We’re not talking nail-biting, hair-twisting, or bonbon-wolfing. We’re talking creative habits that make your life a better place to be.
In fact, we’re literally talking — me and my pal Ronnie Lawlor chewing over the subject, part of a series we recorded to get you (and me ) on track for 2017 and the launch of her new kourse, A Drawing A Day (click here to sign up).
What habit would you like to acquire in 2017?
I am restoking my commonplace book, dogfood. It’s a tumblr blog I started ages ago so I’d have a place to just dump stuff I liked so I could come back and find inspiration when I need it.
Much of it consists of photos I take of cool stuff, but I think I’m going to start using it for writing stuff too, to collect all the ideas and quotes and factoids I glean here and there and have just been storing in my private Evernote notebooks. Most of it will appeal mainly to me but who knows, some of it might spark you too.
I’m adding the feed to the right hand column of this blog too, so you can see the latest when you come here.
The URL is dannybaba.tumblr.com/. Danny baba is what our servants called me when I was a kid and lived with my grandparents in Pakistan. My grandmother used to sing me a lullaby in Urdu that went:
Ninny, baba, ninny.
Makan roti chini
Makan roti hogyah
Danny baba sogyah.
As a result, I called my grandmother “Ninny.”
Anyway, this may reinvigorate my desire to write and share stuff on the Internet again. I have entered this phase of late where I am doing stuff but am not sure what to share of it. As result, whenever I think of posting, I’m not sure if I can manage to craft it into something worth your while.
I also keep hearing about the death of the blog, which I actually find rather exciting. I started this blog 13 years ago, essentially to share jokes with my old pal Richard Bell, and never imagined it would become what it had over the decades. Maybe if I scale it back to just a bunch of jokes and discoveries rather than portentous, ponderous polemics designed to change the world, I and the world will be better off. Maybe that will be my resolution for 2017.
Last week, I really wanted to tell you about how cool our new project with Veronica Lawlor is — but I made a mistake in my post. I inadvertently shared a (nice) interview with Ronnie rather than the (super-cool) trailer that gives you a vivid, compelling, intoxicating peek at what the kourse will be like.
So accept my apologies and watch this super-awesome video now instead:
I do my fair share of traveling (12 trips so far this year — and today I’m 3,000 miles from home again*) but I love to hear the tales of people who are truly committed peregrinators and who document and share their journeys.
I recently met one such soul, Genevieve, a nomadic artist and environmentalist who is creating a lovely document of the world on her site, regenevieve.com. In a new blog post, she share recommendations of other traveling bloggers (including me). I hope you find some inspiration here.
*I’m in Los Angeles for a couple of days to film a new teacher for Sketchbook Skool.
One of the hardest things about starting something new is developing a habit that will help you carry on. Even though I’ve been drawing for quite a while now, I occasionally need some sort of kick in the butt to get back on track.
Here’s what works for me: a reason to be consistent. It could be a absorbing project I devise that keeps me engaged — so I am eager to keep working at it. It could be a collaboration with other people who I don’t want to let down — so I keep showing up and making stuff.
We’re about to kick off a new undertaking that combines both. It’s called A Drawing A Day. The first phase of it is a Sketchbook Skool kourse, taught by a teacher I admire enormously: Veronica Lawlor. (If you took our kourse, Storytelling, you remember her amazing, epic demo in which she made over 100 drawings of a pair of dancers.)
We’re beginning this kourse on the first Monday of the January so the year starts off right. Every day Ronnie will do a demo for us and each Friday we’ll go on a virtual field trip. We’ll get encouraging emails every day to keep you on track and engaged. Like all of our new kourses, this will initially be a “Community” kourse, meaning we’re all going to do it together in January, supporting and encouraging each other to keep going.
I think it’s gonna be great. We put a lot of work in to producing this kourse and it’s gorgeous, exciting, smart and fun. Kinda like Ronnie.
That’s not all, though. We’re also launching a year-long project to really make this new habit stick. A year of prompts, interviews, demos and ideas. We’ll be sharing encouragement through a special Facebook group and on other forms of social media. It’ll be a great adjunct to the kourse.
As I said, the kourse begins on January 2nd, but 1) you can sign up now and 2) we will make the kourse available again after January so you can sign up whenever you want and take the kourse immediately.
A Drawing a Day is gonna make 2017 a beautiful, creative year. I can’t wait.
Wanna join me and Ronnie and the rest of Sketchbook Skool? Click here.
This week’s homework in Storytelling at Sketchbook Skool came from Koosje who asked us to make annual explaining a simple process. Inspired by Ikea, I had loads of fun doing this:
This is not an ad.
First off, I know you may have forgotten to sign up for my new klass at Sketchbook Skool. No prob.
However, I loved making the 25 videos in this klass so much, I had to share one of the lessons here. For free. This is a lesson I made with my besties, Tim and Joe.
Here’s the Ad: If you want more, then you’ll have to fork over $29 to sign up. Do it here.
Danny Gregory 