Lee

The world has stumbled around the sun, a brand new year has begun. Split the eyes and look with new vision, and ponder with care each decision. Dive deep within and swim through your mind, only aim forward and never behind. The realms of infinity will merge and reveal, all that you hoped when you breech life's true seal. Happy birthday big man. ?

I swear it seems like I was 21 in a blink of an eye, and the time has gone by. And now I'm turning 45 on Monday. Aaaaagggghhh. And I honestly feel that I wasted all the years in between through being a people pleaser not being authentic and truthful to myself being under ego lock down. I think each person has massive potential to achieve most things that they would set there hearts to. But Until you can unclouded your mind and fill it with a clear understanding of how the world works. How people work etc., then you will continue to ride roundabout of unfulfilment. So like has been mentioned above I would command my 21 year old self to meditate every day. To read and study correctly and build an impressive database. To relax and not let petty thing bother me. Not to judge people to harshly. Find my passion and follow it with a hunger to succeed. Try and surround yourself with likeminded people. And just enjoy the ride. Easy Peasy. Good luck.

I.N.R.I. In nothingness reveals infinity. I have no affiliation to the cross, I just came up with this for trivia means.

calling all amazing artists out there. I have decided to dedicate my life to becoming a great artist. I am right at the beginning of this endeavour and am about to start at an atelier in Edinburgh Scotland in two weeks time which i am pumped about,My main query is about study. I want to study as much as possible at home, the more hours of deliberate practice i can put in the faster my progress to mastery will be. Even though i will be attending this arts atelier three days a week, because this is all i can commit too, having a family i cannot be away for a full week each week for the foreseeable future so my compromise is only doing three days, which is fine as long as i can practice a lot while at home. So can i get some advise off people who have made it to expert level please? Do i spend 1 hour drawing eyes then the next drawing lips, ears ect. Because i have purchased a few courses by this guy called PROKO who is pretty cool. i got the figure drawing and anatomy courses. But does that mean i have to spend all day just trying to learn gesture drawing and learning the bean and robo bean, or should i be breaking this up and doing a bit of figure drawing then draw hands eyes noses ect. It might sound obvious that the answer is just draw anything all the time and repeat, repeat practice, practice. but i need to know that what i am doing is constructive and has a logical course of action. thank you for all and any comments.

@Ayla Thanks Ayla this looks an awsome book, i shall definitely get it, just from reading the reviews i was inspired

@Yukise99 wise words once again, thanks yukise. I will certainly treat this opportunity with the respect it deserves and let you know how things or going. Good luck with your endevours

@Yukise99 Hi Yukise, I wish you all the best in your artistic endeavour, i'm sure that you're way ahead of my current skills which are at this moment quite basic, i have not been doing as much as i would like over the last month ever since i visited the Academy of Realist Art in Edinburgh, mainly the reason is that they hold the pencil different to how i have been learning from the online watts atelier, which is i little annoying since i was getting a good feel for that technique, but if i am going to be going to Edinburgh for the next so many years i thought i should just chill a bit and wait until i get shown their exact techniques, rather than grooving habits that need changed, they really just seem to hold the pencil at the very end which i feel doesn't give you as much control, but i have seen the results from the students there which are amazing, so what do i know. Its only another week until i start going, so nearly there and rearing to go. Which atelier did you attend? and how long did you go for? I agree with you totally about the emotional labour that will be required, i have tried many things in the past and have always found a reason to quit, but thanks to Leo i feel i have a better understanding of what to expect from myself and hopefully how to deal with the mental battle i'm about to undertake. i appreciate your kind offer for a chat and look forward to letting you know how it goes in Edinburgh.

@Extreme Z7 Hi extreme, that video was very helpful thanks. And i hope you can pursue your dream of becoming a cartoonist. I do understand about having to do things that you don't want to do to survive. I have a trade as a plasterer which i am trying to get out of since in gives me no real pleasure, but it exists as a means to an end, it has helped me get in the position i am now. Over the last 3 years i have sold my house uprooted my family moved in with my parents spent 16 months working for no money doing up the house for a friend, which me and my family have now moved into and can live here rent free for the next 5 years, so that i can fully commit myself to finding a life purpose, this is why i have some money to invest in my future. But i no longer own a house and have put all my eggs in one basket in the belief that it will make for a more fulfilling future for me and my family. This might seem a drastic course of action, but just living for the sake of working, to pay the bills, mortgage ect just seemed crazy in the end and if i didn't take action, then nothing would have changed. I think this is i feel, a lot of extra pressure trying to justify these decisions, and i don't feel like i have time to waste, making mistake after mistake, But i like what you said about not obsessing over my deficiencies, for they are wide and varied lol, but cherish what i have. I think i do get so caught up in things, that i forget this simple thought. I have to ask why you are pursuing a major that you don't really want to do? Because just surviving, in the end leads to misery, believe me. Glenn Vilppu who is an amazing artist said that while learning to master drawing he would work no more than 20 hours a week to pay for food rent, but the rest of the time he spent drawing. And this was an amazingly wise choice for him, as history can testify too. I know i have know idea of your circumstances, but as they say if only i knew then what i know now, I would not have wasted countless years procrastinating my youth away. But i had no idea what i wanted to do with my life. You know you want to be a cartoonist. This is no small thing. Everything else should take a back seat to this. Good luck with whatever path you go down.

@Piotr @Piotr hi Piotr, thanks for your thoughts. I simply have a vision to quote Steve martin " to become so good you can't be ignored". When i watch the effortless masters like Glenn Villpu drawing, it is so intuitive and natural to him, obviously when you have been doing this for 60 years or so it should probably come easy to you. But still i wonder if after 5 years how close can i get to that level. If i can get the 10000 hours of deliberate practise in, will i be able to reproduce masterpieces without breaking a sweat? Maybe not, but hopefully after 10 years i would like to think i will be well on my way if i don't become my own worst enemy and let doubt and other demons into my head. It is hard at this point to really pin down what i will be doing in 5 years 10 years, but at the very least i would hope i can make a living from my work. I have thought about opening a shop where i live offering my services for portraits ect, while also advertising online. There is a local artist where i live called Jennifer Lambert whom i have spoken to who is amazing at realist art and seems to do very well, she charges £220 for an A4 portrait and £350 for an A3, i'm not sure how long these take her in hours but shes obviously happy with what she charges. But to be honest there is no point me even thinking about what i could earn, i think my level of skill will determine that. But i would be lying if i didn't fantasise about my work hanging in galleries, i suppose that's an accolade to be earned through years of labour. Your point about planning is definitely the key i think and i like your list, this seems very logical to me thanks. I would love to think that i could become creative in a Salvador Dali kind of way, letting the imagination run wild and being able to put your thoughts onto paper must be an amazing feeling. So i guess this is where i would like to end up i think. But right now i would just settle for my drawing to be decipherable lol. It looks very interesting and creative being a patter designer, i hope you love your work.

@Extreme Z7 Hi extreme, i agree with you there, i feel like i am already in need of emotional support and people around me who have been through what i am trying to accomplish, this is the main reason i am going to invest thousands of pounds to travel every week and be around these people, because i have weighed the pros and cons about trying to do it all by myself at home, but i don't think i'm emotionally strong enough to fully dedicate myself, I know this sounds weak that i admit this, i'm just going of past history, thats why i need to be in a positive environment with like minded people, and you can't put a price on that i think.

Does anyone agree with my thoughts about life on this planet being a bit too convenient. I mean the fact that we have plenty food, Plenty water, all these metals and elements to make cars and computers and anything we can think of. It's all just here for us. I know it took a few billion years or so, well I don't actually know that but that's what they say,but I think most of us just take it for granted, especially the latest generations. I suppose if we hadn't become sentient beings that could explore and start ripping the planet to pieces to see what was beneath the wrapping paper, it would all just still be lying there not being fused or melted and bonded together to create all kinds of wonderful things. But getting back to my point. There are elements to make cars, and also the fuel to burn, electrons can travel through certain elements to somehow enable a big box to generate images that we can sit in front of for countless hours and stare at. Is it convenient? Or is this just how it is in this strange universe?

People with amazing memories have always fascinated me, Kim Peek was a mega savant and Had read and could recall more than 7600 books, he was a walking Google. How is this possible. With Kim it was at a cost, he was completely reliant on his father to even dress him, he could not function correctly in society, could remember everything. A cruel twist of fate. But can we all get access to this ability. I read somewhere that if you locked yourself in a pitch black space and had a book open with a template around only a small phrase in the book. You then shone a torch or lamp on the page then immediately turned it off again, this would leave a residual glow of the words just floating there for you to see, they would quickly fade, and as they did you repeated the process for half an hour and for thirty days, and amazingly you would develope an eidetic memory. I tried this for about a week and gave up, mostly because the light I was using broke and didn't bother myself to get a replacement. I did feel that there might be some merit in this process, and if there is anyone who has completed or has any insight to developing this amazing ability that would be great. I am fully aware of memory palaces and other techniques, I can memories a deck of cards and have devoted a lot of time in building up my 100 names and numbers which is very useful, but the Kim peek mind is the holy grail. So thanks for any input

Lol you know that just crazy enough to to work, why didn't I think of that. And you are also right rito, It is worth another try, the brain is a weird and mysterious thing, and if it needs to gather information, but it only gets this split second see it and absorb it, it's possible it might adapt and rewire itself to hold on to the information in the form of permanent recall. Did store here I come, give me the best torch you have. Thanks. I will report back five weeks, I am away this coming week.

I think it's one of the hardest things, not to judge or compare yourself against others, when I see a parent screaming and swearing at there child in a public place, it still makes me judge, and I think thing like if they are like this in public what's that poor child in for later. But in reality I have know idea of the situation, there could be many reasons for their irrational behavior, stress makes people act out of character all the time, and this person could be going through their own personal hell right then and they have no clue how to control it and are probably oblivious to self actualization skills, meditations etc. The point is it is very easy to judge, but it is also very easy to turn your negative thoughts around and give people the benefit of the doubt. Even people who seem nasty, aggressive, were not born this way. Life can crush and destroy all belief in yourself, and a defense mechanism people have is to fight back but in a negative way. They feel let down by the system degraded, humiliated and if they don't have a guide to lead them out, they go deeper in the rabbit hole. We are the lucky one, we have found a guiding light. Try being that light for others.

"In nothingness reveals infinity" - actually. Made this one up to remember the 4 letters on Jesus's cross INRI. I'm an atheist but I just like to know things. " This above all to thine own self be true" - Polonius in Hamlet. the supposed true meaning of this quote is not as eloquent as it sounds, but I like how it sounds anyways. and my favorite " Time is the school in which we learn, time is the fire in which we burn" -Delmore Schwartz

To become enlightened is the end goal if I have the commitment to stay the true path. I have already taken massive action over the last few years by selling house and putting myself in a position where I have the next five or so years to dedicate myself to more purposeful things. It's really weird that you specifically replied because I have seen some of your posts and thought cool name. And I have read the alchamist and loved it. But the really wired thing is that because I had seen your name I picked up the pilgrimage also by Paulo coelho. And am reading it at this moment. Crazy. Thanks for your input buddy and I hope you get to where you are aiming for.

Do you think if death was called something like snuggle bug people would be as afraid of it? I personally don't really fear the inevitable " big sleep". What I now fear is not living my life to its full potential before this gentleman comes to collect me. At a spritely age of 43 and a stones throw away from the next digit up, and really just discovering all of this self actualization gold in the last couple of years, I feel a little cheated out of time. Why isn't this a widely talked about field? Crazy. But I still have enough left in the tank to make an impact, hopefully before my friend comes calling. We were all basically dead for eternity before this interruption called life, just a mere fly on the windscreen of time before we return to our more natural state of unawareness. I used to think things like please don't let me die before I've seen the last lord of the rings film, that would be really disappointing. It's a funny old world. You have to laugh.

Have you ever driven on a country road in the dead of night, no other cars around, no street lights, just you behind the wheel, your eyes peeled on the road, your headlamps guiding you through the twists and turns in the impossible darkness. Pretty eiry right. But really, most people are on this road there whole lives, they are just oblivious to it. The small beam of light that is their only world, extending forward and onward, like the moth to the flame, nothing else exists, just the beam of light. Follow the beam of light Dorothy. Blissfully unaware that if they could somehow brighten the beam, or modify it to ignite the surroundings, what would open up to them could blow their minds. Possibilities that they could not in their wildest dreams imagine, are now reality. I urge everyone to do whatever it takes to modify your light. If it takes five years ten years to build your device, when you finally finish and flick that's switch. It will be worth the effort.

If you could host a dinner party with historical figures from the past, or inspirational people of the present who would you invite? You can elaborate on why if you have the time. ?

I'm pretty sure you just stab a big metal spike in the back of your head, you start off by learning Kung-fu, then how to fly helicopters, basically it's a piece of cake, don't know what all the fuss is about.As you can probably tell I have already tried stabbing that spike into my head. It did not work out well. I do like all of Julian's advice though. I have just finished that learning how to learn. Very insightful. Flash cards. Testing yourself constantly, its not enough to just read and think you know the material, ask yourself some hard questions on the subject matter, set a pomodoro timer for 25 minutes and dig deep into your mind and thought process with no distractions for this s duration. Then wash rinse repeat, eat healthy, drink lots of water, daily runs to help create new neurons and keep them running to full capacity. And be nice to people. ?

Hi Anthony, if you really want to feel different immediately doing meditation then I suggest watching Jean Claude van damm in blood sport. He will show you how to meditate properly, grab two chairs jump into the box splits between them then just focus that mind, trying not to think about your genitals ripping apart lol. Pretty impressive though if you have the balls to do it. But on a serious note what technique are you using? Try out different ones, see what fits you best. Keep up the good work bud. Rome wasn't built in a day.