Tag: stand up

My Ideas Are Great, I Think

What part of your creative process causes you the most stress or anxiety?

There’s a group of posters in the Museum of Modern Art by a graphic designer named James Victore. His work and general attitude are loud, and aggressive, and incredible. During a Q&A several years ago, I asked how stress affects his work. “Well shit, Doc…how much time do you have?” he said.

A lot of stress in creative jobs is self-generated. There’s very little right and wrong in what we do. A lot is left up to subjectivity. I’m right, you’re wrong…none of it matters really…you are right, I am wrong. And the other way around. It’s always this way.

That’s how I see stress in creativity. Constantly, I’m wondering and poring over the question…is this decision right?

Here’s a glimpse of that from a designer, comedian, and helicopter pilot.

 JESSICA HISCHE,
Designer/Author

Jessica is quite simply one of the best young designers America has to offer.

She’s created incredible work for some of the largest and most respected companies, people, and institutions there are to work for. So with that, I’m thrilled she’s as grounded as she is talented and gave this glimpse in to her creative process.

What part of your creative process causes you the most stress or anxiety?

“I’m probably the most stressed out right after I get off the first creative call with the client, before I have time to sit and think and scheme about what I want to do. Once I sit down to research and brain storm, I feel so much better about the project as a whole. Another time I generally feel stressed out is when pricing a job. It never gets easy for certain kinds of jobs.”

BRUCE HAFFNER,
Helicopter Pilot/Photographer

Bruce drives a helicopter around while photographing things for a living. What an insane combination of disciplines. Please read the following, but absolutely look at his incredible video reel to properly understand what exactly he captures while high up in the sky.

I discovered Bruce several weeks ago because Twitter is amazing. He’s a photographer, television broadcaster, and helicopter pilot and works primarily in service of the entertainment and news industries.

His work is amazing and that’s why I’m fascinated with what his working relationship with stress and anxiety is…

What part of your creative process causes you the most stress or anxiety?

“The anxiety comes as we broadcast live reports from our airborne production studio and since our reports are “Live” we only get one chance to get it right. Coordinating our “Live Shots” with the TV station’s control room producer via two-way radio, coordinating helicopter shot location with the pilot, the pilot coordinating with the air traffic controller, thinking of what I’m going to say live on TV during our report, cueing up recorded video to hot-roll live which helps tell the story, keeping our fingers crossed the live TV signal from the chopper to the viewers homes stays locked are some of the details behind the scenes of the live report you see on-air. When everything goes smoothly it’s a beautiful symphony, but with so many links in the chain anything can go wrong and it is common. Then I have to ad-lib while I quickly work out the problem live on TV while making it seem natural. We fly everyday and produce a bunch of aerial television so we get a lot of practice.

I was a television news photographer on the streets for 13 years winning 15 Emmy Awards before I learned to fly the helicopter. Those years of experience working on the ground really helps me in the air, I understand the big picture and where we fit in.

A highlight in my career was recently flying actor/comedian Will Ferrell and dropping him off in center field during a baseball game for the HBO special “Will Ferrell Takes the Field”. The final approach into the stadium could have been stressful but Will was so cool, he made the landing fun. The beauty of my job is that I’ve never had to work a day in my life, I’m fortunate to have chased my dreams… and caught them.”

JEN KIRKMAN,
Comedian/Author

Jen is the shit. She’s funny and smart and intellectual and a potty mouth and a bunch of other great things. I’ve worked for her in little bits and she’s always been friendly and attentive.

She’s a veteran comedian, a New York Times best selling author, actor, writer, and has a new special on Netflix. She’s a perfect example of a creative professional and because of all that I also assumed she’d have valuable insight on stress in the creative process.

What part of your creative process causes you the most stress or anxiety?

“The most terrifying part of the creative process is that I don’t schedule time to be creative. I don’t sit down from nine to five in a coffee shop to “write jokes.” My jokes just come to me. I write about my life so I should say that the way to talk about things in my life just comes to me. I’ll go through phases where I physically feel energized and my head feels full – like if somehow a head cold could feel good – I feel foggy and stuffy and full of ideas that have to come out. I’ll usually take walks or just be in my apartment with lots of coffee and wait. And when things start to shake out of my head I make notes. Wherever I am I make notes. I’ll write them on paper or I’ll put them in my notes section of my iPhone. Words and phrases like “Mom met Paula Deen” or “eggs assault small talk” that make no sense to me but are at least five minute stories that are very intricate.

So, when those moments of inspiration DO NOT COME for a while – I worry that I’ll never think of anything funny again. I beat myself up for not being the type of comic who sits and writes every day and I feel it’s too late to learn and I don’t want to learn and I then I start spinning out. No one would know I’m spinning out – this is all done in the privacy of my head.

And eventually the writer’s block is over and more thoughts come to me – and then I’m back to thinking I’m so divinely inspired totally forgetting that a few minutes earlier I thought I was a piece of shit who doesn’t know how to write. And this repeats forever basically.”

Was this decision right? The stress and anxiety that goes along with creative professions is complicated.

More info on Jessica at jessicahische.is.
More info on Bruce at chopperguy.com.
More info on Jen at jenkirkman.com.
Header image by Brett Mikoll, and Derek Gabryszak.

Thanks for reading Question Market 4,

Derek

To Stay Sharp

What is the most recent skill you’ve developed?

I’m trying to figure out if creative development is something I need to stay focused on, or if it’s something that’s inevitable. I suspect that if I keep designing…if I keep creating things, it’ll be inevitable that I learn new skills in one way or another.

By committing to my work, I’ll either be adding more of myself in to the work, or developing new design-specific skills like figuring out a better way it retouch hair, or use geometry to help tell a story. Perhaps those are two ever-evolving avenues of creativity; how articulate you can be personally and professionally.

If you’re committed, I really think those two things are impossible not to evolve.

With that in mind, I asked Eddie Pepitone, Michelle Poler, and Dustin Stanton about what skill each of them have developed most recently.

 

EDDIE PEPITONE, Comedian

I’ve worked with Eddie on a few things, and he’s always been incredible. He’s responsive, friendly, courteous, etc…everything you could want from someone you’re doing business with. More impressive than those great things though is his creative energy. He’s a stand-up, and as an actor, he’s appeared in some of the best comedies of the past two decades.

His stage sets are like an intense massage. There’s pain in it, aggression…but you leave feeling lighter, relieved, and seeing things brighter. He’s calculated, in control, and completely reckless at the same time. That contrast is incredible. This set is from a while ago, but is so interesting. He flexes every muscle a comedian has. Watch how far away he holds the mic at certain points, while still being completely effective.

I hear he’s even dabbling in politics and community organizing. I love that someone as versatile as Eddie continues to develop, but he does…

What is the most recent skill you’ve developed?

“I think the things I learn how to do are ongoing. Modulating my voice from the rage to soft-spoken guy is something I’ve been working on as I realize it’s very funny to go to extremes vocally with an audience. I have been more conscious of varying my tone and range and it’s all about just being more present and not panicking as a performer.

I used to think I had to get a laugh every second and I’ve finally realized that the silences or the spaces in between are just as important as the jokes. In fact it sets up the jokes!”

MICHELLE POLER, Speaker

Michelle created 100 Days Without Fear. She’s Venezuelan and after studying at SVA in New York, she worked as a designer and art director. Then, through the process of conquering a list of fears she began telling her own story in a way that connected with others.

Her curiosity is what impresses me most. She’s been able to translate an exploration of herself in to exploring and influencing people across the world. She’s an interesting example of that intersection of personal and technical skill. I’m so happy that she said she’d answer my question…

What is the most recent skill you’ve developed?

“I believe that as artists we are constantly developing and polishing the skills we already have trying to become every day the best version of ourselves. 5 years ago when I got married I decided to buy a GoPro to capture in video my honeymoon adventure. We were going to Hawaii so I wanted to put together a short video to share with family and friends and also to keep for ourselves. My little brother was in film school at the time and he kindly edited a nice little video about our wedding day. I quickly learned the things you need to put into a video to make it entertaining, creativity was the main component. Two weeks after we came back from our honeymoon I gave editing a shot. People started to go crazy about the cool video I made and started to ask me to edit videos for them about their personal experiences. Shortly after, I became the official video person of the family and in my circle of friends. I created videos about meaningful occasions as gifts for the people I care about the most, but I never thought about doing something serious with my video making and editing skills. I would only do it for fun.

 Last year I decided to become a braver person by facing one fear a day for 100 days. I wanted to share my progress through social media so I decided to record myself facing the different fears, editing and uploading one video a day. After editing 100 videos consecutively I can see how much I’ve grown and how my skills have improved enormously. The thing I used to do for fun became my full time job. Most recently, I started developing video blogs (vlogs) which is different than shooting an adventure. So I had to learn all about cameras, lights, audio, tripods. Just when I thought I had everything under control, I had to start from scratch. So, yeah, we actually never stop developing and polishing the skills we already have. I wonder what kind of videos I will do next.”

DUSTIN STANTON, Designer

Dustin is a graphic designer for the entertainment industry. He’s created lots of great key art, but his contributions to Paul Thomas Anderson’s films have always shook me up most. His interpretations of the stories are so nuanced and personal…exactly the thing those films need.

I worked with Dustin on a gig poster for Bill Burr. The poster was for a tour of California and Bill gave us the idea to interpret the drought that California was in. Dustin built a great narrative based on that concept which I followed through on.

What I learned from working on that project is that a designer should be able to think their way out of any problem. You’re given a creative problem, you figure out an answer to it, and then execute it. Having a purposeful answer is an underestimated tool. That seems obvious, but more often than I’d like to admit, I find myself trying to figure it out as I go. My point is that Dustin sharpened my creative problem solving skills. So, I’m curious what he’s been working on for himself…

What is the most recent skill you’ve developed?

“One of the recent skills I’ve been developing is self editing.

I once heard (or read) a quote somewhere: “He with fifty ideas has none”. I get it. I think I’ve been trying to work that philosophy into my work and provide my clients with more quality and less quantity – putting forward the ideas that I believe in and have good reasons to present to them. So far, it’s been working well with the people I work with.”

I’m glad that our relationships with creativity seem to keep evolving. It feels like there’s security in that. Something of comfort that can constantly shift from being personally rewarding, to professionally.

More info on Eddie at eddiepepitone.com.
More info on Michelle at michellepoler.com.
More info on Dustin at dustinstantoncreative.com.
Illustration by Brett Mikoll, dierichgettrying.com.

Thanks for reading Question Market 2,

Derek