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hi. I’ve missed you.

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Every once and awhile I need a break. I think it’s important to embrace those times and let myself recharge, but afterward there’s always that awkward period of starting up again.

I just finished reading Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon and it reminded me that sometimes you have to just start doing. If you’re not doing, talk about what you want to be doing or wish you have time to be doing.

(I could probably fill post after post with what my daughter is doing. In fact, I just might do that. She’s a creative machine, that one.)

I highly recommend both of Kleon’s books: Steal Like an Artist and Show Your Work! If you don’t know him, there’s plenty on his website to dig into. It doesn’t matter what your passion is, his message is universal: do good work and share it with others.

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do you doodle?

I used to be a big doodler — all over the production schedule in staff meetings, on the message pad by my phone, around the edges of the crossword.

Lately it seems I rarely have pen and paper in hand. All of my schedules are virtual. Phone calls have become texts. I read the news online, so no more newspaper.

I miss it, actually, and when I came across this Ted talk, I realized I should be making time for these random little drawings. Unlike the traditional definition of the word, Sunni Brown defines doodling as making spontaneous marks to help yourself think. That’s because doodling:

  • affects how we process information
  • helps us retain information better
  • affects how we solve problems
  • helps us from losing focus

Some of my favorite doodlers are:

more (with videos):
What we learn from doodles by Sunni Brown
Fast Company Most Creative People: Sunni Brown
InfoDoodler Showcase reader-submitted doodles

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debbie sterling, goldieblox + catapults

My daughter is the kind of girl who loves math and science. She loves building things with Legos, Lincoln Logs, Tinkertoys, and anything she can find in the recycling bin. When I heard about GoldieBlox, the engineering toy for girls, I ordered one immediately. She asked to watch the Kickstarter video over and over, and when it finally arrived, she loved it.

My daughter is the kind of girl who gets things pretty quick. The downside is that when she has to work hard for something, she sometimes gives up too easily. When I found this TedX talk, I knew I wanted to show it to her. I thought maybe she’d be more receptive to the “don’t give up” message if she heard it from the woman who invented one of her favorite toys.

My daughter isn’t the kind of girl who will sit still for a 17 minute video. I was surprised that — except for one quick break to grab her GoldieBlox toy — she watched the whole thing. Watching her was amazing.

My daughter’s eyes lit up as soon as Sterling talked about engineers being creative and artistic. I could see the wheels turning in her head when Sterling talked about inventing and designing things. “Mama, what’s a catapult?”

When I tried to talk to her afterward about the “work hard” message, she was already tuning me out. I’m pretty sure she was wondering how to get her hands on a soda bottle, string, paperclips and foam core.

I hope Bright Lights has a summer camp for ME101.

GoldiBlox website. GoldiBlox Kickstarter.

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pascal dangin: the man who makes everyone beautiful

I have a love-hate relationship with photo retouching. I think those who do it well are amazing artists, especially those who work on people. Skin and body proportions are so easy to screw up — and so terribly obvious when wrong. At the same time, I’m not comfortable with the retouched reality in which we live. It’s redefined our definition of beautiful and is used to sell us products that “help us” get closer to an ideal that doesn’t really exist.

Pascal Dangin is one of those artists who amazes me with his talent and frustrates me with his work. The New Yorker did a piece on him in 2008 that I happened to stumble upon while researching Dove’s Real Beauty ad.

I mentioned the Dove ad campaign that proudly featured lumpier-than-usual “real women” in their undergarments. It turned out that it was a Dangin job. “Do you know how much retouching was on that?” he asked. “But it was great to do, a challenge, to keep everyone’s skin and faces showing the mileage but not looking unattractive.”

See, right there? Both sides of me are conflicted by just one sentence.

People in his industry describe him as “sort of photo whisperer, able to coax possibilities, palettes, and shadings out of pictures that even the [photographer] who shot them may not have imagined possible…he is a translator, an interpreter, a conductor, a ballet dancer articulating choreographed steps.”

I’ve done plenty of photo retouching in my career and know how hard it is to get right. I am definitely better with things than people, but no one has every compared my work to the grace of a dancer. Maybe that’s why I look at what Dangin does with such awe. He’s just that good. Maybe he’s too good.

The article is a fascinating read on Dangin’s life, work, and style. It describes his creative space and process, as well. Pixel Perfect: Pascal Dangin’s virtual reality.

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lisa frank’s office space is awesome.

Growing up I was into all things rainbows and unicorns, but I don’t remember any of these characters. Maybe they were a little bit after my time? Lisa Frank is making a comeback, though. Urban Outfitters is now selling a line of vintage items that have “been hiding away in Lisa’s own secret stash.”

Frank recently agreed to an on-camera interview with the store, and her headquarters in Arizona is quite something. My favorite part of this short film is getting a peek at her original artwork. She has saved it all — along with a sample of each product ever made. The details and colors of her pre-computer pieces are simply amazing.