Art Crusade vol. 2
March 1, 2021
Welcome to the second edition of the Art Crusade newsletter.
Bad Ideas
Where do you keep your “bad” ideas?
A question that I see people ask famous(aka successful) creators is where they get their inspiration or good ideas from. This question is problematic. To have good ideas, you also need to have bad ideas. Bad is a subjective term, just like “good” is a subjective term when it comes to creative projects. How do we know if an idea is good or bad? It is, after all, just an idea.
The important question is whether you have a system for storing all of your ideas, regardless of your perceived value of the idea. Collecting your ideas will help you in many ways. It is a place to offload ideas in your head so that you do not forget them. Storing your ideas will also let you go back to your ideas later and revisit them. You can store your ideas digitally using a note-taking app on your phone or you can write them down. I tend to do a little of both.
I do recommend looking back through your ideas from time to time. It is a way for you to reflect on the progress you have made, see patterns that are emerging, and remember the things that you have passed by the first time.
Whether you keep your ideas digitally or on paper is not important. Start a habit of recording your thoughts and ideas.
Listening:
Creative Pep Talk podcast - by Andy J. Pizza
https://www.creativepeptalk.com
I listen to the Creative Pep Talk podcast every week. This podcast is full of motivation and insight for creative people. Andy(Mr. Pizza, not me) delivers his insight in an energetic and fun manner which is sure to fill up your creative battery. In addition to the podcast, he is a talented illustrator whose clients include The New York Times, The Washington Post, Google, Amazon, Nickelodeon, YouTube, and Warby Parker.
Reading:
Show Your Work by Austin Kleon
Austin has produced several books now on the topic of creativity in the digital age. I recommend them all, but I have been coming back often to Show Your Work over the past few weeks. The book has been providing me timely reminders to get my work out into the world.
Austin has a weekly newsletter, that I highly recommend. It has inspired the format and content of this newsletter.
Watching:
Kid Cosmic (Netflix)
Craig McCracken, the creator of the Powerpuff Girls and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends at Cartoon Network and Wander Over Yonder at Disney Channel, has created a new show on Netflix. I have been a fan of his work since watching the Powerpuff Girls and Foster’s with my daughters. The new show is fun and a blast to watch.
Kid Cosmic follows the adventures of an imaginative and enthusiastic boy who lives with his free-spirited Grandpa in a sparsely populated desert town. The Kid’s dreams of being a hero seem to come true when he discovers 5 Cosmic Stones of Power in a wrecked spaceship.
Bonus:
Kid Cosmic Soundtrack
Netflix releasing the soundtrack for Craig McCracken’s acclaimed new series Kid Cosmic on Friday (Feb. 26). The music is composed by Andy Bean(wow, the newsletter is full of other Andys this week), an Emmy-nominated songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist specializing in music for animation.
Bean created much of the soundtrack under the guise of a fictional ’70s psychedelic garage punk band: Dr. Fang & The Gang.
Check it out on Spotify:
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hugs and thanks,
Andy