Q+A: 5 tips for a stress-free social media experience

Posted on December 10, 2013 by amy / 4 comments

Hi Amy,

I am a recent illustration graduate from the UK. I’m already using Twitter and Facebook to spread the word about my work, but I’m not quite seeing the results that I am hoping for. And I have to say that I’m feeling really stressed at seeing other people’s pages and tweets – they make me feel pressured, almost as if it’s one big game of brown-nosing, and I’m not good at it, and I’m not sure if I can do it much longer. What should I do?
~ Qibby

Dear Qibby,

Your question prompted me to do a bit of research about introverts, and according to the Urban Dictionary, an introvert is defined as “a person who is energized by spending time alone. Often found in their homes, libraries, quiet parks that not many people know about, or other secluded places, introverts like to think and be alone.” [read more!] And what do you know? Although I’m an extrovert by nature, however I’m a social media introvert (I coined the term myself, ha!)

The thing is this: with social media, it can get really overwhelming really quick. I’m not sure if this holds true for other people, but it holds true for me. For the first 10 minutes in, it can get pretty fun: “oh look, so-and-so just got a new book out, hurrah!”; “you mean I can’t do that for a client, because it’s considered plagiarism? Bummer.” But leave me on for more than 15 minutes and I melt into a puddle of confusion and beleaguered with self-doubt that you’d have to scoop me off the floor in a cup. Give me a quiet space to work on my projects or put me in a room with people I don’t know, and I’ll work it just fine (with a few new friendships made along the way) – but social media? Uh-uh.

So instead of hiding away, for me, I think of it this way: it helps to think of social media as a way of connecting with others, and not merely brown-nosing! Think of how you’d usually connect with other people face-to-face. Taking it online is almost the same thing, where there are rules and etiquette to follow. I’d advise you not to think of what your friends or acquaintances are doing as “brown-nosing” it’s just a way that they’re connecting with others. The issue if how. Perhaps it’s the way they’re doing it that turns you off. But there are other ways that you can make yourself more comfortable with the idea of using social media – maybe my handy list of how to interact with others on social media will help you out:

TIP #1:
Don’t send tweets to other people where you’re clearly just talking about yourself and don’t care at all about the other person. You’ll just be ignored!

For example: “Hey @pikaland check out my portfolio – I think you’ll LOVE it!” Some people do this and wonder why they aren’t getting responses – and I’m here to tell you that there’s a reason why. A Twitter account isn’t a personal hotline to a client/blogger/editor at your disposal! Think of all the hair-tearing sessions where you wonder why you didn’t get that response from someone although you clearly tagged them on Twitter/Facebook/etc. Yup. If you didn’t know before, then I’m going to tell you now – CUT IT OUT. You’re better off sending a nice email instead. And make it personal. And don’t say I didn’t warn you.

TIP #2:
Be genuinely nice and helpful.

If you see someone on your list needing a bit of insight or help, jump at the chance to offer your time and expertise. People will remember you better and will thank you for taking the time to come to their aid.

TIP #3:

Don’t overdo it.

Space out time for yourself instead of hearing everyone else’s chatter online! We might trick ourselves into thinking that if we spend our time on social media then it’s time spent on “researching” or “keeping in touch” – but don’t lie to yourself, you’re going to feel sorry for yourself at the end, because I know what you’re really doing. You’re just sizing yourself up on competition and that’s not healthy at all!

From the article Age of Distraction: Why It’s Crucial for Students to Learn to Focus:

 “If you have a big project, what you need to do every day is have a protected time so you can get work done,” Goleman said [Daniel Goleman is a psychologist and author of Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence and other books about social and emotional learning on KQED’s Forum program]. For his part, when he’s writing a book, Goleman goes to his studio where there is no email, no phone, nothing to distract him. He’ll work for several hours and then spend designated time responding to people afterwards.

Hey it works for me, so it might just work for you!

TIP #4:

Separate your Twitter/Facebook friends into lists.

For example, you can filter your social media connections into media contacts, inspirational reads, friends, clients, etc. Doing so will help you keep track of different segments of your lists, especially those you feel are important to your growth as an artist, instead of just consuming everything all at once like a no-holds barred buffet bar. You’ll only get sick afterwards with no recollection of what you just consumed! Here’s help for Twitter, and here’s one for Facebook.

TIP #5:

Take it offline.

A lot of the connections I’ve made isn’t just online – they’re made offline as well. So go out and connect with other people from different fields. Start a new hobby (or get serious with a current one). The most important thing is that while the internet has made it easier to connect, it doesn’t automatically mean that it’s easy to make connections. You’ll need to spend some time to build relationships – and that applies to both offline and online.

And there you have it! If you follow these guidelines, you’ll slowly realize that social media isn’t the be all and end all for artists (especially if you’re like me, a social media introvert!) It’s just  a tool for you to reach out to your fans, friends and to help others understand you better. How you use it is up to you.

Good luck Qibby!

SHARE WITH US:

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by social media? If you have, what have you done to make it all easier for your sanity and productivity? If you have any tips for Qibby, I’d love to hear them in the comments!

{please note that Q’s are usually edited for clarity and conciseness, as the queries I get can get pretty long winded!}

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Creative exercise: Close your eyes to draw better

Posted on December 3, 2013 by amy / 4 comments

I did an assignment with my class the other day. I asked each of them to go and wash their hands because – get this – they’re going to be feeling their partners up. Without wanting a law suit on my hands (not a sexual harassment suit either) it was to be limited to faces, and whatever body parts that stood out (pardon the pun!) in their personality. So anything goes really – as long as things stayed decent. We were going to do a variation on blind contour drawings.

From Drawing from the right side of the brain, Donna Flood:

 Kimon Nicolaides, in his 1941 book, “The Natural Way to Draw,” shows the pure contour method to improve a student’s use of both senses, sight and touch. He asked that they imagine they were touching the form as they worked. To go a step further on the tactile thought it was my practice to take an actual object of whatever the class was drawing. Pass the object around to the students and with touching it there was a stronger communication to their brain as to its qualities whether, soft, hard, furry, bumpy, crumbly, etc. For instance, right around you, the keys on your computer are hard, so is the material on your mouse, also the desk in front of you is hard.

At first I told them that it was fine to look at what they would be sketching, while touching their partner’s face at the same time. And what came out from that was nothing special – there was no spontaneity, and instead there was a lot of “should haves”; things that looked like they were supposed to. Roars of laughter filled the classroom as they began to touch each other for the first time (I’m just guessing here!)

As they got more comfortable, I gave them another experiment – that they close their eyes as they were feeling their partner up, and not look at what they draw (as opposed to having their eyes open and looking at what they were drawing.) The results were amazing.

So much of what they were drawing before their eyes were shut were rigid, and focused on stylistic elements that the students were used to. In their minds they had an idea of what an eye looked like. An ear. A nose. Hair. And they allowed their hands to conform to this idea that was in their minds – and they were frustrated at the result.

From WetCanvas, Carol Rosinski:

 If you think about what you are drawing too much, you are likely to let your logical thinking brain tell you what it thinks the subject “should” look like. This is where a good deal of bad drawing comes from. When you draw a bad representation of something, it’s because you are drawing what your logical brain “thinks” the subject looks like and not what is truly there. To draw a subject accurately, you have to draw what is really there. Blind contour drawing makes your logical brain shut up for a while. It can’t try to step in and correct what it can’t see and it can’t see what your hand is drawing. So the outcome of all this blind contour drawing will be that your hand will learn to draw what your eyes are truly seeing by feeling the lines and angles of the subject. In addition, you will be recreating what you see on a different plane than your subject is in.

Prior to the exercise, a few students told me that they couldn’t draw, and that their work isn’t great – but what I saw was different. When they did the second exercise with their eyes closed, their lines became more fluid. It was unhurried, with lots of detail, and a sensitivity that wasn’t there before. The difference between their two drawings were shocking, at least to me; and I think they were surprised that they produced lines they only thought was possible by others; not them.

Now if you think that it wasn’t such a big deal, think of it this way: all those great sketches that you see online of artists sketchbooks? How many of you have wondered why yours don’t look at all like them? I bet my classroom at that point thought the same. But what came out of the second exercise was astonishing – their sketches were relaxed and confident. All of them. Well the ones who kept their eyes tightly shut and didn’t cheat anyway!

Remember when I was musing about how drawing reminds me of swimming? I told the class this little analogy before the class and most of them scratched their heads. They couldn’t quite imagine how it felt – and I didn’t blame them! After the exercise ended though, I asked them again, and they started to understand what I meant. The weightlessness of not knowing what would happen, and how working with your hands to allow yourself room to float without a care in the world – or to put it succinctly, the art of letting go.

The trick is to master this even when your eyes are open, and that’s when you’ll find yourself akin to soaring in water.

Instructions: Drawing with/without seeing

  1. Take a piece of clean paper (I prefer a larger size so that your hands can roam around)
  2. Take an object, or if you prefer, choose a partner so that you can “draw” their face
  3. Wash your hands thoroughly (especially if you’re going to be feeling up another person’s face!)
  4. Put your hands on your object/partner
  5. See and feel your object/partner. Trace their outlines, examine their texture and also the memories it brings back
  6. At the same time, draw what you see/feel on paper. You can lift your pencil/pen off the paper if you wish, or keep it a single line – try both and see!
  7. Repeat, but this time close your eyes so that you won’t know what you’re drawing.
  8. Compare your drawings.

If you did this experiment, I’d love to hear and see your results! Post them up on Flickr/Facebook/Instagram and send me the link through the comments!

[Image above: Shaded blind contour drawing by Kyle on Deviantart]

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Dear students: Why you need to go down that hole

Posted on November 26, 2013 by amy / 11 comments

I’ve put off writing my column Dear Students because I didn’t particularly feel inspired to write for my second batch of students – mostly because they didn’t know where they were going and I, as a teacher, could not help them get to where they wanted to go (precisely because they didn’t know where they were going). But with my third batch of students though, for a class that began earlier this month, coupled with going away, and with new thoughts and ideas – I felt compelled to write again. I can’t lie that I’m inspired by the energy of the class. They’re a bunch of bright students who were willing to communicate their ideas and thoughts, and who were open to not knowing where this experience will take them. And so my thoughts for this season are for them, and any student around the world who might find this useful.

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Teaching in-person has been an interesting experience so far. I’ve done it for a year now, and with each batch of students it’s a hit-or-miss. It’s one hit and one miss so far. And with that miss, I ask myself why – was it because I wasn’t good enough? Or was it the materials? Was I clear on the goal of the class, and what the outcome was? Could I do better?

The answer might be yes to all of them. Or perhaps it’s the other way around. I’m not going to debate who is right or wrong here. I’d rather improve myself and brace for challenges as they come. I don’t know what’s going to happen; I can only prepare for the worst and hope for the best. I make sure that I have fun regardless of who came along for the ride.

And it’s this attitude that I want my students to have: the fun of exploration and the joy of discovery and surprise. The guts for glory, the willingness to accept defeat; and the hard work that goes into unravelling a mystery. The experiments that might amount to something big, or fail miserably when it doesn’t. It’s a 50-50 chance of having something great; which to me is pretty amazing. Surely it beats having a 0% chance of succeeding (which is exactly what happens if you sit still and not do anything about it.)

But an observation of almost 60 students so far has led me to an interesting point: that a big percentage of students are afraid of the unknown. Before they strike out and do something, they want to be reassured that it will either: earn them high marks / gain approval from their teachers / applauded by their peers. All of which points to gaining an outside reaction, rather than satisfying an internal interest.

And that irks me a little.

Maybe it’s a lack of confidence. Maybe it’s a more realistic way of thinking about assignments (I only have X amount of time, so I don’t want to waste time on something that would be panned).

But the thing is, if you’ve put your heart and soul into something, would it be all that bad? Would it be so bad to believe that you can do it – putting together your passion and experimenting with new ways of expressing your ideas and thoughts that would not only benefit you, but others as well? Would it be so bad to reach for the stars? Or go down a rabbit hole just to see what’s on the other side?

Would it be so hard to try?

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For those who may not be familiar with the Dear Students series, it’s a column that I have on my blog where I unload my advice to college students. It’s inspired by the in-person class that I’m teaching at a local college, and it’s an opportunity to write down thoughts that I didn’t manage to send out during class, or as an interesting observation about the class that I wanted to share with you. So whether you’re a student or a teacher, I’m sure some of the things I write about would elicit interesting responses, and I most welcome your thoughts!

To read past Dear Students posts, click here!

[Illustration: Looking down the rabbit hole. Millicent Sowerby. Illustration from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll; Chatto & Windus, UK, 1907]

Why going away is the best thing you can do for your sanity

Posted on November 19, 2013 by amy / 10 comments

I had my first extended holiday overseas for two weeks after 3 years of working non-stop, and I just came back. Between this and the last time wanderlust bit, I’ve been majorly productive – there was a major website overhaul and redesign, a wedding, a funeral, a major freelance project, teaching assignments, a big launch and lots of other fun and serious stuff in between.

Suffice to say, I needed to go away. I had to – for my sanity’s sake. My engine has been running on full speed for the past few years that I almost found it impossible to stop. What would happen if I did? Would things stop? Would time stop? Would I stop?

And stop I did.

I stopped to look, listen and explore again. And this time it’s without a purpose other than the sole pleasure of drinking things in. I took great joy and pride in re-learning routes on the Tokyo subway, and I stopped caring that my sputtering of Japanese vocabulary had regressed even further since my last trip in 2010. I stopped caring about what others thought of me as I walked around wearing socks and sandals because I was most comfortable walking around in them (my feet can’t quite stand fully covered shoes – they hurt and blister my feet!)

Mainly I stopped beating myself up for taking a break. I used to think that if I stopped just for a while, the balls that I had juggled in the air all these while would all fall on the ground – bouncing off the floor, mocking me as they rolled to a stop. None of that happened. In fact, I felt a lot better for allowing myself to stop and just breathe.

No phone calls.
No SMS’es.
No replying of emails unless it was absolutely urgent.
No social media (except for Instagram – I cheated on that one).

While I was away, I felt that the heart, time and energy that I’ve poured into my projects had left a void inside me. Much like the theory of energy transference, I transferred my hopes and dreams into something tangible, and now I was the one in need of a refuel. Like designers and artists who use their energy to create, their fuel is gathered through the experiences – whether it’s through those that they seek out, or those that seek them. An imbalance in the cycle – whether through a lack of input or output, would cause things to break. People. Relationships. Work. Something always breaks.

The trick is to recognize before that break happens, and do something about it. It’s not always easy to know it before it’s too late. So the best course of action is to go away before you need to step away.

Otherwise you might never make it back.

SHARE WITH ME:

Have you ever been burnt out, and what did you do to overcome it? What soothes your weary soul and recharges you?

[P/s: if you're on Instagram you can see where I've been over here!]

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