The Magical Sketchbook, 13-Dec-11: Updated sketches and illustrations

[William Whitaker]

I enjoyed your work very much. I'm immensely impressed by such talent at such a young age!

If you are this good now, imagine how good you'll be at thirty-two! 32 is about the age when all your visual brain cells are completely hooked up. We artists are slow developers.

When I see work like yours, I wish I were a lot younger so I could see what is going to come with the melding of visual talent and incredible technology. I think the best stuff is yet to come.

[Magic Man]

Hi all!

Just wanted to thank some of the people who have private messaged me, I really appreciate your PMs and their candid nature, I'm so glad you're finding your way in this world as well, quite often for people such as ourselves who identify ourselves so closely with our creative output we can become completely swallowed by the behest of others, which although it might seem completely natural can lead to an absolutely rollercoaster ride of emotions, one moment accepted, the next rejected, and this will tend to spill over into our private lives as well which generally does not bode well for us in the long term.

I have found the best way to combat this is to base our validation not on external factors - which by their nature are only controllable to a certain extend, and thus is an invitation for others to rock our boats - but on internal factors, which we have a much higher degree of control over. As arrogant as it sounds, you really shouldn't give two shits about what other people think about you or your work or you as a person - ironically, this actually frees you up to BE a better person because your imperative is not externally driven, but self driven, meaning you are now totally in control of what you feel.

I have found that in order to both be a good person as well as a self determinant emotionally stable person, I derive internal validation from virtues, values, principles of how I carry myself in this world - things such as integrity, compassion, courage, etc - and how steadfast I am in holding fast and true to these principles regardless of the situation.

It might not make you everyone's friend, but a successful life in my opinion isn't to gain the esteem and love of everyone, it's to attain self respect which is harder than is sounds. The way I see it, can be summed up by the truth that no matter who you are, you will have detractors, all the greatest leaders not matter what they fought or died for all had detractors, from Lincoln, to FDR, Churchill etc every single exemplary leader had their percentage of people who plotted and move against them.

You can't make everyone like you or agree with you, live with it and get on with the job at hand is what I'd recommend. On a related note - your driving force shouldn't be to make them eat their words either, to prove other people wrong, running on anger may allow you to achieve your intended goal, but you'll also find - as I did - it can really rot your core and make you into a pretty despicable sonofabitch. One of my favourite quotes by Lincoln is also pretty profound - it also requires a strong person to do this because it is no longer ego based:

"I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends." - Abraham Lincoln

I wanted to be extremely candid here and also post something else that I used on a very consistent basis - apart from my gratitude journal, really, they go hand in hand.

Firstly, I use something called a gratitude journal, it is a simple thing that you use everyday, can be a book in my case I have an iPhone app that I use. It basically requires that you write 5 things every day that you are sincerely thankful for - it takes me about 3-4 mins every morning reflecting on the previous days happenings. And thats it.

In today's drama filled world, we're almost forced by default to be negatively biased, "the world is going to hell in a hand basket" is the default feeling of most people, we gain a certain satisfaction from bitching and moaning about everything, and the gratitude journal reverses this by getting us to fill our minds with positive thoughts in order to rid ourselves of the negative energy that can often screw with our creativity. I have done this, every single day, without fail for the last 9 months and I am a vastly different person because of it - it also trains consistency and commitment, two virtues required for outstanding achievement in any field.

The second part of my daily ritual I mentioned requires that I read a personal affirmation that I have written for myself - this is something that both Stephen Covey and Napolean Hill refer to as "auto suggestion" - in that our physical being, gravitates towards the realities that we set inside our own heads, makes sense yeah? If you unconsciously fill your thoughts with, for instance "I am such a shitty artist! Why can't I improve?!" what do you think will happen? In most cases, you will remain a shitty artist.

The fantastic thing about our mind and physical manifestation of our inner most thoughts that permeate it, is that our mind doesn't differentiate between subconscious or deliberate suggestion. For instance if you tell yourself that you're a great artist, and that you will overcome any problems on a daily basis, regardless of what actually happens, you eventually make your mind believe this is the case and the physical manifestation of your thoughts takes place. Might sound kinda airy-fairy, but it works a treat, all you gotta do is consistently put into your mind what you want and sooner or later you will gravitate towards what it is your seek.

The following is a completely unadulterated version of what I read every single day when I wake up - yes, I am Christian, and yes God is mention in one small section at the beginning, but this stuff works for non-believers as well, you can skip over the God part and you'll still achieve a fuck load more than most people ever will in their entire lives. I'd also like to point out, that I wrote and started reading this every day after going through some pretty dark days, believe me I have accomplished and will continue to accomplish everything I have set forth in the affirmation and my life goals, I believe everything I aim for is now inevitability rather than chance, and the coolest thing is that I believe ANYONE can achieve this level of certainty in their lives.

Daily Affirmation

Envisage your ideal future for 5 minutes…

I am an exceptional, balanced and intelligent individual who will attain success in all areas of my life through self determination and soliciting the grace of the Lord whom I speak to throughout the day's progress to ask for both guidance and love.

I am a positively charged person indicated by my steadfast virtues of integrity, ability, balance, poise, courage, empathy, commitment, confidence, patience, caring, fairness, foresight, creativity, responsibility, cleanliness, prudence and frugality.

I achieve the goals that I set, having the ability to muster my resources, aligning them in the direction towards my intended destination and the courage to initiate the actions required to attain the end state. Furthermore, I have the commitment, honour and steadfast resolve to finish what I begin.

I value my intelligence; my mind made resilient by continual learning and critical self analysis. My mental disposition is the foundation upon which all other success is founded and sustained. This intellect does not stay consistent; it requires ongoing care and nurturing to both maintain and increase performance.

I recognise that everything in life is incremental; short cuts do not work; my ego should always be kept in check; patience and persistence can dissolve any opposition; and as a species our most important accomplishments have been in unity rather than individualism.

I understand that failure is only a temporary setback, it is not final and from it the seeds of future successes are planted. My ability to triumph comes not only from exceptional skills in many areas but more importantly the ability to pick myself up whenever I am felled.

I recognise that my effort today, paves the path for tomorrow, that I reap what I sow and that my ability to delay personal gratification will lead to a vastly richer tomorrow.

Negative people do not impact my self belief, my work, nor make my day negative because I exercise independent thought rather than being someone who is influenced by others. I am strong and durable enough to interact and work cooperatively with negative people, without needing to adopt avoidance as a cheap method to maintain my integrity, and through this perhaps even influence how they see themselves in a positive way.

I never complain about my business nor those who I come in contact with, as it is a petty and fruitless activity that weakens my spirit and produces mistrust in others. It is a testimony of my character that I transcend any situation that life chooses to throw at me with a smile, and recognise that the need to complain usually signals that an opportunity is at hand.

There exist activities that waste time and contravene my integrity. There are other activities which seem urgent but are wholly unnecessary and I should identify these tasks before sinking valuable time into their undertaking. I don’t procrastinate, instead I face problems and obligations when they need to be solved, understanding that prioritisation is a skill of leaders – some tasks need to be dealt with now, some later. In order to facilitate efficiency, I make sure to follow my schedules to reduce wasted time.

When I am presented with new business opportunities, I evaluate the assignment in line with my long term business and personal goals, the creative fulfilment attached to the project, the financial reward and the time critical nature of the activity before accepting or rejecting the work.

I understanding that effective achievement over an extended period requires an overarching view of the situation and intent, planning to achieve the goals, mustering reliable resources to undertake the work, putting in place a timeline for those resources to achieve the milestones, creating a system of balances and checks that alert when things are going awry and identifying and providing fallbacks for identified risks.

I find great personal fulfilment where upon criticism of my work or behaviour, I exercise self mastery by pausing for a moment to understand the view point of my critic. I weigh the validation of their views and suggestions against the catalytic factors and underlying choices that preceded the outcomes. I then respond in a congenial manner that advances the dialogue in a mutually beneficial direction congruent with the end goal.

I am master of my financial well being and because money does not hold a constant value, I plan my investment for the long term in order to preserve my purchasing power and business capital. I care because this directly affects my ability to live a free life, to move quickly on good opportunities, affect change and impinges on my ability to provide financial security to those I care about.

In all my relationships, I am a caring individual, upon whom those close to me can count on for love, understanding and counsel. I remain faithful to those I care about and realise that everyone is at a different point in their life journey; I accept that and care for them unconditionally. I will do my best to help them, notwithstanding the contravention of my virtues. I understand that although relationships are important, they are not my source of character, that strength is a function of my adherence to unwaveringly steadfast principles.

Although I seek to relentlessly achieve, I also recognise that to run at full capacity all of the time will impact the other aspects of my life negatively. I remain healthy because my ability to live and experience life is dependant on my well being. Downtime is integral to my health, my career, my relationships, and my mind so I ensure that I consciously take the time to enjoy unstructured relaxation time.

Above all, I understand that everything in life is interrelated; therefore, what I seek is a sustainable balance of mind, body, spirit and relationships.

Today I choose to put forth my best efforts and to exercise the best choices, not to make a good impression on others, but because it is in harmony with my internal principles.

[Magic Man]

I also wanted to mention some cool news, Syd Mead will be visiting the university which I am currently teaching at here in Melbourne, RMIT and he's likely to be visiting my class while I am teaching! I am a massive fan of Syd's and I had a bunch of his books and Gnomon DVDs, so it will be a huge honour to meet one of the people who really influenced me early on.

So in ode to Syd, I did a sketch of him hehe, hopefully it looks a bit like him! I also recorded a video of me sketching him out, maybe he'd have the time to watch a couple of minutes of it =)

[jcpahl]

Hay I remember you. Was always a fan; cool to see a new book.

[Magic Man]

Quick shoutouts:

NickyBeats: Hah, thanks mate, you know I kinda cheated, I used to have an SB here and then I had it deleted as I was actually thinking of giving up art altogether and joining an intelligence here in Australia. I'm kinda glad that fell through now, everything happens for a reason yeah? In my humble opinion, you might be able to ascend to great heights on skill alone, but without a good mentality to compliment it, you'll crash and burn quickly - kinda like how child movie stars, a lot of them anyway, just don't know how to react to their sudden fame and turn into wash ups early.

Istmin52: Rendering from memory is overrated, use photo reference, a lot of the top artists do. Rendering from memory comes naturally over time, but only for a select number of subject matter. It should, in my opinion, never be the goal of the artist to render from imagination, but instead to create a compelling image -the means of which is what is required at the time. It is a misconception that a desired attribute of good art, and that everything is created purely from the imaginative ether. Maybe its the commercial artist in me talking, but my opinion is - you do what is necessary to create an image that kicks ass, whether that is referring to a photograph, using 3d models, or tweaking your nipples, use what works as long as you're not plagiarizing or being deceptive of your methods. Also, another thing you will definitely want to consider doing, is to stop comparing your "learnability" to other people, we're all wired different, some people are more naturally inclined than others. My opinion on this is that if you have to work hard for something, fine, so be it, that's the hand you've been dealt with. I've never been a good runner, but when I was signed onto become a police officer, we had a very high running score we had to meet (it was bordering on being a pretty darn good athlete), rather than occupying my mind with "how on EARTH am I ever going to meet that?!" I just set about running my ass off. It took me 3 months to achieve that target, but I did. One of the other recruits was just a natural runner, and he played a lot of soccer, so he didn't even need to train for it. You can either complain about something and be no better off, or just accept the fact you learn slower than others and do it anyway. You also find that people who have had to surmount large obstacles - people like Helen Keller, Oprah, and a whole host of other self made success stories - if they stick at it, they become prodigious in their field. You can think of your learning ability as either a hindrance, or as a blessing in disguise, I prefer the latter. Hope this helps.

jgwong: Thanks buddy! Will do =)

phizpietl: Thanks Phil, I had a look at your sketchblog, holy crap mate, you have some AWESOME work, love it to death!

iolarnula: Thank you mate, great to see you still around, been well? =)

vatteh: Thanks for the kind words mate, appreciate it =)

JesArt: Aw, thanks buddy - making me blush! My advice with your stuff, just keep going mate, as long as you're moving that stylus, you're improving even if it is just .0001% every time you draw. Sometimes we learn quickly, sometimes not so quickly, we're wired that way, took me 6 months of head banging to really understand perspective in it's complexity, made me question whether I had it often. Whichever you believe - you have it, or you don't, you're right! The mind is an amazing thing. Regarding servitude, I think the adage where "compassion and serving others are pretty much the only gifts that you give away in order to receive the rewards..." is such a powerful thing. I think in society, we're taught to think with a mentality of scarcity, I find that giving away more of myself, I often receive not in equivalent currency 10x what I gave away, its amazing. As for your post, thank you for writing it, I appreciate it alot, and the least I could do is write you back =)

Jephyr: Thank you and I am glad you enjoyed reading it =)

GunTrouver: Thanks mate, good to see you around!

Eiki: Thanks buddy! I hope to keep posting long into the future =)

Andrew: Thanks buddy, keep up your fantastic work!

Dr popcorn: Thank you mate =)

Cognition: You man, good to have you around, thanks for stopping by, hope you're going well! Good luck at TAD, it will be a really kickarse adventure I am sure!

Gloominati: Great to see you're still around budski! How you been keeping?!? =)

Witek: Wow! Thank you my friend, sorry for my sketchbook disappearing, I asked the admins to delete it. I am sorry to hear about your love for art dying, I can recommend two things - one is to take your mind off art for a while, go do something else that inspires you, go out in nature, go learn something new, go hiking, jump out of a plane with a parachute, something that makes you fee alive. I find that just getting out of the work environment, doing something as simple and childish as chasing fishes in the sea just inspires me so much! Secondly, if you've been blocked for a while, pick up The Artist's Way, a book with lots of exercises and how to unblock and get on with art again. Hope this helps =)

Mike Butkus: Thanks buddy! =)

Knoxie: Hah, thanks buddy, and cool that you met Poh, she's a good person and one of my favourite cousins long before MasterChef. Would love to meet up some time mate! Maybe pop around to your sketch crew thing =)

William Whitaker: Thank you so much for dropping by! One of the things I have heard, and which I think is true, is that often the smallest kindest word can help someone more than all the critical analysis in the world, and I'd have to say just hearing a small lovely message from someone of your caliber is like a little injection of enthusiasm right into my veins hah. I totally think you're right, I'm currently figuring out the most natural way for me to blend both digital and physical media to be honest. Imo, its a very exciting time to be creating art, especially with the proliferation of the Internet, there are just so many new ways to learn, do business and share - I'd probably credit most of my development as an artist to the web! Anyway, continue to rock on, look forward to speaking in the future.

And some art just so this isn't a text post... =)

[Yautja892]

Great to see new works from you and more importantly great to see your in a happier place in life now! I remembered your older sb and watching your journey way back when. I was in a tough spot in life when I last visited your older sb and it helped me stay focused. It's inspirational too see your still going at it and doing what you love. Thanks for what you wrote, I'm sure a lot of people have been in that situation and appreciate the time you took to share that. Hope too see more work from you. Take care.

[Jephyr X]

Magic Man: Your artwork is amazing but so is your willingness to lay your soul bare in your writing. I'm sure your words about your struggles will help many people. I'm glad to hear that you haven't over-looked the spiritual in that equation.

I have found that in order to both be a good person as well as a self determinant emotionally stable person, I derive internal validation from virtues, values, principles of how I carry myself in this world - things such as integrity, compassion, courage, etc - and how steadfast I am in holding fast and true to these principles regardless of the situation.

It might not make you everyone's friend, but a successful life in my opinion isn't to gain the esteem and love of everyone, it's to attain self respect which is harder than is sounds. The way I see it, can be summed up by the truth that no matter who you are, you will have detractors, all the greatest leaders not matter what they fought or died for all had detractors, from Lincoln, to FDR, Churchill etc every single exemplary leader had their percentage of people who plotted and move against them.

You can't make everyone like you or agree with you, live with it and get on with the job at hand is what I'd recommend. On a related note - your driving force shouldn't be to make them eat their words either, to prove other people wrong, running on anger may allow you to achieve your intended goal, but you'll also find - as I did - it can really rot your core and make you into a pretty despicable sonofabitch.

[Darkside]

aww man, great to see you back in here
just recently I wondered what you were doing now, absolutely fantastic to see how you have developed.
still love your sense of form and design, happy to see more of it in the future

cheers

[Darkside]

man, just wanted to tell you that your posts are very very motivational and inspiring.
I´m filled with energy right now, just by reading and picking your thoughts here hehe.
Thanks for that!

[jeremygordon89]

Incredible work! This is one of the most inspiring sketchbooks I've seen

[Nibras]

Heard a hell of a lot about you while you were away. It's brilliant to see the work you produce. Stunning, stunning, stunning stuff!

Really awesome works, thank you for reposting again and keep inspiring man

[Hideyoshi]

ah, the magic is back, awesome!

[PHATandy]

As someone from a entirely mediocre and average life (not necessarily a bad thing...) i find it so hard to place myself in the world. I am thoroughly grateful for everything but i dont think i REALLY appreciate it. Maybe writing it down everyday would help that.
Posts like these and your affirmation is what helps me be determined to achieve anything as a person. It makes me realize that i NEED to do something, and make something of this mediocrity.

Thank you very much for laying your thoughts out like this Magic. Its truly appreciated.

[NickyBeats]

love the updates!!! -saw em on facebook. have a good day dude! you just made mine.

[JIEZHOU]

IT was great work ..I like it so much . !

[DeathByChris]

Awesome, thanks for the videos.

[Hive_minD]

Magic Man...
Wow... You were like one of my first and greatest inspirations here on CA. You and Hurricane are like my two greatest motivators. I even opened a thread in the lounge asking where the hell you disappeared too, with no luck. Now, I have been away an entire weekend, to make some money I need, and come back to the SB section to find you again. You have no idea how happy I am now. Great to see you back. Hope all is well with you and your loved ones!

btw, I used to read a daily affirmation to myself every morning too, and write 4 things I was grateful for before I went to bed, but lately I have been slacking there. From tomorrow on, that is going to change. With your permission, I will use your daily affirmation, seeing it fits me perfectly.

Again, you still are a great inspiration to me, and many others.
Chris

[Jasper_]

Well I don't think I've been around quite long enough to really remember your presence on this site, but what you've recently posted is incredible and inspiring. Checking out a lot of your vids on youtube, really glad you've taken the time to make them. Definitely looking forward to future posts from you.

[Istmin52]

Thanks for your advice. I know that reference is important to use but I sometimes have trouble finding the right reference material. Using models is tough because I can't really afford to hire models for my work and I think that has been a main issue for me. I guess I just don't want to me limited and have to use reference if I don't know how to do something. That's why I've been studying a lot.

[Giow]

you made the right decision to continue with art.
i like your style and those videos are awesome.

[smokenmirrors]

impressive words mr. magic man. Im glad to see the talent goes with not only the brush but the pen as well. You went through the process of becoming a police officer? or some other form of law enforcement? Not sure how far you checked through my SB but I did the same... quite a crazy process.... but for me, im happy my path ended up not going that way...

in any case, its great to read some depth and candid truths from your p.o.v. , thoughts Ive often had and struggled through as a person and also as an artist.

keep on the keep on brotha.

[seth1]

Great work magic man... Great to see you posting again!!

[Kan Muftić]

You have some very nice stuff in here, mate.

[soros]

Incredible Artwork! I would love to see the combined sketches of the big picture in a higher resolution and I'm looking forward to see more pencil sketches!

[Texahol]

Glad to have you back Darren!

Your art in the old sketchbook was a great inspiration when I was first starting out in 2006

[theUNKNOWNsketcher]

Great! Keep it up "

[ArtByManon]

very inspired, particularly by the words - i've downloaded that app now!!

[Beelow]

Blown away as usual MagicMan. Welcome back. I'll be waitin' for more updates to be inspired some more.

[Magic Man]

Hi guys,

Sorry I haven't been around for a few days, been busy as hell, just got the students to submit their first assignments and the system set up by the school has been lacking in dependability!

Also, just launched my personal website, its still in the works, but presentable enough to show! I'm going to be uploading new art fairly consistently to it as well as blog posts and such, so please feel free to come over and check it out:

Stylus Monkey Design Homepage

Not sure if you guys have also come across this dude, but he's been an absolute Internet Sensation! Eduard Khil: www.trololololololololololo.com/

So what did I do? I did a sketch of him, since he's such a strange looking fellow hehe:



Just a quick thought, I come into contact with many different people in the course of my work, and one of the observations of one of my most astute mates absolutely rings true in a lot of ways - there are two kinds of people, those who give you energy and those who take it away from you.

You can reflect that back on yourself, are you someone who is always negative, always dramatising things, always looking to bring down a good situation whether subconsciously or not? Or are you the type of person who can see the good in all situations, the person who picks others up when they are down, that allow others to believe in themselves when no one else will?

As sure as rain will fall and the flowers will bloom, one path leads to a lifetime of mediocrity and waste, and the other, if sustained will bring more abundance than you could imagine - not just in financial terms. The great thing is that if you have some degree of self knowledge, you can make the decision to change this any time you want, thats the great thing about life, no one said it will be easy but if you want something better, its lunacy to think that doing the same thing and being of the same mentality that got you nowhere, if carried on will lead to a different station in life. Change it up if you're not happy with something.

Shoutouts =)

Yautja892: Thanks mate, I certainly appreciate the kind words and I'm glad that some of my previous writing / art helped you out =)

Jephyr X: No problems at all, I think one of the greatest says I've heard is that when a person's actions matches what they think, they know peace =)

Darkside: Thanks buddy for the welcome back! =) Draw draw!

jeremyg0rd0n: Thanks mate, making me blush!

lilnebo: Ah, I did not realised I was missed or even spoken about! Krazy!

Hideyoshi: Hi mate, good to see you =)

PHATandy: Ah mate, no one is mediocre unless they believe it and practice it Practice and believe yourself to be great, your mind precedes the physical manifestation of whatever it is your desire.

NickyBeats: Cheers brother

JIEZHOU: Thanks friend =)

DeathByChris: No problems, sharing is caring hehe.

Hive_minD: Happy to see you too mate, I actually deleted my old sketchbook, you might have remembered me talking about wanting to leave the industry all dramatic and stuff, hehe, almost damn near did it! Glad I didn't though, art has provided me with everything I ever want or will want, sometimes its funny, you search for something and search and search and sometimes its sitting right in front of you!

Jasper_: No problems mate, ah, not too much to it, just turn on record and do my thing =)

Istmin52: Who says you need to hire models? Go out there and photograph your friends, or make some new friends and photograph them. Instead of putting barriers in front of you, think of how to overcome them, I find one stops a life from growing and the latter unleashes it! =)

Giow: Thanks buddy! Glad you like them =)

smokenmirrors: haha, yeah, I went through pretty much the entire process, the only reason I pulled out was that the wait was going to be extremely long due to the GFC at the time and that no cops were resigning, meaning they had a weird situation where more people were staying on than usual, low turnover. Some would call it coincidence, I call it providence, I like to think staying with art was meant to be =) Also, I couldn't bear to sell off my art library, that thing cost me a bloody fortune! hehe

seth1: Thanks mate!

Kan Muftić: Cheers mate!

soros: Thanks mate, I'll see what I can do

Texahol: Thanks brutha, sorry, I can't recall your name =( Stick around, lots of cool stuff coming soon =)

theUNKNOWNsketcher: Thanks mate

I also created a bunch of other videos for my students - not glamourous ones, but important foundational skills nonetheless. There is no commentary for two reasons, 1. I comment on them during class, 2. I don't have a mic to record!













ArtByManon: ooh nice! keep at it =)

Beelow: Oh yeah!!! =)

[Hive_minD]

I recall something happining yes, but not really why. Though I am glad you managed to fight throught the shit nonetheless! And it is great to see you have got a website! I am currently working on my own (with the much appreciated help from a friend with some of the html). Hopeing to get it done before the summer.
btw, the videos are pretty awesome and helpfull.