On Being Better

Always strive to be a better version of yourself. Strive to do better work. Strive to be a better friend. Just strive to be the best you can be.

The best way to do this is to surround yourself with people who push you to be better.

In advertising, I have my go-to people that I rely on to challenge me to be a better creative. They don't all work at the same agency as me and they aren't all creatives. But they all challenge me to look at things differently. They challenge me to leave my comfort zone. They challenge me to learn my craft. I'm a better creative because of them.

Same thing applies in life (you know, that thing OUTSIDE of advertising). Surround yourself with the people who make you a better person. The people that make you a happier person. A more loving person. Find these people and then hold onto them. Make them a priority.

I have awesome friends. Lots of them. But I have a handful who constantly make me strive to be a better version of myself. They push me more understanding. They inspire me to be more creative. They challenge me to question the status quo. They motivate me to be more involved. And they provoke me to push myself more than I ever would on my own. And they do it all without trying. It's just who they all are.

I'm truly grateful to have such amazing people in my life. And I'm rising to their challenge of being a better person. I'm striving to be a better Art Director. And I'm going to be the best person and friend I can possibly be. Which hopefully means I'm helping you all be the best versions of yourselves too.

On Hope

So I haven't posted in awhile. I won't rattle off a list of excuses. In all honesty, I haven't posted because I've been too busy out enjoying life. Which, if you know me at all, is kind of a new concept.

Anyway, I'm feeling very hopeful right now. And hope is a powerful feeling. And an important one.

There isn't a whole lot of hope in our industry right now. There really hasn't been since the economy took that nasty turn for the worse. Budgets are small. Projects are straightforward and seem to lack creativity. People are frustrated. The only hope we grasp onto is knowing that eventually this will pass and things will get better.

That just isn't enough for me. So I took on a side project. One that I love. One that provides me a great deal of hope. Hope for creativity. Hope for a breakthrough. Hope for the future.

One of my oldest and closest friends is an incredibly talented musician. And I decided to spend my spare time helping him realize his dreams, which in turn is helping me stay focused on mine. So now I'm Art Director by day, Band Manager by night. And I'm having a blast.

I'm having to teach myself a lot in this new role, which is fine by me. We just launched www.marcuswords.com, which took a lot of learning on my part. And as I keep learning new web stuff, the site will keep evolving. I'm learning the art of promotion, which really isn't my strong suit but something that should be. And I'm getting to be the artist I wish I could be at my day job. There's a really cool poster series in the works that I'll post here soon.

It's good to be hopeful. Hopeful that talent and passion might actually pay off. Hopeful that there's something bigger out there to be a part of. And hopeful that at the end of the day, somehow, somewhere you made a difference.


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The new logo:

The poster series (as it stands now):