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mysticsparklewings · 4 years

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Heaven Help Us

Happy Fake Your Death Day! :D Or at least that's what I'm calling today. For those who don't know, March 22, 2013, is the day My Chemical Romance officially broke up. afterward, March 22 was a significantly sad day for the fandom. The day we remembered what once was. Deathday. But that was before October 31, 2019. My Chemical Romance officially announced their Return. The world is currently a very uncertain place, including MCR's own concert dates, but I personally take solace in knowing that the impossible already happened once. It can happen again. We, the MCR fandom, hoped and waited and prayed for six whole years. I'm sure plenty of others were like myself and were just starting to lose the hope we'd held onto for so long...and then it happened. It really did. Moral of the story: Never lose hope. Good things come to those who wait. Have faith. Naturally, I had to do something for today. I've done tributes for the 22nd before, but all pre-Return. I'd say it had to be something special, but that's not strictly true. For me, all my MCR artworks are special. I don't do them too terribly often because I want them to be done right. I want to put everything I can into them. I want them to be the absolute best they can be. But I did know I wanted to draw all four of the main guys (left to right: Frank, Ray, Mikey, Gerard), since I've only attempted that one other time, and they came out much more chibi there. (Side note: I really need to find the time and patience to color that drawing at some point). This time I was hoping to still draw them in my style, but a tad more realistic. Or less chibi, anyway. While I was scouting out potential photos of the guys to use, among a few Danger Days/Killjoy pictures I was considering, I found this one that I really took a liking to. Largely this was because they didn't look quite as sour as they did in some of the other photos I was finding. They don't really look happy per se, but there's an almost hopeful or looking-for-guidance feel to their expressions that appealed to me. And then the idea to call the finished piece "Heaven Help Us," after one of their songs and do something with angel wings in the background occurred to me, and I just had to run with all of it. Naturally, I started by sketching the boys out. I ran into a little trouble with the proportions, and I'm very sure some of that leaked into the final product, but I did my best. I also did my best to capture their expressions, but I know I missed the mark on that in a few ways. Part of it is just there's only so much I can do with my style and expressions and still keeping them looking like guys and not little girls. (To which, I will admit, they probably do still look effeminate. That's just what happens to guys when I draw them in my style. ) I had to sit on the sketch for a couple of days after that though, both to figure out what I wanted to do beyond that and because I was just seriously lacking in the motivation to make more complicated art at the time. Fortunately though, when I did come back to it, I was able to come up with a fairly solid plan. I decided I'd paint the background separately with gouache and then ink and color the boys on another piece of paper. Originally, the plan was to also then physical cut the boys out and put them on the background, but naturally, I procrastinated the entire time I was working on this project and backed myself into a bit of time-crunch corner, so I had to forgo that idea and combine the two pieces digitally instead. Although, if I'm being honest, that might've been for the better, as I keep trying to imagine cutting out and around all those tiny pieces and sections around the edges and the longer I think the more than sounds like a good way to get a sore hand and lose all of my patience while holding a sharp object. In other words, no thank you. The background is definitely flawed, but landscape paintings aren't necessarily my cup of tea, so I went into painting it knowing that it didn't have to be perfect, it just had to be "close enough." The background in the original photo is a backdrop anyway (it's pretty obvious already but the harsh shadows the guys cast onto it really give it away), so I had a little bit of a leg up there. At least I wouldn't be trying to replicate an actual detailed landscape. So I went in with some yellow ochre, a rust-ish color, some white, and bit of a brown had leftover from one of my previous gouache painting sessions, and just eyeballed the features to the best of my ability. It looks like it's half-finished without the guys in front, but even so, I was still pretty satisfied with how it turned out. This project has also since reminded me I really need to find excuses to use gouache more often. It works so well for packing on color and blending but still having a lightness to it that acrylic paint just doesn't. Anyway. While the background dried, I got to figure out what to do for my four boys. I went back and forth a bit, but ultimately I decided to do most of the coloring with alcohol markers, except for the hair. The hair would be done with colored pencils. And I'd already decided I was not going to try to draw Gerard's shirt print and I'd just bring it in digitally. At the time, I was thinking I might do the same for Mikey's, but when I got to where I was almost done with the marker portions, I decided I'd take a risk and try my luck doing it by hand. I must say, I did better with it than I was expecting, so I call that a win. It was a little tricky to figure out what colors to use for the markers and pencils since the contrast and lighting is...not strictly normal. From what I can tell, the light is coming from pretty dead-on, almost like it's right behind and above the camera, and it's very bright. So much so that is washes all of them out to the point they kinda look like they all have the same skin color, which I know isn't completely accurate. In some ways, this made shading easier and in some ways, it also made it more confusing. There are places I'd normally put shadows where there don't appear to be any in the reference, so I left them alone, but it almost felt wrong at times. Gerard and Mikey's hair, in particular, was also a little tricky. Since this was around the time of Danger Days, Gee was dying his hair red and Mikey was dying most of his blonde. I had to get just the right shade of red and shade it appropriately, and it was actually more challenging than I thought it would be to get just the right shade of yellow and ombre balance for Mikey's. After I spent an eternity on both traditional parts though (the background and the guys themselves), it was finally time to move on. I scanned both pieces in and then booted them into photoshop. I cut the guys out of their plain white background and moved them onto the one I painted, then fiddled order with a Drop Shadow in the Blending Options to get those strong cast shadows behind them. They aren't a 1:1, but part of that is my proportions are different and also there was only so much I could do without just basically re-drawing the shadows in myself, which I wasn't too keen on doing. And then I came back to the idea that had originally sold me on this picture: The angel wings. While I was working on the other parts, I had gone back and forth over whether or not I wanted to include them, given how the original image looks and all, but once I saw what the final product looked like without them, I decided the wings were necessary. I simply grabbed a pair from PixaBay, my public-domain0image-site-poison of choice, then duplicated it so each guy would have a pair, then adjusted them as necessary to make them look more realistic as in being attached to the guys. I knew this wouldn't be fully possible based on how they're standing, but I made my peace with that and decided to just go with what I could do within reason. Once the wings were placed appropriately, I then fiddled with the layer options until I landed on one (I think it was either Overlay or Soft Light, I disremember) I was happy with. You can still see the wings, but they're not too in-your-face and distracting. And really, I like this look because it makes me think a lot of the angel statues they've been using in their Return promo stuff. That's really all there was too it. It took me three times as long as it should have because I was, as I said, just motivationally blocked (in working on bigger projects. I still wanted to create, but all I really wanted to make were simple things like the mandalas I've been experimenting with. I'm not sure what kind of selective laziness or creative block you call that ) for 80% of the time I was working on it, so it feels like this description should be a lot longer, but I think I've covered really everything that needs covering. I could describe in greater detail how many colors the layering I used, but it seems unnecessary unless I'm going to document all the specific colors I used and all that, which, spoiler alert, I don't have the patience for. And so, here it is. Like I said, I know the world is a very uncertain place right now, but I'm still thrilled that today is no longer the sad occasion it once was. I'm so glad My Chemical Romance is back, even if the future regarding not only them (as there's still so much we don't know), but the rest of the world too, is foggy and seems a little scary right now. If nothing else, I can now at least listen to their music and know, this is not all there is. This is not the end. In that vein, I leave you all with one of the most famous phrases from one of their songs: We'll Carry On. We will get through this, one way or another. May Death Never Stop You. ____ Artwork © me, MysticSparkleWings ____ Where to find me & my artwork: My Website | Commission Info + Prices | Ko-Fi | dA Print Shop | RedBubble | Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram

#mychemicalromance #mcr #mcrmy #killjoys

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networkingdefinition · 4 years

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New Year's Eve Quotes

Official Website: New Year's Eve Quotes

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• A flower is a daisy chain, a graduation, a valentine; a flower is New Year’s Eve and an orchid in your hair; a flower is a single geranium blooming in a tin can on a murky city fire-escape; an acre of roses at the Botanical Gardens; and the first gold crocus of spring! … a flower is a birth, a wedding, a leaving of this life. – Jean Hersey • A happy New Year! Grant that I May bring no tear to any eye When this New Year in time shall end Let it be said I’ve played the friend, Have lived and loved and labored here, And made of it a happy year. – Edgar Guest • A year of ending and beginning, a year of loss and finding… and all of you were with me through the storm. I drink your health, your wealth, your fortune for long years to come, and I hope for many more days in which we can gather like this. – C. J. Cherryh • All of us every single year, we’re a different person. I don’t think we’re the same person all our lives. – Steven Spielberg • An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves. – Bill Vaughan • And New Year’s Eve is very, very important to me. – Debbie Harry • And now we welcome the new year, full of things that have never been – Rainer Maria Rilke • Another fresh new year is here. Another year to live! To Banish worry, doubt and fear, to love and give – William Arthur Ward • Approach the New Year with resolve to find the opportunities hidden in each new day. – Michael Josephson • As a standup comedian, I’ve worked almost every New Year’s Eve of my adult life. It’s the best-paying night of the year. – Elayne Boosler

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'New+Year', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_new-year').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_new-year img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man. – Benjamin Franklin • Calgary wins for my coldest New Year’s Eve gig. That’s when I learned Fahrenheit and Celsius cross at 40 below. I could see callers’ breath coming out of my phone. – Elayne Boosler • celebratin’ New Year’s Eve is like eatin’ oranges. You got to let go your dignity t’ really enjoy ’em. – Edna Ferber • Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right. – Oprah Winfrey • Dieting on New Year’s Day isn’t a good idea as you can’t eat rationally but really need to be free to consume whatever is necessary, moment by moment, in order to ease your hangover. I think it would be much more sensible if resolutions began generally on January the second. – Helen Fielding • Do what you do. This Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year’s Eve, Twelfth Night, Valentine’s Day, Mardi Gras, St. Paddy’s Day, and every day henceforth. Just do what you do. Live out your life and your traditions on your own terms. If it offends others, so be it. That’s their problem. – Chris Rose • Drop the last year into the silent limbo of the past. Let it go, for it was imperfect, and thank God that it can go. – Brooks Atkinson • Each age has deemed the new-born year the fittest time for festal cheer. – Walter Scott • Every man regards his own life as the New Year’s Eve of time. – Jean Paul • Every New Year’s Eve, I have a pact to do something I never thought I’d do. So I created this list. You have to free your mind to do things you wouldn’t think of doing. Don’t ever say no. – Carl Lewis • Every time the ball drop on New Year’s Eve, We toast to more money, we smoke to more cheese. – Prodigy • Every time you tear a leaf off a calendar, you present a new place for new ideas and progress. – Charles Kettering • Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith. – Henry Ward Beecher • For a new year to bring you something new, make a move, like a butterfly tearing its cocoon! Make a move! – Mehmet Murat Ildan • For last year’s words belong to last year’s language And next year’s words await another voice. – T. S. Eliot • For the millennium [New Year’s Eve], you really have a choice to make. You either have to be naked with your head on fire and a shotgun in Bali or else you have to spend time with friends or family around the fireplace. And I’m choosing option B – Tom Morello • For years, I worked seven-day weeks, through birthdays and most public holidays, Christmases and New Year’s Eves included. I worked mornings and afternoons, resuming work after dinner. I remember feeling as if life were a protracted exercise in pulling myself out of a well by a rope, and that rope was work. – Antonella Gambotto-Burke • From New Year’s on the outlook brightens; good humor lost in a mood of failure returns. I resolve to stop complaining. – Leonard Bernstein • Games were moved to New Year’s Eve as part of a plan by college football executives where they want to create a tradition of watching football on New Year’s Eve. – Audie Cornish • Glory to God in highest heaven, Who unto man His Son hath given; While angels sing with tender mirth, A glad new year to all the earth. – Martin Luther • God, do I hate my little fat tits. You ever pinch your little meat tits and wish you were dead? You ever just stand naked in the mirror. “You little fat-titted mediocre failure!” You ever do that for 3 hours on New Year’s Eve. – Jim Norton • Good resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account. – Oscar Wilde • He who breaks a resolution is a weakling; He who makes one is a fool. – Farquhar McGillivray Knowles • Hope Smiles from the threshold of the year to come, Whispering ‘it will be happier’. – Alfred Lord Tennyson • I always work on New Year’s Eve, no matter what. – Debbie Harry • I don’t even drink! I can’t stand the taste of alcohol. Every New Year’s Eve I try one drink and every time it makes me feel sick. So I don’t touch booze – I’m always the designated driver. – Kim Kardashian • I get myself a gig somewhere, whether it’s in a club, whether it’s in a bar, it doesn’t matter, and I just work on New Year’s Eve because I always feel it’s very symbolic for me for the next year, for the new year. – Debbie Harry • I had a terrible fight with my wife on New Year’s Eve. She called me a procrastinator. So I finished addressing the Christmas cards and left. – Robert Orben • I hate New Year’s Eve. One more chance to remember that you haven’t yet done what you wanted. And to pretend it doesn’t matter. – Gregory Maguire • I have no way of knowing how people really feel, but the vast majority of those I meet couldn’t be nicer. Every once in a while someone barks at me. My New Year’s resolution is not to bark back. – Tucker Carlson • I have spent every New Year’s Eve since 1992 in Lourdes. I spend the hour of my birth every year in the grotto. It’s a place with meaning for me. – Paulo Coelho • I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes…you’re Doing Something. – Neil Gaiman • I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something. – Neil Gaiman • I like to work on New Year’s Eve. It has a nice spirit; a nice feel about it. If you are all about the ‘year-end’ thing at all, then laughing with fellow human beings is a great way to start the new year. – Paula Poundstone • I love watching ‘Twilight Zone.’ New Year’s Eve they do the marathon; I watch it every year. – Gerard Way • I made no resolutions for the New Year. The habit of making plans, of criticizing, sanctioning and molding my life, is too much of a daily event for me. – Anais Nin • I saw Ronnie Hawkins play near my hometown, Port Dover, Ontario, and I saw him play there on New Year’s Eve and the following spring I booked myself to be his opening act on maybe five shows, and he hired me after the first night. – Rick Danko • I think in terms of the day’s resolutions, not the years’. – Henry Moore • I was a total nerd growing up. I’d rather sit home and read a novel on New Year’s Eve and say, ‘Wow, I read the whole thing in one night!’ That was my idea of a big time. – Beth Broderick • I was at a New Year’s Eve party, and someone asked me how was my year, and I said, ‘I honestly think 2011 was the best year of my entire life,’ and I actually meant it. – Dave Grohl • I won’t be going to any New Year’s Eve parties because I think they’re naff. No one over the age of 15 should bother going to parties. – Julie Burchill • i would like to remind the management that the drinks are watered and the hat-check girl has syphilis and the band is composed of former ss monsters However since it is new year’s eve and i have lip cancer i will place my paper hat on my concussion and dance – Leonard Cohen • I would rather receive a Pap smear from Captain Hook than venture out on New Year’s Eve. – Jen Lancaster • I would say happy new year, but it’s not happy; it’s exactly the same as last year except colder. – Robert Clark • If the age of the Earth were a calendar year and today were a breath before midnight on New Year’s Eve, we showed up a scant fifteen minutes ago, and all of recorded history has blinked by in the last sixty seconds. Luckily for us, our planet-mates–the fantastic meshwork of plants, animals, and microbes–have been patiently perfecting their wares since March, an incredible 3.8 billion years since the first bacteria. …After 3.8 billion years of research and development, failures are fossils, and what surrounds us is the secret to survival. – Janine Benyus • If you asked me for my New Year Resolution, it would be to find out who I am. – Cyril Cusack • If you feel compelled to give a New Year’s Eve party, don’t invite people to arrive too early or they’ll go off the boil before midnight. – Jilly Cooper • If you over plan New Year’s Eve it’s going to be a disaster so you have to be alive to changes. – Cate Blanchett • I’m usually at home and in bed by 10 o’clock. I do not want to be out at anybody’s New Year’s Eve party. – Andre Leon Talley • It goes Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Valentine’s Day. Is that fair to anyone who’s alone? These are all days you gotta be with someone. And if you didn’t get around to killing yourself at Christmas or New Year’s, boom! There’s Valentine’s Day. I think there should be one more after Valentine’s Day just called, ‘Who could love you?’ – Laura Kightlinger • It was February sixth: eight days until Valentine’s Day. I was dateless, as usual, deep in the vice grip of unrequited love. It was bad enough not having a boyfriend for New Year’s Eve. Now I had to cope with Valentine datelessness, feeling consummate social pressure from every retailer in America who stuck hearts and cupids in their windows by January second to rub it in. – Joan Bauer • It’s hard to say what I meant by “as we know it.” I’m not about to go up on a mountain on new year’s eve and wait for the lightening to strike. – Hunter S. Thompson • I’ve had some lovely extraordinary experiences on New Year’s Eve. – Debbie Harry • Let each new year find you a better person. – Benjamin Franklin • Let our New Year’s resolution be this: we will be there for one another as fellow members of humanity, in the finest sense of the word. – Goran Persson • Let the dead Past bury its dead! – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow • Let this coming year be better than all the others. Vow to do some of the things you have always wanted to do but could not find the time. Call up a forgotten friend. Drop an old grudge, and replace it with some pleasant memories. Vow not to make a promise you do not think you can keep. Walk tall, and smile more. You will look 10 years younger. Do not be afraid to say, I love you. Say it again. They are the sweetest words in the world. – Ann Landers • Let this coming year be better than all the others. Vow to do some of the things you’ve always wanted to do but couldn’t find the time. – Ann Landers • Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before. Whatever you’re scared of doing, Do it. – Neil Gaiman • Make New Year’s goals. Dig within, and discover what you would like to have happen in your life this year. This helps you do your part. It is an affirmation that you’re interested in fully living life in the year to come. – Melody Beattie • Make your mistakes, next year and forever. – Neil Gaiman • Many years ago I resolved never to bother with New Year’s resolutions, and I’ve stuck with it ever since. – Dave Beard • May all your troubles last as long as your New Year’s resolutions. – Joey Lauren Adams • May the New Year bring you courage to break your resolutions early! – Aleister Crowley • May the New Year bring you courage to break your resolutions early! My own plan is to swear off every kind of virtue, so that I triumph even when I fall! – Aleister Crowley • Maybe this year, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives not looking for flaws, but looking for potential. – Ellen Goodman • My look is always glitzy for New Year’s Eve, even if I am at home. – Gloria Gaynor • My New Year’s Eve Toast: to all the devils, lusts, passions, greeds, envies, loves, hates, strange desires, enemies ghostly and real, the army of memories, with which I do battle — may they never give me peace. (New Year’s Eve, 1947) – Patricia Highsmith • My New Year’s Eve is always 2 July, the night before my birthday. That’s the night I make my resolutions. And this year scares the life out of me, because no matter how successful, how good things appear, there is always a deep core of failure within me, although I am trying to deal with it. My biggest fear, this coming year, is that I will be waking up alone. It makes me wonder how many bodies will be fished out of the Thames, how many decaying corpses will be found in one-room flats. I’m just being realistic. – Tracey Emin • My New Year’s resolution was to stop saying ‘You go, girl’ to myself. – Zach Galifianakis • My parents used to throw great New Year’s Eve parties. They invited such an eclectic mix of showbiz people. All those cool people were always hanging out at our apartment. – Ben Stiller • Never tell your resolution beforehand, or it’s twice as onerous a duty. – John Selden • New Year’s Day is every man’s birthday. – Charles Lamb • New Year’s Eve always terrifies me. – Charles Bukowski • New Year’s eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights. – Hamilton Wright Mabie • New Year’s Eve, we’re going to be doing a concert with the Philadelphia Orchestra in Symphony Hall. It makes me feel good, because of all the people they could have had, they wanted me! We do have to do a little work with the rhythm section. – Barbara Cook • New Year’s Eve, where auld acquaintance be forgot. Unless, of course, those tests come back positive. – Jay Leno • New Year’s Eve. It’s a promise of a night. Single, married or widowed, in love, loveless or lovelorn, we all leave our apartments and pick through snow in high heels, or descend subway stairs in tuxedos, lured to wherever we’re going–whether we know it or not, would deny it or not–by the kiss of a stranger. – Jardine Libaire • New Year’s is a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls and humbug resolutions. – Mark Twain • New Year’s Resolution: To tolerate fools more gladly, provided this does not encourage them to take up more of my time. – James Agate • Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. – Mark Twain • Now there are more overweight people in America than average-weight people. So overweight people are now average. Which means you’ve met your New Year’s resolution. – Jay Leno • Of all sound of all bells… most solemn and touching is the peal which rings out the Old Year. – Charles Lamb • On New Year’s Eve he ould make a resolution to recover some his previous scepticism, but until then he would do as the Romans do, and smile at people even if he disapproved of them – Nick Hornby • On New Year’s Eve, my dear friend lost his battle with depression . . . Though he wasn’t the first friend I’ve lost to suicide, I sure hope he’s the last. I wish I had the chance to go back and tell them what they meant to me. I wish I had the chance to beg them to seek help, to keep fighting. I wish they knew that they were surrounded by countless others who struggle on a daily basis. – Jared Padalecki • One of the many reasons I love living in New York is that we get a front row seat to the innumerable thrills that take place here – from conventions and awards shows, to parades and U.N. assemblies. But my favorite New York tradition is the annual New Year’s Eve ball-drop on Times Square. – Marlo Thomas • One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: ‘To rise above little things’. – John Burroughs • Only sad sacks and conformists need things like no kiss on New Year’s Eve to remind them to feel lonely. They’re as bad as the people who need St. Patty’s Day as an excuse to get drunk or Halloween to wear slutty outfits. You can feel sorry for yourself and dress like a hooker all year round: Hallmark never needs to know. – Julie Klausner • Ring out the false, ring in the true. – Alfred Lord Tennyson • Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true. – Alfred Lord Tennyson • Shaving my head was a millennium ritual, to not let it pass as just another New Year’s Eve. A lot has happened to me in the last couple of years, personally and spiritually. I wanted to mark it for myself. – Joan Jett • So I started shoveling Bob’s driveway, which is a strange thing to do at a New Years Eve Party – Stephen Chbosky • So that’s my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before. Don’t freeze, don’t stop, don’t worry that it isn’t good enough, or it isn’t perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life. – Neil Gaiman • Spend your free time the way you like, not the way you think you’re supposed to. Stay home on New Year’s Eve if that’s what makes you happy. Skip the committee meeting. Cross the street to avoid making aimless chitchat with random acquaintances. Read. Cook. Run. Write a story. Make a deal with yourself that you’ll attend a set number of social events in exchange for not feeling guilty when you beg off. – Susan Cain • St. Patrick’s Day is the fourth biggest drinking day in America. It’s not the biggest. It’s right behind New Year’s Eve, Fourth of July, or any Secret Service party. – David Letterman • The feeling I have reminds me of New Year’s Eve, when the countdown is coming and I’m not quite sure whether to grab my camera or just live in the moment. Usually I grab the camera and later regret it when the picture doesn’t turn out. Then I feel enormously let down and think to myself that the night would have been more fun if it didn’t mean quite so much, if I weren’t forced to analyze where I’ve been and where I’m going. – Emily Giffin • The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. – Eleanor Roosevelt • The last thing I stole was a box of Coca Cola from a parked truck in Adelaide. I was nice and drunk. It was New Year’s Eve. And that was about 28 years ago. – Ronald Biggs • The merry year is born Like the bright berry from the naked thorn. – Hartley Coleridge • The new year begins in a snow-storm of white vows. – George William Curtis • The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written. We can help write that story by setting goals. – Melody Beattie • the object of a new year is not that we should have a new year, but rather that we should have a new soul. – Gilbert K. Chesterton • The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Unless a particular man made New Year resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective. – Gilbert K. Chesterton • The only way to spend New Year’s Eve is either quietly with friends or in a brothel. Otherwise when the evening ends and people pair off, someone is bound to be left in tears. – W. H. Auden • The proper behavior all through the holiday season is to be drunk. This drunkenness culminates on New Year’s Eve, when you get so drunk you kiss the person you’re married to. – P. J. O’Rourke • This leg will be known as Christmas, and this leg will be known as New Year’s Eve! Ladies…why don’t you all come visit the Big Valbowski between the holidays. – Val Venis • Time is the school in which we learn, time is the fire in which we burn. – Delmore Schwartz • To me, doing a gay pride show is one of the most fun things. My first show that paid more than $10,000 was in a gay club on New Year’s Eve in San Francisco. – Queen Latifah • To shut the door at the end of the workday, which does not spill over into evening. To throw away books after reading them so theydon’t have to be dusted. To go through boxes on New Year’s Eve and throw out half of what is inside. Sometimes for extravagance to pick a bunch of flowers for the one table. Other women besides me must have this daydream about a carefree life. – Maxine Hong Kingston • To this day, on my cheat days from my diet, which are New Year’s Eve and my birthday, I buy luxury foods that are very indicative of my class. – Sandra Cisneros • Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365-page book. Write a good one. – Brad Paisley • Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. – H. Jackson Brown, Jr. • We spend January 1st walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives…not looking for flaws, but for potential. – Ellen Goodman • We’ve made mistakes, But we’ve made good friends too. Remember all the nights we spent with them? And all our plans, Who says they can’t come true? Tonight’s another chance to start again. It’s just another New Year’s Eve, Another night like all the rest. – Barry Manilow • What you do for Jewish New Year is you go down to Times Square. It’s a lot quieter than the regular New Year. It’s just a few Jews walking around going, “sup?” – Jon Stewart • When I go, I’ll take New Year’s Eve with me. – Guy Lombardo • When I played the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year’s Eve, I got to bring Wiley, my 85-pound black lab. He’s responsible for my favorite New Year’s memory of all: At the end of the show, he ran onstage and then out across all the tables in the showroom, sending champagne glasses and gamblers flying. – Elayne Boosler • When I stopped wanting my New Year’s Eve to be perfect, to bring in the New Year right, is when it started working out right. When I was young, I was always looking for the best party to be at, to ring in the New Year, and I always ended up in the car going, “Happy New Year.” – Hilary Swank • Whether we want them or not, the New Year will bring new challenges; whether we seize them or not, the New year will bring new opportunities. – Michael Josephson • Women get a little more excited about New Year’s Eve than men do. It’s like an excuse: you drink too much, you make a lot of promises you’re not going to keep; the next morning as soon as you wake up you start breaking them. For men, we just call that a date. – Jay Leno • Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. – Ralph Waldo Emerson • Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us. Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right. – Oprah Winfrey • You staying home all alone on New Year’s Eve? Unthinkable. Take my advice the countdown should be shared with someone, or it’s just another set of numbers passing you by. – E. A. Bucchianeri • Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties”.- Helen Keller, American author, political activist, and lecturer “Let our New Year’s resolution be this: we will be there for one another as fellow members of humanity, in the finest sense of the word. – Goran Persson Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. -Steve Jobs • Youth is when you’re allowed to stay up late on New Year’s Eve. Middle age is when you’re forced to. – Bill Vaughan

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equitiesstocks · 4 years

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New Year's Eve Quotes

Official Website: New Year's Eve Quotes

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branexdigital-blog · 5 years

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What are some of the most clever ways to escape/prevent writer's block?

Flow is a state of being where a person is so lost and emotionally involved in an activity that time ceases to exist. It’s a place where you’re passionate and inspired to produce your best work.

But there are times when you try hard to put your best art, but nothing brilliant or creative comes out. In short, you’re suffering from a mendable condition known in creative circles as a creative block or an artist’s block.

Creative block is the last thing that you want to deal with when the client hovering over your head for the final designs for his print campaign.

Everyone deals with creative block differently. A website designer might go for an outdoor adventure to get going. An architect might walk around the metropolis to get inspired. A writer might turn the pages of his favourite book.

There’s no one-size-fits-all formula of getting rid of that creative rust.

So, if you’re down in the dumps, fret not, we have some bodacious tips to help you rise from the ashes of your creative block.

“If you want to be a good artist, you need to look at other artists, make much crappy art, and just keep working.” ~Sydney Pink

1. TRY DIGITAL DETOX

“Walk away from the computer and draw.” ~Gerard Huerta

As designers, we create most of our work digitally, and this demands us to be glued to our computer screens. However, at times, all you need is a simple refresher.

My dad always advised me, ‘When you are stuck with something, walk away from it.’ You can apply this theory to everything.

From writing to designing, whenever you’re stuck with something, declutter your mind by moving away from your computer.

Ideas will flow. Innovation will happen. You’ll be amazed by how creative you can get by going for a walk.

For designers, the best thing is to start sketching. Grab a pen, paper, and start drawing whatever comes to your mind. Don’t overthink, start drawing. The act of drawing alone will give your brain a new perspective to think.

2. DO SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

“Go wash dishes!” ~Kate Spade

Occasionally, try to do something completely different. When you get a creative block, it means that there are hurdles in your thoughts. To clear these hurdles, try to do something different.

It can be as small as washing dishes. When you wash dishes, you are not doing anything new. You are sub-consciously doing a repeated activity. This will give your mind a break and put it in a relaxed state.

It’s not necessary to do something unproductive. You can relax your mind while being productive. Organize books in your library, write down daily expenses, or reorganize your desk. Just break the rut and do something different to clear your cluttered mind’s cache.

3. BREAK IT DOWN

“Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.” ~Vincent Van Gogh

Sometimes the start is the most challenging part. Once you’re in rhythm, things get easy.

When there is something huge in front of you, the best approach is to break it down in small chunks. Moreover, deal with each chunk one step at a time. A series of small steps will establish motivation and clear-up space in your mind.

Big picture often paralyzes the artist. The only way to deal with it is to handle it in parts.

Seek new ways to manage a big project by dividing it into manageable chunks. You can tackle them one at a time, and the big picture will come together bit by bit.

4. PUSH THE ENVELOPE

“Inspiration is for amateurs—the rest of us just show up and get to work.” ~Chuck Close

Any creative undertaking requires waiting for that bolt of inspiration to strike. However, when you wait for it, you forget that creativity strikes when we work hard.

It’s so easy to procrastinate and leave out whatever seems complicated. The creative geniuses suggest that even if something seems impossible, dive your head into it. Every day show up and figure out new ways to achieve the desired result. There is a good chance that creativity will come along for the ride.

While it is not okay to use pressure every time creative block hits you, but the fear of deadline will surely pump the required adrenaline to unleash the genius within you.

Austin Kleon in his groundbreaking book, ‘Steal Like an Artist’ talks about setting deadlines, and that pushes you to go beyond creative block. Setting deadlines will reveal and expand your limits to achieve the new creative genius.

5. TAKE A NAP

“I feel most creative if I have enough sleep.” ~Rei Kawakubo

A famous painter, Salvador Dali from the 1900s developed a napping hack to generate new ideas.

Dali would sit around with one arm on the armrest and other hanging with a metal key in hand, with an upside-down plate just beneath it.

As soon as Dali would doze off and start to fall asleep, the key would fall from his hands, hit the plate and wake him up from his nap.

At that moment, creative ideas would hit him.

Related Read: 5 Incredible Business Ideas in Dubai to Start on a Low Budget

Neuroscientists at the City University of New York found that taking a nap boosts a sophisticated type of memory that helps us see big-picture ideas and be more creative. The modern-day science tells us that taking regular naps around 60-90 minutes long can unleash the creative child genius within us.

NAPS AND CREATIVITY

THERE YOU GO!

Creative block happens to the best of us, but it doesn’t have to stop you in your tracks. By paying heed to the little yet effective pieces of advice that we have shared above, you’ll be back on track in no time. Whenever you’re stuck with the creative block, you can go through these tips and let the world to marvel at your creative genius.

We paint elements on the web is such a way that people talk about us on social media. We offer smart website design and development solutions for serious entrepreneurs and SMEs.

Original Source: 5 Clever Ways to Eliminate Creative Block and Unleash your Creative Genius

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limejuicer1862 · 5 years

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Wombwell Rainbow Interviews

I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me. I gave the writers two options: an emailed list of questions or a more fluid interview via messenger.

The usual ground is covered about motivation, daily routines and work ethic, but some surprises too. Some of these poets you may know, others may be new to you. I hope you enjoy the experience as much as I do.

Sarah Westcott

Sarah Westcott’s first poetry collection Slant Light was published by Pavilion Poetry, an imprint of Liverpool University Press, in 2016. A poem from the book was Highly Commended in the 2017 Forward Prizes. Her debut pamphlet Inklings, published by Flipped Eye, was a winner of the Venture Poetry Award and the Poetry Book Society’s Pamphlet Choice for Winter 2013.

Sarah’s poems have appeared in magazines including Poetry Review, POEM, Magma and Butcher’s Dog, on beermats, billboards and the side of buses, and in anthologies including Best British Poetry and The Forward Book of Poetry.

She was a poet-in-residence at the Bethnal Green Nature Reserve in London in 2015 and Manchester Cathedral poet of the year in 2016. She won first place in The London Magazine poetry prize in 2017 and the Poets and Players competition in 2018. Sarah grew up on the edge of Exmoor, lives on the London/Kent borders with her family and works as a freelance writer after twenty years as a Fleet Street news reporter. She has a science degree and an MA in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway, University of London.

Sarah has run poetry workshops at schools and for the Second Light Network for women poets, and in 2019 starts work as a poetry tutor for City Lit in Covent Garden. She is an experienced and sensitive editor and offers a professional manuscript critique service for writers ranging from their first pamphlet to a full collection.

Website: https://www.sarahwestcott.co.uk

The Interview

When and why did you start writing poetry?

I had always written and doodled in notebooks and in my head as a child and teenager but I didn’t start taking any notice of it until my children were young and I was in my early thirties. I felt like something was ‘missing’ but I couldn’t put my finger on it. ~then I realised it was, without sounding pretentious, my creativity. I needed to access that part of myself. I only studied English up to GCSE level (although I kept on reading). I took an introductory OU course in poetry and another on short fiction – they were only about three months long. It was one of those light-bulb moments – you could say poetry ‘found me’. I remember going to see Jackie Kay read aloud in a church in London and I was in awe of seeing a real poet in the flesh, reading their work. She was captivating. That was the beginning of my poetry journey

1.1. What was it about Jackie Kay’s performance that had you “in awe”?

I think I had thought, maybe subconsciously, that all poets were old white men, and often dead, and almost not real. But here was a real woman with a beautiful voice speaking her poems to a packed church and suddenly poetry was accessible to someone like me.. I think I was in awe because she was able to captivate the entire audience through her voice and her words – no special equipment or anything – just her living voice and that was the first time I had heard a real poet reach people like that.

2. How aware are and were you of the dominating presence of older poets traditional and contemporary?

I was aware of a canon of mostly dead white men and I knew I was ignorant when it came to understanding their poetry because I stopped studying English after GCSE. It felt like these poems were full of riddles or literary allusions that I had no chance of ‘getting’. I still feel a little like that now. I think it is partly to do with the type of education you have and mine was at a comprehensive school where my abiding memories of English were marking each others’ spelling tests. I had read a little Ted Hughes, Philip Larkin and some of the war poets at school but not really any women apart from Sylvia Plath. I used to dip into an anthology called Palgrave’s Golden Treasury when I was bored at work in my twenties and I loved Gerard Manley Hopkins. But I didn’t really know any modern women poets and once I began reading them – Gillian Clark for example, a whole world opened up. I loved it that she wrote about domesticity, for example – I remember reading her poem The Sundial in which she starts by writing about a sick child and it was so heartening that women were writing about this sort of thing. These revelations were only about 12 years ago which shows how quickly things have changed.

3. What is your daily writing routine?

I don’t have one as I have a lot of caring responsibilities at the moment and I’m learning on the job as poetry tutor as well. But what I do try and do is find the time to read a little bit every day. I make sure I write into my notebook at least once a week when my three-year-old is asleep or at nursery. I often start with a free write or I might even just take my notebook out with me when I walk the dog and treat it like a ‘field trip’. I love doing this. I try and make the most of any time I have by getting something down – it doesn’t matter if it is rubbish or not. Sometimes 20 mins is enough, especially if it something I have ben thinking about for a while. Then I have something to work with. If I don’t read and write I start to feel restless and sad. I actually find having very little time very helpful in that I dont waste it procrastinating – I just sit down and write. Likewise, train journeys are a blessing as long as I have a seat and something to write with!

5. What motivates you to write?

I am motivated by being alive – to capture something of the extraordinary quality of being a sentient being and then to connect with others – I am also motivated by observing and being curious. I love the euphoric feeling of making or creating something new from words, something that is both idea and music, that has not been made before and which reaches to other humans. If someone responds to a poem you have written it is a wonderful feeling. I am also motivated, perhaps weirdly, to leave something behind of me when I am gone. I am increasingly driven to write about the climate crisis too. I feel you cannot write without writing of it, somehow – it is a grave backdrop to everything.

6. How do the writers you read when you were young influence you today?

I think it is more a subconscious influence – a lot of the stories I read when young seeped in and helped form me. I loved Judy Blume – her stories had a lot of darkness and humanity in them. Likewise the Chronicles of Narnia. I think they all go towards making up your psyche and also the richness of the place you draw from when you write. My dad used to read me Robert Louis Stevenson verses when I was young and their imaginative flight definitely stayed with me – that sense of possibility and play.

Maggie Smith said she was given the advice ‘write what scares you’ very early on. I spent a lot of time being terrified by what I read – I remember being terrified of witches and also reading the end of 1984 and understanding that Winston had figuratively died – I remember his gin-soaked tears. I think that writing and reading is a way of facing that existential terror within yourself because there is no where to hide – you are facing hard truths.

7. Who of today’s writers do you admire the most and why?

SO much extraordinary and powerful and important work is being made at the moment. I keep a tally of the books I read each year and put a heart by the ones that affected me most. In the last few months for me, Max Porter for his hybridity and linguistic verve, Ilya Kaminsky, Fiona Benson (her fierce and tender poems) . I also loved Sean Hewitt’s Lantern and I love the way Alice Oswald listens in to the natural world..

8. What would you say to someone who asked you “How do you become a writer?”

How do you become a writer? I love Mary Oliver’s dictum “Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” I think we are all writers – stay curious, observe and read. When you are ready, come to a blank page with all your senses open and do not be afraid to just write. Like running, one foot in front of another. One word after another. I find free writing really helpful. Or writing letters. Anything that connects the subconscious mind with the hand on the page, or whatever works for you. Editing uses a different part of the brain. Do not worry about getting an audience or being published. Just write with your heart open.

9. Tell me about the writing projects you have on at the moment.

I am working towards my second collection with Pavilion poetry – there seem to be some poems exploring our relationship with trees and flowers and trying to have a conversation with the natural world. I feel like I am in the realm of Keat’s negative capability – that is, not knowing or being capable of mysteries. It’s quite exciting – the book is quietly forming and re-forming. There’s a sense of ripping up my old way of writing and beginning again, also of taking as long as it will take. I’m lucky to be part of a workshop group called Nevada Street Poets and we are celebrating our tenth anniversary this year and putting together a collection of essays . Mine is on looking .

Wombwell Rainbow Interviews: Sarah Westcott Wombwell Rainbow Interviews I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me.

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pamelahetrick · 6 years

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9 professional designers tips for overcoming creative block

There’s something about the creative process that requires you to be in a certain frame of mind, to be feeling inspired and focused and in the zone so that you can create your best work. So it’s especially frustrating when you’re chugging along, trying to be your most brilliant, creative self–and, suddenly, nothing feels right. You’re struggling with creative block.

Creative block is the last thing you need when your whole job is built on being inventive. You can do all the right things to set yourself up for success at the start of a project, but that still doesn’t guarantee that you won’t run into The Dreaded Block. But don’t fret, dear designer, read on! Here are 9 top tips from professional designers and famous artists on how to overcome creative block and stay inspired.

The (sometimes long-winded) process of dealing with creative block by Adam J. Kurtz

What works best when trying to overcome creative block is different for everyone. Even professional designers with years of experience face creative block and deal with it in different ways. So when creative block inevitably strikes, dip into some of these tips and see what sticks: get inspired by other artists and creatives; do something completely different; try another approach to your work; or just take a break.

1. Try a digital detox —

Walk away from the computer and draw.

- Gerard Huerta

Many of us spend their days glued to the computer screen. As a designer in the digital age we create most of our work digitally. But sometimes all you need to do is get back to basics. Typographer and graphic designer Gerard Huerta recommends, “When you are stuck, walk away from the computer and draw. It will teach you how to see.”

Grab a pencil and start drawing! Pencil drawing by Pixeleiderdown

Get away from your daily desk routine and take a walk with your sketchbook. You may be surprised by the ideas that start flowing through your head when you swap a glowing computer screen for a pen and paper. The act of drawing with an actual pen (or pencil or even paint) on actual paper will make you look at things differently and will give you a whole new perspective on whatever you’re working on.

2. Remember that you can’t force creativity —

Forcing ourselves to ‘be creative’ is pointless.

- Adam J. Kurtz

If nothing seems to be working, here’s a pro tip: don’t force it. Take a page out of designer, artist and author Adam J. Kurtz‘s book and give yourself time to look at your work with fresh eyes. Here’s his advice: “Forcing ourselves to ‘be creative’ is pointless. It’s not a manual skill that you either do or don’t, but a series of emotional and mental tasks that sometimes just don’t come together.”

Book cover of “Things are what you make of them – Life advice for creatives” by Adam J. Kurtz.

Everyone loses steam sometimes. It’s ok to walk away and try again later on, after you’ve given your brain a break. You may be pleasantly surprised to see what happens after a little recharge time.

Adam explains: “We all know what our work looks like when we’ve stayed up all night and then see it with fresh eyes in the morning. So if there’s not an immediate emergency rush, I like to just walk away. Do something else and maybe let the ideas float in the back of your head until you’re ready to make the work for real.”

3. Find new sources of inspiration

—

Do something completely out of your comfort zone.

- Ocelittle

Inspiration is everywhere. Looking at other artists’ work can be incredibly inspiring. And especially if their work is different to what you’re used to, immersing yourself in something new can generate tons of new ideas. 99designs Top Level designer Ocelittle recommends, “Do something completely out of your comfort zone. Is there an artist or designer that you admire? Great! Try putting yourself in their shoes and try again. You might learn something new while getting rid of your creative block.”

Illustrative logo design by Ocelittle

So go ahead and ask yourself “what would my favorite artist do?”, even if it takes you out of your comfort zone. As long as the answer isn’t “light my computer on fire”, you’re guaranteed at least one new idea.

And don’t forget: inspiration can be found anywhere, not just in the visual arts. When in doubt, immerse yourself in a cultural experience outside of your work: go to a movie, a play or a concert. This is an opportunity to awaken your senses (and hopefully uncover some of your greatest ideas).

4. Take on a monotonous task

—

Go wash dishes!

- Sali Designs

Whether it’s cleaning the house or going for a long run, sometimes you just need to do something to clear your head. A simple, methodical task is exactly what you need to give your mind a break and reboot.

How about you do some paperwork for a change? Design by Sali Designs.

So 99designs Top Level designer Sali Designs’ advice is simple: “Go wash dishes! It’s a repetitive task that doesn’t require that much cerebral activity. By the time I finish, I’m relaxed and ready to tackle my work again.”

There are tons of things you can do to relax your creative muscle and still do something productive: try reorganizing your filing system or doing your taxes. Chances are that after doing that for long enough you’ll be craving some creative work.

5. Allow yourself to fail —

Are you holding yourself back because you’re afraid your work won’t be good enough? It’s time to shake off your worries and push through. Taking risks will help you to sharpen your skills—and who knows!—you may find yourself creating work you never dreamed possible.

Design by C1k

When working on an important project, oftentimes we’re afraid to fail. So we stick to what we know and don’t dare to try something new.

It’s through mistakes that you actually can grow.

- Paula Scher

Paula Scher, one of the most influential graphic designers of our time, knows that sometimes the best work sprouts from mistakes: “It’s through mistakes that you actually can grow. You have to get bad in order to get good.”

So take it from Paula Scher and let yourself fail once in a while. Allowing ourselves to make mistakes is how we learn and challenge our creativity. It’s time to embrace what Bob Ross liked to call “happy little accidents.”

6. Take care of yourself

—

I feel most creative if I have enough sleep.

- Maneka

Listen to your body. If you’re finding yourself tense with pressure, give yourself permission to abandon your struggle. Breathe, eat a snack, opt for a nap, or do something else. Be kind to yourself. Sometimes taking care of yourself is all you need to recharge and trigger a breakthrough.

Health first! Logo design by maneka

For 99designs Top Level designer Maneka feeling well rested is crucial to foster creativity: “I don’t know why, but I feel most creative if I have enough sleep.”

People in all lines of work need to practice a little self care every now and then—and especially for creatives it’s important to not forget about your body’s needs in order to get into the right frame of mind. It’s fairly easy to get sucked into a project and forget to eat or sleep… eventually that’s always going to come back around to bite you. A tired and hungry body will keep you from doing your best work. So make sure you create space for self care in your daily routine.

7. Break it down into manageable chunks

—

Sometimes a project or task can seem so big and overwhelming that we lose track of what really matters and we get stuck. Time to take a step back.

Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.

- Vincent Van Gogh

Looks like it is literally made of tiny little chunks: Van Gogh’s self-portrait at the Musée d’Orsay, Paris

Post-impressionist painter Vincent Van Gogh famously said, “Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.” It can be easy to feel overwhelmed by the big picture, and sometimes that can be paralyzing. It can completely kill your creativity.

The solution: Find ways to manage your projects so that they’re divided into manageable chunks. You can tackle them one at a time and the big picture will come together bit by bit.

8. Apply some pressure

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As creatives we sometimes sit around and wait for inspiration to strike. Famous photorealist painter, artist and photographer Chuck Close has a much more pragmatic view on the matter: “Inspiration is for amateurs—the rest of us just show up and get to work.

Inspiration is for amateurs—the rest of us just show up and get to work.

- Chuck Close

Creativity takes work. Self-portrait composite by famous photorealist artist Chuck Close.

Procrastination is the easy way out when a difficult task looms over us and we’re not sure how to tackle it. Chuck Close’s plan of attack is simple: dive into work head first and keep going even when things get tough. We can’t force creativity, but we can show up to work. Every day. By pushing through and sticking with a task, you can actively do something to generate new work and new ideas—and chances are creativity will come along for the ride.

While pressure may not always be the solution, sometimes it’s just what you need to get over a creative slump. If there’s one thing that can get your adrenaline pumping, it’s a hard deadline.

99designs designer Sali Designs explains, “One of my favorite books is ‘Steal Like an Artist’ by Austin Kleon. His theory is that having limitless possibilities is the main reason behind creative block, thus putting constraints and limits on oneself is the key. So I always limit myself by setting deadlines and that pushes me to go beyond creative block.”

10. Don’t be afraid to push boundaries

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Is it possible that you’re putting up your own creative barriers out of fear of pushing your skills?

Creativity takes courage.

- Henri Matisse

Pushing boundaries since 1904. ‘Luxury, Serenity and Pleasure’ by Henri Matisse at the Musée d’Orsay, Paris

Henri Matisse famously said “Creativity takes courage.” Perhaps your creative block means that deep down you’re afraid to take the next step and do something new and different.

It takes guts to be truly creative and put new ideas out there. Figure out what it is that you’re afraid of. What holds you back? Once you overcome that fear, you’ll overcome creative block. Time to push the boundaries of what you’re used to.

Your checklist for crushing creative block

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Creative block happens to the best of us, but it doesn’t have to stop you in your tracks. With a little advice from the pros, you’ll be back on track in no time. Whenever your creativity hits a snag, go through this list of tips from expert designers and famous artists on overcoming that mental blockage. We promise, their advice is a surefire way to get your creative juices flowing again.

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