Leveling Up Through Games, Forgetting Goals, Robocop's Oreos + more

Hey Past-me,

Another week of time traveling, sending letters to my past-self.

(Hoping I can game the system in another reality.)

I just wanna make cool stuff you know.

Sometimes it’s ez pz.

Sometimes it’s really, really, really f*cking hard.

Then I stop, go play some games, and then magically the cool thing I’ve been languishing over is finally made!

(What, how?!)

What’s in the stash today:

Story on how this guy got away with playing video games during class lecture

I was a terrible student, but an excellent gamer. I didn’t just have fun, I WON. I like winning. Who doesn’t like winning?

But I also love exploring. I love learning. I love getting better.

I love being capable.

So when it came to art and all my drawings came out like doo doo…man that sucked.

It was hard to understand the concepts in school sometimes. I did everything by my gut instead. But it could only take me so far.

It took me YEARS before my dumbass could apply a gaming mindset in the real world.

So, here’s a great talk by Professor Kris Alexander on how video games can help us learn, starting with a story about how he played video games during class lectures and got away with it.

Disclaimer: This is not a recommendation to play video games during school. I am not a licensed physician of the Internet.

Tip for when you don’t know where to start:

Follow the fun.

Creativity needs flow.

You know that zone you get in? When you’re making something and time slows down?

Ideally, you wanna spend as much time in that zone as possible right?

Cause other times it just feels like running through quicksand. You’re going nowhere fast and it’s taking foreverrrr…

But at some point you might find a thread to pull on and get yourself outta that hole.

The tough part is usually the thing you should tackle first, but sometimes we need a warm-up.

Sometimes we need to eat dessert first.

Jordan Peele talks about it a little here, how developing Get Out was his fun time. It was the thing he chose to do instead of watching tv or scrolling your phone or whatever. He allowed that project itself to be the fun, to finally make the thing he’s been wanting to make.

So how can we learn from that? Aside from spending time on your own projects, how about when we’re in the act and can’t seem to make any progress?

Like trying to design a character but just can’t get any lines down right now?

Look at the other parts of the process and see what you’re in the mood for.

Maybe you haven’t explored their story yet, so you spend an hour digging into their past…writing down the details that make them feel so alive, you just NEED to draw them.

Sometimes we need just that little boost to take us to the next step.

“Fun works.”

I go a little more in-depth about how I treat art like a game here in another newsletter, check it out and see if it helps!

A-HA! I knew goals were stupid!—

—Okay not stupid, but actually, just not the focus.

You get caught up in goals, do your best, hit a wall, and another, and another, and then...cry a single tear.

I’ve been there. (I’m a regular.)

Sooner or later you start relating GOALS to FAILURE.

(No thanks.)

Then you just stop trying altogether. And that sucks.

But once you discover a way to make better choices that lead to the results you want, you’ll recognize it’s no longer about chasing the goal, but just being consistent with what’s working now, and doing more of it.

James Clear expands on it here with further problems of focusing on goals and a little on how systems will set you freeeee!

Scrollstoppers on my feeds

1. Jack-Amin created this incredible tribute to 20th Century Boys. Love letter projects are the best.

2. Florent Thollon flexing with this slick Spiderman Dance scene!

3. Animation Obsessive shared Carol Wyatt’s beautiful paintings for Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends. I loved the style of the show when it came out. So fun and ^imaginative ya know 😏

4. Chris Battle shared some of his designs for y!!! Real Monsters! I loved this show when I was a kid! It was so weird and creepy and everyone was hairy. Good times and fun designs.

5. Apparently, in the new Robocop Documentary, there’s an animated section—DEPICTING REAL LIFE EVENTS—of Robocop being denied Oreos. (Just another reason why I love animation.)

Highlight of the Week

12 YEARS AGO THIS BEAUTIFUL ANIMATION WAS MADE:

It was a blast from the past when this popped back up on my feed. It’s such a beautiful film and was a huge inspiration for me back then.

12 years ago I had just started my career in animation. I was just being introduced to the world behind how it’s made, and the blood, sweat, and tears that go into every frame.

A bit of their soul goes into every piece, whether they like it or not.

You can feel it.

This was one of those pieces that could really make you feel it.

Thanks Ryan for the inspiration!

Aaaand that’s it.

Hope you found something to inspire you to follow the fun.

Go play some games.

Talk to you soon,

—Future-you

Hey! How was this week’s newsletter? Hit reply and lemme know 😬

Just a heads up, I’m working on a couple things that could be helpful:

• Join the waitlist for YouTube Hidden Art School. I’ve collected 100+ YouTube channels and specific videos that have helped me fill in knowledge gaps (from my underwhelming art school experience 😭)

• Join the waitlist for Production-Ready Artist. Coming out of art school, I felt underprepared for a fast-paced production environment. After working on 100s of episodes of Action Animation cartoons, I’ve learned tools and processes to help me keep up and keep my head on straight. I’m building a course to teach you everything I know!

• Looking for a community of artists to grow alongside? Fill out this form and I’ll send you an invite to our Discord server!