#and I can emulate most anime styles with enough reference photos

[vicekings]

I should make a comm info post w/ a master list of the styles I feel confident emulating 🤔🤔 set it up so ppl can see their ocs in a style similar to the show or universe the OC is set in

[woolieshubris]

OKAY im going to preface rant with this- 1) i know none of yall know this game cuz while its popular enough to get a series, its not really popular enough to be part of the general consciousness 2) I've only played the 3rd and 4th installments, so I dont have an extensive knowledge on the series. What I'd want to see in Girls Mode 5 (Aka, style savvy 4, or new style boutique 4) 1) UPDATED TEXTURES. this game has been going on since the DS days, and they just port the old clothes into the new games to pad out the inventory. It's nice because it means you can pretty much move on to the new games with little to no regrets, however the textures on the 3ds XL screen, and emulator (because emulator is the only way to get HD screenshots lol rip) are really really nasty. It's super pixelly but not in a nostalgic way, and it clashes heavily with the newer textures and clothes, making it harder to coordinate outfits. The new game would be coming out on the switch, so the old textures would be even more noticeable when on a TV. You don't need to update the models itself, just the textures on the models. 2) KEEP THE MINI PLOTS. GM 4 has a really cute system with the characters, making it so a handful of them have reoccurring stories and plots! (Not every single one of the characters, because there are tons). I really like this, and it genuinely makes me play day after day. 3) FIX THE DAYS SYSTEM. GM 3 had a day system similar to animal crossing, where the stores and story would only update on a day by day basis. I liked the stores only updating once a day (made it less overwhelming to check for new clothing) but the story progression was longer. GM 3 did have less plot to follow however, so it made more sense. GM 4 has a day system typical of life sim games, where you go to sleep when you run out of tasks to do for the day. I like this system because it doesn't limit the things you can do in one play session, and it can make the story more engaging. It also updates the stores more often, making it easier to 100% and collect all of the clothes, however, it makes the game less engaging over time, and doesn't give an incentive to play day after day. I think a mix between the two could create a more interesting game, but I'm not sure how they would go about doing that. There are pros and cons to each system. 4) BRING BACK RAINBOW Rainbow was a character in GM 3, where by taking screenshots of the game and showing them to her, she would find and unlock hidden colors. I really like this mechanic and think it is interesting, even though it can be a bit tedious at times. Maybe a system where instead of you showing the pictures, she automatically tells you if you unlocked them + shows you the photo that unlocked it? 5) REMOVE OR CHANGE THE DESIGN CLOTHES The main gimmick of GM 4 was designing your own clothes. The game doesn't really push you to do it at all, and the clothes they have you design don't match the clothes already in the game. Most of these "customization" options in games aren't actually that useful and I personally just ignore them in favor of prebuilt pretty clothes. I think either changing it so that certain clothes can be recolored by you/dyed, or changing it so that you can recycle clothes into new ones would be interesting, and a good way to add the mechanic to future games. 6) CHANGE THE BUILDING EDITING SYSTEM. GM 3 and GM 4 both struggle with a clunky furniture moving system. The design is similar to happy house designer, however the menus feel clunky to navigate through and are overall more difficult to use. I think revamping it a bit to make it smoother would be the way to go. GM 3 had a dollhouse theme, and so changing the furniture and collecting new pieces was referred to as collecting miniatures, which I liked. 7) INCLUDE MORE STYLES OF CLOTHING. One of the biggest draws of the GM series, that brought me to it specifically, was the subculture themed clothing! They have punk/emo, classic/sweet lolita, gothic lolita, "retro", preppy, decora kei, and probably more. Adding more styles, such

as Mori, would be a good move for the series, and also a good way to market it to a young teen demographic, especially as dress up games become more popular. 8) REMOVE/CHANGE THE BOHO-CHIC ITEMS. A lot of the boho-chic items in the game are actually just culturally appropriated from native americans, which while true to the style it is trying to emulate, is a bit weird to see, and could cause controversy later in the line. This game is made by a japanese company and translated to english, so I understand why they are still in a game that came out in 2017 but still, it isn't a great look for nintendo. 9) ALLOW YOURSELF TO CHANGE YOUR PERSONA LATER IN THE GAME. In GM 4 and 3, at the start of the game, you get to design a character and choose facial features, skintone and height. You should be able to edit the character later in the game, possibly through settings or something. Fixed character customization is a bit of an outdated thing anyways, with most modern games allowing you to change your avatar as much as you want. 10) CHANGE ONLINE PLAY. Currently, in GM 3 and 4, online play usually consists of sharing the building and your personas outfit. I think there should be less of an emphasis of sharing the building, and more emphasis on sharing outfits, since that is what the game centers around. Obviously the boutique interior is the place you are going to see the most in the game, but focusing on outfits you have created makes more sense for the series and genre. There are more additions/changes to the series that I'd like to see, such as a larger male catalogue/allowing to pick a male avatar, a range of body types, LGBT rep, or disability rep, however, I know those are mostly too much to ask for a light hearted dress up game RPG made for a young female demographic, sadly. I think marketing the game largely to young teens on platforms such as instagram and tiktok, and emphasizing the subculture styles such as punk and y2k would be a great marketing strategy, especially since those demographics are flocking to online dress up browser games that have a similar focus. Promoting the shareability of the ingame outfits by having an easy/quick to use photo booth and an easy way to crop the photos/videos to fit a phone format would also be a great way to have the game spread through word of mouth. Of course, nintendo can kind of suck at marketing their games, especially more obscure titles like this, so I don't expect most or really any of this to happen.

[dolphin-enthusiast]

hello muffin!! 🌼☀💗 ahhh i apologize for writing so late,, i had a friend over for the night and things got quite hectic!! (it's 1:32 as i write this part) i hope your day went well darling!! please make sure that you're taking care of yourself for me since that is very important to maintain 💞 (1/7?)

"you all have said lots of funny and creative things today, hmm?? also lots of sweet things too, which i greatly appreciate as always!! that matchup ask made me giggle, and i really got a kick out of that little photo you edited hehe!! my siblings liked it too 💕 and vogue? that's the dream!! i do hope i can make it there someday 🌠 (2/7?)

ahhhhhh and that mythology related ask really got me,, i love mythology so i thought that was a sweet little reference!! 🌺❤ (though if i had to choose between any sort of mythology, roman mythology is my top choice!!) oh and i'm very flattered by some of these comments~ i'm in no way charming enough to be a seducer, but it makes me feel nice to know someone thinks that haha,, and my friends really enjoyed seeing that ask for some reason!! 😅 (3/7?)

my sister and i were finally able to buy eyes of heaven today!! we haven't played yet since we're setting aside time tomorrow to start the story mode together,, but it's such a dream come true!! we got the digital version 85% off, which was amazing,, awaaaaa i really can't wait to play it!! (3/7?)

we also spent a lot of time playing the sims 4 with the friend that is currently over, and it was very funny!! lots of chaos and housefires,, but eventually she and my sister tried making us??? we didn't get to play that household yet (since we had to go upstairs eventually) but it was very amusing to me, they seemed to have a lot of fun creating us hehe 😊 (4/7?)

and i do in fact adore sinatra's music!! he's one of my favorite singers ever! my music taste is pretty mixed but mostly comprised of vintage music, songs my parents grew up with, my older brother's music/songs he's shown me, and opera,, it's pretty sporadic but i like it that way!! (5/7?)

oh stars, so much going on in so little time, i would normally keep writing but i feel my narcolepsy kicking in,, i'm gonna lay down in case my body decides to go catatonic,, i'll be back tomorrow love!! - with lots and lots of love, your faithful waifu xoxo 😳💋💌💞💗💖💕💓❤💘😘 ps (1): someday we need to play eyes of heaven together amore!! 😘💋✨ ps (2): i like to think that it wasn't just fate, but also the fact that your personality really charmed me, so i decided to stick around 💌 (7/7)"

Dear of corpse we would say u sEduCEd ur way into our void of a hearts that wholesome energy does wonders😩😩 i did also like that mythology comparison as well and i had a feeling u were fond of roman mythology as well esp since ur italian👁️👁️ and (as i said before) i just knew u liked frank sinatra too....my music taste is very much likely opposite ig consisting of (mainly old) rock, metal, punk and everything inbetween.....with a side of eurobeat for reasons🤪👊

Actually playing eyes of heaven is a dream alas i dont have a console and i tried emulating it before (since thats how we play most games we die like salarymen) and it didnt work so🗿🗿🗿 what i DID manage to get however was heritage of the future which is like a 90s jojo combat game just like eyes of heaven...well minus the fancy graphics and all but its got c h a r m rhdhhd

Im glad to see u once again had fun dear😳 as for myself i just watched some old animes again since i simply adore the 80s/90s animation style and the music and then went for a walk and c o n t e m p l a t e d jddjdj

And wow saying u fell in love in love w my personality is...wig? Like i have no words jduxnsns bruh do i even show my personality around here eye literally just meme/clown around all day long🤡✌️

[uglypaw]

How did u start learning how to draw faces/people? Was it just lots of trial and error or is there a certain strategy? I’ve always wanted to be better at drawing but I’ve never really known how to improve

i mean, really learning to draw anything is a lot of trial and error? you’re gonna have to fuck up a lot in order to get the hand eye coordination to translate the ideas in your head onto paper. 

(this is gonna get pretty long i think, so putting it under a read more. sorry mobile users lol)

my best advice would be to draw what you love. it doesn’t feel like work if you’re drawing your OCs, or your favorite characters, or ideas for stories. When I first started trying to draw people, it was smack dab in the middle of my anime phase, and I was drawing hunger games fan art and Fruits Basket characters (around age 12/13):

(this is the first time these drawings have seen the light of day. enjoy their debut)

at this point, i wasn’t using references or looking at anything to get an idea of what i was drawing, and it shows. it’s only recently that i’ve started using photos as a reference so bodies look natural, which has really really helped. when you’re first starting out, though, it’s really not necessary. honestly the first couple hundred drawings should just be for fun and getting your ideas out on paper so you can get a feel for what you like to do! 

after a while i started experimenting and making things more “cartoony”, and this is when my style first started coming out, i think: 

obviously still very rough and flimsy because, again, i wasn’t using any references and I was still trying to get my feet on the ground. most of these drawings were doodles and i really wasn’t trying to push myself to do anything difficult or different, and i think that shows. my older stuff on deviantart is the same, i think. i started out doing digital art when i was 14, i think? but sadly deleted all my terrible GIMP artwork from my older accounts :( 

now that i’ve had more experience and I can mostly get lines to go where I want them to, i’ve found it so, so rewarding to use reference photos and other artists as inspiration as to how I want my work to look. I have a whole tag on my main where I collect art that makes me want to draw, and occasionally i’ll mimic the styles of the artists or the pieces themselves. 

another tip would be to use line of action for practice with general realistic bodies and faces with gesture drawing. it helps you draw a lot faster because you’re on a timer, and you get to draw bodies in positions you’ve probably never done before. sometimes at work i’ll set it up and just fill a few pages with quick bodies and faces (far from perfect, but they’re just practice to get you more spatially aware as to what goes where).

as for developing a style, what i really did was pick a few artists i really like (@rabdoidal , @experienceplace , @deadwooddross , @bluh-nitram , @alexreederart , and @anonbeadraws are some of my recent faves) and emulate what you like about their art -- the linework, the positioning, the way they draw ears, etc. you quickly find that you’re tweaking and changing it enough that it becomes yours! and with a lot of influences, you’ve basically built up your art style. 

honestly you won’t really ever improve without practice -- keep making ugly art and sloppy doodles and weird OCs -- because it’s what you love to do! every time you draw you’re strengthening neural connections and making your drawing muscles stronger. i totally understand that there’s always gonna be people that’re more experienced/better/cooler at art than you, but remember it’s not a competition against anyone except yourself. everyone starts somewhere, even if that’s edgy emo hunger games fan art :P

[familiaralien]

wuvvums replied to your post: katisconfused replied to your post : ...

But I like reference things that aren’t mine all the time because art is hard. Most people’s art styles or artwork is going to be a composite of references. He didn’t trace/steal, he just studied a picture as he drew it. He did exactly what any other artist would do if he wanted to emulate proper facial anatomy, and he then put it in his own painterly and toony style. You can have your hang ups about him, but I don’t think this advice to avoid using certain

references is sound for artists, when references are an important tool.

You know in risk of sounding like a prick can you really not cut the crap? No this referencing wasn’t just a vague thing a lot of features including the majority of the silhouette was emulated point for point. Photographers are themselves artists and the dog owner had every fucking right to be upset with their pet photo being used in this way.

Its not illegal but its absolutely in the worst of taste to reference an individual to this degree without their consent (or in this case the consent of the dog owner). If you want to study a photo to this degree you SHOULD seek legal permission to do so. He couldn’t even be bothered to clarify anywhere in his description that he used a photo in reference to create this OC. Like I cannot believe I have to spell this out to another artist. My problem isn’t he used a reference its that he used it WITHOUT TAKING THE CORRECT STEPS TO GET THE BLESSING OF THE PHOTOGRAPHER TO USE IT THIS WAY. Like I follow artists that do a lot of animal study and none of them are sneaky lowlifes about their use of references like this AND MOST OF THEIR WORK DEVIATES MORE FROM THE REFERENCE THAN THIS SHIT DID!

And all this isn’t even getting into the morality of heavily basing an OC which was intended to be featured in pornography on someone’s pet. Like I fucking get it some of you fools online are so deep into your horny geek spaces you don’t know how the rest of society works but people tend to not be chill with this. It doesn’t surprise me the dog owner was shocked by this shit because it isn’t normal or appropriate. There is no amount of “well ackshually” garbage that’s going to convince me that this shit is even remotely moral or respectful.

And no I’m not picking on Tacklebawks specifically because he’s actually the second furry artist in 2018 I’ve had to call out for inappropriate use of reference photos and its only April! There’s still plenty of time for more galaxy brained logic to happen where people that failed to leave the furry echo chamber for long enough forget “normies” are weirded out by their shit and they shouldn’t drag them into it by using their content for fetish porn.

[nofomoartworld]

Hyperallergic: Artist-Built Environments to Rescue and Preserve

The artist Bernard Langlais on his art-filled property in Cushing, Maine, where real farm animals roamed alongside his sculptures (photo by David Hiser, courtesy of Colby College Museum of Art)

For some artists, a sheet of paper, a length of canvas, a block of wood or stone, or a computer screen might not provide a large enough starting point for communicating their biggest, boldest, most expansive ideas.

Sometimes such artists have been known to conjure up ambitious “art environments” — gardens, parks, houses, or unique architectural structures filled or covered with works of art. In the United States, some of the best-known of such all-encompassing artworks include the Watts Towers in Los Angeles, which the Italian immigrant Sabato (“Simon”) Rodia (1879-1965) began constructing in 1921, and Paradise Garden, which the Baptist preacher and “Man of Visions,” Howard Finster (1916-2001), built in Summerville, Georgia.

On view at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin: Undated photos of Sabato (“Simon”) Rodia’s Watts Towers in Los Angeles, shot by the late Seymour Rosen, a pioneering researcher of California-based, vernacular art forms (photo courtesy of John Michael Kohler Arts Center)

In numerous cases, these environmental works are fragile and become imperiled after their makers die if they are left without capable, resourceful caretakers, only to deteriorate at the mercy of the elements. How much does the long-term care of such artistic properties cost, and who can — or should — pay for it? A corollary to that question is: Can or should they be restored and, if so, to what extent?

Such topics were among the main themes of The Road Less Traveled, an illuminating conference that took place at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, in late September. The confab brought together curators, collectors, art dealers, researchers and, most notably, conservators who have worked on art-environment restoration projects, as well as administrators, both volunteer and professional, who oversee the care and maintenance of such sites. (Many of them are open to the public.)

Karen Patterson, JMKAC curator and the moderator of the conference’s first panel, pointed out that, whenever some or all of the parts of an artist’s multi-element, site-specific environment are removed to a museum for the sake of preserving them, a host of aesthetic and custodial issues may emerge. Patterson noted that she and her colleagues regularly ask: What were an artist’s intentions for the presentation of his or her work, and, since museums cannot or perhaps should not exactly replicate the conditions of a site, how can they evoke its original ambiance in an exhibition setting?

What are the aesthetic effects of moving all or part of an artist’s site-specific art environment from its original location into a museum? After Loy Allen Bowlin (1909-1995), the Mississippi-based “Original Rhinestone Cowboy,” died, his artwork-home was acquired by and moved to the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin (photo courtesy of John Michael Kohler Arts Center)

Katherine Jentleson, the curator of folk and self-taught art at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, recalled that her institution began working directly with Finster in the 1990s, acquiring a sizable quantity of the prolific artist’s paintings on cut-out boards, as well as his signs and objects. She stated that the museum set out to take “an object-specific approach” to displaying them; for example, it installed a large Finster signboard above viewers’ heads, just as it had been mounted in Paradise Garden, where it had helped demarcate different sections of the property.

Similarly, Jentleson and her colleagues placed some of Finster’s sculptural objects on the floor, emulating their original locations in the artist’s garden, where they had helped to shape the overall, crafted environment, and visitors could walk around them. Jentleson joked, “My fantasy is that someday someone will make a hologram of Howard Finster that can be displayed along with his works; that would be perfect for a ‘man of visions’ whose work managed to reach a wide audience that included rock-music fans and many people in the contemporary-art world.”

The ornately decorated interiors of the home of Loy Allen Bowlin, the Mississippi-based “Original Rhinestone Cowboy,” were integral parts of the work of art he created and in which he resided (photo courtesy of John Michael Kohler Arts Center)

Lisa Stone is the curator of the Roger Brown Study Collection of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an associate professor in the SAIC’s art history, theory, and criticism department. Offering a model of how works from a self-taught art-maker’s site-specific environment can be displayed, Stone looked back at an exhibition that the late Chicago Imagist painter Roger Brown (1941-1997) curated in 1971 at the Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago. Its subject: the cathedral-shaped birdhouses that the Chicago-based, Italian-immigrant artist Aldo Piacenza (1888-1976) had hand-crafted and displayed all around his house. He also had made cut-out constructions and filled the walls of his home with hand-painted scenes of Italy.

Stone, who has long worked in the preservation field, recalled that, in the exhibition, Brown, who had famously collected and was influenced by folk art, outsider art, tribal art, and offbeat pop-culture and vernacular artifacts, remained faithful to Piacenza’s creative vision. “Roger definitely did not stick with the white-cube approach,” Stone explained. Instead, in setting up Piacenza’s work at the art center, “he brought in picket fencing, plastic foliage, and a painted cloudscape. His installation of the birdhouse cathedrals on posts may have referenced the way Piacenza had placed them on posts in his garden.”

Finding inspiration in the arts of various civilizations and eras, the artist Eddie Owens Martin (1908-1986), who called himself “St. EOM,” created his seven-acre Pasaquan compound in Buena Vista, Georgia, beginning in 1957; in recent years it was restored thanks to the aid of the Kohler Foundation (photo by Brianna Wright, 2016; courtesy of Columbus State University)

As curators wrestle with aesthetic issues surrounding art environments, conservators do, too, often in relation to the technical and scientific aspects of their work. Jason Church, a conservator at the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training in Louisiana, described the challenges of conserving the work of a living artist when her grand production is still evolving. In recent years, Church has been assisting Juanita Leonard, a preacher and artist in Montgomery, Louisiana. He noted, “She has a church on her property, and everything there is a work of art.”

He added, “She had been making angel sculptures with plaster of Paris and plywood, but in time, they started to slump. One time, when I was visiting Juanita, I suggested that maybe she could use stronger materials. Later, she made all-new angels using metal sheets. She told me that she believed the Lord had sent me to tell her to use more durable materials. I wondered: Had I influenced her? Was that good or bad? I had just been thinking like a conservator.” Church also noted that it is important for specialists like himself to routinely shoot photos of a living artist’s evolving art environment so that there will be a visual record for future reference. “The question, though,” Church observed, “is, in the future, looking back, to which stage of its development should conservators aim to restore a work like Juanita’s?”

One of the restored interiors at Pasaquan, in Buena Vista, Georgia, created by Eddie Owens Martin, the self-styled “St. EOM” (photo by Brianna Wright, 2016; courtesy of Columbus State University)

Hannah Blunt, an associate curator at Mount Holyoke College Art Museum in Massachusetts, spoke about her work several years ago on the restoration of a rural site created by the artist Bernard Langlais (1921-1977). Trained at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, DC, and other schools, Langlais became a successful modernist painter in New York. However, in 1956, after making a mosaic-like wall composition with wood scraps, he abandoned oil painting and retreated to a farm in Cushing, Maine, where he made more than 65 large-scale, painted wooden sculptures of elephants and other animals. Blunt explained that Langlais “articulated a desire to use the land the way a farmer uses it, to create what he described as his ‘environmental complex.’”

Blunt recalled that, in 2010, Langlais’s estate, “including 3300 works of art and the sprawling Cushing property, passed to the Colby College Museum of Art as a bequest.” The museum hired her to manage that huge gift, and she moved into the artist’s former residence. She said, “Like many colleagues here who have had the rare privilege of occupying an artist’s home or built environment, I soon discovered […] the primacy of place [in] Langlais’s art.”

To restore Langlais’s on-the-land sculptures, Blunt reached out to the Wisconsin-based Kohler Foundation, which sends experts out to such sites to evaluate their conservation needs. The foundation requires would-be recipients of its aid to partner with third-party institutions — schools, museums, other foundations — that can maintain restored art environments for the long term. In the case of Langlais’s property, Blunt explained, the Maine-based Georges River Land Trust eventually agreed to “take ownership of the site in perpetuity.” Somewhat controversially but, ultimately, successfully, many works from Langlais’s estate were given to museums, libraries, schools, and communities around Maine, in effect making the artist’s original property a bit more manageable, while raising his region-wide profile.

The artist Bernard Langlais (1921-1977), seen here in 1976, gave up painting to make large-scale wooden sculptures, which he placed on his property in rural Maine (photo by David Hiser, courtesy of Colby College Museum of Art)

Ronald Harvey is an artist-turned-conservator from Maine who worked with Blunt on the Langlais project. He said, “I understand how artists love to experiment with materials; I try to approach conservation work artistically.” Harvey has worked on the big, mixed-media whirlygigs that the self-taught artist Vollis Simpson (1919-2013), a skilled repairman and inveterate tinkerer, made and installed on his rural property near Wilson, in eastern North Carolina’s tobacco country. As Simpson grew older, he could not take care of his rusting, found-object sculptures. They deteriorated, but some local residents reached out to Harvey and Dennis Montagna of the National Park Service’s Monument Research and Preservation Program. They oversaw the restoration of the weary whirlygigs’ worn-out mechanisms; the sculptures were repainted and then relocated to a new park, which will soon open in Wilson. In this instance, as with other art-environment rescue projects, community leaders recognized the potential for tourism development surrounding a unique cultural attraction.

On display during the conference and remaining on view through February 18, 2018, the exhibition In Celebration of Ourselves: Seymour Rosen + SPACES Archive examines the legacy of Seymour Rosen (1935-2006), a California-based pioneer in the preservation of artist-built environments. In the 1960s, he founded SPACES Archive, an organization that gathers information about such works around the world. The exhibition features archival photographs of California art sites examined by Rosen and objects from an exhibition he organized in the 1970s. Now, in partnership with the Kohler Foundation, SPACES Archive is digitizing Rosen’s vast collection of photos and documents, and depositing the originals at the JMKAC for future study by researchers.

SPACES Archive’s director, Jo Farb Hernández, who has documented art environments in Spain and other parts of the world for the past 45 years, spoke movingly following one of the conference’s panels. She echoed the sense of something big and complex that one often feels when encountering — or working in or with — artist-built environments. She evoked their creators’ open-heartedness, which seems to characterize many of them.

Speaking from experience, Hernández said, “With this kind of art, we come to the aid of the people who made it if and when they need it. It’s a different kind of relationship than the one you have with a conventional contemporary artist who makes art for the market. These artists created their works with a deep sense of commitment. Those of us who love what they’ve given us — we owe it to them to make a personal commitment to them as well, advocating for the preservation of their work whenever and however we can.”

The post Artist-Built Environments to Rescue and Preserve appeared first on Hyperallergic.

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[trendingnewsb]

The Hidden Power of Every Single Person Around You

Other people’s thoughts and behaviors influence you. The people with whom you surround yourself affect your potential. This isn’t just speculation.

A person’s economic mobility is largely determined by the county they live in.[1] Children from low income communities are less likely to have high earning potential than their affluent peers. It’s hard to break out of your surroundings.

Groups of friends may subconsciously pick up one another’s behaviors and living style. They use similar phrases when they speak, and they may influence each other’s clothing choices.

The effect of peer groups has not gone unnoticed in the corporate world as Jim Rohn quote,

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

When we surround ourselves with strong, high-achievers with good character, we are more likely to become just like them. On the other hand, imagine how much of a negative influence low-achievers can have on you. If your five best friends have a poor outlook on life and are satisfied with sub-par performance, then there’s a good chance that some of that negativity will rub off on you.

Others’ Influence Is Easily Overlooked

In order to improve your life, associate with people with higher standards than you. If you have high expectations for yourself and you surround yourself with people who also have bold expectations, you’ll have a greater quality of life.

Everything that you allow into your life and every action you take reflects who you are. Tony Robbins once said,

“Let your grind be a reflection of the standards that you have set for yourself.”

This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to have the fanciest things or work in the corner office right away, but it does mean that you do the best with whatever means you have. You don’t have to be top dog at the company to do excellent work. You don’t have to be wealthy to keep things organized. Going above and beyond will take you to the next level of success.

If you feel like you’re stagnating in your current situation, it might be time to make some changes. Change and growth can arise when you make conscious choices about your environment.

Beyond aspiring to improve your environment, keeping better company can go a long way toward helping you reach your goals. You can’t go through your life without people, and the types of people with whom you associate can impact your work.

For example, if your friends tend to waste lots of time on their phones and social media, you might be drawn into that cycle of distraction. If you’re health-conscious, but your peers spend all day munching on cookies and chips, you’ll have a hard time sticking to a nutritious diet.

On the other hand, when you’re surrounded by people who are focused when they’re working, you are more likely to be focused. In fact, it’s hard not to be focused because you want to be included and you don’t want to be responsible for breaking someone’s concentration. If you’ve never felt this type of motivation, step into a university library around finals. Everyone is united in their drive to succeed.

Your Network Is Your Net Worth

It’s a quote from Tim Sanders, the former director of Yahoo!

When you surround yourself with people who hold high standard to you, you are surrounded by people who strive to do better. Their energy is contagious and will positively influence you.

Motivation and dedication are contagious.

Imagine working on a team in which 80% of team members are highly motivated and 20% of them slack off. The slackers are in the minority, and they are surrounded by the high achievers.

For the 20%, there are only two options for them. They can’t continue to put out mediocre work because the 80% will not accept it. They will either be influenced to do better work, or they will quit because they are unwilling to keep up. In the end, 100% of the remaining workers will be highly motivated.

If we switched the percentages of high achievers and unmotivated workers, there would be a different outcome. If 80% of workers have a low level of motivation and 20% are highly motivated, the team’s outputs will be low quality. The high achievers will either lower their own standards, or they will become fed up with their team members’ lackadaisical approach. In the end, all remaining team members will exhibit uninspired work performance.

You’ll do more than you thought you could do.

When you are surrounded by people with low standards, you may feel like you don’t have to put in extra work. You may perceive yourself as good enough because you aren’t comparing your work with people aiming for continuous improvement.

This means that even though you may be doing better than the average person in your peer group, you haven’t even scratched the surface of your full potential. Highly motivated people are constantly striving for improvement, and when you spend time with them, you recognize that you have plenty of growing to do too. You’ll make more breakthroughs than you thought possible because you are pushing yourself.

For example, I studied Spanish when I was in college. Most people who were taking the Spanish didn’t care too much about it. When we had to review our translations in class, I was always stuck with a low-achiever. There seemed to be no upside to me putting in extra work since I wasn’t able to learn from my partner. I did well enough to get good grades, but I wasn’t progressing as much as I could have.

My professor was a great teacher, and he noticed that I didn’t seem to be getting much out of group work with my current partner. He paired me with the top student in the class. Suddenly, both of us started doing better work because we were 100% invested in our studies. Her high standards pushed me to work harder and think more deeply. My willingness to learn helped her sharpen her skills by discussing the work with me.

When you control your environment, you control your life.

A fulfilling life doesn’t just come about through a stroke of good luck. If that were true, then people who win the lottery would be guaranteed happiness. In fact, most people who hit the jackpot end up miserable because even though they acquired a windfall of cash, they could not control the people and circumstances around them.[2]

The habits that you commit to every day can have a greater positive impact on your life than getting a large sum of money. When you surround yourself with people who help you grow, you’ll make greater gains. Peers who enrich your life with their presence and actions can help you reach your goals.

One of my friends is a talented artist. He can take what other people would consider to be junk and turn it into fantastic sculptures. He came from a family that did not support his talent. He wanted for nothing in terms of food, clothing, and shelter, but he was completely miserable.

My friend almost gave up on his dream until he met other artists in college. He was surrounded by professors and students who believed in the transformative power of art. He began practicing his craft every day, and today he makes his living off his work.

For my friend, his family life was toxic. Even though he had all of his needs met, he didn’t flourish until he was surrounded by people who had high expectations of him.

Find Friends Who Strive for Excellence

If you feel that you’re stuck, seek out people who have high expectations. Take notice of the coworker that is only satisfied with turning in the best work, and the friend who seems to have a clear direction in his or her life.

Connect with people that have rigorous standards for themselves and others. Talk to them to figure out how they reached their level of success. Perhaps they have a philosophy or mindset that you could adopt to improve yourself.

When you talk to these people, try to learn their perspectives about work, relationships, and life. Analyze why they think the way that they think. As your relationship develops, you can share your perspectives and seek feedback from them.

As you discuss life and work with them, think about what aspects of their approach you would like to incorporate into your life. If some mindset or action has propelled them to be successful, try to emulate that. Mimicking positive behaviors can change your attitude. This is just like forcing yourself to smile to induce happiness or striking a power pose to improve your confidence.

This is not the same as blindly copying whatever someone else does to be successful. This is about thoughtfully analyzing the successes of others and finding what works for you.

Every Relationship Should Push You to Be the Best Version of Yourself

It’s important to keep high standards in all aspects of your life. Look for coworkers, friends and even a romantic partner that bring out the best in you.

By removing the toxicity from your life and seeking people that will accept nothing less than excellence from you, you set yourself up to achieve your dreams.

Featured photo credit: Stocksnap via stocksnap.io

Reference

[1]^The Equality of Opportunity Project: The Geography of Upward Mobility in America[2]^Time: Powerball: Here’s How Winning the Lottery Makes You Miserable

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The Hidden Power of Every Single Person Around You

Other people’s thoughts and behaviors influence you. The people with whom you surround yourself affect your potential. This isn’t just speculation.

A person’s economic mobility is largely determined by the county they live in.[1] Children from low income communities are less likely to have high earning potential than their affluent peers. It’s hard to break out of your surroundings.

Groups of friends may subconsciously pick up one another’s behaviors and living style. They use similar phrases when they speak, and they may influence each other’s clothing choices.

The effect of peer groups has not gone unnoticed in the corporate world as Jim Rohn quote,

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

When we surround ourselves with strong, high-achievers with good character, we are more likely to become just like them. On the other hand, imagine how much of a negative influence low-achievers can have on you. If your five best friends have a poor outlook on life and are satisfied with sub-par performance, then there’s a good chance that some of that negativity will rub off on you.

Others’ Influence Is Easily Overlooked

In order to improve your life, associate with people with higher standards than you. If you have high expectations for yourself and you surround yourself with people who also have bold expectations, you’ll have a greater quality of life.

Everything that you allow into your life and every action you take reflects who you are. Tony Robbins once said,

“Let your grind be a reflection of the standards that you have set for yourself.”

This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to have the fanciest things or work in the corner office right away, but it does mean that you do the best with whatever means you have. You don’t have to be top dog at the company to do excellent work. You don’t have to be wealthy to keep things organized. Going above and beyond will take you to the next level of success.

If you feel like you’re stagnating in your current situation, it might be time to make some changes. Change and growth can arise when you make conscious choices about your environment.

Beyond aspiring to improve your environment, keeping better company can go a long way toward helping you reach your goals. You can’t go through your life without people, and the types of people with whom you associate can impact your work.

For example, if your friends tend to waste lots of time on their phones and social media, you might be drawn into that cycle of distraction. If you’re health-conscious, but your peers spend all day munching on cookies and chips, you’ll have a hard time sticking to a nutritious diet.

On the other hand, when you’re surrounded by people who are focused when they’re working, you are more likely to be focused. In fact, it’s hard not to be focused because you want to be included and you don’t want to be responsible for breaking someone’s concentration. If you’ve never felt this type of motivation, step into a university library around finals. Everyone is united in their drive to succeed.

Your Network Is Your Net Worth

It’s a quote from Tim Sanders, the former director of Yahoo!

When you surround yourself with people who hold high standard to you, you are surrounded by people who strive to do better. Their energy is contagious and will positively influence you.

Motivation and dedication are contagious.

Imagine working on a team in which 80% of team members are highly motivated and 20% of them slack off. The slackers are in the minority, and they are surrounded by the high achievers.

For the 20%, there are only two options for them. They can’t continue to put out mediocre work because the 80% will not accept it. They will either be influenced to do better work, or they will quit because they are unwilling to keep up. In the end, 100% of the remaining workers will be highly motivated.

If we switched the percentages of high achievers and unmotivated workers, there would be a different outcome. If 80% of workers have a low level of motivation and 20% are highly motivated, the team’s outputs will be low quality. The high achievers will either lower their own standards, or they will become fed up with their team members’ lackadaisical approach. In the end, all remaining team members will exhibit uninspired work performance.

You’ll do more than you thought you could do.

When you are surrounded by people with low standards, you may feel like you don’t have to put in extra work. You may perceive yourself as good enough because you aren’t comparing your work with people aiming for continuous improvement.

This means that even though you may be doing better than the average person in your peer group, you haven’t even scratched the surface of your full potential. Highly motivated people are constantly striving for improvement, and when you spend time with them, you recognize that you have plenty of growing to do too. You’ll make more breakthroughs than you thought possible because you are pushing yourself.

For example, I studied Spanish when I was in college. Most people who were taking the Spanish didn’t care too much about it. When we had to review our translations in class, I was always stuck with a low-achiever. There seemed to be no upside to me putting in extra work since I wasn’t able to learn from my partner. I did well enough to get good grades, but I wasn’t progressing as much as I could have.

My professor was a great teacher, and he noticed that I didn’t seem to be getting much out of group work with my current partner. He paired me with the top student in the class. Suddenly, both of us started doing better work because we were 100% invested in our studies. Her high standards pushed me to work harder and think more deeply. My willingness to learn helped her sharpen her skills by discussing the work with me.

When you control your environment, you control your life.

A fulfilling life doesn’t just come about through a stroke of good luck. If that were true, then people who win the lottery would be guaranteed happiness. In fact, most people who hit the jackpot end up miserable because even though they acquired a windfall of cash, they could not control the people and circumstances around them.[2]

The habits that you commit to every day can have a greater positive impact on your life than getting a large sum of money. When you surround yourself with people who help you grow, you’ll make greater gains. Peers who enrich your life with their presence and actions can help you reach your goals.

One of my friends is a talented artist. He can take what other people would consider to be junk and turn it into fantastic sculptures. He came from a family that did not support his talent. He wanted for nothing in terms of food, clothing, and shelter, but he was completely miserable.

My friend almost gave up on his dream until he met other artists in college. He was surrounded by professors and students who believed in the transformative power of art. He began practicing his craft every day, and today he makes his living off his work.

For my friend, his family life was toxic. Even though he had all of his needs met, he didn’t flourish until he was surrounded by people who had high expectations of him.

Find Friends Who Strive for Excellence

If you feel that you’re stuck, seek out people who have high expectations. Take notice of the coworker that is only satisfied with turning in the best work, and the friend who seems to have a clear direction in his or her life.

Connect with people that have rigorous standards for themselves and others. Talk to them to figure out how they reached their level of success. Perhaps they have a philosophy or mindset that you could adopt to improve yourself.

When you talk to these people, try to learn their perspectives about work, relationships, and life. Analyze why they think the way that they think. As your relationship develops, you can share your perspectives and seek feedback from them.

As you discuss life and work with them, think about what aspects of their approach you would like to incorporate into your life. If some mindset or action has propelled them to be successful, try to emulate that. Mimicking positive behaviors can change your attitude. This is just like forcing yourself to smile to induce happiness or striking a power pose to improve your confidence.

This is not the same as blindly copying whatever someone else does to be successful. This is about thoughtfully analyzing the successes of others and finding what works for you.

Every Relationship Should Push You to Be the Best Version of Yourself

It’s important to keep high standards in all aspects of your life. Look for coworkers, friends and even a romantic partner that bring out the best in you.

By removing the toxicity from your life and seeking people that will accept nothing less than excellence from you, you set yourself up to achieve your dreams.

Featured photo credit: Stocksnap via stocksnap.io

Reference

[1]^The Equality of Opportunity Project: The Geography of Upward Mobility in America[2]^Time: Powerball: Here’s How Winning the Lottery Makes You Miserable

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