Justyna Dorsz

Weekly Notes

I don’t write weekly notes every week, but today I want to.

This week has been similar to all other weeks during the pandemic: I worked a bit, but not as much as I could, I didn’t exercise enough, overall I felt tired, and didn’t feel like I had as much energy as I used to. But I know how to change all that because this is similar to how I felt two years ago. I was tired and unmotivated back then, and even though I went to the gym every few days, I didn’t really feel it made that much difference to my health.

Then one day I watched this:

I decided to go to the gym every day. And I did!

I was surprised I managed that. I have never liked exercising. There are sports I like, but the gym is rarely fun. When I decided to go every day, I thought it was going to be excruciating — forcing myself every day to go. I was wrong.

I can’t say I’ve ever learned to like it. But I went every day whether I wanted to or not, and after a week or two, I stopped thinking about it — it was just something I did. I didn’t have to force myself — it became a habit.

Those few months were the best time for my well-being. Every day, I woke up and went to the gym first thing in the morning. I slept better and I didn’t have problems waking up, I even stopped drinking coffee. I felt productive and had more free time.

Then the pandemic happened. Gyms got closed. I stopped exercising. Every night it took me hours to fall asleep. I woke up tired, had difficulties focusing on work.

My gym is finally open again. Last week I only went once and didn’t like it. But I remember how much better my life was when I had the habit of going daily. I am going to build that habit again.

Create designs faster

The process for creating a design is:

  1. Have an idea.
  2. Sketch it.
  3. Draw it properly.
  4. Clean up the lines. Polish.
  5. Add text if needed.
  6. Export to a PNG file. Sometimes you need a few variants.
  7. Submit to your online store.
  8. Add tags and a description.
  9. Share on social media.

That’s a lot of different kinds of tasks. And it always takes a moment to switch from one task to the next one. Instead of making one design and then another one, it’s more efficient to batch similar tasks together.

First, I note down ideas. At the moment I have 9 ideas for designs that I want to create for my new store. Today, I’ve made initial sketches for all of them. Then I will draw them all. After that, export all the designs to PNG files. And submit to my store.

I know from experience that this way is faster. When I focus on just one design, I end up making only that single design during a day. But, when I work on groups of designs, I can make 3 to 5 designs a day.

Ooblets

I was having a bad day so, instead of working, I played Ooblets. It’s such a sweet and funny game, improved my mood at once. Even made me laugh out loud a few times!

Me and my ooblets during winter

If you are sad and want to cheer up, I very much recommend you play it 🙂

ArtStation courses are now free

Courses on ArtStation used to be paid, but now, till the end of the year, they are free.

A lot of the courses are related to 3D modeling, which is not that interesting to me. But there are over 60 courses in the 2D section and I’ve been checking them out.

I’ve already watched “Character Illustration in Procreate” — it’s a short tutorial on painting a cozy scene, the colors are lovely:

And now I am watching “Illuminating a 2D Illustration in Procreate”:

Speaking of free resources, check out Sinix Design on YouTube. There are hundreds of videos teaching how to sketch, how to paint, explaining colors, values, anatomy, etc. My favorite videos are paintovers — he takes someone else’s drawing and improves it. Can’t recommend this channel enough.

Finding a niche

Everyone always says you should find your niche. But it’s not easy.

Years ago, when I started making designs, I couldn’t identify just one theme to focus on. I named my store Fox Shiver because I wanted to draw a lot of foxes. But then I also drew cats, and dogs, and gloomy birds, and space. Now my store is a mess.

I’ve been thinking, it’s possible that in 10 years I will still be making designs. I like drawing, I have a lot of ideas, I have sketches that I want to turn into designs. If I keep adding all my designs to my main store, in a few years I will have, say, 500 designs. It will be difficult for anyone to find what they want. For example, if someone who loves cats searches for a cat shirt in my store, they will have to go through 350 designs of dogs, space, trees, pigs, and other topics that they have no interest in.

I’ve decided to make a separate store for some of my designs. It will be focused on cute and funny animals. I will maybe even move some of my existing designs from the Fox Shiver store.

Now I am in the process of searching for a name for my store. I am using random word generators like this one, and this one, to search for interesting and unique words. I also check word combinations using a portmanteau generator. I write down all the words I like and look for connections. Something will jump out at me soon.

Edit (15 June, 2021): My new store is TRUFFLEPIG!

Personal Monopoly

My approach to work has always been: find an interesting project, work on it, then work on another interesting project. Sometimes it meant making apparel designs, sometimes it meant creating games. The most recent project is a cat book that I am making with my brother.

It has occurred to me recently that I have never really planned my career, I don’t even have any projects planned in advance. I focus on one or two projects at a time, but I have no idea what I will work on in 3 months.

I’ve recently watched “How to build a Personal Monopoly” where David Perell and Jack Butcher talk about defining a path to a successful career. They are both writers but what they talked about applies to other professions too.

Watch the video and get inspired:

I made notes while listening:

  • A Personal Monopoly is a combination of Curiosity, Competence, Character.
  • To find your Personal Monopoly answer these questions:
    • Curiosity: What do you care about?
    • Competence: What are you good at?
    • Character: Who are you? What are your unique traits?
  • When you define and combine these things, you can then package them into a product.
  • Dice methodology:
    • First, you collect everything you are interested in.
    • Then you connect the dots — all your interests and experiences come together.
    • And then it all combines and emerges into a final form.
  • Strip away all things that don’t drive you towards the outcome.
  • Listen to feedback. Talk about what you are interested in. Attract like-minded people and find out what they need. Based on that, create a product.
  • “The greatest source of wealth will be the ideas you have in your head.” — a quote from “Sovereign Individual”.
  • Thanks to globalization we get to become citizens of the Internet.
  • If you want to create a Personal Monopoly you need to find skills that are:
    • Complementary — skills that reinforce each other,
    • Specific — find a niche,
    • Unusual,
    • Experiential — gained through experience.
  • Path to Personal Monopoly
    • Write what you are interested in. Have conversations about it. Get Feedback. Share it. Create articles and content. Repeat. This way you find your niche.

I made a mug

I found out about a local pottery studio that sometimes organizes classes. Last week they posted an event on Facebook titled “Make yourself a mug”. I have always wanted to make stuff from clay but never had a chance before. I called my family, and they all wanted to go too. Even my mom agreed to come though she claimed she was too old for that.

The class was today, and we all went, and we all made our own mugs. Each in their own style. The above photo is of my little cup. My mom and her partner made big coffee mugs. My brother made an angular mug with sharp edges, and his wife made a huge cappuccino mug.

The mugs are not ready yet. Now they need to dry, then they will be fired in a kiln (sort of an oven) and after that coated with a glaze, and then we can collect them.

If you have a chance you have to go to a pottery! And take your family too.