The Loopy Doodles: Eyes On You (+ IBR)

Have you ever had perhaps two tabs opened on your browser, and you're conscientiously attempting to complete a task, but decide to open several other tabs instead? You've made the decision to complete that single task, and think to yourself - yes, this is what I'm going to stick to and do for the next hour. Minutes later, you find yourself on another task picked out from your endless to-do list and attempt to do several things at once clumsily.

In our hurried lives, we always want to get things done all at once, and multitasking seems like the best way to check off the boxes of the never-ending list. It often ends with not completing the tasks at all, or even if we do, they aren't of the best quality. Most might think that they've been multitasking well, but if we already find difficulty in focusing on a single task, multitasking is in fact an even more difficult skill to cultivate. 

After what felt like the hundredth time my sister expressed her constant annoyance at the numerous tabs opened in my browser, I found myself returning to the first task and saying to it, "This is it. I'm keeping my eyes on you. Come on, focus."

The notion occurred to me that perhaps before we can multitask, it's important to find focus. There's just too many things to look at that we fail to keep focus at each of them one at a time. There's nothing inherently wrong with multitasking, but one has to be extremely skilled at it to not just complete all of the tasks, but complete it well.

As part of my very own collection called The Loopy Doodles Series (a series of GIFs and animated illustrations with lettering), I've created a lettering with this uplifting quote that has become a state of mind, or perhaps a disposition, that I'd like to work towards.

This image is an animation. Click to play; image will play in an infinite loop without stopping. 

These lines were taken from a poem written by Sarah Williams called The Old Astronomer to his Pupil. They are no doubt the reason to the poem's outstanding recognition. Though the lines works well on its own, it becomes even more enchanting when read with the poem itself, and I'd certainly recommend anyone to read it if they're interested. The poem explored the humbling aspirations of a mentor to his student and the themes of death, knowledge and love.

For the interest of this post, if we take a look at the line on its own, being so fond of the stars is what makes the line so poignant. It's magical to fondly gaze upon the universe and the stars and eventually determine the dark night to be negligible. It's liberating to be so concentrated on a task and eventually become immune to the small petty issues - to keep so focused on a specific task, that we do not notice the darkness or challenges enveloping it. This is the level of focus that perhaps we should aspire to work towards in order to achieve our goals. 

I do realise that this Loopy Doodles Series was supposed to be done monthly, and I truly apologise for not keeping to my word about it. There's been so many new projects and things to deal with lately that it's been pushed back since March. So I've made a decision that it's best if this series is made in to a bi-monthly or tri-monthly (once in two/three months) series instead of a monthly one. I've been quite busy these few weeks and probably will continue to be for the coming weeks because I've been working on these new projects and collaborations that I'm really excited to showcase soon here as well.  :)

In completing these projects, I did find myself toggling from one task to the next. I wasn't a splendid multitasker, so I attempted to focus on one task at a time, and I'd like to think that completing this post without becoming too distracted is a legitimately first successful attempt.

Most of us are always looking for ways to kill two birds with one stone - we've been given numerous opportunities to do so - from the option of opening tabs in browsers to using floating widgets on mobile phones. However perhaps what we need to learn first, is to kill a bird well and effectively, before we attempt the slightly more arduous task of killing both at once, only to merely injure both of them instead.

Until next time ♥ 

Lettering + illustration + animated gif by me 

For more lettering work from the Loopy Doodles Series, click here.

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The Loopy Doodles Series a bi/tri-monthly series of moving drawings + animations with lettering. They'll mostly be in the form of GIFs, and the drawings + lettering will be shown in an animated loop, just like the one above. 

+ This post was also written for the linkup 'Inspired By Random' (IBR), hosted by Fatima from That Delete Button. The linkup includes a writing a post based on a random book title chosen without it being related to the book. (The linkup was hosted back in March, but I haven't gotten the chance to do it, not sure if it's too late or if it's still working. But I've always wanted to do a linkup, and this is my first time participating in one, hope I'm doing this right.) 

+ 'Eyes on You' is the title of a book written by Kate White. I picked out the book at random from my to-read list. It's a psychological thriller, and I'm making it a point to read the random book I've chosen for the linkup after this post. :) 

You can also find me on Pinterest and Goodreads. 

The Loopy Doodles Series: Creativity

"I'm not creative," a friend had said. Some classmates and I were in the midst of a school project, and this had happened a few years ago. We had been discussing how else to approach a particular problem in the project. "Sorry, I'm just not that good in these kind of things."

It was merely a claim disguised as an apology that she had put upon herself, and I paid no substantial attention to it. However, further down the road of experiencing relationships and interactions with others, patterns emerged and I began to recognise that more people had begun to say the same thing. "I'm just not creative."

Admittedly, it could be just an excuse for refusing to give a significant contribution, but it was also a confession of a destitute soul. These people were actually underestimating themselves. Being creative is the natural order of life. We are all born creative. You are. Everyone is.

We're never uncreative just because we don't come up with the best ideas. We look at things from different vantage points. We always have ideas to suffice, regardless how intricate or elaborate. The most important thing to realise about creativity though, is that it takes a lot of courage.

This image is an animation. Click to play; image will play in three loops before stopping. Reload page to repeat animation.

Don't we ever feel assuring to be in a place of stillness each time we take a familiar path? Don't we just love where we are, where our feet is planted steadily on the ground? But imagine the possibilities if we just took another step forward and think out of our deep, dim box. This isn't about risks. This isn't about being dauntless. It's just about having faith in ourselves.

I decided to commence digging for ideas beyond the boundaries of my comfort zone and explore new ways of this form of expression. It did take a little more audacity to decide on coming up with a new series, to change things a little bit from the usual.

With this, I'd like to introduce a new lettering collection, called The Loopy Doodles Series. It's a monthly series of moving drawings with lettering. They'll mostly be in the form of GIFs, and the drawings + lettering will be shown in an animated loop, just like the one above. I also appreciate the help from my twin for helping me in coming up with its catchy name. I'd love to hear thoughts about this series as well, so improvements can be made and I can learn along the way.

In hindsight, we all have the ability to generate potent innovations. Let's not let fears rob us of the most valuable entity that makes up who we are - our ideas.

Until next time ♥

Lettering by me, Photo by me
Find me on Pinterest for more lettering work.