How To Make Things Click Better: Lettering for Learning
For the hard of learning and the hazy of mind.
Have you ever felt like your brain was so hazy, you could cut the fog in there with a knife? I’ve been under the weather here lately and I’ve had a difficult time keeping my marbles straight. I actually should’ve submitted my last assignment for my lettering class sooner than I did.
But….I had a difficult time focusing, so I submitted it a couple days late. As my class was ending, I started re-reading an ebook called Creative Space: 21 Strategies to Help Calm Your Chattering Mind, Clear Your Busy Calendar And Create The Space You Need To Get Your Best Work Done by Dominique Falla, founder of Typism and the voice behind The Creative Spark Podcast. I bought it during the initial quarantine and ran through it. It was a quick read.
But, this time, it’s not so quick…For one, did I mention my brain fog?? And, two, I’m actually doing the exercises in the free class that comes with it-with a little twist.
The exercises come with downloads that I don’t download. Not because they aren’t any good. I just wanted to make my own copies. And when I say make, I mean write it or draw it out myself.
It’s just fun, okay?
Besides, going through the steps of creating a visual piece like a sketch, sculpture or some other visual art for a lesson, is like visual notetaking in the sense that it helps me retain what I learn longer. Somehow, the concepts get connected to the process of sketching or drawing and it all just gels. Experts believe it’s largely because one has to spend more time with the information (and more processing power) to translate it from an idea into a visual drawing of some kind, regardless of the skill level. My school uses an arts integrative approach to teaching for our students for many of these very reasons.
The drawing of the permission slip comes from Chapter two on giving oneself permission to do something creative (although that could be a series). Apparently, the subconscious trying to protect you from lions, tigers, and bears needs a boost sometimes to kick you out of the nest to do something out of your comfort zone. The act of giving myself a permission slip can trigger the freedom a creative like me needs to just move forward with the terrifying blank page…or ignore the growing pile of laundry long enough to get a drawing done. Drawing it helps me remember I don’t have to let any white page boss me around and that it’s an actual thing now. I have this tangible permission slip to refer to when I feel like, “I can’t do that.”
The diagram below was made from Chapter 4 on prioritizing one’s creativity.
The diagram was less drawing letters, of course. It was a lot more assembling and writing letters (I still haven’t cracked the code of lettering well in Goodnotes yet). But I still think it counts.
It’s called a Priority Matrix. The quadrants are meant to help organize responsibilities and tasks in a way that shows what one can afford to get rid of and focus on to make more space for creativity. And shows really is the operative word for these. Getting ‘it’ out of your head and down where you can see it…
As you can see, I’m still working on mine. My to-do list is normally full of things I do for my daughter or for work. There’s not much wiggle room there…But, creating this diagram for myself will give all this brain fog a run for its money. 👍🏾 I think being able to divvy up and see what’s important from things I don’t have to spend time agonizing over is key for finding more time in my day to create.
On another note, I’m this month’s featured Typism Community Member! Though I’ve felt a mess, it was so awesome this week to see my interview up on the site! Go on over and have a look. Maybe you’ll even be the next feature!
