Don’t Be Afraid of the D-A-R-K

Maurice Sendak would have been 86 today. So, let’s take a moment or two to celebrate the life he muscled through.

Apparently this talented writer and artist, who delivered delight to so many childhoods, had a dreadful one of his own. In fact, in one interview he said the best way to describe his childhood was “D-A-R-K.”

First off, he was a very sickly kid who spent most of his time in bed. This was in the midst of The Great Depression, which made the outside world pretty grim, as well. On top of all that, stability wasn't a big part of the Sendak family plan.

Maurice reported that his family moved often. Why? Because his mother could not bear the smell of fresh paint. Every time a landlord wanted to spruce up the place, they had to go. Of course, Mom’s “instability” made life difficult in other ways, too.

Then World War II came along, and the Sendaks were driven even further into despair as many of their European relatives perished in the Holocaust.

Yes, that is D-A-R-K.

And my heart goes out to the little Maurice who lived through it.

It makes you wonder what one does with darkness like that.

Well, here’s what Maurice did…

From the confines of his bed, he honed his drawing skills. Chaos and gloom may have surrounded him, but he held fast to bright dreams of a better life. Then he used the darkness itself to transform into something completely different —

a Caldecott Medal winner.

Remember those monsters in Where the Wild Things Are? Maurice says they were all inspired by the batty family members who “hovered like a pack of middle-aged gargoyles” over his childhood sickbed.

DARKNESS.

We all have it.

It’s what we do with it that counts.

PROMPT: If you've got life, no doubt you've got darkness. But never, never forget — it can always be used to create something beautiful.

Create something beautiful today.

A Delightful Discipline

Flight is for the flying.

© Kevan J. Atteberry

Back in the fall of 2011, illustrator Kevan Atteberry was looking for a challenge. 

He wanted to do some kind of exercise in self-discipline — something that would force him to do one creative thing each and every day.

Then on October 1^st it hit him in a beastly sort of way —

“I’m going to draw a monster a day for the entire month of October,” he said to himself…

and his 1000+ friends on Facebook. Yes, this guy is brave!

Then he did it.

He found the process thrilling and maybe a little scary. Well, they were monsters, after all.

Actually, the scary parts were those days when he was sure that the well of beasts had run dry.

But somehow, when Kevan looked deep down inside…

He always found one more monster.

Which is pretty amazing considering that he is a super-nice guy.

On some days he used news events. Like when he heard that Steve Jobs had died on October 5^th, he altered his illustration to reflect that. He also created a monster birthday tribute to John Lennon on the 8^th.  

Of course, Monster-a-Day was a huge success! His friends loved that daily creature feature, and some were even lucky enough to win autographed prints in a contest he held at the end.

Did I tell you he was a nice guy?

You can check out a sampling from his Monster Albums here.

It’s the coolest form of self-discipline I've ever seen. And you know…

“With self-discipline most anything is possible.”

~Theodore Roosevelt

I’m thinking Teddy was just a tad tentative here because he obviously didn't have monsters…

Everybody knows that with self-discipline and monsters, EVERYTHING is possible.

Everything.

Thanks, Kevan, for the inspiration!

PROMPT: Give yourself 30 days of discipline. And since October happens to have 31— you've got a bonus day to decide what you’ll do. For some terrific ideas, check out this TED talk by Matt Cutts. Then be sure to add MONSTERS...

Boogie Monster and Tickle Monster written by Josie Bissett and illustrated by Kevan J. Atteberry! 

100,000 – That’s all Folks!

"You birds have 100,000 bad drawings in you—

start getting rid of them now!"

These are the words that Chuck Jones heard on his first day of class at the Chouinard Art Institute.

I don’t know if the rest of his classmates took the instructor’s advice seriously, but Chuck certainly did. In fact, he got busy knocking down the bad drawing count that very day. Good thing, too. When a studio opportunity came knocking, he was ready to answer the door. The rest became “What’s up Doc?” history when Chuck created Bugs Bunny, Road Runner, Porky Pig, and the gang.

Chuck never forgot that opening line, and he repeated it often over the years. In fact, The Chuck Jones Experience in Las Vegas features a manhole cover labeled “100,000 Bad Drawings”. 

Everyone should have one of those.

Obviously, Chuck and his teacher knew that practice trounces talent every day of the week and twice on Sundays.

A lot of folks out there won’t even start churning out their 100,000 bad drawings, poems, science projects, whatever, because they tell themselves something like this —

“Sure I’d like to be a great artist, writer, scientist, auto mechanic, whatever, but I just don’t have the talent for it.”

Well guess what, Cupcake – you were born with no talent for walking either.

None. Zero. Nada. Zilch.

I mean, if someone had offered you a billion dollars to walk 5 steps at the age of 5 weeks, you wouldn't have gotten your diaper to clear even a one-inch hurdle.

Welcome to the 100,000 rule.

I’ve raised two children and have witnessed the process firsthand. Trust me when I say that you had at least 100,000 bad steps inside of you. 

And trust me on this one, too — you never said, not even once, “Well, Snap! I have absolutely NO talent for this! Good God, I’ll never make it as a walker! I am DOOMED to butt-scoot for the rest of my days!”

You didn’t say any of this, but I know exactly what you were thinking…

You see, my daughter was a late walker. She didn't take her first step until she was a full eighteen months old. Apparently, she had other priorities – like focusing her brain development on all things language rather than the motor cortex. So here’s the thing — she was speaking in clear, full sentences before her toes ever touched the floor. She was like those babies in the e-trade commercials back before there were e-trade commercials. It actually used to creep my mom out a bit, but that’s another story…

Anyway, when my daughter finally had enough of crawling headlong into the coffee table, she pulled herself up and did what you did way back when.

I have the entire “falling flat on her face scene” on video. Then it got a little weird.

After she pulled herself up, but before she took another one of her 100,000 bad steps, she shouted —

“YOU GOTTA BELIEVE!”

I kid you not. 

Over and over again. 

As any parent will tell you, her 100,000 bad steps were over in a flash, and from her moves on the basketball court, you’d think she was born with stepping talent. She wasn't. But she believed.

You did, too. And I’ll bet you said exactly the same thing she did – you just weren't able to say it out loud at the time.

Say it now.

100,000 times.


PROMPT: Be a believer! Get some of those bad drawings, paintings, poems, stories, songs, and science projects out of the way today… one baby step at a time.