Chris Wilson | Illustration

PROFESSIONAL VISUAL STORYTELLING & CREATIVE DESIGN

Yes, if…

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The Imagineering Workout
The Imagineering Workout

An idea I came across recently in the book The Imagineering Workout comes from Martin Sklar, the Vice Chairman and Principal Creative Exec at WD Imagineering.

He brought out that Buzz Price began a practice when answering questions and reporting findings to Walt himself, and that was to start with “Yes, if…” rather than No, because…”

“No, because…” is a deal breaker. It says “there’s a brick wall that we can’t go thru, over, under or around.” Move along, there’s nothing to see here. This idea is DOA, and if it is to survive, then it must be resuscitated by someone with greater vision and/or authority. “No, because…” is negative in perspective, boxing in ideas before they’ve had a chance to run free to see what other places they may lead us. An idea that isn’t free to run cannot lead us to other ideas that we haven’t considered yet. “No, because…” feels to your team like an idea has been rejected.

“Yes, if…”, however, is the language of possibility. [Read more…]

Me and Mine

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Me and Mine

I’m a 40 year old married father with a number of interests and hobbies and a bad habit of starting little side projects whether I have time for them or not. When push comes to shove however, spending time with my family and making sure they are taken care of is my number one concern. This responsibility is at the core of many decisions I’ve made thru the years and will continue to be for some time. I call this taking care of Me and Mine. While these decisions are usually straight forward, they are not always the best news for me, personally.

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Illustration Friday: Atmosphere

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Atmosphere by @Ezzymaya

Wow! We actually got our entry in on time this week, so while this is our 2nd Illustration Friday post, this is our first “official” entry. This week’s Illustration Friday topic is Atmosphere. Obviously there are a number of definitions of atmosphere, but none of them readily appealed to me as something I’d have any interest in drawing. So, while the family camped this past weekend, I let it simmer.
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Illustration Friday: Stargazing

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One concept I’ve always liked but have had a hard time putting aside the time to participate in is Illustration Friday. There are several I’ve been inspired to participate in, but I’ve always had a rough time finding the opportunity to work on the In fact, even this initial attempt was only minimally successful. I’d wanted to color the final image, and perhaps later I will, but for now, inks will have to suffice. [Read more…]

The New (Old) Kids on the Block

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Good morning!

The other day, I woke up with this song in my head from New Kids on the Block. It got me talking to a colleague at work, and I told him how I thought it was funny that I had seen a televised bit when they kicked off their comeback tour in 2008 on the Today Show. These guys had put on what really looked like their old show, but their audience had miraculously transformed from a bunch of screaming teenagers into screaming near-middle-aged women. Their act, however, looked like it was still geared to a fairly wholesome boy-band image who were used to performing in front of underage girls.

So, still chuckling it up. I jumped on YouTube just to see if I could find the Today Show snippet, and instead I came across footage from their actual tour. This was NOT the same performance I had seen on the Today Show. These guys were shaking their parts and strutting their stuff, and their backup dancers were wearing very shapely outfits. Some of their dance moves were also more adult in nature. It seems that once they realized that their audience was no longer a bunch of kids, they completely transformed their show to pander to a crowd of lovelorn 30-40 somethings with 20 year old crushes (and possibly to re-imagine their youth the way they would have liked to have lived it).

Experience it if you dare:

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Ask For Something They Can Give

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People can’t always give you what you want, but they are often willing to give what they can. For instance, a customer might not be interested or in a position to buy your product, but if you’re on good terms with her, you might be able to get critical feedback while putting the product in her hands for a little while and letting her test drive it. This might open the door for a future sale. If you’re looking for a job, asking to be hired might get you a brick wall, especially if she’s not looking. A sincere request for a resume or portfolio review however, will get you two things: your work in front of someone who in the future might be willing to hire you and professional feedback on how to make your portfolio better for the next person.

Perfect Playlist

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This is a purely personal post. Nothing in here about business, marketing, branding, or anything else. If you really try to stretch it, you might get something about priorities, but I won’t ask you to. In 2007, one of my favorite magazines at the time, MacAddict, had just transformed itself into MacLife, and wanted to know what songs we had in our iTunes playlists. So, they ran a contest asking for our ‘Perfect Playlist’. I had been building one for about 7 years, and I chose to share it. I didn’t win, but the playlist is still there and exists and grows by a song every now and again. If you’re a dad, you might appreciate it. And maybe I’ll update this article later on with the newer additions.

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Are YOU on Twitter?

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I’ve recently met a wonderful lady, Amelia, from Australia, who runs her own business. She’s part of a small network of trainers, several of whom I’ve known for years. Because of my association with them, we’re slowly but surely connecting on the social media scene. I think I’m connected to several on Linked In and Facebook, and one of them on Twitter.

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Yes, Dani Does Draw

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I’m loving my recent care package from Dani.

So a couple of weeks ago, Dani Jones of DaniDraws.com, while on her uStream show, had her weekly friday drawing (that’s drawing as in “pulling a name out of a hat”) after she was done drawing (that’s drawing as in “pen and paint on paper”) and my name was drawn. From the hat. Well, there’s not really a hat either, but just go with it. My name was picked. OK?

[Read more…]

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Always happy to work remotely for anyone, anywhere, but I'm also available to work daily, or a few days a week in select areas of Connecticut.