Traumatically Funny (Art Post)

It's been forever since I was on here! Life loves handing out lemons, and I've gotten a lot lately, poor excuse, but it happens. Perhaps I'll tell you guys what's been going on at some point, but I'm not yet comfortable talking about it, so till then just know I'm hanging in there! 😬

So on my website I have this category called weekly/daily sketches. Really stupid name, I know, but I made this goal to draw at least once a week and post it, and as I was naming it I got worried and tacked on the daily part just in case I wanted to upload more...I should have just left it at weekly or even just sketches. I certainly haven't kept that goal alive lately, however I'm going to keep it, after all it wouldn't be a goal if you were perfect at it from the start.

This is a drawing I did a while ago, I haven't put it on my site yet, but I wanted you guys to see it--it's amaaaazing! I laugh every time I see it.

The idea comes from there always being that one person that just doesn't get it, hints, blunt honesty, anything, at all, and it's even worse in a "romantic" setting--Err...or an attempted romantic setting. Either way people can be so dumb, and in this case, it's traumatically funny.
(I know his clothes are rather Gaston-esque it was mildly on purpose...haha Hope you guys like it!) 😄

Creativity in Writing--How to get more of it

I touched a bit on this with my last post but the hygienist at the dentist got me thinking about it again. She said "I'm not creative, I loved writing when I was younger but decided I wasn't good at it, so I stopped. I like science and math, they're easier because they have an answer."

Hearing that made me so sad! Why is it when we get older we stop doing the things we love because we aren't good at them? Why do adults need to be good or naturally gifted in something in order to even bother doing it at all?
What happened to work hard and develop your talents? Why are we believing this 'you have to be born with it to ever be good at it' lie?

Some people are born with ample amounts of creativity and it just comes naturally to them, others have to work a little harder.
If we split everyone into the two typical groups; Creative (Arts based) or Logical (Science & Math based) where do you fall?


Now logically speaking, unless you are blind you can look at these two images and at least tell someone what is happening. Give it a try.

I see a man gathering Oranges and a physically and emotionally tired soldier taking a moment to rest.

I like to use two methods at this point to be "creative" the first method is: Ask Questions about what is happening now, before the image was taken, or what will happen next?

• Perhaps the Orange Gatherer will take his basket to the King? Or his wife and children? Maybe he's a business man stealing oranges on the way to work? Maybe he grows them for homeless children? Got fired and is stealing oranges to take home with him?

• Maybe the Soldier just lost his best friend in an ambush? Received some bad news from home? Missed the birth of his son?

Speculate, assume, wonder. Then start trying to answer those questions. If you don't like the answers or want to be more creative push things farther by continuing to question things. The more questions you ask the more it'll push you and what you are seeing into "creative" waters.

Creativity doesn't have to be pulling rainbows and unicorns out of thin air, you're not trying to sound high. The goal is to be inquisitive. Here in Method 1 you've been guessing at the situation, present past and future, but sometimes that's too vague. When I get stuck or don't like what I've come up with I move on to my other method.

Method 2: Let's use the Orange Gatherer for this example and ask Where, What, Why, & How.

• Where? --somewhere warm, maybe India or somewhere in the middle east (since he's got some sort of turban on)
• What's he doing? --Gathering Oranges
• Why? --probably his job?
• How? --with a knife and a basket to carry them in.

Examine the image again, what else do you see? (Try ending every observation with a question.)

•  (His Age) --He's older, maybe grandpa age?
• (How is he dressed) --He's wearing a suit coat, dress shirt, and nice shoes, who gathers oranges in business clothes?
• (Condition of his clothes) --His coat looks torn on one of the sleeves.What's he been through?
• Why is he dressed for a colder day? Wouldn't it be warm where oranges grow?
• Was he kidnapped and escaped? 
• Could he be being sneaky? (Since he's crouched down and staying low)
• Could he be stealing the fruit?
• Does he own the orange farm and hand them out to homeless children on the way to work?

If you can't come up with an answer or question you feel is creative enough, stop. Approach it logically, what makes sense to you?

I was a kid when Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped and found, I'm more sensitive and caring toward children, I love seeing people being kind to others, I can be very cynical, I am fascinated by people and their body language, and I also tend to give people the benefit of the doubt. My questions about the Orange Gatherer don't seem so out of the blue or "creative" now, do they?

The truth is your Logic is Creativity to someone else. You are a different person with unique experiences.


You're probably asking why I even bother using the first method, aren't you? Well because it's a process.

1. at a glance what is happening in the picture -a man picking oranges (you didn't even know that was a step did you? This one is the most natural, it's easy.)
2. Asking what is happening now, before, or after the image was taken (pretty easy but can be very boring and I often hit dead ends quickly)
3. Question the crap out of everything. Where, What, Why, How, then observing the image in more depth, question everything.

By the time I've gone through all of them I have my initial reaction, what I thought of, and where I took it. If you want to see improvement in your creativity, doing all three of those will give you a clear view at how far you've come.

      4. Finally chose a path, what did you come up with that you like the most? Then write a sentence to a paragraph (or a few pages if you're really enjoying it) to make your idea or story.  (I use this mostly for creating story ideas, it's very fast and fun once you get the hang of it.)

Most importantly try a few different methods, then find your own. This is just what works for me. I call it Methodical Creativity because I put a lot more into it than rainbows and unicorns from thin air. Just because you are more logical doesn't mean you lack creativity, maybe you're not Spontaneously Creative but rather Methodically Creative.

 My Pinterest Writing Prompts Board

Writing Advice & Tips

Ever wish you could go back and tell your younger self some of the wisdom you've gained?

Things you could have used sooner?

Would you have listened?

I don't know if I would have listened to this older heavier version of myself, I like to think I would, but in all honesty I think I'd laugh and blow myself off with that infamous teenager attitude and snark.

But if I could give my younger self some advice it would be this:

• Everyone has to find their own writing strategy. It's great to take examples from famous writers and those you look up to, but at the end of the day you are always going to be you not them.
• If Harry Potter had been your idea you would have written it differently, and the story wouldn't have been the same. Likewise your writing style and ideas are unique, no one will ever think exactly like you. Your stories are unique for that reason.
• Put in the leg work to create your world. For Me this helps make the story and characters more real. Just knowing what kind of world they are living in and what is happening in their Universe, the world, their country/city/town/village, and their personal world makes a night and day difference.
• Every Experience you have furthers your ability to write and connect with other people, and is highly valuable in this line of work.
• Write something everyday, even if it's a single sentence or an idea.
• Come up with new ideas every day/week, make a point of it, and they will come easier and easier to you. If you are always writing your ideas down and creating new ones you'll never run out and fall into Writers' Block.

An exercise I've found that helps with improving your idea creation is to go over to Pinterest, you can type in 'writing prompts' which is fun, but I love searching through the photography. Then I pick some of the images and I write a sentence to a paragraph about what is happening or what it makes me think. (sometimes I even write a few pages!)
Example:

Pinterest Link to Image

She raced frantically through the crowds of happy carnival guests, she'd only lost sight of them for a moment. Gasping in the bitter cold she stopped near the lit up merry go round and turned in a terrified circle hoping she'd see them again. Tears began streaming down her rosy cheeks as a light snow began falling, her father was gone, stolen right before her eyes.

• Bad ideas have worth. The worst idea you can think of can be made into something fantastic and amazing if you give it enough thought and time...or it can be merged with a mediocre idea to make something more interesting.
  I.E. if you've ever seen the Twilight jokes on Pinterest you'll know there's a whole slew of people that would have preferred a story about Charlie, Bella's Dad, finding out his friend is a vampire and his best friend's tribe were werewolves then fighting off the bad vampires and protecting their home. And that would have been an awesome story.
• Some bad ideas are bad ideas...but they could be fun, use your judgement and write it down anyway. Maybe one day you'll need a villain that only has bad/poor ideas, just because it is a "bad" idea doesn't mean it is worthless.
• Keep your documents organized and never overwrite the original, make a new document or save it as a new version! This has gotten me in soooo much trouble over the years, it sucks because you know you've written it, but by the time you realize you've rewritten that part and accidentally deleted it, you've wasted a ton of time and have to try and remember what it was. Descriptions of minor characters suffer the most from this as well as settings, it's always helpful to be able to look back and remember what you were thinking when you originally thought of the character or scene.
• If you need to start over, do it. Take the time to make it what you want.
• Explore all your character's pasts, and write little stories or details about them. They could be more important than you know. (Also good material for a separate book, I have minor characters that could have their own stories. It is also great practice.)
• Keep going. Passion is not something you are born with. It is so rare for anyone to have "natural passion". If you like something and keep working on it at some point that like turns into love and if you keep at it people will start saying you have a passion for it. I strongly believe Passion is something you make yourself through hard work and dedication, it is not natural and certainly not there at the beginning.

Those were just a few of mine, perhaps I'll do another one of these (and not so late at night) in the future. :)
What would you tell yourself?
What are some of your biggest lessons you've learned while writing your stories? What would you do differently if you had to start over?

Caught Off Guard: A New Adventure

You never know what life is going to chuck your way. When you barely manage to doge one big bad life event you get smacked in the face by something else. Life is a tricky sneaky snot.

My life as a whole has been rather boring and ordinary, but the last few years have been pretty dark. I've been dealing with this ridiculous overwhelming grief over my hopes and dreams, I never imagined my life would turn out so different. I've been going through depression after a bad car accident, and that almost mythical biological clock that I thought wasn't real hits so hard it puts Superman to shame.

I'm turning 26 this year, which is why I've dubbed this blog my 26th Adventure. I could probably write a novel on my past, whine about my crappy relatives, lack of relationships, and cry to you for days about how desperately I want children and a family of my own, but I won't. Why? Because Adventures aren't started by looking behind you.
You start something by looking Forward. 

My Adventure in my 26th year is about creating. I am creating a future for myself and the family I one day will have. I am working on a book, its been around four years now since I started, and it has not been without hardships. However it is slowly, over the last few months, started to become something I can be proud of. I'm not saying the last four years have been a waste, I needed them to find this amazing wonderful new version of my story, and for the first time in a long time I can honestly say I love it.

Originally it was about a girl that'd run away to the city and got involved in street fighting...I can't believe that's what I started with. Now it's about a boy returning home three years after an attempted suicide, he's searching for where he belongs and while some of his friends are accepting of him and still care, others are resentful and angry. It's much darker than what I'd started with, it's not even the same story, but it's so much better. There are a few story lines taking place but the boy is my main character, and his story line is the easiest to explain. I guess his Uncle's story line is pretty easy too, he's being hunted by a former employer for a botched job and murder he ran from ten years ago which puts their entire family and his old partner in danger.

I'm also testing the waters of drop-shipping and selling my art online! Basically I design something for a product and when it's ordered the company prints, packs, and sends it to the customer automatically. I've managed to get my colors to match at least on the apparel and home decor stuff, but mugs I'm really struggling with. The company doesn't give you the printer files (I think that's what they're called, anyway they're secret printer information that you put in your art program that automatically calibrates the colors) The mugs just print way too dark, and it takes tons of work to get them to turn out the way I want...not to mention the cost of buying my own products to test.

This is one of my newest designs, I think I'm starting to get the hang of making things that look like they were meant for more than a sketch book page.

I've had to change the way I think about my art, it has to make more sense with the space it is placed on/in, and I need to stay true to myself. That's one of the hardest things as an artist, not really inspiration but losing and rediscovering yourself over and over.

If you want to check out what else I've got up you'll find me at https://inktale.com/kayleeray (or click my drawing, it's linked to it as well).
If you'd like an explanation or the story behind one of my works let me know in the comments below!

What are your adventures for this year?
Do you have any goals?
I want to be in a better place mentally, emotionally, and physically by January next year. I'd also like to finish my book (get it published if possible), and do well in my online storefront venture.
Have a great day guys, you're amazing! :D