Heyaa
Itās Sunday, July 30 morning. This has been my usual time to click open a blank Google Doc and stare at the screen. I have yet again no idea what Iām going to write in this newsletter.
The phone is on DND (Do-Not-Disturb), the laptop; propped on a pillow and my buttā¦ deep in the comfort of the bed.
My life is a string of random events. Like a Roulette, with controls in my hand. Imagine how a noob will deal in a casino. Utter chaos it is. If someone asks what I do, I really don't have an answer.Ā
Every few days, I think about how tired I am of socializing and social media. And then, last week, I scheduled ten Reels and created ten others for manual posting.
Now, I feel like growing my Instagram account. Need to create more and engage more. Trying to muster courage occasionally. But mostly, Iām just watching Reels back to back. I donāt even hit a like; forget commenting. So, failing spectacularly on all fronts.
As Anmol says, we are slow guys. We are lazy by default. And we canāt hustle. I need time, lots of time to understand and do things.
Not to brag, but I like putting my whole heart in, or nothing at all.
Iām an impulsive and naive baby who does things at random; just like the heart. And it takes time.
I do things and then think about what else to do. I really canāt think things through unless I get in the mess hands-on. Things work out; I donāt.
Everything is impulsive. Almost everything.
You know, I had this idea of making a Book Dragon teeā¦ for almost 3 months. I couldnāt think of anything interesting that would stand out from the designs I came across.
Then, a friend asked me to design that tee last Monday.
On Tuesday evening, I sat with an empty Canva slide to get the design done. I started by browsing the graphic elements. Reading dragon, dragon with glasses, wise dragonā¦
Then I thought there should be a pile of books or books scattered, with a dragon sitting on it. So, looked for pile of books, cute dragon, baby dragon, scattered books, tall pile of books, heap of books, heap of dustā¦ and donāt remember what else.
Couldnāt find any useful graphic combo to use.
So, next, I went to Leonardo for help. Not Caprio. I went to Leonardo image generator.
It provides daily free credit points to generate images and enhance them. And I asked it to create a cute dragon standing on a tall pile of books. Actually, it wasn't only dragons, but also book piles, library and a few other things.
For some reason, Leonardo didnāt understand my instructions. I used its own prompt generator to create some useful prompts.
Its designs werenāt cute at all.
I spent over an hour with Leonardo. Yes, looking cute is that important. Itās a prerequisite for my designs. Clumsy, curious and charming.
But whatever prompt I tried, Leonardo generated a bunch of fiery, odd-looking dragonsā¦ every effing time.
I even asked Canvaās text-to-image generator for help. But to no avail. Canvaās AI, too, failed. Its dragons were either creepy or cold. Sometimes, it created cute dog, cat or teddy. Yes, not a dragon, even.
I was out of my wits when I recalled Bing has an image generator.
And there, it gave me some hope. After 3-4 prompts, it generated a cute-looking cartoon dragon on a scattered heap of books.
Hereās how the t-shirt looks:
This is why you donāt always need an expert. (OK, this goes up as my subject line.)
Sometimes the most basic of tools will do what specialists fail to deliver.
It took me 3 hours for the dragon and a few more minutes to settle on the font.
What did I do in those 3 hours? I did nothing specific, nothing productive at all. All I did were essentially experiments.
If you ask me to take you through my design process, I have nothing to show. Nothing at all. Iām a disjointed mishmash of things.
Thatās why if someone asks what I do, I don't have an answer.
And thatās all for today.
PSā¦ I am removing the sponsorship section now. For three reasons: i) Itās hindering reading flow, ii) it isnāt earning me much, and iii) I am better off spending my free time on Book Blabber than thinking about newsletter sponsors.
OK, thatās really all for today.
Bidding adieu.
Live long and prosper.
See you next week, with another story.