1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,000 [treehouse presents] [??] 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:06,000 [light switch pulled, electricity buzzing] 3 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:08,000 [Exercise Your Creative] 4 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:11,000 In this episode of Exercise Your Creative, 5 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:13,000 we're going to perform a process called sprinting. 6 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:17,000 Sprinting is when you take a task or project and break it up into steps. 7 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:19,000 We call these steps sprints. 8 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:21,000 Let's get started. 9 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:24,000 In most cases when we are given a task, 10 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:27,000 we are overwhelmed with the outcome of the project. 11 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:33,000 When we break the project up into segments and perform these segments in a timely fashion, 12 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:36,000 the overall project doesn't seem so overwhelming. 13 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:42,000 To start, we're going to need a pencil, a stack of blank paper, and a timer. 14 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:47,000 To track time, I'm going to use a traditional cooking timer. 15 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:50,000 For this exercise we are going to create iconography 16 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:53,000 which displays skills we have mastered. 17 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:56,000 We are going to break this project up into 3 sprints. 18 00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:59,000 The first sprint will be 10 minutes. 19 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:02,000 We will simply make a list of things we have mastered. 20 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:07,000 The second sprint we will sketch icons per our mastered list. 21 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:09,000 This will take 10 minutes. 22 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:13,000 Lastly, we will fine-tune our icons and vectorize them. 23 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:17,000 With our first sprint we want to work with 2 parameters, 24 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:21,000 the first being our materials--pencil, paper, and timer-- 25 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:24,000 the second being time--10 minutes. 26 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:27,000 Besides that, let your imagination do the work. 27 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:30,000 Simply ask yourself, "What have I mastered?" 28 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:34,000 If you automatically say, "I'm not good at anything," I don't believe you. 29 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:37,000 Did you get up this morning or did you sleep in? 30 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:39,000 Maybe you're the master at sleeping in. 31 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:41,000 Did you have breakfast this morning? 32 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:45,000 Are you the master at brewing coffee, or are you the master at ordering coffee? 33 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:47,000 From there, let's work up to your web skills. 34 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:52,000 Are you the master at Photoshop, Illustrator, jQuery, or WordPress? 35 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:56,000 Maybe you're the master at web design or perhaps Ruby. 36 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:59,000 Let's get a solid list together and fully use these 10 minutes. 37 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:01,000 [??] [timer dings] 38 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:03,000 Time's up. 39 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:06,000 Let's take a break before our next sprint and gather our thoughts. 40 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:09,000 During this time, you simply want to clear your head. 41 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:12,000 This might take 5 minutes or 5 hours. 42 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:17,000 Take a walk, run an errand, jump some rope, or even trim a bonsai tree. 43 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:21,000 When running sprints, we want to separate what I like to call limbo time 44 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:23,000 or time when really nothing gets done, 45 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:29,000 whereas action time is where we execute our tasks effectively. 46 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:34,000 In this creative world, running sprints are very similar to track and field sprints. 47 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:36,000 You don't run sprints back to back. 48 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:40,000 You take time in between to recoup and prep for the next sprint. 49 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:43,000 This allows for better performance. 50 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:48,000 In our next sprint we're going to sketch icons that visually represent our mastering skills. 51 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:51,000 We have 3 parameters in this sprint, 52 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:57,000 the first being materials, same as before--pencil, stack of paper, and a timer-- 53 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:00,000 the second being time--again, 10 minutes. 54 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:04,000 Lastly, we want to use a continuous contour line style. 55 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:08,000 This is when you use 1 line for the whole composition. 56 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:12,000 As seen in this example, I'm drawing a wristwatch with 1 line. 57 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:15,000 Notice how I'm not picking up the pencil at all. 58 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:21,000 The whole drawing is done with 1 line--1 beginning point and 1 end point. 59 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:24,000 The reason for this technique is to complete the sketch quickly 60 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:27,000 and still acquire the object's shape. 61 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:31,000 Once I feel my head is clear, I'm then ready for the next sprint. 62 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:34,000 Before I begin, I'm going to choose 10 mastering skills 63 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:39,000 that truly define me as a designer and my personality. 64 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:42,000 With our parameters set, let's begin our sprint. 65 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:48,000 Remember, 10 minutes and 10 iconic representations of the selected mastering skills. 66 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:51,000 Some sketches might take longer than others. 67 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:55,000 Also, you might have multiple ideas or sketches per skill. 68 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:57,000 This is all perfectly fine. 69 00:03:57,000 --> 00:03:59,000 Ding! Time's up. Pencils down. 70 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:04,000 Next let's take some snapshots of our work and bring our content into Illustrator. 71 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:10,000 To begin, we simply want to open up Illustrator and bring in the image we took with our phone. 72 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:15,000 We are simply going to use the shape tools and pen tools for the majority of our icons. 73 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:21,000 Since I used the contour technique, I am able to see the shape of the objects very easily. 74 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:25,000 When constructing my icons, I want to keep them very simple and very minimal. 75 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:28,000 I'm only going to use 1 color for all the icons. 76 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:33,000 Basically, I'm creating the shape's silhouette and then adding some detail 77 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:37,000 to make the icon very recognizable to what it is. 78 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:40,000 Now let's complete the rest of the icons in the same manner. 79 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:45,000 [??] 80 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:49,000 Lastly, I'm going to add a colored background to the icons, 81 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:51,000 then I'm going to make all the icons white. 82 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:56,000 I do this by turning all the paths into outlines and expanding all the objects. 83 00:04:56,000 --> 00:05:01,000 Then I'm going to fill all the objects with the white and merge them together. 84 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:04,000 Next we're going to open up Photoshop and output all of our icons. 85 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:07,000 Please note you can do this in Illustrator. 86 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:13,000 I just prefer Photoshop for web image output as it does a great job compressing images. 87 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:20,000 To begin, simply create a Photoshop file that is 500x500 pixels at 72dpi 88 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:26,000 then copy and paste each icon as a smart object into Photoshop from Illustrator. 89 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:28,000 Next organize all of your layers. 90 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:34,000 Once you are complete, save out all of your images for web for each icon as a PNG 91 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:37,000 and then put them in a folder called Images. 92 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:41,000 Congratulations. You've just mastered the art of the sprint. 93 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:45,000 Next time we will create a simple web application incorporating our mastering icons. 94 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:49,000 Until then, have fun and exercise your creative. 95 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:51,000 [electricity buzzing]