Saturday Deep Dive: John Cleese on Creativity

Today's dive into the deeper archive takes us back to Nov. 4, 2009, when we discussed John Cleese's TED talk on creativity. This is the one that goes into a fascinating description on the Dunning-Kruger effect.

Highlights:

• He is a huge proponent of using his subconscious as has been discussed here earlier.
• Interruptions are dangerous for creative thought.
• We don't know where we get ideas from, but we know we don't get them from our laptops.
• Getting into the right mood for creativity involves creating an oasis for your "tortoise mind" to come out and play.
• Creating an oasis involves setting boundaries of space (to block interruptions and eliminate distractions) and boundaries of time.
• "To know how good you are at something requires exactly the same skills as it does to be good at that thing. Which means if you're absolutely hopeless at something, you lack exactly the skills that you need to know that you're absolutely hopeless at it."

Discuss it under the original thread.

Friday Archive Dive: Color Theory Explained

Today's Archive Dive comes from Nov. 20, 2011, when we shared a good resourced for information on color theory.

Read the entire piece, then come back and discuss it here.

"On the Spot" Hot Seat, part 2

Rules are simple, I go to your site and talk about what's going on the day I reviewed the comic. I don't go into the archives. I represent the viewpoint of the person who is coming to the site for the very first time on that particular day. Members are welcome to join the discussion.

Seeking Shelter

Modest Comic

Holiday shipping deadlines

Beleive it or not, it's time to start tracking holiday shipping deadlines. According to the USPS, Dec. 21 is the latest you can ship a Priority Mail package to arrive before Christmas.

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Comics consultation

Part of my Kickstarter campaign for the Webcomics Handbook was to offer one-on-one consultations with creators via Skype. I would research their comic and their Web site and prepare a PDF dossier on what I saw, including elements like their social media presence, merchandise, etc. It would be a comprehensive look at what they were doing as a webcartoonist.

Participants received this dossier, and then we'd schedule a one-on-one Skype meeting to discuss my findings. I offered constructive criticism as well as advice, ideas for improvement and workshopped strategy. Finally, the sessions ended with the cartoonist directing the discussion, asking questions, follow-ups and sharing concerns.

These consultations have been overwhelmingly positive experiences, so I decided to continue beyond the Kickstarter.

If you would like to do a one-on-one consultation with me, the breakdown is as follows:

Analysis and one-on-one Skype consultation

The analysis itself is $100. And then the consultation is $100 per hour, with the first 0-60 minutes charged at a flat $100. For every 15 minutes after the first hour, time is accrued at $25. You’d pay upfront for the analysis plus the first hour. And then I would bill you for any time we went over that hour.

Skype consultation only

If you would like to skip the analysis and go right for the one-on-one conversation, the time is charged the same: $100 upfront, plus $25 for every 15 minutes after the first hour (billed afterwards). However, I will be coming into the conversation without having completed research on your comic. It will be up to you to direct the conversation.

Click here to order/schedule your consultation.