Balance and 3 Simple Steps to Relieve Stress

Hey everybody. It has been a bit of time since the last post. Why?
It's amazing how life and responsibilities dictates how you use your time and what you can and can't do. Job, moving, family / friends, home life, children and social life is all a juggling act with it's ups and downs. How do you achieve balance and is there a way you can relieve stress and achieve calm amidst the chaos.

Lets tackle Balance first -

Be Healthy:
Makes sure you are taking care of yourself.  Are you eating right and getting enough sleep. We tend to run ourselves down thinking we will have time recover on the back end. Recovery might be more than you think.You can't do much if you are sick. Be proactive.

Prioritize:
What is most important to you? Family, friends, relationships, and time to yourself. You usually can't have it all in the same day. Have a plan for what you need to do and what you want to do. Find a way to balance your day. There is only 24 hours in a day and you need to rest and eat so take that into account; remember our tip above..

Secret tip #1 - Know who your real family and friends are. Some people are honest and are truly there for you because they care about you but some aren't which leads another secret tip.

Secret tip #2 - Stay away from negativity. The drain. You know what that means.  If  some friends / family are constantly bringing you down; is it always about themselves? Do they listen to you at all and offer nothing positive in return, not even a positive comment or thought for you.  It might be time to distance yourself.

3 Simple Steps to Relieve Stress

Reflect:

What are the things that drive you crazy? That person at work? The job itself? Not having enough money? Living accommodations, or relationship? Is it working? Is it worth it? What is your worse case scenario? Be real. We all know what is bothering us. Denial is your worst enemy.

Plan:
So if the worst case were to happen what you you do to circumvent or avoid it. Do you need a second job or find a job that pays more? What happens when you run into that person at work? What are you going to do? Can you fix the living situation or do you really need to think about moving? Is the relationship worth it? Did you really reflect on this? Is it all them or is some of it you? Do you need to change, maybe some counseling. Do it. If you have to be someone you are not, if your significant other is not understanding or caring who you are, move on. Life is too short.

Be Proactive:
Once you understand the problem and have a plan, do it. Put it in motion. Don't wait. You will be surprised to see the anxiety and stress go away because you have anticipated and planned for it. Positivity and happiness will soon follow through for you.

2 links to check out:
More balance life tips.
Japanese stress relief techniques.

Hope this gets you into the New Year a bit more optimistic.

Coming soon. Our usual: Free Stuff for the Holidays.

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Top Comic Book Creation Resources

A student told me that they would be working on their own comic book idea over summer break, but was unsure of how to keep the work from looking amateurist.  I started to rattle off some websites and it dawned on me that I have not posted most of these resources to the blog.

Without further ado, here we go:

http://comicbookgraphicdesign.com/ 
Comic Book Graphic design is an all around good website with a nice selection of tutorials.

http://comicbookgraphicdesign.com/?s=comic+book+layout 
Here is a good one on composition and layout

https://conceptartempire.com/gesture-pose-photo-websites/

Concept Art Empire is another fantastic resources for artists.
Here is an article on free gesture pose reference links that is awesome.
Please note that some of the references may involve the nude figure.

https://comicsforbeginners.com/
Palle Schmidt's website on comic technique is cool. Scroll down to check out free resources before you commit to paid tutorials.



https://comicsforbeginners.com/free-online-tools-for-comic-creators/

Online tips and tools and free 7-day crash course courtesy of Mr.Schmidt.

The Creative Bloq always has excellent resources if you use their search tool properly.
Here are two:

https://www.creativebloq.com/how-to/how-to-create-a-comic-page

Like the "Manga" style? Then have a look at this one.

https://www.creativebloq.com/how-to/how-to-create-a-manga-comic-strip

http://www.foxprints.com/tracy/misc/tutorial/char_drawing.html 
Here is an interesting breakdown of character design.

http://www.comicartfans.com/comicartistsmain.asp

See examples from all your favorite comic artists, sorted by name!!

                                      



Pick the best books on comic creation from these two lists:
https://conceptartempire.com/best-comic-art-books/

http://www.davidmarquez.com/resources-for-aspiring-artists
List is solid but links might be dead, will have to do Google / Amazon title search with this one.

https://www.pinterest.com/jasinwayne/comic-book-artists-studios/

A treat we don't see often - artists workspaces

http://comicbookpaper.com/

Ready-made comic page layout templates that you can download and use.
You can even choose your panel count on the page.

Want more resources? Get a copy of
our book here.

Cartoon Production Resource Guide

200 Top Resources for Artists and Comic Creators

Also, check out:

Top Comic Creation Resources II

Top Comic Creation Resources  III 

Know some good links? Please reply and share!

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ASU Sponsoring Media Classes in June

ASU is sponsoring hands on media classes this June 4th-29th at the Chandler Innovation Center in downtown Chandler, AZ. See below for more details:

Top Ten ways to keep your documentary interesting

The challenge:

My multimedia and film class was given the "Historic Stills" challenge. You can take any subject you  like as long as it has historical significance and you must visually depict your idea using still images. You can use motion and transitions on these images to tell your story as well as text, but no voice overs. Music and sound effects are allowed. Running time was 2-5 minutes and 8 facts must be covered during the presentation.

To help with the project, I did some research and came up with ten tips to keep your documentary interesting. Here it is:

1. Tell a good story
   Progression / build to an interesting finale / don't lecture, entertain. Don't tell me something I already know. Use your words, pictures and audio to add emotion.Tell a story. Make a point. Stories are inherently power tools for making your ideas stick. Powerful stories are like duct tape for facts.
   
   
2. Choose your audio wisely
   Let it help tell your story. Sound gives you at least 50% or more of your impact, heightens the moment and adds interest.

3. POV
   Who is telling the story? What is your unique angle?

3. Find the human angle
   Is there a obstacle / underdog / overcoming of the odds. Present a personal, critical perspective on some aspect of the human condition.

5. Ask a question
   Sometimes the best way to start your project.

6. Compare / contrast
   Take your subject and compare  / contrast against something similar.

7. Use humor / element of surprise
   Is there something funny or unexpected with your story?

8. Show rather than tell 
   A picture is worth a thousand words. Find ones that are the most effective.

9. Use movement / transition
   To add impact,..motion = emotion.

10. Size matters with graphics and text
    Use size to make a point.
    
    Want  more? Check out these two links:
    http://www.indiewire.com/2014/09/michael-moores-13-rules-for-making-documentary-films-22384/
    
    http://fireuptoday.com/take-your-facts-and-make-them-interesting/

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