery driver with an illegal magic crime truck” and “necromancer who doesn’t believe in magic who wants to reanimate a t-rex to honour his dead wife” to see what stuck and I had no need to be like “hm, but is that Realistic, though?”

unrestrained summer fun!

it’s easier for me to let myself daydream in relation to art when there’s none of this pressure, which I think is what separates Undertow from my other projects c:

plus Undertow is the one WIP of mine that I’ve always pictured in a kind of episodic comic format, though I lack the skill set or the patience to pull this off hahaha

as such, most of my development for it comes in the form of messing around with the artistic side of things!! as it should be, I think

anyway that’s enough from me I think, thanks for reading, have a fantastic day, hope you see some cool birds (if you do please tell me about them)

#tracle0 #sts #storyteller saturday #long post

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kirathehyrulian · 4 years

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⛄SPN RB Art MasterPost 2019⛄

(Please do not repost or alter. At the very least, please give me credit.) | SPN ReverseBang | Story Link | LJ Master Post |

Illustrator: kirathehyrulian Author: youaregonecas Title: You and I, Lost to the Winter Word Count: 10644 Rating: Teen and Up Audiences Pairings: Gen Additional Tags: Temporary Character Death, Grief, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Magic Tricks, Zanna (Supernatural), Car Accident, Survivor Guilt

Summary: When a car crash takes Sam’s life, Dean thinks he’s lost his brother for good. Not long after, though, he’s visited by a Zanna that has taken on Sam’s form, and together they have to undertake the journey of growing up, growing, and learning how to let go and forgive.

For more art from me please check out my “myart” tag here on Tumblr. 👇 (Spoilers and Artist Notes down below) 👇

Artist Notes:

So, just in case you don’t know what a reversebang is, it’s where an artist draws an illustration and an interested writer picks it to write a story inspired by the work. More goes into the process, but that’s pretty much the gist of it.

Title Card: The title card was made when my author was a little more than half way through their story, so it lines up more with the story’s feel. The story is bittersweet and during the winter. So, I made the title card blue and gray for an angsty, dead-silence feel. The magic tricks are Zanna!Sam's trademark so the image has cards, streamers, balls, and confetti. It's supposed to be bittersweet. Innocent fun, but shadowed/overlaid by death and depression.

Scene 1: The title of this work was called: “The Child Zanna and the Sad Man.“ It was my second submission to the SPN RB this year. And, I totally had an idea while drawing this one, but at the same time knew that I should not stifle my author’s creativity or tell them how to storytell. So, these were ideas I had, but none of it was set in stone. It was up to the author if they wanted to use them. The only thing that my author had to stick to was my non-negotiable “Do Not Wants,” which were: No underage with child-Zanna!Sam, no character bashing, no scat, and no Destiel, and If there had to be pairings involved, it could be wincest, but otherwise the story needed to be gen.

The Supernatural Wiki's section on Zanna says,

" Zanna are a type of creature that act as guides and guardian angels to children in need of them. They do so under the guise of being a child's imaginary friend for as long as the child needs them, but once the child no longer needs them, the Zanna leaves and moves on to another child. The four known Zanna so far take on humanoid forms, possibly to appease the child. Each one has a unique ability and attribute, such as Sparkle having sparkly blood. They are very docile and do not wish to cause harm to others, much less to one of their own. They are playful, patient, very caring, and full of wisdom and knowledge, making them very suitable for kids[...] Their sole purpose is to guide children and it appears they only choose human children."

While I was drawing this work I was thinking of how I definitely wanted this story to be Sam and Dean centric. And, I really wanted it to be Gen. But I’d accept Wincest.

I envisioned that Dean had permanently lost Sam and is mourning him in a functioning yet downward spiraling way. And, Sam, in the desire to stay behind with his brother (whether by a deal, fluke, break in the universe, or something) got turned into a Zanna. Sam's memories of his past life are gone, and now he has the mind and mission of a Zanna. Zanna!Sam (even though Dean is not a child) has chosen Dean as his child to guide until Dean says that he doesn't need Sam anymore (I didn’t want them separated at the end, but I was fine with the story having Dean say he doesn't need Sam "as a Zanna" anymore).

Zanna!Sam has taken on the form of his child self to cater to Dean’s sensibility and comfort. He's a clown version of his child self because Dean likes funny things. And, Sam's unique ability is magic tricks (if the author wanted to make his attribute a little out of control due to demon blood tainting his soul or because he's not supposed to be a Zanna, I'm was game).

I intended for a lot of hurt/comfort in this story. I'm wasn't looking for the codependency between Sam and Dean to be fixed. I wanted the main idea going forward to be that Dean is on a journey to find out that he is worthy, and Sam is guiding him to that answer. Now Dean might think he's on the journey to fix/bring back his brother, but this story is more of Zanna!Sam teaching Dean about of all the good he did in the world, all the good he should be allowed to enjoy just as much as anyone else, and how he is every part of the hero Sam has looked up to his entire life, even if Sam doesn't remember everything now. (And, maybe Sam starts remembering things little by little throughout their journey! Idk)

Extra thoughts:

I wasn’t able to do anything extra, extra. But, I did say that I wasn’t willing to make more art in the beginning. Mostly because I figured I probably wouldn’t have enough time. I didn’t want my author to get their hopes up, and I was right to do so.

I really did not have enough brainpower and motivation to push through everything that was going at this point of the year to draw anything extra. I was going through a major burnt out period. End of semesters do that to me. But, I did do a title card, and I’m proud of it. I think artists were under no obligation to make cover art specifically, so I guess that counts as an extra if anything.

I’m glad I could help inspire someone to art because of what I made in both my spn rb’s. The act of spreading creativity is an awesome thing to be apart of.♥

I don't really remember any specific music I listened to during this one, so I have no music to share here.

#spnreversebang #spn fanart #spn art #spn fic #dean winchester appreciation #dean winchester #sam winchester #2019 #zanna!sam #spn angst #spn collab #spn event #cute spn #temporary character death #bittersweet spn #hurt!dean winchester #myart

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driftingglass · 7 years

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How did you develop your writing style? It's so unique and descriptive. Did you take inspiration from anyone and build on that, or was it more like writing until you gradually became better at it? I'm having a crisis because I want to develop a distinct writing style, but I don't know how. I don't know if you can compare it to an artist finding their style or not, so I don't really know what to expect. eh, sorry if this didn't make any sense (ᵕ̣̣̣̣̣̣﹏ᵕ̣̣̣̣̣̣)

Very interesting ask.

Thank you for the kind words in the beginning of your ask, first of all. I think this is a very important thing to address for writers in general because it’s a struggle that we all go through at one point. And, for others, it’s a constant battle… for most, if not all, it’s a necessity.

I’ll be answering this in two parts, because one is more personal while the other is more objective. I hope that these answers and thoughts will help in some capacity.

We’ll go with the objective one first. (This will be long. Sorry. I can’t answer this question in a short way without any depth.)

. Where Do You Aim When Crafting Your Writing Style? .

Anon, if I were to be honest, the actual act of aiming to develop a distinct style, rather than focus on developing your craft in terms of grammar, syntax, and variation in imagery, leads to obstacles more than anything.

I know from personal experience that being obsessed with being different (and this is more recent in my years as a developing writer, rather than towards the beginning) prolongs the frustrations and even causes writers to stumble and overthink about their style.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve struggled with enjoying my own writing because of my very descriptive use of words and imagery, even though that’s what differentiates me as a writer.

(And there are plenty of flaws that develop with every single style, and I can tell you a dozen frustrations I have for every one positive thing I like about my own. Of course, that will be expanded on later.)

The first step into coming into your own writing style, Anon, is understanding that trying too hard to emulate another’s style will only halt you in crafting your own. There is nothing wrong with drawing influence and finding inspiration in authors, of course, because that’s how we function.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to be similar or even outshine the authors we admire, whether it’s in terms of the actual style itself, the content, the plots, the characters, the settings, etc. In fact, it’s encouraged for writers to explore the secrets and methods that the most esteemed and successful authors use, because that’s where you learn.

Writing is, in fact, an extremely meticulous and even mechanical process. There is a sort of science (if you want to view it that way) to the way stories are structured, how certain styles work with certain readers and so on.

Your motivations behind why you want to develop a distinct style should be made clear before you move forward with practicing and continuously exploring what you have to offer for yourself, rather than your wish to imitate other people.

Now, there are countless different ways you can discuss the writing styles of different authors. For one thing, there’s a very descriptive elegance and simple depth that is often found in the works of Ian McEwan, for instance, the author of Atonement, Nutshell, and Sweet Tooth.

His style is very heavy on summarization of his characters, almost, which can either draw the reader in or immediately turn them off. Some absolutely despise this style because they claim it lacks depth or connection between the reader and the characters.

I absolutely love Ian McEwan. I’m one of millions of readers who enjoy his style, and I oppose the viewpoints of millions of readers who absolutely detest his style. But what makes Ian McEwan Ian McEwan is… well, Ian McEwan’s writing style and process.

When you criticize or praise Ian McEwan, you’re not criticizing his style for emulating J.K. Rowling or George R.R. Martin or C.S. Lewis or any other writer, but your’e criticizing and praising him for his style. He is well into his own work because, through being influenced and learning from his own idols, he’s grown into his own style.

Ian McEwan’s style, not a… say, “polished imitation of Rowling or Martin.”

It’s just his own.

This is a very important differentiator because it’s incredibly easy to become enveloped in the idea of wanting to be the “next J.K. Rowling” or the “next Stephen King.” I guarantee that it happens to every writer, and maybe my opinion isn’t exactly universally viewed as accurate in this regard, but I think this is a dangerous way to view writing.

Desperately trying to emulate another’s style through forced, unnatural and exhausting means, leads to burnouts and a quick recession of passion and even frustration that you can’t even pinpoint as a writer.

You will often ask yourself: “Why isn’t this working? I’m doing exactly what my favorite author is doing!”

And that, right there, is where you know you’ve slammed headfirst into a wall.

Do you write because you want to express the style of a different author? Or do you write because you want to express yourself?

Most, if not all, writers would say: “well, obviously myself. Why else would I write? I’m not trying to copy every other person out there.”

Of course writers aren’t always actively trying to do just that, but sometimes it’s inevitable when you’re focused so intensely on wanting to create your own style amidst a pool of millions of writers who could not be more different. Sure, some styles are going to be similar no matter what, but there are always elements that show your personality as the author in your work.

You should write, ultimately, for yourself first before anyone else. Thus, your style should be, ultimately, you.

How do you become a better writer? You read and you write every day. It’s a simple, yet very tasking process, and part of what, of course, draws from us, as writers, to look to our idols and what causes us to create a new style based off of what we know.

It’s the basic fundamental of writing, from beginners to the most advanced and successful published authors around (and beyond).

So, instead of aiming to mimic other styles and trying too hard to emulate your favorite authors, start with drawing inspiration from them and just… losing yourself, to a few tries. In order to evolve into your own style, you must freely write and just let your typing/writing fingers speak for themselves.

It’s a very daring process and it’s extremely difficult to do, especially for over-thinkers like myself, but trust me, the payoff is absolutely rewarding.

[ Alright, moving on to the more personal aspect. There will be answers that aren’t explored in this one because they should be exemplified more in the second half of this post. Fair warning. ]

. So, Let’s Talk About the Relationship Between Style and Writer .

Oh, boy.

Honestly, this ask resonated so much with me personally that it’s difficult to write all of this out, but it’s important. And, as much as I actually detest and obsess over changing my style each and every day, there’s something I need to make clear about how it works in general.

My style actually fluctuates depending on which tense I’m writing.

In fanfiction, I often write in present-tense. Why? It’s fast. It’s quick. It immediately appeals to the senses and allows more freedom and control over the characters in how they move, talk, etc. It also motivates me to write faster because this type of style emulates how I dabbled in poetry, which I’m very fond of.

My writing is… very descriptive, yes, but this started out as my biggest flaw. In fact, it’s still considered a flaw.

Sometimes I use far too many adverbs and far too many words to reach a certain point, and overly describe each scene and movement between characters because of how specific and vivid my visions are for each story.

It’s part of my controlling nature as a writer. Boohoo, I’m a horrible person. Whatever.

Usually when I reread my drafts (which is either obsessively repeated or not done at all…) I cut away the excess descriptions because, ever since I started writing, I would over-write. I was desperate and even more insecure in my craft, and it showed.

When I write original works, I write in the past-tense. And, strangely enough, my style just… changes.

It’s often recommended not to have different writing styles for certain settings. If I had to simplify my style I would say it’s very descriptive and is pretty minute in what it pays attention to, but it can get lost in the fray and is usually best observed between character interactions and descriptions of scenes upon envisioning them for the first time.

My past-tense style, when compared side-by-side with my present-tense, holds some key similarities but are, ultimately, quite different. It’s more blunt, still highly visual and sensual, but it is still, essentially, my style.

Everyone develops their style in a different way and over time through practice and just… discovering what you enjoy most about writing.

Do you love appealing to the senses the most?

Do you love imagining landscapes and describing the different ways a sunset or sunrise can look?

Do you love architecture? Buildings? Moss on the walls? Thorns on a vine? What roses smell like in winter if they still retain their fragrance?

Do you love witty banter and short, snappy descriptions and fast-paced action?

Do you love dialogue more than the setting?

Do you love the setting more than the dialogue?

Do you love both equally and seek a balance?

Do you love slow-building drama and angst?

Do you love describing economics and politics?

Do you love describing romance and sex?

Do you love laying out emotions as they are bluntly or relating them to more palpable things?

Do you love fantasy? Contemporary? Thriller? Mystery? All of them? Everything and anything in-between?

Do you love more minute or expanded details?

Do you love skipping over details in general and just going straight to the point?

Do you love writing?

All of these aspects and many, many more, make up the many different styles that writers wield and hone to their own ability each and every day. It requires discipline, a lot of practice, insight, and willingness to delve deep into oneself and think: “will I like reading what I put down?”

Be honest with yourself. Experiment. Try new things. It’s normal to be confused and stuck in a rut, Anon. I struggle with my own style every day and obsess over it far too much, but it’s a constant uphill battle with unimaginable rewards when you start coming more and more into those moments where you can lean back and loudly proclaim:

“Yes. I fucking wrote that, and it’s brilliant. I love this style and I’m going to keep using it and building on it and making it the best of what it can be because it’s mine and I want to be proud of it.”

Good luck, Anon. And to anyone else reading this! I hope it provided some value! Thank you for the wonderful question and I wish you the absolute best.

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hi-laurengrace-blog · 7 years

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Creative Problem Solving (CPS) Interviews

How do you generate ideas*?

What process(es) do you use to solve problems?

D.Y., Director and Editor

Ideas are just another name for thoughts. They are constant and come and go as they please. It is through a filtering process to that I am able to separate the ‘good’ ideas from the ‘bad’ ideas. This process is roughly defined by repeating this idea in your head and its succeeding steps. If I cannot envision the path to a well-rounded successful completion, then I would mostly classify this as a bad idea.

When you consider yourself a creative there are no bounds in which you should allow your brain to wander. If I limit my thoughts, I subsequently limit the sources for inspiration. For me, as basic as this sounds, but anything that engages my sensory system can and will inspire me. Be it a beat of a song, the color of the skyline, a scene from a show I’m binging, the taste and smells of that new sushi spot, a meme or gif, etc.

“What we call imagination is actually the universal library of what’s real. You couldn’t imagine it if it weren’t real somewhere, sometime,” is one of my favorite quotes from Terrance McKenna. When I’m tasked with a project that requires results within a specific timeline is when I run into obstacles. Creative blocks seem to only happen within this criterion. But when I think about that quote from McKenna it runs the gears of my mind into cruise control and inadvertently causes me to worry less about drawing blanks to a place of drawing solutions. If and when my back ultimately gets pushed to the wall, I am forced to dig deep and persevere. Mostly you need to put your psyche in a positive state because I believe all great ideas are generated from a place of peace and organized chaos. This peace being the knowledge and confidence that the solution will present itself and the chaos being the illusion of time. We don’t give our minds and selves enough credit sometimes. Throw distractions to the wind, truly focus on the task at hand and any obstacle can be overcome.

When a problem arises my first instinct is to reach its root as quickly as possible. Through the search of the path to the root of the problem, the solution(s) most of the time present themselves. For example, from a technical standpoint if a piece of equipment suddenly stops working on set, I will begin to eliminate as many variables that may be causing this disruption to reach the solution quickly.

If reverse engineering the problem is not a viable option for me then another process I use to solve problems is to limit and isolate the variables I’m working with. One example I dealt with recently that this applies to is a multidimensional video art installation. Once the variable of which wall was receiving each feed was solved, that allowed for the next variable of figuring out which perspective we wanted to guest to experience first was accounted for next. From there the next variable became the order of sequencing of each projector to create a unique experience for each guest. These are just a few of the variables we had to work with but I think it paints the overall picture of how we handled that compounded situation.

A.L., Medical Assistant

I generate ideas either when I am zoned in and completely focused whether it be in a task or lesson that I am learning, it’s like a momentum and networking effect. Or I generate them when I am completely not engaged, aka daydreaming, or finding an outlet from the present situation that I am in involved in. I am most inspired depending on the recipient or the producer, for example if my medical mentor does something that I see as admirable or something I would have never learned firsthand unless I was at that experience. That particular action that was done inspires me to do more, to go beyond that action. Whether that means replicating and customizing it, its inspirational to me every time I do it because I remember the significance.

When coming up with a new idea when I really force it, it can be tough. I find the mix of anxiousness or the element of the unknown actually produces more of my creativity than that of a strategical plan where the consequences or outcomes or known. It could be perhaps of cultural and socioeconomic upbringing, that it was more task and goal oriented that was mainly encouraged than abstract personal creativity.

The processes I use to solve problems is at first more strategical, task to goal oriented. I look at my realistic most doing options first for more secure or already experienced processes that I know will bring more stable clear solutions. Then I take into account what can actually be applied, for example what audience is the solution serving or taking into account? Is anything or anyone left out? What are my variables and risks? And are those risks costly to the actual solution? Is the complexity of the process worth the solution?

If it becomes too risky or the solution is not applicable, then I will turn to catering to who or what the solution is supposed to serve. I will then look to more unfamiliar areas but still a process that is realistic. It takes me a very long time to get to an area of thinking that is completely out of the box for me. It’s very much analytical but still able to be compromised to make it more personable or empathetic, but overall a clear plan.

S.T., Filmmaker

I generate ideas based on being inspired and influenced by other artists’ work that I can relate to. What moves me in the ideation process is a great storyline that either reflects on my own experience or pushes my creativity in ways that I never could have imagined. When you come from a world where struggle and oppression is all you know, it becomes apparent that your art is reflective of that struggle in the hopes to feel affirmed and to feel free. I think coming from a background with multiple identities that aren’t often represented in mass media really inspires me to create art around visibility and that power of telling your own stories. Whether that’s working in direct contact with them, building off ideas from one another, consuming other’s art and analyzing it. For me, inspiration is such a collaborative process. When it comes to generating ideas, I have the ability to take bits and pieces of what I like about certain things, piecing them together, and then making my end product. I think that’s the beauty of art. Building off of each other’s art to create your own. One of the biggest obstacles for me are two things: writer’s block and imposter syndrome. Writer’s block is something I tend to go through when I am not feeling inspired by my own power of generating ideas based on the premise of not feeling moved enough. Imposter syndrome is something I experience when I don’t feel like I am enough or worth enough to be holding such creative power or enough to exist in whatever space/medium.

Identify → Deconstruct → Theorize → Implement → Practice → Assess

With any issue I come across, I would first identify the situation. Without identifying any issue, I feel there is no direction or strong foundation into understanding it fully. I would start off by asking myself questions such as: What is the issue? What is the cause of the issue?

Secondly, I would deconstruct what I have identified. I would start off by breaking down the situation piece by piece (when, where, and how?) and seeing how can I see the issue in multiple perspectives before concluding to an answer and implementation process.

I would utilize the power of theory to help support my deconstructing process. I would then implement these theories into practice.

As a result, I would then assess the journey and see if I need to revise my implementation process based on what I have theorized and document the final problem solving technique and apply to future issues that are similar.

K.D., Executive Assistant

How do you generate ideas? By first defining the need, or a goal, and how I plan to approach the situation.

How, when, and where are you inspired? Mostly at work to solve a plethora of issues. As an executive assistant, my execs come to me with their problems and the expectation for a timely, cost-efficient, and productive solution. Most tasks typically take 0-48 hours to complete, depending on whom else there is to work with and all the resources/relevant information required there is to achieve these short and long-term goals.

What inspires you? Getting the job/tasks done as soon as possible with the goal of zero errors.

What obstacles do you face in coming up with a new idea and how do you overcome those obstacles? If it's a problem that I haven't solved before (i.e. zero familiarity with the request, first of its kind in my line of work), then I’ll reach out to a more senior EA, and ask how they went about approaching this issue. If that doesn't work, then I use the resources and tools I have at my disposable to tackle the problem myself. Whether it's utilizing other team members (non-EA), an excel spreadsheet, or a shared document, I use my creative side to use what I know in order to solve a new conflict.

What processes do you use to solve the problem?

Accept: My boss needs to attend an in-person meeting in New York.

Analyze: Being based in California, I’ll need to coordinate my boss's schedule to fly out to New York to attend this meeting. Book a roundtrip flight, book a hotel room, car service if necessary; and shift around flexible meetings on their calendar so they don't conflict with travel time and the meeting itself. Work with the POC/person who owns the invite on any additional details required of my boss, for this meeting.

Define:

What flights are available on the dates my boss plans to fly, and what times do they need to take off and land, for both outgoing and returning flights?

How close (proximity) from the office should we book their hotel room?

What size of car is needed for this trip, whether they'll need more room to carpool with associates traveling for the same meeting, or if they're OK with requesting Ubers for the entirety of their trip?

What conference rooms are available, with the accurate capacity for meeting attendees and what times these conference rooms are free? o What other meetings need to be scheduled, and whom can I work with to schedule these meetings?

Ideate: Provide options for all of the above constraints: flight times, hotel options, car options, conference room preferences, and available times they can schedule other meetings, with folks on the team, while they're in New York.

Select: At this point, my boss makes a decision on all open items, so that I can act on each piece to ensure a cohesive flow from the minute they travel to the airport to the meeting, to the minute they arrive back at home from their last day of travel.

Implement: Act on each piece my boss decided on and book those reservations/meetings/etc. as necessary.

Evaluate: Gather feedback from my boss on how everything went from their trip, and take notes on improvements for future travels.

*Initials of respondents used to protect privacy.

#DesignatUSC

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dawnajaynes32 · 7 years

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A Life in Relief

By Tom Wachunas

“…Disjointed scenes of a life lived in nighttime dreams. Memory holders of what? Wood, ink, paper – stuff of another age. Like me. Not perfect. Film noir. Cuz I never dreamed in Technicolor. Poetry, not prose. My biography.” - from William Bogdan’s Artist Statement

“Art teaches nothing except the significance of life.” – Henry Miller

EXHIBIT: Xylographic – Biographic, woodcut prints by William Bogdan / THROUGH JULY 15, 2017, at The Little Art Gallery / located in the North Canton Public Library, 185 North Main Street, North Canton, Ohio / 330.499.7356 / www.northcantonlibrary.org

After only a few seconds and footsteps into The Little Art Gallery’s opening reception for William Bogdan’s solo exhibit, I was floored. I hadn’t greeted anyone yet, hadn’t even looked closely at a single piece. But I saw immediately something wholly fresh and arresting about the space.

The walls are a spectacle of black and white starkness, at once startling and inviting. The sheer uniformity of Bogdan’s presentation – each piece matted in white and set in a simple, elegant black frame – is spot-on. And curator Elizabeth Blakemore has done a superlative job in sensitively spacing the works with a keen attention to not only their variable subject matter (including landscape, architectural, and figural content), but also in setting up a variety of visual rhythms that can keep your eye engaged and moving throughout the gallery. We would expect nothing less from a show that featured electrifying works with a strong color dynamic. But interestingly enough, while there is no such dynamic here to excite our senses, the room still pulses with a strong heartbeat.

Could you describe your world without actual color? Could you envision a lifetime of experiences engraved into your memory as a panorama of only black lines and shapes, all intertwined against the white sky of existence? To put it another way, can you see your past simply as symbolic black marks on paper? In his artist statement, Mr. Bogdan likens this collection of his woodcut prints, made over the last seven years, to “…photo snapshots kept in an album…keepsakes that preserve a moment in time, but with a story before and aft that is meaningful to me.” Bogdan’s personal story is the ‘Biographic’ (or more accurately, autobiographic) component of this exhibit.

So, “photo snapshots kept in an album”? While there’s a certain intimacy to the idea of flipping through a photo album to fondly remember the past, I think this exhibit is more akin to reading pages, indeed chapters from a book you can’t put down. A book of remembered people, places, and sensations, of moments poignant and mysterious, or painful or comforting or… Books. Remember those? Organizations of white papers inscribed with marks made from ink. You’ll notice one of those here, “Bill’s Hill,” made in 2010, visible in one of the gallery’s glass showcases.

Then there’s Bogdan’s ‘Xylographic’ component. We don’t hear the word xylography too much these days in reference to the printmaking process of making woodcut images. It’s from the Greek ξύλο (xylo), for wood, and γραφή (graphé), for writing. The English term arrived in 1816, translated from the French, recalling the Japanese and Chinese techniques (from the 8th and 9thcenturies) of carving text or patterns in relief on a wooden block, which were then inked for applying to paper. Wood-block printing as a fine art form emerged in Europe during the 14th century, and the process would ultimately inspire Gutenberg’s method of printing from movable type in 1439. Voila, books.

I offer this nutshell history if only as a kind of lyrical appreciation of Bogdan’s methodology. Sourcing a technique originated in the very distant past – making a connection to time-honored art history - the act of carving away at a piece of wood (itself a holder of history) to make a picture can in many ways be seen as a poetic metaphor for cutting through the present to reveal, or uncover something of the past. To remember is to actively make the past present. Right now. At any point in time, what is our right -now if not an accumulation of assimilated back-whens?

Look at the haunting way Bogdan takes us to a back-when in his piece called “4”, depicting the legendary New York Yankee, Lou Gehrig (who wore number 4), showing us his heartrending gratitude and mortality. In another back-when, “The Picture on the Gallery Wall,” a few folks appear oblivious to Bogdan’s art on the wall, as if imprisoned and isolated by their own passivity. And here we are in our right-now, looking at a picture of them not looking at a picture. Intriguing.

Bogdan’s representational drawing (or should I say cutting?) style can vary from the relatively tight and crisp, to the loose and spontaneous, sometimes giving way to amorphous passages of generalized or abstract markings amid spatial ambiguities – a tentative yet fascinating conflation of the primitive and the refined. For example, the bright, crisp clarity of detail that we see in such pieces as “1604” has the marvelous effect of beckoning from a distance as you enter the gallery, calling you to perhaps to frolic with the children in the front yard of the house with the 1604 address. On the other hand, the skewed perspective and dramatic figure-ground contrasts in “Man, Bed, Cat” might make you wonder who is dreaming here – the sleeping man, the cat, or that ghostly figure off to the right side, floating in a white void?

In the 20 works exhibited, there are only two occurrences of color. Miniscule as they are, they function as exclamatory punctuation marks within their respective narratives. In “Simon 23, 26” (a reference to the gospel of Luke, 23: 26, wherein Simon of Cyrene briefly carried the cross for Jesus), one of Simon’s fingertips is covered in blood. That splotch of red is echoed by a red fingerprint at the bottom of the image – a deeply loaded signature, to be sure. There’s a religiosity, too, about “The Orange Chair,” though I’m not convinced that the inclusion of the bright orange stickers – one a circle (eternal cycle of life?), the other a triangle (Holy Trinity?) – are successfully integrated with the intricate imagery. Like a storyboard for a time-lapse film, seven continuous panels comprise a sequential view of a house interior showing the woman who lived and died there, her favorite chair empty and dotted orange, and in the last panel, a young girl standing in a doorway, the orange triangle hovering above her.

Despite my reservations about the indelicacy of its orange intrusions, the piece is nonetheless exemplary of Bogdan’s capacity for conveying an uncanny, fragile harmony between timidity and fearlessness. His visceral images feel searched out and sifted through, often as if quickly excavated and recorded before they can fall back into the dusty piles of more peripheral memories. To varying degrees, each one suggests an illustrated transition from the scenic to the psychic, the physical to the spiritual. Bogdan’s Book. He draws like a writer.

PHOTOS, from top: 4 / The Picture on the Gallery Wall / 1604 / Simon 23,26 / Man, Bed, Cat / detail from The Orange Chair / The doe lay dead in a field of asters

A Life in Relief syndicated post

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