MUSIC: "These Foolish Things" by Billie Holiday
TIME: 10:54 AM
It's been a while since I've blogged, but lately, I haven't had any really big news, and I kind of swore the next time I did blog, it was going to be, because I had big news. However, at the same time, I didn't want to give anyone (or anything) the impression that I was abandoning my website or even my blog. So...I'll just do a more simple and less dramatic blog entry this time!
Welly, welly, welly, welly, well.....
....I never heard of Christopher Durang, but the other day, while I was at the Drama Bookshop, buying the latest issue of BACKSTAGE, I went to go browse through the plays again without any plans of buying a new play. However, Christopher Durang's play, "Beyond Therapy", just caught my attention, because of it's title, and Prudence, the main female character, is what made me interested! Sure, Prudence and I share some similarities, but there are some things we both would rather beg to differ on certain topics. However, despite the title of the play, (for those who never read this play or even heard of it), I was laughing my ass off! So, I wound up buying it after all....along with the new issue of Backstage!
Also, looking at the headshots I have, between the two of them, this one would be my "Prudence" shot. Also, going into the character of Eunice from Julia Cho's "99 Histories", this would also be my Eunice shot. This photo would be my Lisa Morrison headshot, because Lisa Morrison from "Collected Stories" is not only youthful, but she's got a naivity about her, a more cheery disposition, and if you ask me, she's rather vulnerable.
I kind of find it important as I read new material to work on to hone my skills with my coach, to take my headshots in consideration as examples. I'm not saying I'm going to literally go try out for these roles, but perhaps characters with similar personalities, and when bringing the headshots into consideration, it helps me make it easier to identify which headshot would go best with whatever character I audition for. It sounds like a small chore to do and perhaps too easy, but sometimes, even the smallest thing is very important, and sometimes, even the easiest project can also be a challenge to your knowlege not only as an actor, but as a business person as well.
Let's put it this way: It's more than just the "dramatic" shot or the "happy" shot or the "sad" shot or whatever. John, my first headshot photographer, was more interested, I think, in getting a "beautiful shot" instead of one that actually says something, which is exactly why they look like yearbook pics and why I wouldn't dare parade around the auditioning circut with them again like I did a long, long time ago (*what was I thinking?!*). Oh well...it was a good start, though!
Mind you...if I ever re-design my photogallery, I am soooooo taking those headshots down!
That's enough candy for now!
Cristina
http://www.cristinacho.net/
MUSIC: "Radio Ga Ga" by Queen
TIME: 4:11 PM
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
Let's face it: As artists, we ALL suffer from creativity-block every now and then! If you're an actor, painter, graphics artist, writer, singer, performer of any sorts, or anything having to do with the arts, I am positive you've had days where you were just fabulous and other days where you were just.... *blows raspberry*. Some of us suffer from it more than others. Usually when I suffer from it, I am weird about it and I wind up trying to over-analyze WHY my creative juices or lack of inspiration is down the drain, whether it has to do with a drawing, free-verse poetry, my website layouts, or even the things I've worked on in class.
Well, in this case, I am going to talk about yesterday when I was creating my website's new layout on the splash and homepage. One of the main reasons why I changed my site's homepage is because when I built the first layout, my heashots weren't touched up yet (I started building my site in late August, finished it in mid September, and got my shots touched up in October of last year -- remember?), and now that I have touched up headshots, I felt it was neccessary and essential to do a whole new lay without any major changes on the shots. The original lay, my shots were completely purple, so if anyone where to visit me on the net, they wouldn't really get much of a great idea of what I REALLY looked like as far as my hair color, skin tone, or anything of the sort.
What I like about the new layout, though, is that it shows off my look more and my actual physical facial features, skin tone, and hair color (although it don't take a rocket scientist to figure out my hair is black). Believe me, though, yesterday, I was ready to tear my hair out almost while making that layout! My inspiration was running dry, too, so I desperately turned to Lewis Carroll's "Alice In Wonderland" and Gwen Stefani for inspiration, because what I had in mind was the Harajuku district in Tokyo, Japan. And what I wound up with in the end was a layout that cried "AVRIL LAVIGNE!" instead of CRISTINA CHO.
It WAS cute...but it was like, "Pfffft...uh-huh...NO!" (no offense to Avril or her personal taste)
Then, I walked away from my computer and in my mind, I began to over-analyze - AGAIN - how creativity WORKS when it does and deflates when it doesn't.
Being a long-time artist since the age of four, learning how to draw on my own, and from teaching myself how to do computer graphics and website design, I really cannot explain HOW to do these things. I just one day picked up a crayon and I drew pictures. I just open my eyes, look at something, and translate it onto paper. Same goes with the computer stuff - I just sat at a computer one time and did all these crazy things on a graphics program. Some work comes out great, others come out not so great, but that's normal. However, it makes me wonder.....is creativity a natural instinct for the highly artistic soul OR is it magic?
I sometimes think of creativity this way: Remember from Disney's "Cinderella" movie when she's with the fairy Godmother? Before the fairy Godmother starts singing "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" and helps Cinderella get ready for the ball, she clears her throat, taps her magic wand a little, causing magic sparks dance around the tip, and then she's in business! I kind of think of the creative process like that.....when it comes to the visual stuff that is.
As actors, you do your emotional prep, evaluate your script over and over again, and rehearse for hours on end (generally speaking of course). As singers, you do vocal warm-ups (well, actors also do that, too). Dancers do warm-ups as well. Photographers take a couple of test shots to see if the lighting is fit to perfection. But as a VISUAL ARTIST - graphic artist/webmistress - you really don't have the same preparation except for getting the tools you need to translate it all from my head onto paper or on the internet. And when I say "tools", I mean your paper, your eighteen million drawing pencils, or graphics programs. Inspiration is just a paint, however, it doesn't spark the creativity all the time...at least not for me.
My original layout was inspired by my personal non-artistic passions, all rolled into one. My second layout attempt was inspired by Lewis Carroll, Gwen Stefani, and Japanese youth subculture, and it was a BUST! It is usually when I do the visual art stuff is when I almost persuaded that creativity and artistry is magic as oppose to instinct or even sprung from preperation or inspiration. It almost seems that way, but really it isn't. Believe it or not, when you draw or work on a new layout for your website, you do work from instinct, too. It's easy, but....it's not, if you catch my drift. Even though I've been drawing for twenty-some-odd years, and doing website/graphic design for a little over a decade now, I STILL find myself sorting through a haystack just to find IT -- that one thing that'll inspire me and make my visual work burn beautifully and brightly (if you don't mind me saying).
So, over all that babble about this and that, what got me my new website layout?
Well, I remember watching the video to Alicia Keys' new song, "Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart", and I remember the colors in the video -- the silvery light blues, the purples, and black...and I thought it was really pretty and a great combination of colors. Also, it helped that the video was shot in NYC on a cloudy day. I loved how the purple stood out against the gray skyline of the city. So.....that was my inspiration for the layout. To add more to this, while working on my new layout, I had that one song constantly repeating on my Ipod just to keep the creative process going. Sounds weird, I know, but...hey, it worked!
All in all, creativity may NOT be magic. It's a skill. It's hard work. It's a passion. It requires this and a little bit of ingenuity, but when it DOES work...it almost seems like it is magic! =)
Random blog - I know, but I just wanted to get that off my chest!
Two-thousand and ten is here FINALLY....I look forward to this year's ventures in the industry! Remember, too, this is a whole new decade, too, so it gives us a chance to start a new! My goal, personally, is to make the next ten years the BEST I've ever lived! =)
That's enough candy for now!
Think positive and everything will be in your control!
Cristina
http://www.cristinacho.net/
