posted
It's been a while since anyone has posted progress on their CHALLENGE 2010 projects. Since the last time I posted there I have had a proof of an introductory article on the CHALLENGE 2010 for the next issue of SignCraft. The folks there really want to encourage their readers to take part. They will be publishing followup chapters as the year unfolds. Send me GOOD pictures of your projects - no matter what stage they are at.
This morning while I waited for an appointment that got delayed I decided to put in a little time on the sextant. I managed to put the final touches to it.
Here it is with the base finished...
Two other projects of mine have been finished as previously posted...
I've decided my goal this year is to do one piece each month. It only will happen if I can squeeze in every spare minute here and there, and those minutes add up to quite a legacy if we work at it.
It will only happen if we stop only dreaming and do as well.
Let's see pics of everyone's progress so far...
-grampa dan
[ February 11, 2010, 01:59 PM: Message edited by: Dan Sawatzky ]
-------------------- Dan Sawatzky Imagination Corporation Yarrow, British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.com http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!! Posts: 8738 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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All great work, but that Fishing Company Photo is awesome, with the Mountains and clouds and blue sky, looks like it's been photoshoped in there.
-------------------- "Keep Positive"
SIGNS1st. Neil Butler Paradise, NF Posts: 6277 | From: St. John's NF Canada | Registered: Mar 1999
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I'm feeling Raymonds age and have been enjoying a good nap......I wish
I'm abit behind, funny people have been saying that all my life, we have a few ideas, just swamped everyday with " the real worlds daily demands" No other excuses I can think of right now, glad you've given us something to aspire too.
Am really happy for you over the gas station, I remember you drawing it in to your computer from your sketch books when I was with you, and thought then it was going to be a great looking job when it finally got commissioned, the drawings as usual where brilliant. Am happy you get the chance to make it in 3D
Left to do: cut out and apply letters, add a few more suction cups, prime and texture, paint and install.
I have also built a corner shelf for a friend and will be building a half circle shelf also. both decorated with magic sculpt.
I have also been promoting myself on craigslist in several cities nearby, so far without any success, but I will keep plugging away.
-------------------- Jon Peterman 200 Summit Loop Grants Pass, OR -------------------- a.k.a. dc-62 success is in Jesus Christ Posts: 434 | From: grants pass or. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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-------------------- Dan Sawatzky Imagination Corporation Yarrow, British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.com http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!! Posts: 8738 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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Dan, I've been meaning to ask you something (and please don't read anything into it).
How do you find the time to do such beautiful and intricate work? You've got to have hours upon hours into them.
I started working on revamping our website since last August and haven't gotten any closer to finishing it than when I started it simply due to time constraints. The same goes for the signage I've been wanting to do for our shop.
Do you simply budget your time and if so, how? Or is it the weather is a bigger factor in the peaks and valleys of production schedules in your area that gives you large blocks of free time?
posted
I'm not Dan (he's better looking...and younger) and I don't intend to speak for him, but just being around him for a few days revealed some very interesting observations:
Dan never goes in anything but high gear. He's constantly in motion and he makes every motion count. There is no waste. He has a plan in his head for what he wants to do (well, most of the time).
He actually practices what he preaches. "Do a little something every day to become what you want to be tomorrow"....or something like that. By combining just a few minutes a day on some project he will have several hours invested without taking half a day to stay on each project full time.
Dan has the ability to fool your eye. Now, don't get me wrong - his work is tremendous and very creative, but he knows where to put detail and where to leave it out. His processes are not extremely precise. Don't hear me saying that he is sloppy - far from it, but he knows how far he can go and then let your eye fill in the rest.
If you study his drawings, they look very detailed but they are not actually. He just knows how to quickly make a few "scratches" and a chicken magically appears. That is because he is a true artist and knows what to leave out.
And, of course, he doesn't sleep, so that gives him a lot of extra time.
Like so many of you, Dan is my hero, even though I delight in knocking him down a few notches every once in a while. I may not want to produce the same type of work that he does, but I certainly do want to have his attitude and work ethic. I'm still working on both.
-------------------- Chapman Sign Studio Temple, Texas chapmanstudio@sbcglobal.net Posts: 6306 | From: Temple, Texas, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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We are all busy. I suspect I'm about as busy as anybody else. And I am no magician. I have no extra hours in my day. And contrary to common opinion I sleep each night. I even slept in until just after 9:00 this morning. (because I will be working long hours this weekend at a trade show)
First of all I say NO to a LOT of work. We don't do small (non-profitable) jobs in our shop. These are real time eaters and I don't have time to simply spin my wheels. We only do dimensional projects which by their very nature take lots of time with lots of steps along the way. Like Raymond says we carefully put detail where it counts and don't where it does not matter.
Pierre visited our shop a number of years ago. WHen he went home he told his friend (and mine) Rene that what we DIDN'T do was just as interesting as what we did. It's important to concentrate on what is important. Don't waste time on what isn't.
We all waste LOTS of time each day... especially me.Just look t the number of posts under my name below and you will see what I mean. But I've learned to take lots of these minutes each day and put them towards the projects I WANT to do as well. I also use my dream projects as a reward for other jobs I have to do which are not quite as exciting.
The real secret is to do a little each day on your big goals. I've watched so many people want to do something... they look at their watch and decide there's not enough time... so they don't. I instead look at my watch and decide there SHOULD be almost enough time to squeeze this at least a little in. So I do just that.... every minute of every day.
Any other course of action is merely an excuse.
How's your project coming all????
-grampa dan
-------------------- Dan Sawatzky Imagination Corporation Yarrow, British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.com http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!! Posts: 8738 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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What Dan said...plus the fact that he is Disney experiment. Late one night I saw some folks changing the batteries. Who would have ever thought to put them THERE?
[ February 12, 2010, 03:48 PM: Message edited by: Raymond Chapman ]
-------------------- Chapman Sign Studio Temple, Texas chapmanstudio@sbcglobal.net Posts: 6306 | From: Temple, Texas, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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I wonder if they left him an extra pair of batteries. I could use'm.
And ya know what? As of 12noon, I've clocked over 70 hours for the week. Today I've finished stripping a truck, lettered it and another truck, screen printed 108 caps, printed-weeded-masked-packaged 500 OEM decals, produced an awning layout, reclaimed a dozen screens and cleaned up a client's nephew art. I'm gonna go home and treat me to a Chapman Special - two hotdogs with everything and a 2 hour nap on the sofa.
posted
Where's the r-e-a-l-l-y BIG grin smiley icon which we can use here...!
-------------------- "Stewey" on chat
"...there are no limits when you aim for perfection..." Jonathan Livingston Seagull Posts: 7014 | From: Highgrove via Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Dec 2002
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I need to take Dan's advice and apply it to MY day. It has been slow at my shop lately and I have used most of my time to work harder to get jobs done as soon as they come in to generate cash flow. I am constantly bothered by phone calls who only want to talk to me instead of my other crew members and walk-in tire kickers wanting a bid on the spot!
I have two projects that I started working on, and can't get back at them with all the interuptions lately! And we are still not making enough revenue on the jobs we are working on. The weather hasn't helped either.
Time management is the hardest lesson to learn, but I know now that nothing will get done without it. Dan has been there, worked through it and offers great advice which we all should put to use for our shops. A few minutes each day adds up and we will finish our projects before we know it.
Thanks Dan for the reminder. Next week I'm back on schedule using every spare minute instead of wasting valuable time.
Sign-cerely, Steve
-------------------- Steve Luck Sign Magic Inc. 2718-b Grovelin Godfrey, Illinois 62035 (618)466-9120 signmagic@sbcglobal.net Posts: 870 | From: 2718-b Grovelin Godfrey, Illinois 62035 | Registered: Dec 2004
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I'd better state my bit...I've enjoyed Dan's prompting of all of us to attack projects in the back of our minds- that's great stuff.
In my case, I wore myself out writing the second clydesdale history book last year, and then doing a biggish interpretive signage job locally- and though I'm hoping for another similar job or two this year, and I have a writing job on the backburner also, my goal is to try & spend a bit more time with the kids this year, and projects they'd like, than I've done in the past.
I also want to redo the website, and three others we work under, and get the router going better and a host of other things that I slowly tackle, but the main goal for the year is to be recognised by the family a bit more.
Next year my goal will be to be on fewer committees, so I can get more stuff done for ourselves...
Thanks though, and I really like Raymond's quote of Dan's motivation : "Do a little something every day to become what you want to be tomorrow..."
-------------------- "Stewey" on chat
"...there are no limits when you aim for perfection..." Jonathan Livingston Seagull Posts: 7014 | From: Highgrove via Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Dec 2002
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I also strongly believe if we work endlessly on only customers projects, continually putting our dreams and personal projects to the side we will feel burnout. By taking time (even little bits of time) for ourselves and making at least a little progress on our projects keeps my fire burning bright. It won't happen by accident or if you just hope it will. You have to purposely plan it into your schedule.
Like Ian points out above it is also critical you make time for your family too. I know keeping things in balance is my own greatest challenge.
I have two current projects in the sketch stage for myself and one in the build stage which I'll be putting bits of time into in the next weeks.
Stay tuned to Yarrow...
-grampa dan
-------------------- Dan Sawatzky Imagination Corporation Yarrow, British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.com http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!! Posts: 8738 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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If I might add a couple of my observations of Dan's "hidden secrets"...of course there is natural born creativity and imagination but then it is coupled with focus that is as sharp as a magnifying glass in the summer sun. I think Dan has the ability to instantly recognize the advantage of anything from common items to complex tools and has the focus to make those work for him. As an example he professes to be "no computer expert" but then he can take his brilliant creative imagination along with his illustrative talent and turn that quickly and effortlessly into a computer generated file to physically create on his computer controlled equipment. Now if you asked him to write a program or turn a box of parts into a computer he probably wouldn't know where to start but that is simply because if he needs to accomplish a task or master a piece of equipment he will focus on that alone and practice, practice, practice until it is done, and not only done but done to his expectation of perfection. There is no secret to practice, everything is difficult and slow the first time, but once you know the answer everything seems easy and fast. I think a lot of Dan's work is variations of a certain group of procedures that he has absolutely practiced and perfected. Like he says, he likes to do what he wants and choses to do and he isn't doing everything that walks in the door and therefore isn't constantly figuring things out for the first time all the time, isn't spreading himself all over the place and practices his skills each time.
-------------------- Gary Boros SIGNWORKS STUDIOS LLC Monroe, Connecticut, USA Posts: 264 | From: Monroe, Connecticut, USA | Registered: Dec 2007
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Here it's Sunday Morning and I just was reading up the extra responses and then I read Glenn's post.. that was a question that I wanted to raise numerous times with Dan.. How does he find the time? The main part of my Business is regular sign work, digitally printed banners, Trucks, decals, coro, some basic 3-d work, you know, scroll saw cut letters and logos, but on the weekends I Get back to my roots so to speak, I pull out the Airbrush.. I have a few huge Jobs to do.. but I'm draggin my heels on one in particular, to tell you the truth, it's a bit of a pain to do.. But I'm breaking it down into pieces, like Dan said , and I'm almost finished.
This was a very good read and I appreciate it.
Thanks Glenn for having the guts to post that question.
-------------------- "Keep Positive"
SIGNS1st. Neil Butler Paradise, NF Posts: 6277 | From: St. John's NF Canada | Registered: Mar 1999
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well spent some of the day exercising some of my passion:
here is the corner shelf for a friends bathroom
Still needs rivets.
-------------------- Jon Peterman 200 Summit Loop Grants Pass, OR -------------------- a.k.a. dc-62 success is in Jesus Christ Posts: 434 | From: grants pass or. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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