Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Bit Off More Than I could Chew

Well, this is frustrating. I'll cut right to it and tell you: My book is not finished. I had spent last night and this morning working on it. But I think my fatal mistake was trying to take a power nap that turned out to be four hours longer than intended. I'm not sure if those four hours would have made a difference though. I have myself to blame and I accept that. It's going to be embarrassing going to class and not have a finished book.


Bliss Assignment

I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted my cover to look like from the beginning of the book assignment. ( I wanted to re-cover the book in brown pleather and put my emblem on the front.) So doing the bliss assignment didn't really have any effect on the process. My plan has always stay the same for the book cover. What I did for my 3 hours was play video games, eat, and drink with my girlfriend.

Fear Exercise Part 3

What was the fear project about and who did it?I think it was Spencer who did it. He began his experiment by handing each of us an empty envelope with our name on it. Then he had us write on a small piece of paper our greatest fear that holds us back. And ceremoniously, we put the piece of paper in the envelope and put the envelope in a shredder he had brought in.

Why did you respond to it so strongly?
I liked his the most because it was really the most straight forward. We create these fears and we have the power to control them or let them control us.

How does it impact how you see your own project, and your own creative journey?
It doesn't really. Don't get me wrong it was a great experiment. It's true, we create or fears or let them manifest over time. For the sake of this assignment, my fear was ridicule/persecution but its a lot of things beside just that - as it is for a lot of people - and I think at this point, I've been able to manage them pretty ok. I mean, I'm human - I've got insecurities, fears, uncertainties, etc. But I've learned to work through them, deal with them, or tell them to fuck off... Just depends on how I'm feeling that day.

Monday, August 4, 2014

Fear Assignment Part 2

Well, I would say that for the most part, my expectations were met along with a few surprises. Most of the classmates were actively listening but the time it had come to me, we had been laughing and having a good time with the previous experiments. So, the expectation that they would enter my experiment scared was not met. But, when I told them about the Annabelle doll, they were very interested. I wanted to use that as a primer to lead into my story about my experience living in what I would call was a haunted house in Terre Haute - but alas, I think they found it funny more than anything. Especially my dream and waking up with a joker card on my ass. Haha oh well. But, the outcome was a success in my opinion. People were definitely confused and irritated when I started harshly critiquing their drawings. But again, I couldn't keep a straight face and started laughing because it was too fun. The whole point was to draw out the fact that my fear is being ridiculed, persecuted, etc. So, to demonstrate that I wanted to put everyone else in that position to experience my fear. In order to really make the experiment a success i would want to remain calm and stay focused - don't break character. Also, I'll want to give people a drawing assignment that is more broad and allows them creativity but also allows me to tear down their work. Possibly call out specific individuals to really drive home the fear of being singled out and ridiculed.