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Are you stuck in a routine and feel like a worker who repeats the monotonous movements at the conveyor of his life? Start a creative diary – it will help you turn off the autopilot, perceive reality more sharply and more joyfully. In the spring of 2017, the MIF publishing house published Danny Gregory’s book Creative Rights, in which the author shares inspiring ideas. Here are some of them.
Keeping a diary is a good thing. Daily entries help to put things in order in the head and feelings, to understand yourself. But the notebook writer and creative director Danny Gregory proposes is special. This is a kind of diary in pictures.
He suggests not so much writing about what you live as sketching it. Save emotions and impressions on the pages in the form of sketches, illustrations. Such a notebook will help to extract the main thing from each day, like a resume, autofocus on a camera or a newspaper headline. And, of course, to reveal your creative potential, perceive reality more sharply and think more freely.
HOW TO START?
Get a hardcover notebook. It doesn’t matter if it’s a spiral notebook or a heavy leather-bound notebook. The main thing is that a couple of sketches fit freely on her page, and it would be convenient to carry her with you. The paper needs to be thick so it doesn’t fall apart under the pen, but cheap so you can turn the page over and start filling out a new sheet without hesitation.
Pick up a pen and do one 10-minute sketch today. Take a look at her tomorrow. Make one more. Keep drawing, even if you are sure that nothing worthwhile will come of you.
Journaling is not marble work or wall painting. Here you can make mistakes and make bad decisions. Don’t chase perfection. Don’t like the drawing? Turn the page. Start again. Don’t know what to draw? Here are some ideas from Danny Gregory.
1. PICTURE YOUR BREAKFAST
Before you eat your breakfast, try to draw it. Do not spend more than 5 minutes on this, but do not rush. Sketches “early in the morning” are good because your mind is still empty, and the left hemisphere has not really woken up. If you take a little time and carefully study the shape and texture of your sandwich, the lacy swirl of a croissant, the texture of an omelet, then the pattern will reflect the uniqueness of your breakfast. That’s the whole point: to catch a specific moment, a specific sandwich, and not something general. This way you can create something unique.
Next to the picture, make a signature, arbitrarily stupid or pretentious. Write how you feel as you start an illustrated diary. Or what do you think about your drawing. Or what you dreamed about. Or what taste you feel on the tongue. Try not to get too distracted – complaining about your boss or mother-in-law is better another time. But feel free to write whatever you want (except “what a poor drawing”).
2. INTEREST IN PEOPLE AROUND
Talk to strangers about things that interest them. Ask someone—a homeless person, a grocery store clerk, a neighbor, a police officer, a child, an elderly relative, a courier, a dentist, a cleaner—to tell a story for your diary. You’d be surprised how easy it is to break down barriers between people, even in a large, unfamiliar city. Just keep writing!
When doing this exercise, leave your ego at home. Resist the temptation to interrupt the interlocutor, to put your story ahead of someone else’s. Everyone loves to talk about themselves. Let them talk. Give them an attentive listener, and your patience and generosity will be rewarded.
3. RE-GET TO KNOW WHAT YOU KNOW
We often say “I know like the back of my hand.” But how well do you really know your fingers? Draw them. How well do you know them now?
It is unlikely that the event that we flew by without slowing down will remain in our memory. This can be compared to a low-resolution picture that takes up little space on your hard drive, but lacks detail and clarity. But if you really study something, looking closely, looking at every centimeter, your brain will store this impression as more vivid and complex.
4. KEEP A TRAVEL DIARY
Do not forget about the diary when traveling and on trips. Sketch food, boxes in stores, cars, clothes, houses, TV shows, money, cinemas, beggars, sellers, cafes.
Become a tourist in your hometown. Buy a guide. Visit the most remarkable places. Draw the most interesting moments.
5. DRAW FROM MEMORY
Draw what remains in your memory from when you were less than five years old. Then – what was remembered at the age of 5-10 years. Then fifteen.
Draw the main people in your life: husband or wife, parents, neighbors, colleagues. Draw what you remember the most. Write about every boss you’ve had since graduation (or at least try to list their names). Draw all the pets you have.
Draw your favorite food. And then the one you don’t like. Now try it: did it taste better after you drew it?
If not, eat your drawing and make a new one.
6. EXPERIMENT
Experiment with sketches. For instance:
- Change themes. Draw something that you would never (or could not) draw.
- Draw something in the style of Picasso, Rembrandt, Degas.
- Turn up Black Sabbath and draw. And then turn on Mozart and draw to his music.
- Draw ten varieties of sweets.
- Draw while standing.
- Draw in the crowd.
- Draw in the rain.
- Draw a nude self-portrait.
- Draw someone you can’t stand.
Let your drawings be small, ugly, unsuccessful. Remember, the purpose of the diary is different: to capture and capture a specific moment, to create something unique. Feel the value of every little thing in life. If you accumulate such small treasures every day, you will become rich.
Source: book by Danny Gregory .