The Carver's House

Image from Pixabay, Pexels . In the previous blogpost , we went through the first step in becoming more creative, which is Loading. What I need to add here is another important source of information, and that is our interactions with people, whether they be family members, friends, co-workers, or any person we engage with in everyday life. In many instances, you might find that the experiences of other people can enrich your creativity as well. Let's now go to the second step of enhancing your creativity, and that is Meaning and Connection. MEANING AND CONNECTION No matter how much you load up on information, they're just that--information. What's crucial at this point is finding their significance or their value, and attaching feelings to them. It's true that we remember things more vividly if we're emotionally connected to them, and these feelings don't have to be of the sad sort. They can be happy feelings, or feelings of awe and fascination. When you watch a

Photo by  Vanessa Garcia  from  Pexels In my line of work, creativity is a non-negotiable. I draw, I design, and I write stories, so the more creativity I can tap, the more I'm able to do what I do. Even the less "artistic" fields, say teaching and instructional design, which I also do, demands a good level of creativity. In fact, it's not even bound by work. Creativity permeates across many aspects of life. When I talk about creativity, I'm referring to problem-solving. How do we make the most of what we have? What can we do when we're given certain boundaries or limitations? The basic principle behind this is increasing the connections within the brain. It's pretty much established that we can rewire our own brain (unless there are physiological conditions that prevent us from doing so). When we try to learn a new skill, particularly something we're not very well-versed in, and we dedicate a substantial amount of time to it, our brain will do its thi

Academic Year 2018-2019 was the beginning of my journey as a college instructor. Specifically, for the De La Salle - College of St. Benilde's Multimedia Arts Program. As of this writing, I am now in my fourth year with CSB. Admittedly, my main reason for taking this leap is financial in nature. While I do call myself a professional freelancer (with official receipts and an accountant at that), I've hardly done any hardcore marketing or self-promotion. I don't even have a website. I'm very fortunate that I've survived not having a full-time paycheck for ten years since leaving Summit Media. The projects that I've handled were mostly through referrals, relationships, and some level of buzz because of my work in comics and theater. Still, I needed something more stable, so teaching was a strong option. Not that I didn't like to teach. My mom and dad were teachers, and I had thought earlier on that that's where I'd end up, too. But I had envisioned it ha

Mock-up of a Cover for the anthology (It's not done yet.) It all started in early-2019. I have no memory of what I was doing on that day. All I remember was drawing a tikbalang and posting it on Facebook.  It wasn't the usual way one would draw a tikbalang. Normally, this half-man, half-horse creature would be trim and slim and toned and naked. In other versions, he would be wearing some kind of fantasy armor. The one I drew, however, was in a camisa chino with a straw hat, and carrying a couple of bayong, looking as if he had come from a shopping trip to the wet market. Oh, and he had a paunch. After I posted it, some people were amused by it, calling him "Thiccbalang." So I decided to try another image, that of a manananggal, but in a pose that resembled that of a bird, perched on a tree branch. That, too, got some attention. But nothing substantial. I also remember feeling particularly on edge at that time. I had not made anything substantially creative, and it was

I woke up at around 1:15 in the morning. It had just rained, so the air was quite cool. I'd normally wake up sweaty, especially during the summers even with the fan on. Last April, I finally, finally, invested in an airconditioner, an appliance I swore I would never need or buy, but the heat was getting in the way of work. Sad to say, the first thing I do is pick up my phone and check social media. My current phone (purchased early-2020) is a Samsung A50, one of those mid-range models, which I bought only because of the camera. I had wanted to start producing drawing tutorials at the time,  not knowing that I'd go full swing into it because of the pandemic. More on that in another blogpost. I couldn't access Facebook. I thought there was something wrong with the connection. But Twitter confirmed that Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp were down . I began to think again about how humanity had become dependent/addicted to social media platforms, especially to the tech behemoth