Creativity has always been within each of us. You do not need to be an artist or a nerd to become creative. For as long as you are still capable of yelling at a feisty, annoying prank caller for disturbing your busy day, then you can still be creative! My point is that, for as long as you can think, you can visualize, and you can condition your mind to do things that you’re supposed to do, and then you can be as well highly creative. You only need to upgrade your thoughts from the usual, to exceptional.

Creative visualization is a powerful mind conditioning technique that allows you to make impossible things possible. It is a mental technique that can help you attract success and abundance if used appropriately. Creative visualization uses the mind’s capacity to visualize things that you opt to happen or to come your way. It can help you alter things that religiously happens and events that yet to occur. Creative visualization is a mind technique that you can use to help you achieve your desired external circumstances by conditioning your internal thoughts. That is why it is perceived as the foundation on which thinking positively is built.

To simply understand the concept of creative visualization, apply the mantras of some of the world’s most successful people in their respective fields, “You can achieve anything that you believe, “For you can make things that you see happen”. Every tale of amusing achievements started in a vision. Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, visionaries, writers, etc., started their path to success with a vision of greatness.

Creative visualization sets off with your imagination. In fact, it can be a powerful thought to help you convey your message to people. It can actually help you create an effective medium for communication. By creating a vivid picture of your message and compiling those into a visual presentation to come up with an organised presentation of facts and figures that you want to convey to other people.

Nowadays, where companies always call for a corporate meeting and product presentation, the application of creative visualization can be of great advantage. It can help you enhance the traditional way of presenting records and documents with a clearer, shorter, and appealing visual presentation to make your audience understand you while enjoying the information that you are presenting. It can also help you avoid repeating yourself.

Using visualization that is improved with creativity can help use your brain and think like a great thinker. By making things happen – tapping visuals to be used in communication can help you become a great presenter. Communication on this age needs a major upgrade to capture the interest of your listener and most importantly, make them understand what you are trying to convey. This is not easy to achieve because most people cannot remember all things that they just hear. Study shows that people can recall things they see more than to what they only hear. So to be able to communicate effectively, make some magic – use your powerful mind. Make things happen! Create something new out of the usual. Apply creative visualization to build an appropriate and likable communication tools by transforming communication methods, presentation modeling, and innovative illustration of data using charts and graphical images.

Visualise and Monetise!

What is creative thinking? Why do I need to think and apply creativity? Well, why should I care in the first place? After all, I’m no NASA guy or a self-proclaimed artist. So basically, it’s just none of my business!

If you are this type of a person who does not consider himself as someone who can do extra-ordinary things as an ordinary person, this I suggest you should stop reading this article. This is not for you!

But if you are having second thoughts and do not agree with the idea that you are just not a creative person, then you may read on.

Creative thinking is the ability to think of something that is beyond the ordinary. It is simply the talent of thinking of something unique and exceptional. Creative thinking is infinite. It has no boundaries and no one can anticipate how far it can go.

To achieve such skill, one must learn to free himself from limits. The potential to become a creative thinker is within you. Just dig it through and discover what is it that you can do that is beyond what others can. If you are starting to doubt my point here, then try to think of something that you can do that the rest of your class cannot. I’m sure there is. I’ll gamble my great, great granny’s old treasure box for that!

Kidding aside… At this point, you could have met someone whose daily litany is his/her problem about income and yet still managed to send all of his/her children to school. Or someone whose stress management activity is to blabber his boss’ ugly face and balloon-like stomach and yet still working to the same company, same department, same job description, and lastly, the same boss! That’s creative thinking.

The core of creative thinking is “working smarter, not just working harder”. It is about working outside the box. Doing more from what is expected and doing something new from the usual. It is all about considering and using many ways to achieve the things that you want or your goal in life. Creative thinking is awakening your subconscious mind to bring out that skill and individuality that has been lying dormant or undeveloped.

Creative thinking can be a great use in artistry. Like creative thinking, where you need to think beyond what is ordinary, artistry is somehow different from the rest of the populace. This goes to say that artists or people who are indulge to arts are not ordinary people. They possessed something that encourages them to draw, to paint, or to create a masterpiece that is fresh and has a meaning that is beyond the reach of an ordinary spectator.

A visual artist can be recognized easily. More often than not, you can easily tell if a person is an artist without seeing his paints or works of art. The way that an artist carries himself shouts out his artistry. Most, if not all artists have their own fashion preference that is not often preferred by ordinary people. Again, this is because artists practice creative thinking all the time most especially during their “creative activity” time.

A creative art is the term used to describe a different form of arts. Perhaps using the work ‘creativity’ is already an exaggeration when tagged with ‘arts’ because arts itself is an expression of creativity. Well, terms are terms so let’s not dwell on it. What I am up to in this article is the application of passion with creative arts to create effective visual communication.

Visual communication, as the name implies, is the process of communication in the form of visuals. It is a conveyance of information or ideas in a form that is seen and read. It solely relies on vision, and mainly presented or expressed in two dimensional images like signs, drawings, graphics, typography and illustrations that are enhanced with colours and animations. This form of communication is developed from the idea that a combination of text and visual messages has a greater impact to inform, persuade, and educate people.

An appealing presentation is necessary in visual communication. Since it mainly relies on vision, the use of text and images is not enough. To be able to catch one’s vision, you will need something that appears pleasant and interesting. Text, images and forms are seen almost everywhere. Hence if you want people to understand what you are trying to convey, you need to play around with these forms to structure some alluring visuals. That is why using creative arts can be a great advantage in visual communication.

In the corporate industry, the competition is very intense. To get ahead, you need to get more and more clients to generate income. To attract more clients, effective communication is very important. During the meeting, you need to impress your clients to get orders or accounts. To be able to do this, always prepare some explosives! I’m not referring to bombs of course! What I meant is that, make sure to bring surprises. Surprise your clients by preparing short, clear and impressive presentations.

Apply creative arts (combination of arts) when making your visual presentation. Make your presentation unique, classy, and understandable. Do not exaggerate everything though! Remember, you’re a professional…else you might appear like a grade school student presenting his unprepared report! That’s a total disaster!

Although creativity means limitless ideas, in terms of visual communication, you need to apply this concept carefully. Remember that to be able to convey information, you need to make sure that your message is clearly presented. With visual presentations, there is a thin line between visual creativity, and visual disaster! So make sure to keep an eye on that ‘thin line’ so as not to spoil everything.

There are a lot more things where you can make use of your passion with creative arts apart from communication. You can use it in your daily activities. Being creative is fun! Arts are fun! Enjoy everything that you can get from being creative. You can even earn money from it! You can accept jobs that require creative design and illustrations.

Apply creativity, visualise, and monetise!

Why do you think a certain cartoon character is more watched, more loved, and easily recognized by both kids and adults?

How could that be when all of them, cartoon characters are all created by hands using the similar pencils the same sheets of paper, and of course have gone through very similar processes before they become alive on our television sets and can be read in comic magazines?

Put in plain words by Peskimo (an outstanding duo who always seem to get it ‘just right’ whatever they throw their hand at. Their humor is always apparent amongst the vivid colors and strong artwork often, showing the fun and enjoyment of the two artists to their craft), your imaginary creature should have a distinct personality to give rise to an extremely convincing and strong cartoon character or monster. Come to think of it, giving life to an imaginary creature that is not alive in the first place is not an easy task.

In the year 1950’s, when Godzilla was first created, that dragon looking creature, became one of the most famous characters. Its great impact to the market influenced the media to make and use monster characters as their mainstream attraction especially during the Japanese Kaiju golden age. Apparently, evolution took place and old monsters created way back in our grandfather’s era with less familiar human features now goes down in history.

The change in genre of the modern age, affect the participating audience who have a preference for certain animations. The more humane features are preferred. Perhaps it is still owed to the media who placed so much emphasis on humans.

A compelling cartoon character is well thought out, planned, and created from the  heart. Most importantly, it is a character that can easily capture the interest of the audience. As you create the cartoon character, make sure that the audience will feel  a sense of belonging to it. Achieving this may take a while and perhaps may actually make you think and consider yourself the character in the making.

Many more factors should as well be considered. Your cartoon character’s personality – where your creature comes from, and its origin greatly matters. Usually, the audience can easily relate to a character if they know where it came from. The background must be very solid; it should be well defined from the very beginning. Put emphasis on your character’s behavior – its movement, how it communicates, and how it expresses its emotions. Will the character be very tricky in the first phase or will it show-off intelligence as the plot goes along or better yet a wild beast with fervor of a gentle human being.

Keeping the above mentioned factors in your perspective, can help you create a character such as a monster that is not a monster. How’s that for a prospect? Make sure though that your cartoon character will not be awkwardly exaggerating with regards to its words and actions, although exaggeration works very well with monsters.

Lastly, do not hesitate to add up your own personal taste of making a thriving cartoon character, after all, your personal opinion should be always first in consideration. Whom do you think would certainly know the character of your monster more than its father or creator?

Whilst creativity is something that comes out within you naturally, it is also impossible to expect it all the time especially when you most needed it. However, there are several things that you can do to develop creative thinking to obtain the necessary and dynamic output.

Ideas come in and out. They may come when you least need them, and they may not when you badly need them. Our brain can contain so many ideas, yet its capacity is limited. Ideas can also be temporary, as stated earlier, they go in and out. A lot of the experts believe that letting go of the excessive ideas can assist them process the information. Each individual can free his mind from many thoughts by listing anything that comes to mind. I am not saying that you will have to write them all down in complete sentences, but rather simply take the keywords. The objective of your writing is to simplify the thoughts that you may soon need to enhance your creativity.

Deliberate on the times when your sense of creativity is at its peak. Are you often creative during your most difficult time? Or maybe when you are doing the household chores? Whatever thoughts that come into your mind, keep them alive and you wont lose them. Human as we are, our capacity to remember things does not last long. That is why it is always advised that you write down your thoughts even in a short sentence composition and expand it later.

Motivation is another important thing when trying to acquire creative thinking. The things that motivate you are the things that keep you going. Some people find it motivating when listening to their favorite music while other people are motivated as they read their favorite novels. Clearly identify the things that motivate you, and use them when you experience difficulty in igniting your creative power.

Indulge yourself in reading even if you are not fond of it. Books are one of the greatest investments and they are hard copy of ideas from different people. The habit of reading can awaken your wits which consequently, can help you invent thoughts. Obtaining fresh information can help you facilitate problems appropriately as you find the answer. Work out your mind. Just like with the human body, our brain has to be worked out. One specific efficient method of training the mind is by participating in a discussion. Engaging into a healthy debate among family and friends could be one. Bearing in mind that debating is a lot different to arguing. Do not forget to identify the boundary between senseless arguments and productive conversations.

Offer your mind needs a time to play. As the saying goes, “all work but no play can makes Jack a sad man”. Yes this is true, so give your brain a break. Feel free to lift up your thoughts. Give time to free yourself from the usual approaches of solving a problem. Imaginative thinking is frequently the result of your playful mind. Allow your mind to think freely so you can be rewarded. Pressuring yourself is a big no-no. This is the last thing to do if you aim for creative thoughts. Forcing your brain will not make it give you ideas. You create what you perceive so if you believe you are an idea magnet this is what you will receive. Condition your mind so that it can work accordingly.

A cartoon character that is drawn by hands using pen and paper can now be turned into a colourful character in an advanced vector format! This is done by scanning the black and white drawing of your character into the computer and this can then be used as the basis for tracing using GUI software like Adobe Illustrator. Perhaps most, if not all cartoon illustrators already know why it is necessary to transform a hand drawn cartoon character to a vector format.  For the benefit of the novice and cartoon illustrator aspirants, let me tell you why.

If you are drawing a cartoon character, then probably, if not generally, you would also want to see them on TV, personified and interactive. To do so, they need to be animated. Animation, in simple definition is a process of giving life to lifeless images. Technically, it is a motion picture created from a sequence of drawings simulating motion by means of slight progressive changes.

Vector images are non-resolution dependent, hence they can be resized without risking the image’s quality. They have no white pixel backgrounds so you can put a vector image above another without blocking the latter making it ideal for sequencing drawings such as in animations.

Hopefully that makes sense to you so let’s proceed to the main purpose of this article which is to help you transform a hand drawn cartoon character to a vector format.

To do so, simply read on and practice the following steps.

As we start on this phase, we are assuming that you already have your image and that you have already scanned it. Open Adobe Illustrator and place the scanned image onto the art board (File>Place). Set down the opacity to 20 percent or so then lock the layer.

Make a new layer and drag it below the scanned layer. Using the pen tool, trace the outline of the sketch, then add 8pt stroke. Using ctrl and alt keys will help you when toggling among separate tools. Use CTRL and ALT keys to easily shift between different tools upon using the Pen Tool.

Upon completing the outline, reduce the stroke to 4pt to trace line details of the character such of the edges, the eyes, the hands, etc. You can use a smaller stroke of 2 pt to sketch out the more fine details like the parts of the face, the nose and the eyes. Use the zoom feature of the illustrator so you can clearly see the details, making it easier to trace.

Make adjustments that you find necessary to improve the cartoon character. Once done with the tracing, uncheck the visibility of the sketch layer.  To remove pointed and square ends from the traced lines, zoom in the images and select the stroke (OBJECT>EXPAND AND SELECT STROKE>. Use the Direct Selection Tool to nudge individual points into the position to transform them to a pointed shape.

Note that when adding a detail to your image, it is important that you create a new layer. This is to ensure that you can always go back to the area where you can start all over again. Just like when adding color to some point of your images, create a separate layer for each adjustment made.

Add gradients if necessary to add some power and deepness to the creature. When you have already filled the selection with the right combination of gradients to a particular portion you can now alter from Transparency to Multiply Mode. In this way you can transform simple colors into strong combination giving a more compelling character to your drawing.

The above mentioned procedure is a summarized process and somehow just introductory. Note that you can do hundreds of modifications with adobe Illustrator. Perhaps it can be beneficial if you get separate training of the software itself. You can also use more software should you need more enhancements of your image.

With the later versions of illustrator too you are now able to do a trace of the image using the trace tool that removes many of the steps above and speeds the process up dramatically. I highly recommend researching this area.

Start by drawing your simple comic figure to get the feel of your character. You should also have an idea or know the comic gimmicks and lettering that you will apply to your drawings. These simple things can help you make your way to having a good comic drawing and eventually, a good comic strip.

The secret of drawing a simple comic figure is simple. Use KISS Keep It Simple Stupid. In order to achieve a good cartoon drawing, practice the simple comic figure without all the clothing details, shading and patterns first. Methods vary in drawing a simple comic figure. Some use the stick figure method; while others prefer the simple stick and oval combination method.  The combination method gives the cartoonist a glimpse of the type of figure he wants to draw. Because cartoon drawing is supposed to be funny, you don’t need to stick to the art rules when drawing a cartoon. In proper figure drawing, the height of the figure is usually 8 heads. But in cartoon, you can draw the simple comic figure in any way or in as many or less heads as you want. Exaggeration is the key to have a believable and funny cartoon drawing.

Comic gimmicks are also used to achieve a realistic setting for your character. Gimmicks and props set the mood of your drawing. For instance, a few strokes of line can make a movement on your cartoon drawing. Dialogue balloons of varying types are also used depending on the mood of your character such as thought balloons and shouting balloons. Sound effects put in bold letters can also help enhance the mood of the drawing. As backgrounds, you can also put simple household things such as tables and chairs. Always be on the look to your immediate surrounding that you can draw for background materials.

Comic lettering can make or break the success of your cartoon drawing. The lettering and the balloons where you put some words in are important aspects of your comic drawing. Always use pencils in the lettering first to ensure that it looks good before inking. Always watch proper spacing and appropriate balloon design. Some good cartoon drawings are destroyed by bad lettering so be sure to keep an eye on it.

After practicing how to draw your own cartoon character and studying the ins and outs of cartoon drawing, you’re on your way to making your own comic strip. To get started, you can get inspiration from some popular strips and study what made them popular. Decide what kind or type of comic strip suits you best. Think of ideas. This part is the hardest. Look around your neighborhood, or around your house. Look at life in general because life itself is the best source of ideas. Walk around and feel life. Always keep in touch with what’s happening around for ideas to pour in. Create an interesting cast of characters and think of continuity. Completing all of these will guide you in making your own, award winning comic strip.

There you are, preparing for your exam… looking back over your notes trying to understand what you’ve written. Trying to remember the words the lecturer said AND put into context the scribbles in your notebook. ARRRGGGHHHH!!!!

It doesn’t have to be this way. There IS a better way to take notes that will help you understand, remember and retain more knowledge, especially at a critical time such as your next exam!

Did you know there are 3 traditional ways we take notes?

Cartoon drawings never fail to bring out the artistry of an individual. However, and obviously, that isn’t possible if you don’t invest in the materials and tools to get you started. No need to frown though. As you are reading this article then you must be an artist yourself, and perhaps you wouldn’t argue with me if I say that you already have the basic materials to draw. Because if you don’t, then I would say you are in the wrong place and aren’t really interested in cartoon drawings. You must have at least a pencil and a sketch pad? In fact, you probably have been carrying them since first grade!

1.    Pencil – To start with, it is advisable to acquire an “H” pencil. This type is not too dark for initial sketches. It is not difficult to find one because all pencil companies have these. Added to that initial piece, are No. 2 and No. 3 lead. These are crayon pencils which are excellent for shadings. You can rely on Koh-i-noor Flexicolor No. 60 and Prismacolor number 935.

2.    Pens – You will also need pens to finalize your sketch. Hunt # 513 and 512 and Esterbrook number 359 is ideal have in handy. Inks are also a must; Higgins would be a good choice. In order not to accidentally spill the ink, you can make an improvised stand out of a light cardboard.  I also love fineliner pens as the ink flows really easily and you can use these for many drawings before getting new ones.

3.    Brush – Brushes especially Winsor and Newton’s No. 2 & 4 series 7 are best. These two brushes should carry you through your cartoon drawing.

4.    Erasers – You will also need erasers. Find a good brand like Eberhard-Faber’s RubKleen. To support your sketch pad, you will also need a fine drawing board made of softwood. A good deal of thumbtacks will also come in handy. Set your drawing board above your lap or better yet find a table or a desk for support. Even an architects table is a great investment for ergonomic cartoon drawings.

Once you get all the materials you need and have started your initial sketches with your pencils, you are now on your way to inking your drawing into its final appearance.  A simple advice to all cartoonists, don’t get to excited and rush into things. Do the inking slowly at first, your speed will increase anyway as you you get more adept with the process.

In outlining your cartoon drawing, the thickness of the line around the contours of the character should be even. Connect all the lines of the figures to achieve a clean look on your sketch. Use finer lines for details. Always keep lines with even spaces when shading to avoid getting your cartoon to appear muddy or somewhat dirty.

When spreading the lines, hold your pen gently, as you start putting on the line. Bear down on the pen to get thicker lines. Reduce the pressure to achieve a fine line.

For panel corners, use straight shading to obtain lighter shade, four-way cross-hatching for a medium shade, and go for solid brush for darker panels

Once you get the hang of using pens for your cartoon drawings, then I am sure you would agree that this is by far the preferred tool for these drawings. Practice using pen and paper and learn to handle it properly. Soon, you will have good sets of drawings in no time. The next step will be to get into computer drawings using wacom tablets. This is when the fun really begins!

Dr Marc Dussault of the Get Better Grades Blog has written this great article on using colours to increase memory retention, comprehension and understanding. This is key to learning quickly and effectively and a major tool to use in this is mindmapping.

Check out the start of the entry here and head to the Use Colours To Improve Memory Retention, Comprehension And Understanding to finish reading it

When we first learn something, information is processed by the brain to form a neural trace which first enters your sensory memory and then, if you’re paying attention, enters your Short Term Memory (STM). If you keep working to process the information and adapt it correctly, it then moves to your Long Term Memory (LTM).

The information which is processed into your LTM is more or less permanent and with occasional reviewing, you will not forget it….

Awesome article I hope you enjoyed it! To learn more about mindmapping and creating your own awesome mindmaps