Sir Ken Robinson Rocks.

This is a 20 minute video well worth watching. Ken Robinson points out that the way we do school nowadays is getting, well, obsolete. I'll let him do the rest of the talking. He's quite funny. I love what he has to say about Shakespeare, and drawing pictures of God. And by the way, when you're done with this, take a look around at other TED talks. There are many many fascinating clips to choose from. Everything from brain surgery to octopi.

Growing Up Creative: 3

3. Know Your (Copy)Rights.

Did you know that when you draw something, as soon as it is on the paper, it is protected by copyright laws? That means that you, as the person who made it, own the right to it. You are the person who says whether it can be copied, used in a magazine, printed up on a poster, put on a website, or whatever else. It is yours.

This means that you have to tell someone it's okay to use your artwork before they can use it. And when this happens, you can charge money. This is how may artists make a living.

You grant rights to someone, say, to use your art in a magazine or website. There are fees that you can charge for this.

Of course, you can always grant rights for free, so that you get some exposure. Or you can donate your artwork to a worthy cause. I have cartoons get copied from time to time and I let it happen because more people are going to see my work. But if someone is going to make money off your art, say by selling a book with your art in it, they need to pay you.

So never let anyone take your stuff without your permission! You created it, you deserve to make a living from it. Enough said.

Driving Around Barefoot

Last night we had to go pick my husband up at the train station.

I let the kids ride there and back in the car with no shoes on. They didn't bring any. No socks either.

You would have thought they had won the lottery. They thought it was so cool that we didn't have to do the "get your shoes on" process, and that we were doing something out of the ordinary.

I didn't buy them any toys, there was no TV or computer involved, just doing something unusual.

This may not seem like a big deal to you, but try it sometime. Do something totally out of your normal routine. Get ready for school backwards. Brush your teeth while dancing. Eat breakfast outside. It's amazing how doing something differently can make the world seem like a bigger place.

Foot Puppet Action Theater

The other day my kids made puppets out of their feet. One had a rocket on one foot and the moon on the other. The other had a flower on one foot and a bug on the other. Then they got upside down, stuck their feet over the back of the couch and put on a show. The rocket flew to the moon, the bug checked out the flower, there were lots of sound effects and drama.

This proves that you can make puppets - and a puppet theater - out of anything.

The next time you have to do a story for school, I wonder if your teacher would let you do it in the form of a puppet show?

Growing Up Creative: 2

2. Tools are not Talent.

What the heck does that mean? I read this in a magazine many many years ago. I made a photocopy, and colored it in pen.

Why did I do that? Because it's such an important point: No amount of fancy pens, paints or paper will make you a better artist. Sure, new art supplies are big fun, but it's what you do with them that counts.

This is especially true about computers. A computer will not make you a better artist. Software does not make you a better artist. Drawing and drawing and drawing, no matter what medium you are using, WILL make you a better artist.

Behind every comic, video game, movie, and animation are some serious drawing skills and creative talents. So sure, if you've got the budget buy yourself some cool pens. But draw as much as you can, with whatever pencils and paper are handy. (I've been known to go through a lot of those pads of paper that you get in hotel rooms.) Tools are not talent.

Growing Up Creative: 1

Yesterday I was fortunate to talk to a group of students at Woodside International High School in San Francisco. I like talking to high school students because they are at such an early stage of figuring out what to do with their creativity.

So if you're a person who loves to draw, and you'd love to grow up to do something creative but you're not sure what that is, I'm going to offer some bits of wisdom I've gathered over the years. I've put them together on a little postcard that I give out when I talk at high schools.

Here's the first one:

1.Be True to Your Gifts.
This means: Don't spend all your time trying to be different from what you are. I know, there are tons of children's books written about this - but as an artist, it's important to notice what makes you feel good and what makes you struggle. Don't beat yourself up because you don't draw characters just like the ones you saw in a book or movie. Your drawings are going to come out with your style all over them, no matter how hard you try to change it. So try lots of things, but be good to yourself, draw the things that make you happy, and then notice what those things are. If you always tend to draw people, pay attention to that. If you tend to draw things that are dramatic or emotional, notice that too. Those are signs that will guide you to what kind of artist you are going to be.

Philip Curtis

Okay, speaking of Magritte, here is another surrealist painter - from the US this time - Philip Curtis. He was born in Michigan but spent most of his life in Arizona. There is a collection of his work at the Phoenix Art Museum. His most famous painting is probably "The Gift Bearers," shown above. Again, he had the ability to take very unreal situations and paint them in a realistic way so you could almost believe they are really happening. This is probably why Curtis' and Magritte's work kind of makes you stare at it for such a long time.

Rene Magritte

Rene Magritte was a Belgian painter who is probably best known for his paintings of men in bowler hats floating around or standing with apples in front of their faces. But he also painted a lot of other really neat, and sometimes creepy, images.

Check out a bunch of his paintings here - what do you think?

Something to consider - the reason Magritte's paintings work well, is because he did a great job showing very unreal subjects in a realistic way. It was as if reality had just gone crazy. So, even though Magritte's work is surreal, it is also very real. You have to be really good at drawing and painting, at showing how the light is and how fabric and wood and people and other 'real' things look - to do that.