Find Your Voice Week Six

This week's lesson was all about combining our story style and design style. The creative prompt encouraged us to create a story using all of the things we've learned in the past five weeks. I started this course with the idea that I might gain some insight into storytelling and scrapbooking and in turn feel more comfortable about finally recording the story of my wedding and honeymoon (which happened a little over a year and a half ago.) This week I finally decided to take a stab at telling part of that story. For this particular lesson I chose to tell only the story of my honeymoon, because I didn't want to get overwhelmed by too big of a project.

So, I finally decided to take the big jump and venture into the world of scrapbooking. I really haven't used this method of story telling much in the past, because it always seems so intimidating to go around permanently sticking my pictures into a book. However, this lesson reminded me that it's important to PLAN your story before jumping right in and creating a project. So I listed, designed, arranged and rearranged, and wrote and rewrote until I felt more than comfortable about permanently sticking down all of my photos, embellishments, and vacation relics. All I can say is HOLY COW, why did I not think about including a planning while scrapbooking before? It made the entire project so much less intimidating, and I'm very happy with the outcome.

I won't share all 20 pages of my honeymoon story here (because really, it's not going to be all that interesting to the average onlooker.) Instead I'll just brag up a couple of my favorite layouts.

We spent our honeymoon traveling to different spots of interest in New Mexico, each day we visited a new place, and I organized my scrapbook chronologically. This was by far my favorite page. It is simple, but I feel like it really captured the mood of our Sandia Peak Tram ride which was a dark, gorgeous and a little romantic (FYI - Jason will gag when he reads this mushy sounding sentence later.)

I also really enjoyed how this layout for White Sands National Monument turned out, because it's bright and fun and once again captured the mood of that portion of our trip.

Lastly, I want to mention that I used some fun embellishments and washi tape that I purchased at the rukristin papercrafts Shop (rukristin.com/shop), and I wanted to thank Kristin for the super neat and free FYV swag that I received - thanks a bunch!

Are you ready to try the Find Your Voice storytelling workshop yet? If so go to rukristin.com/FindYourVoice for more information!

Find Your Voice Week Five

In this week's lesson I explored my "design style." The all encompassing style component of my stories and art. The end-of-lesson prompt I chose encouraged me to find a project that has a style I really admire and would like to emulate. I was then to create a project of my own using the admired project as inspiration. When completed, I was to sit back and take a look at similarities and differences between the projects.

Lately I've been in love with the minimalistic and geometric trends that I've been seeing on Etsy, in home improvement magazines and in clothing (think color block clothes). I kind of use minimalism in some of my stories and creations, but it's typically in a cute and cartoon-like fashion, and not in the sleek, modern way that I so admire. I would love to develop some minimalistic drawings of my own, but those clean, simple designs are harder to create than you would think!

There are a lot of big brands that use minimalism in their design. One of my favorites is Lacoste. You know, that iconic little alligator.

 

So, I decided to try to draw my own minimalistic animal. One of my favorite animals right now is the fox, so I decided to put my focus on foxes. I first drew a fox like I normally would, all fuzzy and full of motion. Then I slowly whittled away at it until I reached a point at which I no longer felt comfortable whittling any more. I tried to add some geometric elements in as well.

Here is the evolution of my minimalistic fox. It was hard for me to ignore all the little furry lines I wanted to add in, but in the end, I managed. I like how the little guy turned out, I even like the triangular patterns I added to the tip of his tail and legs (I was unsure of them at first). He still definitely seems a little more "free" than the Lacoste gator, but I guess that makes the drawing a little more "me".

Now I'm off to use my new minimalistic fox drawing to make a secret, surprise project for a friend! More info will be posted later.

UPDATED 7/29/13:

Here is the project I created using my drawing. It's a little wooden pendant that I hand cut and painted and then added to a necklace for my friend, Lauren, for her birthday.

Find Your Voice Week Four

This week's Find Your Voice lesson was entitled: "What's your storytelling style?" and it touched on lots of important storytelling topics such as character, theme, setting... etc. After doing my homework (filling out the worksheets), I decided to do the crafting based prompt once again. This was the prompt: "Pick out two different storytelling styles, and tell the same story using different styles. Make sure to use styles that push you out of your comfort zone."

Lately I've been making a lot of black and white comic strips. I love creating these little cartoons, and I've been toying with the idea of creating a flip-book style hand drawn movie. It seemed too hard, though, so I hadn't tried it yet. Well, this prompt just shouted "TRY YOUR MOVIE!", so I did. I chose a story that came from a dream I had about growing plants that produce rabbits instead of flowers. I'm calling this epic (kind of) tale Rabbit Bloom. View it for yourself below:

I was surprised to discover that creating my entire cartoon movie took only about 2.5 hours. I like the finished product, it's short and sweet, but it would have been even more great if I'd added color and more detail. However, my movie is only about 10 seconds long. I can only imagine what it would be like to A) draw a 10 minute (or longer) story B) add color C) include a detailed background. Yikes! I have some serious appreciation for any old-skool cartoonists that made their creations by hand, this takes time!


I chose to create a comic strip for the second storytelling method. I used color for the first time ever (I'm always afraid coloring my comics will ruin them, but I like it in this one.) I also added a new character, thus causing this story to be narrated differently. In my movie, the viewer is simply watching from the outside, but in my comic strip we get to witness the rabbit bloom through the eyes of this witty little lady bug. I definitely like the addition of this six-legged narrator.

I like both methods for storytelling, however, the movie certainly took more time than the comic strip. There are some stories that need motion to be told visually, others will do just fine in a comic strip. I'll have to carefully consider my options before selecting a storytelling method in the future - especially now that I have a new skill set to utilize!

If you're excited about this project - you can still join Find Your Voice and start telling some stories of your own. Check it out:

Find Your Voice Week 3

In this week's lesson we explored our own creative goals and how they fit in with the rest of our lives. I chose the craft based prompt: "Create a project that makes you happy... Come up with five reasons that it makes you happy."

I was excessively excited about this prompt, because it gave me an excuse to make something for myself. I used a small piece of scrap wood (about 9" by 3" give or take a bit - I measured it with my eyes, so it's not necessarily accurate.) I then went to town creating a little abstract city with acrylic paints. I took pictures to document my progress. I am definitely happy with the end result (mission accomplished!) I think I will be hanging it on the wall by the computer in my studio to remind me why I love making art - because it makes me happy!

Phase One - it's just a little pencil drawing

Phase Two - I've added the night sky

Phase Three - Leaves on the trees

Phase Four - Everything's finished except for the buildings

The final product - my tiny abstract city shines its lights!

So now for the second part of the prompt - five reasons why my project makes me happy (this is something I typically don't give a lot of thought to, I just know something makes me happy, and I leave it at that. It's interesting  to dig deeper every once in a while.)

1. The city in the night reminds me of when I was very young coming home from a trip to Grandma's house and staring out of my car window at all of the homes and buildings lit up. It's comforting to think about all the people in the buildings living their lives, and it reminds me of home.

2. It's small. Tiny things make me happy - miniatures, puppies, bite sized cookies, scale models of  construction projects - whenever something is smaller than normal I just think, "Oooh... how cute!"

3. There are lots of rectangles in the painting. What can I say - I like rectangles! If there was a competition between rectangles and circles I would vote for rectangles.

4. It's lonely, but not in a bad way. This painting is quiet. It seems like a nice place to take a stroll down the sidewalk and just think. Sometimes if I make something with a lot of bright colors it's almost hard for me to look at it, because I feel like it's screaming at me. I like these muted tones a lot.

5. It's abstract - I like making things up and not having to worry about the logical rules involved. I know this tiny city is missing a lot of things, like proper perspective, driveways, dumpsters, etc. However, it doesn't matter, because it's an imaginary place, so I get to make the rules.


P.S. If you're interested - you can still join Find Your Voice:

Find Your Voice Week Two

This week's Find Your Voice lesson is all about finding out who you are and how you tell stories. I've had a great time filling out the worksheet and responding to the writing prompt (which I won't currently share here, because my memoirs are as of yet unfinished - you'll have to wait for an official publication date - possibly 2078, I'll be senile enough then to spill my guts to the general public.)

I decided to use the photo prompt for my blog. A few other FYV participants made a "day in the life" photo montage for last week's prompt. It looked like fun, so I decided to do the same today. I'm kind of forgetful, though, so when I didn't remember to take a picture, I supplemented with drawings. You'll just have to take my word for it that these things really happened!


The first thing I did this morning was wake up. Then I made the arduous walk to my bathroom (almost ten feet down the hall from my bedroom.) When I looked in the mirror, I saw something like this:

 

Let's be honest, pixie cuts never look good right when you roll out of bed in the morning. But on this particular morning, my hair was an absolute monstrosity. I did my best to tame it, but it was still a little iffy when I left for work.

When I got to work, I completed various boring (but vital) office tasks. When I was finished, I did a little victory dance and then went upstairs to my studio to work on art - hooray! I did a little survey on my Facebook page yesterday, which led me to believe that turtles are more beloved than butterflies and foxes. This revelation led me to continue working on turtle themed items, which is awesome, because turtles are my number one favorite animal. Here's some of the "craftermath" of my creations:

I love being able to make use of photos I took while at the zoo - in the next picture you can get a little insight into how my photos help me:

I also spent a little time giggling at my newest variety of toilet labeling home decor. Yes, I think this kind of thing is hilarious, and I'm definitely making one of these toilet signs for my own favorite chair :)

Before I knew it, my tummy was telling me it was time for lunch! So I hopped in my tiny green car and drove home. On the way there, I noticed an extra large falcon (or hawk? I'm no bird expert, but he was big - with talons!) As I drove past, he quickly turned his head and gave me the evil eye. I think he probably then whispered something like, "I'm going to poop on your car later." But it was hard to tell from so far away. Of course, I didn't get a picture of this one, but I think I captured the spooky creature's essence in this drawing:

When I got home, my tummy was happy to find out that we had leftovers from last night's supper: Falafel and Greek salad. This is one of my favorite meals, but I don't make it often. I absolutely hate deep frying things. It's not that I don't LOVE the way deep fried food tastes, it just makes my kitchen feel like the back room of a fast food restaurant.

After lunch, I drove back to the shop on the usual gravel roads. I was a city girl for over 90% of my life, so driving on these sub-par roadways still scares me every time. For an example of how I feel when I drive on gravel, just view the drawing below. For me, it's like driving on the edge of a steep drop off that's riddled with sharp rocks, and the drop off goes into the ocean, and the ocean is filled with ravenous sharks. It's dramatic, I know, but it's how I feel...

Once I returned safely to the shop, I spent a little time cleaning up the greenhouse. I swear I've swept it a gazillion times, but no matter what I do the dust just seems to keep materializing and ruining everything!

Well, I'm not sure what else will happen today, because I can't predict the future (thankfully), but this is my "bloggin' time", so I can't wait around to find out. I suppose I'll just have to take a guess at what the rest of the day will be like. Hopefully my guess is accurate, because that. would. be. awesome.

My guess for the rest of today's events:

If you think Find Your Voice looks like fun - it's not too late to join! Check it out:

Find Your Voice Week One

One of my never ending goals is to continually challenge myself creatively so that the things I create will forever be evolving - whether it's a new line of items for Tangents, a fresh recipe for supper or a new idea for a comic for my blog. So, to encourage my creative spirit this summer, I've joined a free online storytelling seminar called Find Your Voice (Check it out HERE.)

The first week of the seminar involved a worksheet with a variety of questions about storytelling and what it means to us as individuals. I finished my written "homework" and decided to expand upon one of the questions for my journal. I was especially interested in exploring what my favorite stories are and who my favorite storytellers are. A lot of my favorite storytellers are musical artists (Paul Simon, Colin Meloy, Gordon Lightfoot, plus thousands more.) I love how they can take a minimal amount of words and make them work to create an image in your head. So, I used my minimal paper-crafting skills to make a journal entry with some of my favorite lyrics to remind me of how I want to practice writing.

My 'journal' for the workshop.

Some writing inspiration - I'm obviously not a paper-crafting genius, but I try my best.