This is something new for the both of us
Full Stack Creator - 001
Welcome 👋 to the first installment of Full Stack Creator!
Currently, I am sitting on my living room floor, sipping a smoothie, trying not to dive back into making things. I am writing this after hours of animating in After Effects. Admittedly, I am somewhat of a novice in After Effects. I have steered clear from it for years, only doing the bare minimum as needed, but no longer. I am going to learn as much as I can. I will learn all of its capabilites that are applicable to my story telling type, and probably some more 😅. This is a gift and a curse of mine. I am always striving to learn something new, usually a new tool to take my creation skills to the next level. I am damn good at learning fast too. I usually can get to an above average proficiency within days of starting. The problem with this is that I get somewhat obsessed. I forget to eat and move for hours. Usually my wife has to pry me from my Mac or iPad just to satiate my growling stomach.
This brings me to what you need to know, actually, what you can expect from this news letter. This bi-weekly letter will be to/for/about all the Full Stack Creators out there.
I should probably explain what I mean by "Full Stack Creator". This term was originally brought to my attention by Tyler Stalman on his podcast, The Stalman Podcast. It's a great listen by the way, if you like cameras, tech or making things. Tyler brings up this idea of a do it all creator. Most have probably heard the term "Full Stack" in relation to software development, meaning the developer can do all of the things. These things being front end to back end work and all of the things in the middle. When I heard this, I was driving to my day job, a 44 mile drive I do twice a week, each way... Crap, staying on task here. This idea of a Full Stack Creator brought a smile to my face. That metaphorical light bulb people talk about when an idea comes to life, that happened, though that light was LED powered and bi-colored 🤓. I was just that, a Full Stack Creator! Most say that you should focus on one skill and become amazing at it, known for it and only it. But that sounds boring and pointless to me, considering all the tools we have at our disposal to make almost anything we can think of. Well, for the last year +, I have done just that. I have gone deeper on this idea, making things from all kinds of mediums. As I mentioned above, now, this is teaching myself After Effects. Mainly because I want to take my story telling to the next level and motion graphics can enhance that 10x. But I am not just currently learning that, I am also teaching myself Webflow and Shapr3D, though this is more of a hobby.
Back to the what and why.
This letter will be written, roughly, bi-weekly. I will talk about creating things. What things? Not sure, I do a lot. I do know that the backbone will be around story, the why behind the making. There will be some inspiration that I find on the web and maybe even some I make. I will even include some articles and quotes.
Speaking of which, have you heard Twitter is going remote?
You can read the full article here.
This is wonderful, there need to be more companies at the level of Twitter going remote. I am not going to get on my soapbox about remote today, but you can expect it.
My art inspiration for the week comes from Gal Shir. He is a wonderful illustrator. I always find myself in awe when watching him create a time lapsed image. See what I mean here. You can also download that wallpaper here.
I hope you liked the first installment of this letter. There is more to come. I have a lot of ideas and can't wait to share them.
Please like and/or share this if you found any value out of it. My website has all the deets about how to find me. Feel free to check out some of the things I make while you are there.
Have a wonderful rest of your weekend!