Mastering the Art: The Journey of Alani J - I Will Not Lose Podcast - #0053

Transcript

[00:00:13.260] good morning good evening good night good afternoon don't give me copyright flag though
[00:00:19.680] no no no you can cut this out i sounded like a zombie
[00:00:26.160] yeah in order to grow you gotta have like some kind of goals we're all the way live
[00:00:40.820] we made it what's up man how's it going brother good it's been a while yeah man let me just roll
[00:00:49.650] off this intro and we'll jump right in all right let's get it what's up what's up what's up good
[00:00:53.830] morning, good evening, good night, good afternoon, whatever time you're listening in, wherever you're
[00:00:57.890] listening from. This is I Will Not Lose Podcast, where we set out to learn that everything is
[00:01:02.850] learned from failure. We must recognize it as one step closer to success. I'm your host, Tony Ortiz.
[00:01:09.230] Could have been anywhere in the world, but you're here right now. Let's take a moment to be present
[00:01:14.470] and recognize that it's now, right now. Whether your right now is working, running, driving,
[00:01:21.320] flying whatever be thankful we're alive baby let's go failure is frightening but as winston
[00:01:28.560] churchill reminds us success is all about going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm
[00:01:34.000] so that will not lose podcast let's jump right in we're joined here with alany jimenez known
[00:01:39.360] by many many more as alany j character artists how's it going brother i'm delighted to be here
[00:01:49.190] to be honest with you. It's been a while since I last hung out with you, man. And I know that
[00:01:54.390] it was such amazing experiences that we went through, you know, going through the steps to
[00:02:00.690] get to where we are today. Yeah, no, absolutely. You're talking years. It's definitely been a
[00:02:06.750] break. Yeah, dude. I can say that you are one of the people that has inspired a lot of the
[00:02:14.550] mannerisms that i have for different types of uh facets of the of my business um just your
[00:02:21.690] dedication your type of drive you know and your preparation you know you're always uh ready to
[00:02:30.110] dive in and talk to people about what it is you do so i'm thankful and uh i'm ready to talk about
[00:02:37.210] talk to you about what i do definitely definitely well thank you for the kind words and inspiring
[00:02:43.930] and the mannerisms and stuff and set out with business we have a past with the uh your original
[00:02:50.150] business was in design and graphic design commercial a little bit of web and print
[00:02:55.070] yep you got it graphic design i um i'm the proud owner of alany graphics and uh it is still alive
[00:03:02.130] today i still do graphic design mostly driven with the power of caricature so um i realized that
[00:03:10.210] I've I got into graphic design because I love art and because I love computers so it just getting
[00:03:16.970] into caricature nowadays the way I have been you know so deep into the caricature world that
[00:03:23.070] now I can combine both absolutely well you've definitely been focused with the characters
[00:03:30.190] you boast uh fastest character artist in the world you know we'll get into that story in a
[00:03:38.270] second, but you're highly followed 2.2 million followers on YouTube, just about as many on
[00:03:44.770] Facebook, five, 600,000 on Instagram. So you got in the lane of just doing, uh, why don't you tell
[00:03:51.790] a bit about how you did that? Oof. Um, I feel that the people around me, the people who, uh,
[00:04:00.460] trained me and, uh, worked next to me or that I worked next to, uh, were the, a little bit of,
[00:04:07.900] an example, the models that I would follow as I grow in this caricature industry, which I got into
[00:04:15.840] 19 years ago now. And I'm happy to say that, you know, even now they are big names in caricatures
[00:04:26.140] that have changed the way that the next generations of caricature artists would be trained
[00:04:34.040] and the way that they would portray the artwork itself to the world um as a as a as an industry
[00:04:44.020] very cool yeah how much of that has moved to digital do people do like uh like in procreate
[00:04:50.720] or something like that or on an ipad characters it's interesting you say that um it's very
[00:04:56.900] difficult to transfer the knowledge from um you know traditional caricature and digital and that's
[00:05:06.500] mainly due to the stylus and or the apple pencil whatever it is you use to draw um i can say that
[00:05:15.220] i can you know you have the knowledge but the movement the pressure the you know the the
[00:05:21.280] strokes that you would take are a little bit different based on the markers and in fact uh
[00:05:26.840] That's one of the reasons why I developed a brush for Procreate that is for caricaturing that behaves precisely like what you would want for a marker in traditional to perform like.
[00:05:42.900] So that is actually one of the things on my website that people can purchase right now and, you know, for less than five bucks and be able to have that tool that they can use for their gigs and everything and make as much money as they want with digital caricatures, which is a highly sought after.
[00:06:01.860] um i wouldn't say uh it's like an industry part of the industry of caricatures uh where you know
[00:06:09.840] people hire artists to come out to their special events and draw the families the family members
[00:06:16.980] and the guests of the event yeah and it's nice to have something tactile that you can leave with you
[00:06:22.400] like if you do the uh the pen and pad all right that's the other part of it for sure that's the
[00:06:30.430] traditional where you can actually draw with a marker on paper and that way you they can actually
[00:06:36.090] take it with them the other part of it is the digital caricature where you take the pen and
[00:06:42.490] stylus that you would use use it on your ipad or on your cintiq depending on what you're using
[00:06:47.530] you would then print that and have that take uh have the guests take that with them
[00:06:52.790] awesome man awesome it's it's an interesting world but i can say that a lot of it since i
[00:06:59.950] developed that you know what i call ellen ej marker brush if you look it up on google you can
[00:07:05.600] find it um you are able to take that and and just draw as if you're drawing with a marker and that's
[00:07:13.840] you know it feels the same the the width and the pressure that you apply where you apply it it
[00:07:18.560] responds like the marker and uh it's changed a lot of artists workflow uh yeah i can imagine you so
[00:07:26.780] you found a problem and you solved it you know i i i'm very thankful that there's certain things
[00:07:36.000] that i've been able to do with some of the experience that i've uh acquired but um you
[00:07:41.140] know it's it's all due to the demand yeah if if people are in need of something i try to be the
[00:07:47.740] helpful person and come up with a solution you know even if it has to do with you know uh getting
[00:07:54.300] you know as an artist and getting better you can become faster you can become um how did it become
[00:08:02.180] better i've actually you know a a workflow that i want to um later on mention um and it has to do
[00:08:09.320] with repetition but it has to do with intentional repetition and it's something that i later after
[00:08:17.420] many years of doing caricatures that i found out that it needed to take place and if i would have
[00:08:24.560] done it way back when i would have been a totally different artist now oh that makes sense it's an
[00:08:31.040] interesting uh workflow that i have um developed and and that will be put into a book uh form and
[00:08:39.060] also a course so stay tuned for that there you go yeah shameless plug so do you feel like you
[00:08:46.490] i don't want to say wasted time like you said you would have been a completely different artist do
[00:08:51.070] you feel like it was too late or the fact that it's spawning off into a book and this other stuff
[00:08:56.290] do you think you would have had the knowledge to turn it into those other forms of mediums
[00:09:02.130] if you know in your 20s you were adapting that style or well it's uh it's part of
[00:09:09.870] becoming a better artist it actually the the method that i have gone um that i have put
[00:09:16.030] together has not to do with just caricatures it has to do with any art form in fact and you can
[00:09:23.110] attack whatever it is you do with this for the reasons of betterment and the reason the ways
[00:09:34.350] that you can create something more efficiently so as to say okay yeah you can draw fast but you
[00:09:42.370] could also draw very fast and still be slow and uh not many people would understand that until
[00:09:48.170] you're like right there watching it okay you can draw an eyebrow let me just say that you can zig
[00:09:52.830] zag all the way down to the end or you can just go you know two marks or one mark and be more
[00:09:59.960] efficient and therefore faster there you go yeah it's like like speed running that makes sense like
[00:10:07.060] you find little ways to chip off and be better that's a big thing my listeners are all into and
[00:10:12.840] the theme of the podcast you know when we talk about reframing failure and looking at how you
[00:10:19.820] can incrementally get better you know it's always people see people think you got lucky
[00:10:29.160] and at 2.2 million subscribers there's no room for luck there was a lot of focused and
[00:10:35.620] challenging things to go along that way you know so what can i say about the growth on social media
[00:10:42.880] it has been quite the long road people believe that i started you know maybe a year ago to
[00:10:48.960] post my content but in reality it was like this since 2012 and that we're talking about what uh
[00:10:55.560] 12 years now yeah you know and um so it's it's been a while i've been around a while just um
[00:11:02.660] the focus and as uh has changed as the years go but also the social media platforms have changed
[00:11:09.680] where it's it's changed so fast where instagram used to be for photos only you know and now it
[00:11:15.980] has you know videos and and even x additional photos not just the one not not even squared
[00:11:21.820] also rectangle and all this stuff but uh just a matter of learning you're learning to use the
[00:11:28.640] platforms is is um one of the reasons why where um it took me a while to adapt and i wasn't
[00:11:38.000] attacking it as a business i wasn't uh i was just thinking oh this is fun because people surely want
[00:11:45.000] to see my work because i'm good you know and at the beginning i really wasn't all that good but
[00:11:52.340] I did draw things quickly and that draws people, coincidentally, draws people over to me because they want to see things done, you know, in a quick fashion, even though it may or may not be just like the person is a cartoony and stylized way, which is cool, you know, and and having it done quickly, it draws people over to me.
[00:12:16.000] So that that brings people this my way.
[00:12:18.560] So how much of it after you won, then we'll talk about the championship in the road to world fastest. But was that well, first off, how how much of your following came after that? Or what did that do for your boost and engagement?
[00:12:35.060] I'm glad you mentioned that in that way, because I knew that I was fairly quick compared to some of my peers that would work around me.
[00:12:46.700] At the beginning, I remember being the slowest.
[00:12:50.040] I know that I tried to do certain things and I would mess up, you know, and I would.
[00:12:55.920] but i was not thinking about you know oh i messed up i would just work those uh mistakes into
[00:13:03.720] something that was actually part of the drawing um so it's as if i'm masking the uh the mistakes
[00:13:11.740] so that it would look a certain way and in doing all these things i would see my peers just draw
[00:13:19.240] so fast just knocking one after the other and I was so inspired you know um well during that same
[00:13:27.540] time I would watch them so intently then that I determined and that I that I realized that there
[00:13:34.980] were certain inefficiencies even through their speed they were doing things in a way that would
[00:13:42.560] actually take longer just because their order of operations was different than what I, you know,
[00:13:51.000] what I was thinking. And that could have been, you know, a little better. And eventually I would
[00:13:55.740] take those, not only my failures, but also other people's mistakes and approach to things. And I
[00:14:03.320] would develop my own. And that's where we have gotten to this point now where just remembering
[00:14:10.600] all of those um new ways of approaching it and and trying to train my hand over again
[00:14:18.010] you know sort of detrained you know you know went back on what i knew uh when i was trained
[00:14:25.630] so that i can follow an order that i developed new way yes that's awesome man so how intentional
[00:14:34.130] was it to become the world's fastest did you set out and say this is what i'm gonna do and like
[00:14:39.870] trained for that what was that like oh man i did not know that that title existed until maybe
[00:14:46.790] five years into my career that you know there's something called isca which is the international
[00:14:55.630] society of caricature artists and they do concerts of all kinds um for different categories and
[00:15:03.930] you know uh and and is the international convention at which they have all the artists
[00:15:10.670] come in and they change the location each year they they come into this one location and we all
[00:15:16.750] compete on an all-out war to be the best at each of the categories and uh so when when that took
[00:15:25.490] place that there was that i realized there was such a thing you know i started to be a little
[00:15:32.090] bit more lively with the work of character and a little bit more intentional um you know sometimes
[00:15:37.870] when you do some certain things so many times that you believe you're so good at it you know
[00:15:43.970] and and then you see someone else do it a different way and you're like oh my god that's even better
[00:15:49.550] and you know absolutely that realization right there would really stick and through those
[00:15:56.310] processes i realized that i can do the same thing for social media where oh okay well if if i'm
[00:16:04.290] learning this way then i might as well look at other creators that are doing something similar
[00:16:09.330] to me and okay well if if they're doing that then maybe i can adapt to how can i adapt it to
[00:16:15.110] my world um so you know as to say you know you're you know you're you're not stealing the style you
[00:16:21.570] know you're stealing made mainly the the the flow so that you can use it in a way that would uh
[00:16:28.390] look like your like it was meant to be for your craft right so um i remember before i won world's
[00:16:36.930] fastest um i looked at okay you know if i'm fast let's be as fast as we could so i focused on those
[00:16:45.630] little details of being as efficient as i can then you know and um and i would participate
[00:16:53.310] you know in the conventions and wouldn't quite get it so i actually you know had videos of me
[00:16:58.730] doing the the work that i you know the way i would do it uh and and and as efficiently as i could
[00:17:06.010] and i i didn't quite hit that mark of of being world's fastest like the first place i got
[00:17:14.840] you know third and second place and but but not first place yet and how so i asked
[00:17:22.560] you know the world's fastest you know how are you getting people off the chair so fast and so he
[00:17:30.160] gave me that one tip that took me over that hump which was a millisecond of of something so simple
[00:17:41.930] you know and that was the secret to to get me to the next step and so there's one thing that you
[00:17:49.450] can do if if you really feel defeated you know and you don't know how to do certain like what it is
[00:17:57.190] that is is taking you to the next step if you're probably a knock away you know just just not go to
[00:18:05.390] that door of the person or company that you feel can take it to the next step and ask questions,
[00:18:13.390] you know, um, they don't, you know, the people who want to help will always be kind and especially
[00:18:21.290] when your colleagues and things like that. And, um, I'm very thankful, you know, a shout out to
[00:18:26.030] Steve Doris for that. You know, he gave me that one tip, you know, that, um, you know, got me
[00:18:31.630] over that hump which um which eventually allowed me to to get to world's fastest characterist
[00:18:38.110] that's crazy yeah yeah it's it's insane it's something so simple you know and um what i
[00:18:45.900] realized is everything counts and we were talking about this where you know you're streamlining
[00:18:52.340] each part of the process how can you streamline moving this up well you get closer you get closer
[00:19:01.220] so that you can actually get to it you know you don't have to you know or you could just have your
[00:19:06.160] hand on it now you could just move your fingers and just like that you know those those little
[00:19:10.580] milliseconds that you're actually you know cutting down you're becoming faster as a result yeah so
[00:19:18.910] yeah you have a good understanding of the whole process the way the human brain works with mastery
[00:19:24.330] you kind of you get to a point in the beginning like even with learning a language first you're
[00:19:29.630] learning the syllables, and then you start to put together words like you're not writing essays yet.
[00:19:35.290] Like you can, you can have a conversation and speak sentences without being able to put together
[00:19:40.770] an essay. But as you go further and further, you can now analyze the process while you're doing it.
[00:19:47.290] Like you're not using your brain to learn that part, you know, you, but it takes a mastery of
[00:19:52.970] that whole process, you know, or like you said, what are you doing a whole lot when I'm editing
[00:19:58.910] the podcast there's it takes two buttons to erase time between parts when i'm making clips and
[00:20:06.410] instead of holding shift and hitting delete i programmed it to one key and now it's just boom
[00:20:11.330] but that's half the buttons that you're pushing you got to look at it like that like little tiny
[00:20:17.250] bits can be big bits of progress you know it's not all about slow just because it takes long
[00:20:23.610] doesn't mean the process has to be boring and slow the whole time like every time you level
[00:20:30.490] up along the way like that's the awesome part about progress and even failure you know you
[00:20:37.230] level up you learn something it's like oh you know i did you go into you go into battle thinking you
[00:20:43.230] know absolutely everything and then you see something happen you're like oh okay right let
[00:20:48.790] let me shift yes you pivot that's one thing that i learned through the growth of social media is
[00:20:54.450] you want to when you when you are going in a certain route and you feel like there's just
[00:20:59.290] not enough for you to get over the hump you want to pivot and into something that you're super
[00:21:07.130] more knowledgeable about or super focused on um passionate about um right and um i i feel that
[00:21:18.850] going fast is you know something that i've learned through other artists which i you know
[00:21:25.310] have seen people draw a full full color face and body in like two three minutes um and and
[00:21:31.930] sometimes less and i just don't understand how that would work at the beginning and now i'm just
[00:21:37.090] It's like, oh, OK, it's a process that you get used to so heavily that you don't have to think about it, because ultimately what we stop to do is what?
[00:21:48.660] Think. Think. Yeah. Hesitate. Mind you, we think how many thoughts per minute, per second?
[00:21:54.980] I couldn't tell you. Yeah. Thousands. And so so even if we think so fast, if that's slowing us down, then that means we need to not think.
[00:22:06.320] so we need to be so ready so used to the motion that we just do it and in fact that's the way
[00:22:17.480] martial arts works isn't it yeah no absolutely all sorts of training yeah wrestling uh any of
[00:22:25.040] the martial arts you know we talk about how many times you drill it and you drill it with intention
[00:22:31.380] it's funny this whole time that you're talking about doing things over and repetition i was
[00:22:36.780] comparing it to jujitsu like you know i was like this whole time i'm thinking about that but um
[00:22:43.460] yeah you even as you go higher in the belts like i said putting the sentences together you know as
[00:22:49.380] you go higher in the belts you know when by the time you're purple belt brown belt you know you're
[00:22:55.880] learning sentences while you're talking like while you're rolling whereas in the beginning when you
[00:23:03.080] role you're just trying to stay alive like you're just focused on whatever's right in front of you
[00:23:07.240] you're not thinking three moves down if he's gonna do this but i like the process of putting
[00:23:12.480] everything together and i you apply that the same thing you can apply in art you apply to life and
[00:23:19.300] to business it's you know um even just the cohesion of how everything has to relate together
[00:23:25.620] applies completely to business you know i think about whatever whatever it is i try and do you
[00:23:32.840] know in this art world and this business world social media and so on the way a tree would grow
[00:23:40.100] you know there has to be roots first for it you know a base for that tree to grow and so if there
[00:23:48.020] is if you're not tackling the basics heavily you know and and realizing and making adjustments
[00:23:55.160] there that you can then use to grow you're you're not working on the right things mind you you know
[00:24:03.700] just like i tell my peers where let's just say i want to train somebody to go quickly i actually
[00:24:09.600] do tell them to go slower because i want them to feel the control of what it what it is like
[00:24:16.300] to do that motion and then once they have that motion the obvious thing to do is to go faster
[00:24:24.010] you know the next step would be to go a little bit you know so not only are you more efficient
[00:24:30.110] now you're extra efficient just go left to right and you're able to do that quickly now you're
[00:24:37.050] able to control the muscles in your hand to do that now we're getting to an entirely different
[00:24:42.770] level that you can actually apply towards painting you can apply it for you know applying like a
[00:24:49.890] camera i mean videography like holding the camera you know if you practice the movements you know i
[00:24:56.970] used to carry my camera around and just film just practice tracking things cars going by things like
[00:25:04.310] that you know you get used to moving that camera without thinking then you can have more of a vision
[00:25:10.390] on where it's going you know i mean i definitely control the gimbal different now than when i did
[00:25:16.250] five years ago like we expected it to just do its own thing at one point right like oh yeah this is
[00:25:22.490] gonna be so good it's gonna be so steady and we thought that it was the machine but it isn't it's
[00:25:28.250] the actual user in it yeah no there's there's a lot you could tell the the difference between it
[00:25:33.470] like i remember when i first picked it up it's it doesn't feel as steady as you get used to it you
[00:25:39.210] get used to the weight but that's a that's that's amazing you know you don't realize how many things
[00:25:45.810] go into drilling in practice like you know you know you need 10 000 hours to do something but
[00:25:53.930] it's also amazing that you're able to split the time up and think okay i'm gonna set a camera up
[00:26:00.090] and how do you do you get the people to agree or do people sign a waiver i had people signing a
[00:26:07.830] waiver for a long time uh these past couple of years um it it became a time consumption you know
[00:26:15.970] from my the craft and the you know uh production side of things where you know we would have to
[00:26:22.850] wait for them to finish and if they didn't want to do it then we would just not film their face
[00:26:29.970] in it no we would just focus in on the caricature itself because my art i can record all i want
[00:26:35.910] yeah that makes sense and um but you know yeah having weaver is good now i just ask on camera
[00:26:43.090] hey are you guys okay with me recording and if you would you know and i put it on social media
[00:26:47.770] is that cool you know and so you know that's just a little bit you know it's another way of
[00:26:53.170] streamlining right uh the whole process where you know i'm recording on camera hey if they don't
[00:26:59.690] want to be recorded they don't want to be posted ultimately i don't i don't i start over i point
[00:27:06.790] the camera towards the uh caricature itself the piece of paper and um just record the artwork
[00:27:12.450] the process oh man yeah it brings me to the question how many people know you're following
[00:27:19.350] before they agree and just think oh yeah you can post it on social media right oh my god
[00:27:24.410] minute and there's 70 000 views it's insane yeah no and actually uh there has in the past uh five
[00:27:32.290] six years is when i've gotten the most like oh i know you uh i saw you on facebook i saw you on
[00:27:39.370] tiktok oh that's the guy from youtube oh yo i follow you on instagram and it's just insane i
[00:27:45.970] still can't believe that that's a thing like oh oh uh awesome i'm so happy thank you i'm glad that
[00:27:52.870] you supported me you know and and you're coming out here and people recognize the logo and things
[00:27:58.190] it's exciting is you know it's uh it's something totally new for me i you know have always you know
[00:28:06.050] felt awesome about you know uh you know like look at me because i do cool stuff you know as an
[00:28:14.850] artist and and also because the more eyes on what i'm doing the more you know business i would get
[00:28:21.550] you know presumably right and so ultimately so that I can provide to the family that's that's
[00:28:27.990] that was the main drive you know is uh to help those who help me get to where I am today so
[00:28:33.930] you know making money is a thing but you know the more attention that I would have for you know the
[00:28:41.990] artwork and uh and and that's where I realized that I needed to just get better at art you know
[00:28:47.830] it couldn't just be the same thing at one you know point or another even if it's just that one or two
[00:28:53.130] people that say oh he's using he's just drawing the same face you know and just changing some of
[00:28:58.790] the things and i was just like ah i don't want people to just you know i don't want i don't want
[00:29:04.090] my art to look like that you know i want my art to be better to be you know more customized and
[00:29:09.910] you know uh look like the people and of course that's what caricature is uh like we have to get
[00:29:16.810] that likeness we have to get you know the the cartoony aspect the funny aspect you know and
[00:29:21.910] do it in a timely fashion because there's a line yeah you know there's a line that people you know
[00:29:28.490] who want to get drawn who want to get that experience you know of of being together in
[00:29:34.850] their caricature and starting a family tradition and so um you know i did it not only for my family
[00:29:42.170] at that point when I realized that I could just draw someone quickly and still capture likeness
[00:29:48.950] then I knew I was at a certain level that I can you know really create something special for those
[00:29:57.320] who would visit and who would get a caricature done so starting new traditions you don't want
[00:30:03.660] to take too long because there's other things to do you know there's food that they gotta get and
[00:30:08.720] you know games that the kids want to do before they get impatient i gotta draw the kids first
[00:30:13.140] and um you know it's been a learning curve for a lot of reasons you know and uh every little thing
[00:30:19.440] has a great power and that has a lot to do with it being part of the basics when you really stress
[00:30:29.350] the basics you're going you're you're building you're you're creating something that is solid
[00:30:37.290] that you're you know mastering and we were talking about thought and how many thoughts we have
[00:30:43.210] but the more important thing for me which is where i mentioned that doing that i encourage
[00:30:50.960] doing things slowly at first is because i want the memory to be built and that's the basic for
[00:30:57.600] me is is the bare minimum you know you want to increase your memory power so doing something
[00:31:04.440] slower would get you that motion those muscles to you know be to where they need to be there's
[00:31:10.240] two types of memories in there you know the mind and the muscle memory so you know we're training
[00:31:15.820] both at that point and that way you have a solid understanding in less time which then builds your
[00:31:23.280] normal memory not only for that motion but for everything else so um having ideas ever thought
[00:31:32.360] of an idea and you're just thinking oh man this would be awesome but then when you get to the
[00:31:36.940] computer you kind of forget some of it it doesn't come out quite like that initial thought which
[00:31:42.400] you thought it was just amazing that's the thing right there where we're talking about memory you
[00:31:49.940] if you can just harness the power of memory you really don't have to do as much you can just
[00:31:56.240] remember it more and all you have to do is then put it together directly from the mind
[00:32:02.720] sick sick man sick you know and i'm thinking of skateboarders i'm thinking of all sorts of people
[00:32:10.560] that have that fluidity that you that you go and that's always been uh you know attractive
[00:32:18.000] but it's it's interesting i i had to ask i want to kind of shift gears but i saw you had posted
[00:32:25.260] something about like what you focused on before you focused on speed and you do these like wacky
[00:32:32.600] faces with like the chin like they're like distorted i'll have you send me one and i'll
[00:32:39.300] put it up on the youtube video i gotta i gotta look into go back into and check that out too
[00:32:45.380] because you know sometimes you do some things and you know uh you do it for a period of time and
[00:32:52.520] then something else comes along and you just you know that's another shiny toy you want to
[00:32:56.320] go and and you know practice that then and um so so that's interesting you mentioned that but i i
[00:33:02.900] did want to mention someone that is really taking the memory game to an entirely different level
[00:33:09.120] and i'm sure you you've heard of them because you know we're talking about a musician a freestyle
[00:33:13.820] artist called harry mack i don't know harry mack oh my god listeners are gonna get pissed at me
[00:33:20.440] they were mad oh my god so here's the thing you know harry mack basically takes three words from
[00:33:27.080] the people that he's you know doing an interview with or you know usually on on the website on
[00:33:33.000] you know he would do these and he has his camera set up and everything he does freestyle based on
[00:33:39.300] the three words that they give okay but he also goes into a tangent on on the word itself he does
[00:33:48.340] he gives detail about that word and he rhymes it and he does not forget the other two words
[00:33:55.200] sometimes it's more than three words and so on so i find it interesting you know that you know
[00:34:01.380] a freestyler is is really really thriving right now he's as far as i know the best freestyler
[00:34:08.220] on the planet because he literally remembers what he's seeing and uses it and remembers what
[00:34:15.720] how they reacted and uses it in the freestyle and intertwines it with the flow with their words that
[00:34:22.170] they provided and um that's powerful in that we're talking about memory because you can apply that to
[00:34:29.850] so many things because that's that's what we are we're human and if we can't remember something
[00:34:35.230] then then what's the what's the point we're not really living and uh that's another reason why
[00:34:41.790] people get a caricature done is because of memory they want to as soon as they see that caricature
[00:34:46.950] they just like remember the time when they sat down and had that experience with the family
[00:34:53.510] had that experience with their significant other um for themselves and they you know it's a
[00:35:00.490] nostalgic thing also it's like a you know obviously a comedy you know comedic effect
[00:35:05.670] where people come in you know they have the caricature on the living room now we're talking
[00:35:10.770] about it's an icebreaker you know something people ask about it exactly i mean something
[00:35:15.690] that you they can immediately you know talk about and just be comfortable you know and get more
[00:35:22.310] detail about it and move on to the next thing from there which is just amazing to me definitely
[00:35:28.580] you drew one of the ones in my uh office over there i don't know if you saw them when we came in
[00:35:33.700] i didn't see either one i think you drew jayden or you drew me or jayden one of them i have uh
[00:35:40.860] couple different artists up there as i got my family together but i hang the character artists
[00:35:46.020] it's it's a level of fun and i think what a lot of people want you know everybody wants to be a
[00:35:53.240] content creator and like you said i'm glad you're honest you know it feels good when people say i
[00:35:59.580] saw this or this inspired me you know but they don't see the work that comes with it they don't
[00:36:07.100] see you know um how you would call like uh the work it took to get there the work it took with
[00:36:16.440] the passion that you have to have for it like you know but the one thing that people do want to
[00:36:23.380] emulate is the the funness the fact that we can be here in t-shirts and talk about creating memories
[00:36:30.920] and doing so like you said it is something that's cool i think all content creators you know um i
[00:36:37.340] was just at uh online seminar and they were talking about how every content creator should
[00:36:41.880] be rich and it was all sorts of tools for people to be able to monetize and you know different ways
[00:36:49.240] to support artists you know some of the greatest artists aren't the best salesmen and they don't
[00:36:55.860] have as much work as you'd think they'd have you know yes um maybe there's tons of people that have
[00:37:02.180] been doing that freestyle stuff right uh you know there's just no cameras on them i don't know
[00:37:08.500] but that's true that's true i have seen some amazing artists that are not getting recognition
[00:37:14.220] or or people just don't know enough not enough people know about them although they are
[00:37:19.980] incredible you know breathtaking artwork and everything and i find that if it is all about
[00:37:27.760] the basics you know um when it comes to business you have to be able to put the word out there
[00:37:33.900] without being shy um stepping out of your comfort zones are is going to you know take you to places
[00:37:42.120] that you've never been unless you step out the door outside there's no way you could have an
[00:37:48.220] experience of having been outside and and be able to go with the motions you know be able to you
[00:37:53.960] know wear a raincoat you know when it's when it's raining or a coat when it's cold and so on
[00:37:59.040] because you didn't know you just so this is where it actually comes together where we talk about
[00:38:05.380] all of the basics you know to me memory is the basic you know you increase your memory
[00:38:11.700] and you can create anything you want because you're you're solidifying a base that will help
[00:38:20.750] you in the long run and it will only get better because you're using it where we talk about okay
[00:38:28.110] oh i'm just gonna check out these videos for like five minutes you know that five minutes that you
[00:38:32.610] spend on your on your phone scrolling is actually diminishing your memory ever heard about that
[00:38:39.810] i believe it i recently heard something about digital dementia you heard something about that
[00:38:45.530] where you know we're in an era that our attention span is so low that even 20 seconds
[00:38:52.350] is is the most attention that somebody can give you out of the younger generations right and that
[00:39:00.380] has to do with memory because just as you go like this oh i saw this video okay by the time you
[00:39:06.580] scroll twice you're already forgetting what you saw at the very beginning within that five minutes
[00:39:12.960] So if you continue to practice forgetting, you're going to increase your memory at forgetting.
[00:39:20.060] That's wild.
[00:39:21.360] Yeah.
[00:39:21.600] I never heard that, but it makes a ton of sense.
[00:39:24.240] Yes.
[00:39:24.380] I just never heard it.
[00:39:25.420] I never looked at it like that.
[00:39:27.460] I'm going to take a, I mean, I have to, maybe I'll make a separate account just for the
[00:39:34.500] podcast clips because people consume the clips and it gets visibility to people listening
[00:39:40.900] to the podcast.
[00:39:41.820] but i could use a break from social at least from my own just i or do post and ghost write out a
[00:39:52.260] bunch of content post it but not you know only engage to that it's when i'm scrolling and looking
[00:39:58.280] at other people's stuff and commenting on dumb stuff and they're talking about you walk into a
[00:40:03.000] room and there's a chicken a horse and a giraffe how many legs are on the table from the bed
[00:40:07.520] and like i'm like what am i doing like what am i doing my life but it's uh it's nice like when
[00:40:14.480] when i have a video rendering like i was working on cutting clips earlier and i see uh it'll take
[00:40:20.960] three minutes so so you take that time to jump on social media and you know check things out how
[00:40:27.400] things are going and everything well i find myself if i do go and check the social media i'll be like
[00:40:32.240] why am i doing this and i'll do like uh like i have a little math game going that just adds
[00:40:37.600] numbers and you do some multiplication and then just go back and like it keeps adding while you're
[00:40:44.980] gone and you try to figure out how much like it's just something to distract where you're still
[00:40:50.720] exercising you're still in that zone you're not you know because unless the computer dings you'll
[00:40:57.160] It'll be rendering 30 seconds and you'll be there seven minutes on the phone.
[00:41:01.240] But yes, it's.
[00:41:03.800] Yeah, you just like anything else, you got to practice not getting distracted.
[00:41:11.480] Like you, your mind has to be able to tell you just like the way you get used to in school.
[00:41:17.280] Sometimes you wake up before the alarm goes off.
[00:41:19.620] You got to be able to, you know, train your mind to have the basic of, OK, 30 seconds,
[00:41:26.020] you know in 30 seconds you can set a clock for maybe maybe the next uh five sessions let's just
[00:41:32.560] say of social media and you do this intentionally first right so that you get used to it so you can
[00:41:39.140] build that habit so that by the time you're actually away from your clock you know you you're
[00:41:44.140] just you know scrolling and then your mind tells you oh it's 30 seconds oh okay i gotta put it down
[00:41:48.540] intentionally do that you know put it down and that way your mind remembers okay and after 30
[00:41:56.160] seconds of starting to scroll and not do much put it down it's a way of saying to yourself okay you
[00:42:02.740] know i gotta take that next step of stepping not not get so distracted in that because i'm gonna
[00:42:08.560] be honest with you the other portion of this memory cycle and thought process is is being bored
[00:42:16.380] what happens when you're bored that's when the good ideas come what happens when you're showering
[00:42:24.880] what happens when you're driving when you're relaxed and that state is going to bring if you
[00:42:34.740] practice being in that state of mind you're now you know your boredom becomes your fun zone
[00:42:40.760] you know where you're actually like creating something in your mind and because you've been
[00:42:47.150] building your memory now it'll all of a sudden you have an entire project in your mind that you
[00:42:53.370] can then execute as efficiently as it can be because you know exactly what needs to be because
[00:43:00.410] you remember it ah man i love this stuff you hear that ladies and gentlemen where's the camera
[00:43:06.920] practice being bored heard it from alan ej that's great man um i can say you know just going back
[00:43:14.620] to the social media aspect and how i went one of the world's fastest i mean man that that was such
[00:43:18.880] a an incredible experience but you know i attacked doing social media um the most after i won world's
[00:43:27.980] fastest caricatures i really i literally didn't want to put my videos up anywhere until i won
[00:43:35.560] world's fastest because i felt that who that you know who who am i who who are you know people are
[00:43:41.180] just gonna say who are you you know yeah we don't know who you are what have you accomplished with
[00:43:46.320] these things that you're showing us you know why why should i listen to you and so for me you know
[00:43:53.480] i felt that i needed to have a a solid um what would you say prize uh a solid yeah like accolades
[00:44:05.660] accolades yeah i love that um so that you know the credibility would be higher and ultimately
[00:44:13.720] i i also didn't want to uh you know so so just take it back a step my project was to promote my
[00:44:23.920] my instagrams as you know the world's fastest caricaturist and how would i do that unless i
[00:44:31.320] had the title so that's where i you know really focused on it you know did the research for it
[00:44:36.420] so that i can get those basics remember them long enough to then execute it efficiently and that's
[00:44:43.260] what's been happening thankfully um and we talked about building memory so now we're going to just
[00:44:48.980] move on to something simple that comes from having that memory and it's noticing how would you
[00:44:56.020] create something like the other person that's succeeding you know for me you know just like
[00:45:03.530] you know uh the when i when i started doing caricatures i noticed those things that were
[00:45:08.970] just a little bit not as efficient as it could be to be able to put it into practice so i noticed
[00:45:16.610] that okay this creator does it this way but this creator does it this way but they're both
[00:45:22.530] successful so you know then you would create something for you that would emulate each of
[00:45:29.670] those the same piece of content can be you know used for different styles of editing and of you
[00:45:37.250] know storytelling you know and the workflow on that so for example mr beast just uh the one thing
[00:45:45.260] i've noticed about his the first three seconds you know he says exactly what is happening and
[00:45:51.280] it's something so impressive that they even put the captions at the bottom in the first
[00:45:57.020] three to five seconds of what is going to happen and people stick around because it's
[00:46:03.760] so ridiculously yeah you have to see it yeah yeah but what's interesting is because of
[00:46:12.110] our attention spans being so low we have to continually remind the viewer that oh later
[00:46:20.080] around we're going to da da da and and now for you know the process of this and now you know
[00:46:28.560] we're talking about a step-by-step throughout you know a little bit of a step ladder you know
[00:46:34.920] we're going up the ladder and we're going to get to the prize at the top and and that workflow of
[00:46:41.560] catch their attention you know do the intro and then you know basically tell the people who you
[00:46:48.440] are a little bit you know at the beginning you have to kind of remind people who you are nowadays
[00:46:53.060] you know just put it in the in the bio you know but uh and people will know who you are but
[00:46:58.660] ultimately do the three seconds and then tell a story and keep reminding them and then get to the
[00:47:05.640] prize so that's one thing that i have found um that through caricatures the big reveal and what
[00:47:12.320] people think of the caricature is the prize uh yeah and uh i i thought initially that the prize
[00:47:21.000] would be to watch a world's fastest caricatures which was my niche you know caricaturist and
[00:47:26.600] drawing them fast the process of it coming together because that to me that was my soul
[00:47:36.480] which was to create every stroke intentionally and smoothly and efficiently but what people
[00:47:43.880] thought about the caricature and you know the way that they reacted to the caricature and the way
[00:47:49.920] they showed their emotions on camera of how they felt by seeing it was even a bigger prize that I
[00:47:58.340] wasn't realizing that the viewers would want to see so it was uh once i learned this i made sure
[00:48:07.910] that i kept each video as short as i could which means you know drawing as fast as i could and
[00:48:15.370] therefore the other processes i had to get better at and then i was able to show that process and
[00:48:22.020] and that delivery of the prize at the end as as the the cup you know the first place cup like this
[00:48:30.180] is what you came here to see the reaction to this here it is and and people just react oh man uh
[00:48:37.920] people have even said that they're not even there to see the reaction it doesn't matter to them some
[00:48:43.660] people don't care about that some people don't care about my intro some people say they skip
[00:48:48.040] before it gets to the intro just but you know which is like which is a problem so anyway
[00:48:53.440] but seeing the process now we're talking about okay that you know efficiency from one line to
[00:49:03.460] the next that i would that i would try to you know create have as my process is soothing and
[00:49:09.760] satisfying which you know in the past few years we know those have been major trends
[00:49:16.920] oddly satisfying you know and so smooth yeah and it calms you down huh i subscribed to that on
[00:49:25.320] reddit i was watching somebody vacuum it's just so soothing oh my god look it was dirty now it's
[00:49:33.900] clean whoa amazing i want that vacuum you know but sometimes it's just the way it's done it's not
[00:49:41.560] the tool but rather the art history and uh and in fact the camera angle and everything and that's
[00:49:48.720] the kind of video i also came across that allowed me to realize that okay people want to see the
[00:49:54.700] process and that's where i thought was my niche but really um it's it's a mixture of things now
[00:50:01.240] that i realize are within one section of a video besides just the reaction and the process and and
[00:50:09.040] the the catchy three five seconds at the beginning uh as the hook so the combination of these is what
[00:50:16.660] makes content that really you know captures the attention and keeps you watching keeps you
[00:50:24.620] interested so that you can finish the video and and feel good about yeah what following
[00:50:31.820] following that creator so that's where i i realized okay why are people going to follow us
[00:50:38.940] oh okay because they show the cool stuff you know that is exclusive to that niche that you know you
[00:50:47.940] can only you can only show mastery in something that you really care a lot about would you say
[00:50:53.960] that that's the most truth you know for for me i care a lot about you know people and you know i've
[00:51:01.140] i've used that focus to uh create my art in that way so that i i can i can portray okay
[00:51:09.620] the love i have for not only the people that i'm creating the artwork for but also who i'm
[00:51:15.320] providing to through that art art form is is why i do this yeah i can relate with that i agree
[00:51:25.360] yeah it's like seeing people uh start businesses i saw the data today so many more people are
[00:51:33.520] starting businesses now and whether it's a side hustle or just a full-out business but
[00:51:39.180] trying to keep up with those sorts of trends to see how it goes but being in service to
[00:51:45.340] uh business owners but then even just why i started the podcast you know it was never to be
[00:51:52.300] famous i'm not so you know that that'll come if i work but this is a hobby and i don't want to
[00:51:58.200] take the fun i'm not ready to take the fun out of it yet you know like having conversations that i
[00:52:03.260] would like to have and people do listen to the long form content you know like it's almost a
[00:52:11.480] different market for people looking at the shorts yeah it doesn't even necessarily mean they're
[00:52:18.080] going to go watch the whole episode, but there's people that aren't even watching us. They're
[00:52:22.420] listening to us on an audio platform. I think it's so cool to be able to be where you choose
[00:52:28.500] to listen to it. You know, I don't watch my podcasts, but some, you know, the analytics
[00:52:34.720] show a lot of people tune in. Now, whether they're watching and seeing our hand motions or
[00:52:40.040] whether or not they're just listening or they have it through a speaker,
[00:52:44.500] you can't really tell that through the analytics but it's curious you want to make you know you
[00:52:50.820] want to almost please everybody but it's either video or audio you know you can only be good at
[00:52:58.220] one or the other that's interesting because it really does it really does show you that you are
[00:53:06.740] more advanced than the technology that you're using to get to where you want to go so you know
[00:53:12.300] I've noticed that the platforms that I'm using, Oh, okay.
[00:53:16.180] I can do certain these things. Okay. I can do that. I can do that. Oh,
[00:53:19.860] what else can I do? And I keep searching. And to the point that I realized,
[00:53:23.240] Oh my God, I, I can't, you know, simply, you know,
[00:53:27.560] which is supposed to be, you know, crop this thing, you know,
[00:53:31.500] so you start to really,
[00:53:32.620] you start to hit walls when you're that hungry for information and,
[00:53:39.340] and able to remember what you don't what you what you know and then use that to find out what you
[00:53:46.940] can't do and and don't know um so i i can tell you i'm i'm growing on social media um because
[00:53:57.300] um something we haven't uh mentioned and this has to do with consistency oh man that in itself
[00:54:08.150] will increase the likelihood that you that you're going to be more efficient at something
[00:54:16.410] because you're you're then noticing but that's the repetition of it all that's what i'm trying
[00:54:21.210] to get at um the repetition you know the consistent you know i i'm doing this right now
[00:54:27.790] like you mentioned being in the present you know you consciously do something so that you can
[00:54:33.790] committed to memory you know you get up in the morning you go to the gym you then go to work
[00:54:41.630] and in that work you do what you need to do you know such as talk to people sit them down you
[00:54:49.470] know you run the transaction you know you or you run the transaction with cash or and and these
[00:54:55.870] process processes would then create the consistency for that workflow when it comes to social media
[00:55:06.770] you know it's it's from the angle that you're pointing the camera to when you actually start
[00:55:15.050] being in front of the camera and executing what it is you need to do you know let maybe we should
[00:55:22.030] use another you know and creating you know what you need to create you know just use a little bit
[00:55:26.290] of different connotation on that um now you're creating the habits that are going to serve as
[00:55:35.720] the basics to build upon the and i this is something i haven't mentioned you know that
[00:55:43.880] consistency should actually go all over your business you know i'm not saying work every day
[00:55:50.580] forever what i'm saying is realize the processes that you absolutely need to do do those things to
[00:55:59.020] the best of your ability do them consistently so you could get faster at it you don't have to think
[00:56:04.240] about it as much and ultimately create a platform now mind you that word platform is heavily used
[00:56:11.960] for the social media platforms but the platform the main platform that is your focus is you
[00:56:19.580] is you getting better at using what you have and and putting blocks underneath you as the basics
[00:56:28.600] to pull yourself up well said man got a wealth of knowledge for content creators i don't know
[00:56:38.150] if there's anything specific you want to say to people you know you got a lot of eyes on you it's
[00:56:43.850] the number one thing that people that kids want to be when they grow up you know is what you do
[00:56:49.250] and what you've accomplished, you know, so you definitely have to sit back and be grateful for
[00:56:54.450] that. But you have any, any like, uh, closing words? I'm very thankful to have gotten to where
[00:57:02.090] I am, but I know that there is a lot more to do. Um, I, all I can say is, you know, stay consistent.
[00:57:09.650] The more consistent you are, the easier it is for you to realize the additional things you could be
[00:57:15.830] doing and your time opens up when you do things efficiently so that you can do more with in your
[00:57:24.110] business or do more with your significant others have more time you're you're basically up
[00:57:32.680] shortening the time that it takes to do your work so that you can actually enjoy life and be
[00:57:38.120] in the moment in the present that's an awesome goal for sure for sure
[00:57:43.900] shout out your socials where people can follow you and my socials are mr alany j that's mr dot
[00:57:53.280] alany j that's on all social media that goes from youtube tiktok facebook and instagram
[00:58:01.220] as well as snapchat so go check us out on all those social media um i post videos that are
[00:58:08.380] different on each of them and i also have a subscriber for members only uh on three of them
[00:58:15.220] tiktok facebook youtube oh yeah and and instagram so instagram there you go so definitely go and
[00:58:23.200] subscribe and check out the content that we put out there that you you know for exclusive content
[00:58:29.120] check those out be sure to check that out all right thanks for tuning in guys peace don't lose
[00:58:36.440] thank you for listening to another episode of i will not lose podcast to support the show visit
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[00:59:05.960] Thanks so much.