Creative Block or Getting Over Your Laziness…

Sometimes not being able to get work done, has nothing to do with managing your time poorly, or having too much to do. Sometimes, you’re just plain out of ideas and feeling lazy; making everything you attempt to do, look…like...crap.

Oh, I’ve been there, I seem to go there, like, every winter & spring, which is odd seeing that spring is a time for new begins and the start of something fresh. But, it never seems to fell, after the holidays and my birthday (which is Feb 10th for the record, just in case any of you would like to send me something shiny or tell me how wonderful I am); I just seem to shutdown, it’s hard to get work done, I don’t feel like designing, and just seem to make mistake after mistake. In the end I just watch TV and play video games. I try to force myself to work on stuff and I just don’t, I can’t. I have all the time in world and I still manage to get nothing.

But, then alas, April/May comes along and I have to sign-up for festival season and I have to start the setup for my calendar. And, slowly I start to come out of my funk and the ideas start coming, and I get overwhelmed (in a good way) with all the stuff I have to do. (Note, my use of the words “have to”)

So, how do you over come a creative block when letting nature take it course, is taking way too long? Well, I’m no expert but I do have some tips or whatever you want to call them that usually get me on the back on track if I really need to get some work done. If the first one doesn’t work for you, just move to the next one, hopefully one of these will stick.

1. Set a date, deadline, or make it a goal. When you “Have To” do something, you’re more likely to get it done.
   
2. Trick your mind and body into getting excited about whatever you have to get done. Pumping yourself up is great because it sets a better more happier work mood. I use music, sugar, and dancing. I put on my favorite tunes, you know the ones with fast up beat tempos that are so catchy you can’t help but sing along or shake your booty to. (Dancing helps get the blood moving, and your brain needs blood. Booty Shaking + Blood Flow = Brain Power to be Creative) Sugar is good, because, I think coffee is heinous and I can’t stand cola. A little sugar and I get the burst of energy I need to push forward (try to make it a healthy sugar, chocolate is great; but too much of it is bad for the hips, think fruit smoothies or gummy snacks).
   
3. Turn off or get away from all other distractions, I’m so easily distracted that sometimes I have to turn the music off just to really concentrate on things. I never work with the TV on and if I have to close the blinds and kick everyone out; best believe I do. So, if that means you have to lock yourself in a sound proof room with no windows or internet (another big distraction for me), then that what you have to do.
   
4. Clear you mind and breath, taking mini meditation breaks and going blank, just might be the best thing to fill your blank pages (could, I get anymore cornier? But, it’s true, sometimes we can’t be creative, because, we are thinking too much).
   
5. Ask for help or look for inspiration, building on a idea or getting a fresh prospective is a great way to open up the flood gates to your creative mind. You may see something or someone might say something and bamm! You have this great idea or concept you didn’t have before.
   
6. Do something, anything! Sometimes, randomly shouting out ideas, no matter how lame they might be; just might be what you need to get those creative juices flowing. Doodling, writing random thoughts, or speaking out random ideas, try it, it couldn’t hurt.
   
7. There might be some underlying reason you can’t work, you might want to take this time to figure out how your life is going. Sometimes being unsure or needing a change in your life can keep someone for expressing themselves creatively. (You could be like me and don’t deal with the things that bother you, in a normal healthy way like, talking to someone or by having a good cry.) Ignoring an issues can manifest it’s way into other expects of your life including keeping you from doing things you love to do, like being creative.
   
8. Lastly, if all else fell, let nature take it course, getting blocked just might be your minds way of telling you to “stop and smell the roses” (before you work yourself into an early grave).

Well, that is all the wisedom, I have for you all today…I hope this help some of you. Laters…

Photo Editors, Converters, Programs and Helpful Tips to Tell Clients, Family, & Friends About...

Recently, my boss (yes, I have a part-time regular job, still. I’m still, in the learning and needing money on a regular bases stage, to not have one.) Anyways, my boss asked me to give a presentation during our next office meeting on “Easy, Free Ways to Convert and Edit Photos and Other Documents”, that we can tell clients about.

Off, the top of my head, I could already think of a few, other than Photoshop that I use on regular bases. But I figured, if I was going to make a presentation on something like this, I might as well do the full research, I mean, I could always learn something new. And then, I thought since I’m writing this stuff out anyways, I might as well share it with you guys. I don’t know about you but, I’m always having clients and friends asking me how or what they can do and use to make changes to photos, covert files, or edit PDF’s. And, although Photoshop is easy for me and I had to get Acrobat the full version, most people can’t afford or can even grasp how to use them. So here’s the list I came up with… (I even found stuff for MACs)


Programs Most People Already have (Comes with Windows):

Paint - You can open and resize (under, Image-Stretch and Skew) then save as a jpeg, bmp, tiff, gif or png.

Microsoft Office Picture Manager - Most XPs have this, easy to use editor, basic enhancements, resize, crop, and compress any image. It can be found in the start menu under Microsoft Office Tools or by right clicking and choosing, open as. You can export your image if you need it any other format. (jpeg, gif, tiff, bmp, tiff, or png)

Vista Windows Photo Gallery - You can do everything in Microsoft Office Picture Manager right from this updated picture viewer in Vista.

Microsoft Photo Editor – Can be found on older versions of Windows, easy to use editor, basic enhancements, resize, crop, and compress any image. It can be found in the start menu under Microsoft Office Tools or by right clicking and choosing, open as. You can export your image if you need it any other format. (jpeg, gif, tiff, bmp, tiff, or png)


Free Downloadable Programs:

Adobe Photoshop Album Starter Edition 3.2 http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopalbum/starter.html
Make basic edits and enhancement with it, it’s great for organizing photos. Downside, doesn't have “save as” or “export” feature you must click "Share" and email or send to... To get your edited photo and it only resizes using a list of standard Pixel dimensions. Big plus, Starter Ed, lets you extract images from PDF files, it will scan your PDF's and take out all images so you can edit them.

Picasa 3 - http://picasa.google.com/#utm_source=en-all-more&utm_campaign=en-pic&utm_medium=et
Easy to make basic edits and enhancement with, great for organizing photos. Downside, only "save as" or "exports" as Jpeg files and you can only resize in Pixel dimensions.

Irfanview - http://www.irfanview.net/ Looks easy to use, it’s free; but I haven’t used it.

For MACs:

Gimp - http://gimp.org/

Seashore - http://seashore.sourceforge.net/screenshot.php


Free Online Photo Editing Sites (Edit a photo from any computer with a browser):

LunaPic - http://www.lunapic.com/editor/
Upload and edit any picture, then download it back to your computer. Downside, it's a little more advance than the other software and it has ads on it's site.

Adobe Express - https://www.photoshop.com/express/landing.html
2GB limited and must create an account and a little more advance than the other software.

Picnik - http://www.picnik.com/
5 photos at a time limit and you must create an account


Cheap Software to Buy:

Adobe Photoshop Elements - Cheaper and more user friendly than regular Photoshop (Photoshop for Dummies or the Poor).

Paint Shop Pro - Cost less than Photoshop but is about as easy to use as regular Photoshop.

Photo Paint (Corel) - Cost less than Photoshop but is about as easy to use as regular Photoshop.

iPhoto - Inexpensive and works with Mac's (comes with iWork).

*Note: Most printers come with some type of photo editor software (HP, Epson, and Lexmark do)


Converting, Exporting, Saving As, and Cutting and Pasting:
You can convert most files into different file types with most programs by going to ”File” and looking under the "Save As" or "Export" options.

Word - Coverts to HTML and different types of word processing program files. Word also has built-in image editing tools you can crop, resize, and adjust the contrast, then cut and paste the updated image to where you need it or into paint and "Save As".

Publisher - "Saves As" HTML, different types of word processing files, as well as jpeg, png, tiff, gif, ps, word clipart files, and bmp. Publisher also has a built in image editing tools you can crop, resize, and adjust the contrast, then cut and paste the updated image and "Save As". Downside, when saving Pub files as images you get a thin black line down the left side of the image, also, you won’t get high resolution.


Making and Editing PDF:

Adobe Acrobat - Easy to use, integrates into every program on your computer, so you can export or print a PDF file from any program. Downside, it cost a lot and doesn't always work well with Microsoft programs.

CutePDF Writer - http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp Easy to use integrates into every program on your computer, it's free, and has no problems with Microsoft programs. (To use you must send your file to print and choose this program as your printer)

PDFill - http://www.pdfill.com/download.html Easy to use integrates into every program on your computer, it's free, BONUS, you can also use it to covert any file into image files jpeg, tiff, bmp, gif, or png. (To use you must send your file to print and choose this program as your printer)

PrintToPDF - (For Mac and free) http://www.jwwalker.com/pages/pdf.html (To use you must send your file to print and choose this program as your printer)

Edit PDFs Online at http://www.pdfhammer.com/ (Free) upload your PDF and use the online site to make changes to your file then download the updated file back to your computer

*Note: PDF, PS, AI (Adobe Illustrator), and EPS files are vector based files and are interchangeable, meaning if a program can open one or edit one, it can usually open or edit the others. You might have to go "File-Open” and select "view all files" or you can even just change the file ending (ext.) to the one you need it to be, from file manager.