5 things I did To Rekindle My Passion and Creativity

Have been looking for ways to rekindle your long lost passion? When was the last time you used it? Whether it is in painting, writing, playing an instrument, dancing or photography, read on.

Edited by Anna Termulo using Adobe Photoshop. DISCLAIMER: This blog is part of my practice and my way of rediscovering my passion and creativity. We all have different approach in rediscovering our passions. It just happened that these 5 tips worked for me. Just sharing it because it might also work for you! Enjoy reading! 😉

My college Basic Painting Class professor, once said, “Always practice because once you have let go of your brush, pencil or your passion for a long time, believe me, it will never be easy.” I never forget that advice of him but the mistake I’ve made? I forgot to apply and practice it.

I enjoy working with colors, pencil, and brush as a kid and I’ve become more passionate about it when I took my college course. I’ve learned the basics from manual to digital arts. Then for some reasons, I focused on working with digital arts and got busy especially when I became employed.

Eventually, I completely dropped the things I’ve learned from manual arts. Fears and doubts came in until I can’t find a way to paint or draw anymore. I know that I had so many excuses and I should have kept practicing because, hey, I love and enjoy doing creative things like this.

So after almost 5 years, I finally decided to rekindle that artistic innocence or creative child in me. A creative child in me that doesn’t constantly judge my worthiness or compare my work to others.

Here are the steps I’ve made on how I have replenished that creative fire that has been smothered by years of doubt & fears:

1. Find Inspiration

I found inspiration when I recalled what I love to do as a child. I remembered how my dad supported me with arts. I think I got my creativity from him. I remember that feeling when he affirmed my pen-scribbled wall instead of scolding me and putting my kiddie artwork on a frame like it was a masterpiece. Remembering my dad, those framed artworks and those joyful memories of finishing artworks, inspires me to draw or paint again.

Michael Michalko, an author and creativity expert, said, “When you surround yourself with images of your intention — who you want to become or what you want to create — your awareness and passion will grow.”

Start inspiring yourself by remembering where your passion started. Look back on the masterpieces you have created before and be inspired by it. Find your role model. Get yourself a vision board of who you want to be or what you want to create. Do what makes you inspired!

2. Go back to the basic

With that inspiration, I started to go back to the basics and learn again. I read art blogs, watch video tutorials and bought basic art materials. It wasn’t easy to get started for me because of some distractions. So I’ve decided to attend a basic art class to be totally guided and practice like I haven’t done any painting before.

See your art through the eyes of a beginner. Going back to the basic will help you improve your skills – a lot. Apart from recalling those basic skills, you will  learn new things! Trust me, I kept saying “hey, I didn’t know that before!”. It’s exciting, right?! Learning never stops. Eventually, that creative passion in you will continue to grow.

3. Do small creative action every day

I know the struggle is real! We all have different excuses. I am guilty of skipping practices but this one is real.

One of our course requirement on Basic Drawing Techniques is to submit a 100 Drawing by the end of the semester. I remember how the whole class reacted. Haha! We never thought that we did it with all other course requirements. Every single day, we draw everything we see or anything that pops out on our minds. Until we made it to the last page and realized that we’ve improved our creativity and drawing skills. We were all amazed with that challenged!

The world is our best creative classroom. Try to give time for yourself to explore and practice out there. When you see a flower, paint it if you are a painter. Try to write a story about it if you are a writer. Try to make a song out of it if you are a musician. Just enjoy and have fun! Allow your creative imagination to roam free. And if you failed, it’s okay. Don’t be hard on yourself. Do small action every day!

My daily small creative action is designing posters/videos for my freelance clients, watching mini art tutorial clips or writing art blog. This Graphic Design is edited by Anna Termulo using Adobe Photoshop and GIPHY. Got inspired to create this graphic design after a 2-hour long nap. Haha!

4. Find your Tribe

They say it is good to surround yourself with like-minded people. On my journey to rekindling my passion for arts, I started to join support groups, got help from an NLP-Life Coach to remove my limiting beliefs and regain my confidence. I’ve also visited art galleries, even attended a Conference and followed Facebook Pages and Facebook Groups in line with arts or creativity. One of the tribes I consider is my basic art class. I’ve met a mentor and other wonderful students like me. I’ve learned a lot from them!

I know it might be not easy for some of you to be seen out there. Just be yourself and remember that you’re there for the support that other artists, musicians, dancers or writers who are going through the same things as you are.

5. Just Do it NOW and Keep on moving forward!

As I write this article, I’ve already finished my basic art class. I know that rediscovering my passion doesn’t end there. And so, I decided to practice by sharing it to this blog. (Yep! I’ll share my creative exploration here and this will be my mini gallery!) It’s just one simple way to remind myself, learn and rediscover my passions in life. I know it’s exciting and fulfilling to do!

There may come a time that you may feel down with your passion again. It’s okay and it’s normal. I, myself, is still struggling with it. We all have different reasons why we stopped from doing what we love to do. It will be a long process but the point is, you keep on trying to do it to move forward.

Forget about what others will say about your work! Sometimes we are stuck because of it. Remember that nobody is perfect and that we all have our own style and uniqueness.

Imagine yourself doing exactly what you want to create or being who exactly who you want to be. You just have to keep on practicing and learning, and when you fail, try again until you get it.

Soon enough, you’ll get there with ease and confidence… because you’ll realize that the passion that you are looking for is already within you – filled with love, freedom, and excellence. God bless us more!

“Success and happiness come not from changing oneself, but rather from discovering one’s natural talents and abilities and aligning one’s life accordingly.” – Jim Cathcart’s The Acorn Principle

What are your action steps in rekindling your passion? Share it! We are happy to learn from your stories. 🙂

PS. There will be upcoming blog tips about art and freelancing here! Like, share and Follow this blog to stay connected. ❤

Tips and Tricks for a Successful Online Portfolio

This article is brought to you by Toptal.

Toptal screen a lot of designers, so over time they have learned what goes into making a captivating and coherent portfolio. Each designer’s portfolio is like an introduction to an individual designer’s skill set and strengths and represents them to future employers, clients and other designers. It shows both past work, but also future direction. There are several things to keep in mind when building a portfolio, so here is the Toptal Guide of tips and common mistakes for portfolio design.

1. Content Comes First

The main use of the portfolio is to present your design work. Thus, the content should inform the layout and composition of the document. Consider what kind of work you have, and how it might be best presented. A UX designer may require a series of animations to describe a set of actions, whereas the visual designer may prefer spreads of full images.

The portfolio design itself is an opportunity to display your experiences and skills. However, excessive graphic flourishes shouldn’t impede the legibility of the content. Instead, consider how the backgrounds of your portfolio can augment or enhance your work. The use of similar colors as the content in the background will enhance the details of your project. Lighter content will stand out against dark backgrounds. Legibility is critical, so ensure that your portfolio can be experienced in any medium, and considers all accessibility issues such as color palettes and readability.

You should approach your portfolio in the same manner you would any project. What is the goal here? Present it in a way that makes sense to viewers who are not essentially visually savvy. Edit out projects that may be unnecessary. Your portfolio should essentially be a taster of what you can do, a preparation for the client of what to expect to see more of in the interview. The more efficiently that you can communicate who you are as a designer, the better.

2. Consider Your Target Audience

A portfolio for a client should likely be different than a portfolio shown to a blog editor, or an art director. Your professional portfolio should always cater to your target audience. Edit it accordingly. If your client needs branding, then focus on your branding work. If your client needs UX Strategy than make sure to showcase your process.

Even from client to client, or project to project your portfolio will need tweaking. If you often float between several design disciplines, as many designers do, it would be useful to curate a print designer portfolio separately from a UX or visual design portfolio.

3. Tell the Stories of Your Projects

As the design industry has evolved, so have our clients, and their appreciation for our expertise and what they hire us to do. Our process is often as interesting and important to share with them, as the final deliverables. Try to tell the story of your product backwards, from final end point through to the early stages of the design process. Share your sketches, your wireframes, your user journeys, user personas, and so on.

Showing your process allows the reader to understand how you think and work through problems. Consider this an additional opportunity to show that you have an efficient and scalable process…

 

 

 

4. Be Professional in Your Presentation

Attention to detail, both in textual and design content are important aspects of any visual presentation, so keep an eye on alignment, image compression, embedded fonts and other elements, as you would any project. The careful treatment of your portfolio should reflect how you will handle your client’s work.

 

With any presentation, your choice of typeface will impact the impression you give, so do research the meaning behind a font family, and when in doubt, ask your typography savvy friends for advice.

5. Words Are As Important As Work

Any designer should be able to discuss their projects as avidly as they can design them. Therefore your copywriting is essential. True, your work is the main draw of the portfolio – however the text, and how you write about your work can give viewers insight into your portfolio.

Not everyone who sees your work comes from a creative, or visual industry. Thus, the descriptive text that you provide for images is essential. At the earlier stages of a project, where UX is the main focus, often you will need to complement your process with clearly defined content, both visual diagrams, and textual explanation.

Text can also be important for providing the context of the project. Often much of your work is done in the background, so why not present it somehow? What was the brief, how did the project come about?

Avoid These Common Mistakes

The culture of the portfolio networks like Behance or Dribble have cultivated many bad habits and trends in portfolio design. A popular trend is the perspective view of a product on a device. However, these images often do little to effectively represent the project, and hide details and content. Clients need to see what you have worked on before, with the most logical visualisation possible. Showcasing your products in a frontal view, with an “above the fold” approach often makes more sense to the non-visual user. Usually, the best web pages and other digital content are presented with no scrolling required. Avoid sending your website portfolio as one long strip, as this is only appropriate for communicating with developers.

Ensure that you cover the bases on all portfolio formats. Today it is expected for you to have an online presence, however some clients prefer that you send a classic A4 or US letterhead sized PDF. You need to have the content ready for any type of presentation.

Try to use a consistent presentation style and content throughout the projects in your portfolio. Differentiate each project with simple solutions like different coloured backgrounds, or textures, yet within the same language.

This article is brought to you by Toptal. Sign up with Toptal now!

Canva: An Amazing Graphic Design Tool for Everyone

If you are looking for not-so-complicated and a beginner-friendly online graphic design platform, then Canva is for you. Canva lets users access free design tools and options that are easy to use. You can choose from the designed layouts in Canva or you can simply create your own designs from scratch.

Designed with Canva.

Materials you can design with canva includes Social Media Posts, Posters, Presentations, Cards, Facebook covers, Collages, Blog Graphics, Documents, Business Cards and Invitations. With Canva, you can publish a PDF format  for print materials and PNG for the web materials.

Canva also offers premium options for paying customers.

Interested to design with Canva? Check below presentation and Let’s do it!

View this document on Scribd

Adobe Photoshop: Learning the basics

COMING BACK TO THE BASICS

I still remember the day I have learned the basics of Photoshop. I find it complicated to hear but it was exciting when I started to learn and see how it works. Photo editing and graphic designing with Photoshop is like a magic. You can easily manipulate photos or create from nothing to something.

THE APPLICATION

Photoshop, a program created by Adobe, has been useful in many ways from enhancing photos to creating graphic designs for promoting business, events and the like. Today, there are a lot of image editors and graphics applications. But still, I find the Photoshop application more convenient – whether the materials are for web or print. This includes creating logos, flyers, banners, invitation cards, calling cards, and posters to name a few. Could you imagine how you can promote your business easier or earn by offering graphic design services from mastering Adobe Photoshop?

Now, many people are interested in learning how Photoshop works but most of them don’t know how and where to start. The good news is, we can learn almost everything online. And so, I have created this HomeWork to share and learn the basics – for free! 🙂

THE BASIC TUTORIAL

To get started, you must have the Adobe Photoshop application. Download the application’s free trial here.

Once you have it, Let’s do it!

View this document on Scribd

Stories to share? Questions? Comments? HomeWorks? Service or product to review?

Let’s do it!

Post a comment below or simply fill up my Contact Form.

Exploring Puerto Princesa, Palawan with Supremo 1 Action Camera

If you are looking for a perfect place to reconnect with yourself and nature, to relax and get away from city noise and stress, then Puerto Princesa, Palawan must be one of your choices. This  article will share our itinerary and tour packages for 4 days and 3 nights captured by Supremo 1 Action Camera. Sample photos and videos for using Supremo 1 Action Camera are also on this blog.

| Exploration of Peace, Arts, Freedom and Culture at Puerto Princesa, Palawan |

*This photo is not mine. Credits to the owner/Supremo 1 Action Camera. It was my first time to use Supremo 1. This action camera was perfect for my Adventures – may it be underwater or not. This comes with accessories and is bought from Kimstore Online Shop. You can use this with iDV smartphone app or with the bundled remote. See this blog’s photos and video for sample reference.

BALAY INATO PENSION: ACCOMMODATION THAT SHOWCASES PALAWAN’S FOOD, ART AND CULTURE

Balay Inato Pension. Secured with 24-hour CCTV cameras. Our room includes Air Con, Cabled TV, hot and cold shower, Intercom, free WiFi, cabinet, mini kitchen and a lanai. They also have a  spacious parking.  You can choose from their Family Rooms or Double Rooms. Rooms are just a few steps away to their restaurant. Balay Inato Pension also offers free daily breakfast upon your stay.

 

We stayed at Balay Inato Pension, a pension house/Bed and Breakfast inn. It stands out for its “feels like home” atmosphere. Balay Inato Pension is just a 2- to 5-minute drive from the Puerto Princesa International Airport.  Upon arrival, you never have to worry about looking for the place because Balay Inato Pension offers free shuttle services of pickup and drop-off from and to the airport.

I loved our stay because of relaxing ambiance, great food, accommodating service and artistic decorations (you will see a showcase of Palawan’s art and culture through decorated paintings, sculptures and photographies). Balay Inato Pension is also famous for its flagship restaurant, Haim Chicken Inato. Their Chicken Inato is a must-try!

Not your ordinary Chicken Inasal! Haim Chicken Inato, the specialty dish. Served with atsara and sauce.

DAY 1: Explore Culture with the City Tour

For a worry-free and hassle-free tour, we let Balay Inato Pension arranged our tour packages with van rental. We have arrived at Balay Inato Pension on a morning and our half-day City Tour started after lunch. If you choose not to avail the packages, you can mix and match places or Do-It-Yourself to enjoy a budget-friendly tour.  

Tricycles charges P8 to P10 per person, per destination.

• Puerto Princesa Baywalk
• Plaza Quartel
• Immaculate Conception Cathedral
• Mitra Ranch
• Bakers’ Hill
• Butterfly Garden and Tribe Village
• Pasalubong Shops

Package Rate: P600 per person. This includes Entrance Fees and Licensed Tour Guide.

Note:  Donations for some places are optional.Bring extra budget for foods to try at Baker’s Hill and for pasalubongs. Palawan is also known for Cashew Nuts, Pearls and Exotic foods like crocodile meat/meal. Baker’s Hill’s Hopia is also recommended.

• Optional for Dinner: Kinabuch’s Grill and Bar. A large open-air bar. One of Palawan’s restaurants that offers crocodile meals.

Kinabuch’s Croc-Adobo. First time to eat crocodile meat – It was incredibly delicious! *Photo by Mimi Montances and is NOT taken by my Supremo 1 Action Camera

DAY 2: experience the Underground river tour and Survive ugong rock adventure

• Underground River Tour
• Buffet Lunch at Gusto Grill

Underground River Photo op. If you don’t have your own camera and you just want to enjoy your experience, you have an option to have your photos taken by Underground River photographers. You can claim your photos with their official design at P180.

Rules to observe for the Cave Tour

Buffet lunch after the Underground River Tour at Gusto Grill and Resto. This is included in our tour package. The entrance fee is P200 if you plan to Do-It-Yourself.

Package Rate: P1,500 per person. This includes Permits and Terminal Fees, Buffet Lunch, Motorized Boat round trip transfer and Licensed Tour Guide.

Note: Bring ID for the Underground River Tour.  I recommend you to eat light or take meds if you get dizzy fast because the route to Sabang port (Port to Underground River) will be a long winding zigzag road. It is also advisable to bring insect repellent for this tour.

• Optional: Spelunking and Zipline at Ugong Rock Adventure

Spelunking at Ugong Rock Adventures. *Photo by Charles San Juan and NOT taken by my Supremo 1 action camera

Ugong Rock Adventure’s Spelunking and Zipline. They will take a photo of you with your Zipline moment. You can have it at P100.

Fees: Spelunking costs P200. Fee for Zipline in sitting position is P250. Zipline in superman position is P350.

DAY 3: find Peace and freedom with honda bay ISLAND Hopping

Honda Bay Island has 16 islands. Our tour package only includes access to 3 islands called Starfish Island, Luli Island and Cowrie Island. It was a fun, peaceful and relaxing Island Hopping. Our package also includes Picnic Lunch at Starfish Island.

Snorkeling at Starfish Island

Fun Photo-op at Honda Bay’s Cowrie Island. They have accommodating and creative local photographers.

Package Rate: P1,300 per person. This includes Entrance Permits and Terminal Fees, Picnic Lunch, Use of Cottage, Boat transfers and Licensed Tour Guide.

Note: If you don’t have your own snorkeling gears, worry not! You can rent gears on your way to the Honda Bay Wharf.

Aquatic Gear – Snorkeling Rental Shop. You can rent Snorkeling gears for as low as P150. Better to take care of it because if you lost it, you will pay for it for around P1,500.

Optional:  A room service whole body massage. After a long day of adventure, you deserve a relaxing massage! Our place, Balay Inato Pension, offers this service. Regular whole body massage costs P350.

day 4: Reminisce your stay and check out

There are so much to explore and to do in Puerto Princesa, Palawan. 4 days and 3 nights are not enough to explore everything. For the days and tours we have spent in that wonderful place, I have found Peace, Freedom, Arts and Culture.

Other places to visit and packages to try at Puerto Princesa, Palawan:

• Crocodile Farm
• Binuatan Creation
• Dos Palmas Tour
• Firefly watching
• Dolphin Watching
• San Carlos River Cruise

Stories to share? Questions? Comments? HomeWorks? Service or product to review? Let’s do it!

Post a comment below or simply fill up my Contact Form.