Photo by martinhoward

If you’ve ever doubted your creative abilities (as I’m guilty of) I highly recommend reading the book The Creative License by artist and ad man Danny Gregory. Vaguely similar to The Artist’s Way, there are a few rules to follow and simple exercises to help unlock one’s creativity. However, I found it to be geared more towards the visual arts, which worked out in my favor. In general, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, especially because I felt it was a nice accompaniment to my weekly Artist Way readings. Plus, the illustrations in the book are a splendid breeze of inspiration.

Shortly after finishing The Creative License, I began to mull over the idea to enroll in a local drawing class. Other creative hobbies (scrapbooking, beading, screen printing, jewelry making, and low-fi photography) I’ve read about and tackled with little to no apprehension. Yet, drawing has been the one artistic form I haven’t fully immersed myself in. I admit it’s quite paradoxical because I’ve always held the utmost admiration towards individuals that draw. (Again, this is probably because throughout most of my life I’ve felt as though my drawing chops were simply nonexistent.) So, after scouring museum programs, art supply store classes, and everything in between, I finally found a six week drawing and sketching course to fit my schedule and registered.

My drawing class begins tomorrow night.

So, with an open mind, my pencils, and a sketchpad I’m finally attempting the one art form that has left me enamored all these years. And who knows, maybe I’ll even share some of my work on here in the future. Stay tuned.

Guillermo Del Toro is by far one of my favorite directors. The creative vision he possesses always leaves me in awe of the characters and settings he creates in his films. And have you seen his sketchbooks (Pan Labrinth)? They are truly breathtaking.

Earlier this week Del Toro released his debut novel, The Strain (co-authored with Chuck Hogan), a story about vampires in NYC. Just a warning, if you’re thinking these might be the glittery vampires that make young girls swoon, you’d be incorrect to think Del Toro’s novel would take this route. In the video clip below Guillermo further describes his direction for the novel and what you can expect:

Of course I find this out just when I committed to joining a book club (I’m supposed to read The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao). Looks like that may be put on hold as I’m making my way to the book store tonight to pick up this novel.

For more information on the writers of the trilogy, check out these interviews: TIME magazine interviews Guillermo Del Toro and Dead Central interviews Chuck Hogan. Ongoing updates on The Strain trilogy, can be found on The Strain’s Twitter account.

One of this week’s components require me to practice “reading deprivation.” As in, I cannot read for a whole week. I must say this is quite ironic considering I spent most of my weekend reading an issue of Mental Floss magazine (GREAT publication by the way), 2 other magazines, and The Sparrow. The thought of not reading blog posts, news articles, or friend’s Twitter updates seems almost ludicrous – yet at the same time oddly intriguing.

Apparently, many creatives consider this type of exercise necessary to help cleanse one’s creativity. And despite my initial aversion towards this week’s “challenge,” I must admit it reminded me of the many unfinished projects I have lying around. Some of which I hope I’ll be able to complete during this week.

Of course, I could simply ditch the projects and play the new DLC content for Left 4 Dead instead. Hopefully I’ll stick with the former.

It’s officially Spring, and I almost forgot how much I appreciate its rainy days. For whatever reason, they usually nudge me in a creative frame of mind. So while the rain came down, I decided to dig out the paint brushes and rekindle my hobby of art journaling. By no means do I feel I have “artistic” talent. I simply think of it as an alternative method of journaling…and a heck of a good reason to make a mess. Even though it’s been well over a year since I’ve touched any of my art journaling tools, it felt good to be surrounded by a colorful disarray of paints, tape, inks, and markers.

For anyone looking to get into this type of journaling, I recommend checking out books by Randi Feuerhelm-Watts and Sabrina Ward Harrison. Both contain great ideas and techniques to help kick start your own unique art journal: