Readiness, Second Brains, One-Person Armies + more

Readiness, Second Brains, One-Person Armies + more

Hey Past-Me 👋

I'm changin it up today.

In order to keep up with the weekly newsletter and keep dishin out the cheat codes to ya, I'm gonna share shorter weekly content to focus on delivering quality deep dives more regularly.

So here we go, check out these 5 for your mind.

Consume to create.

TODAY, REAL QUICK:

QUESTION I'M THINKING ABOUT:

Ready, meaning you're able to perform the necessary tasks asked of you in a Studio Production Environment.

The common answer: You'll never really know.

The realistic answer: Oh, you'll know.

Here's the game:

Can you make clear, compelling, producible artwork repeatedly on time and in style?

With enough practice of deliverable production artwork, you'll get there, no problem.

The thing is, you shouldn't wait until you are.

You can still get a shot before you're "truly ready" and level up your remaining skills.

Then when you're "ready", you'll be considered a pro.

Cause you won't need inspiration to hit or the muse to kick in, you can handle whatever comes your way cause you've practiced and honed your process of study and execution.

You'll be a ​Production-Ready Artist​, you just gotta put in the work.

ARTICLE I'M READING:

​4 Steps to Digital Creation: How to Build Your Second Brain​

I've been using this productivity system developed by ​Tiago Forte​ for almost 4 years now and it's helped every single aspect of my life.

Imagine having an external brain of all your thoughts, ideas, projects, etc. that you're working on, all easily searchable, with all the pertinent information required for a future version of you to take advantage of.

As an artist, think of it like an externalization of your mental library, but you don't need to struggle to remember anything specific, because you've already done the work of capturing and distilling what's important.

If I could only give 16 y/o me one tip, it'd be to adopt this system ASAP.

SHOW I'M WATCHING:

Pre-MCU. Pre-DCU. Pre-MeandYou.

I watched this LIVE in the early 2000's. (OMG)

I just introduced my wife to it this year. She was apprehensive. ( spoiler: she's lovin it)

It's got all the teen angst + super-powered drama you need. But seeing it now through an artist's lens, it's even funner to watch.

Lately, I've been taking notes during shows, jotting down thumbnails for shots, noting story elements and production choices.

It's been fun to wonder what some of the live action shows of my adolescence would look like animated.

QUOTE I'M PONDERING:

Think about it, all we need are symbols to understand complex ideas.

:)

🙂

At its best, animation delivers a visceral, emotional experience, tapping into our senses and imagination. Helping us feel the complex life around us in a symphony of lines, shapes, and colors.

It can somehow feel even more alive and real than life around us.

Animation is a distillation of the truth. I love that.

PROJECT I'M EXCITED FOR:

This is wild.

​Denver Jackson​ has been working non-stop for 2 years and paid out of pocket $35k to deliver this solo animated film project. And he's almost done!

He recently launched a kickstarter to finish it off and pay for voice acting, an original score, and sound mixing.

It was fully funded in 4 days.

I'm a firm believer that in this creator economy, the Future of Animation is Indie.

AAAAAND that's it.

Have a great weekend.

Uhhhhh...don't do anything I wouldn't do?

See ya 👋

-Future-You