Category: ART

We are the creative professionals who base our entire careers on making things look interesting.

Why would we stop with our branding, our collateral material, and – for the love of God – our website?

We are in the world of visual excellence. We should make visual excellence the priority feature of our brand.

Don Giannatti 

CRITICAL FOCUS

Make cool stuff, show it to your friends. Those words from Rick Rubin are stuck in my head for months and months now.

Key point in this clip from MacAndre Pierre is all about bouncing your ideas off of other people. Present an idea, refine it, and keep making it better.

Take more photos (or writing, or music), share your work with people who appreciate it, get some sleep, and do it again the next day.

ONE TAKE

In this clip Theo Katzman explains his producing style – one take. One shot. One crack at it.

He stresses the performance in recording.

Yes, with technology, you can “comp” (sort of like splicing together multiple takes), but what if we got really good at doing it all the way through? In one take?

I’m pretty sure that’s how Vulfpeck makes their amazing performance videos and probably why they’re so captivating.

Theo mentions how playing in a room together means Jack Stratton (in the video below) has to play the drums just right, or else his performance will bleed into those vocal mix and ruin the take.

Like – how many degrees “better” is vocalist Monica Martin from doing this? Her skill, competency, and confidence in her abilities, from doing it live and in the moment?

And seriously, watch that video. It is pure magic. I watch it every now and again and tear up; it’s so beautiful.

I write almost everything in one take. These posts, most of my Social Media Escape Plan work, too. Get an idea down, make some cuts, and schedule it… onto the next.I’ve been writing publicly online since 2001, and this works for me. Are there mistakes? Sure, but this ain’t a book, and it’s not precious. There’s a time and a place for that, but I feel like all these years of writing are my “one-take performances” that allow me to speak with confidence and candor when I get in a room with people to discuss these sorts of things.

One take. One shot. Make it.

DON’T MAKE A TIKTOK

Lindsey Jordan (Snail Mail) talks to Monster Children about social media in the music world:

I think that anybody who is encouraging you to make a TikTok hit is probably brain dead. Don’t listen to them. Usually, those tactics don’t work. I’ve never done an actual ‘tactic’ and had it work.

There are people you didn’t reach yesterday because you didn’t display your art in a small gallery in Denver, CO, or play a set in a nightclub in Chicago last night, either.

They say not being on TikTok is a missed opportunity, but we miss opportunities every day because we are singular creative beings and have to do the dishes or cover a shift at work.

Sure, “everyone” is on TikTok right now, but everyone is at a club you’re not at, too. You’re not in a room with other creative people, working on a project with people you love.

There are missed opportunities, but maybe it’s time we were more selective about which ones we care about.