Did you watch the recent Richard Reed - “Be your own boss” TV series on BBC3? I found it very interesting, because the questions raised in the show I ask of myself.
In Wednesday 10/Oct/2012's shoe, mr. Reed said, “You simply have to have a vision of what one day your idea can become. You've always got to be able to look up & look forwards and go, ‘one day this little tiny thing will become this big, huge thing.’ You have to have that vision; you have to believe; that’s the entrepreneurs’ job.”
What’s your vision for where you are & what you’re doing?
I’d love to know - please http://www.biblecartoons.co.uk/contact
What’s my vision for Bible Cartoons?
Good question!
I admit, I find that hard to define. You’d think it would be easy to dream a bit & think up things I’d love to achieve for/through the Bible Cartoons, wouldn’t you? I’m an imaginative, creative bloke too, so again, you’d think that would be exactly “my cup of tea”, or coffee, or peppermint flavoured squash, or whatever!
But my past has left me apparently unable/unwilling to dream a personal dream of success. I think I have been disappointed too often. More specifically I have disappointed myself too often by poor & inappropriate choices in my past, leaving me unwilling to dream for success in the future, because it is painful to keep dreaming & then sabotage my own chances of success!
If we succumb to temptation & “fail” ourselves too often then we have a weakness in that area, & that leads us to believe that we will probably fail again. Do you know what I mean? How unpleasant is that?!
On the other hand, if we can’t dream any dream (for fear of failure) then we will never achieve anything! If I can’t dream a big vision of what Bible Cartoons might morph, grow & develop into, then how can I aim for anything? I need that dream & inner vision of what Bible Cartoons could become, to carry me over the obstacles in my path.
It takes courage & continual effort to maintain your faith shields; to deliberately choose to believe that things will work out for you; that God wants to bless you... which I believe He does.
Taking what Richard Reed said in bits & looking at the opposite to gain insight...
“You simply have to have a vision of what one day your idea can become.”
If we don’t have a vision of what we want to achieve, how will we know if we are moving in the right direction?
When the going gets tough & you have a lousy day, that vision of what you want to do with your life may be all you have to sustain you on the road to success. Without it, you may well fold up under the pressure & give up altogether.
You are the best person to make your dream come true... with help from the Lord, of course!
”...You've always got to be able to look up & look forwards and go, ‘one day this little tiny thing will become this big, huge thing.’
That’s interesting... Richard Reed said we have to look up. Funny how we subconsciously associate “up” with God & heaven, even when the Bible says that God lives within us. We still associate looking “up” with positive thought & looking “down” with negative thought.
Anyway, I think there is enormous self-belief called for in mr. Reed’s statement. To be able to think & say, ‘one day this little tiny thing [your vision] will become this big, huge thing’... is vital. If we don’t believe that about our vision, then who will?
You can’t convince someone else of the validity of your vision if you’re not totally “sold” on it yourself. So we have to be certain inside ourselves that we will go all-out for the successful completion of our vision.
”...You have to have that vision; you have to believe; that’s the entrepreneurs’ job.”
If you don’t have that guiding, inner dream & vision of what you might achieve; what you’re going all-out for, then you don’t have a guiding, inner compass, that accurately points the way to go, even when the going gets tough; you get waylaid by problems & obstacles, or someone in your organisation (including you) temporarily lets you down.
We might fail in the attempt; set-backs are going to happen - that’s life.
But the true test of courage is what you do immediately after that set-back. True “failure” is only, irrecoverable failure if you get knocked down & you choose to stay down & don’t get back up & try again.
So, after typing all that, I’m off to dream a bit & come up with a plan to turn Bible Cartoons into the greatest thing I can imagine: an excellent website, full of brilliant, funky Bible-based cartoon illustrations & merchandise, which loads of people love, want & buy!
That’s a good dream!
Monday, 29 October 2012
Thursday, 18 October 2012
What’s been going on lately?
Sorry I haven’t written anything for the BC blog lately. It’s been a very “bitty” few weeks. I haven’t drawn any more Bible Cartoons (BC) - gasp, horrors! But I have been doing various other BC-related things. Christmas is rapidly approaching, & this is usually a very busy time of year for us.
The main project I am working on at the moment is producing 6 “Bad Day” mug designs. The idea is to have a scene of disaster from the Bible, like the flood, or the expulsion of Adam & Eve from the garden of Eden, with the words “And you think you’re having a bad day!” on the other side of the mug.
Here’s a photo of the first 6 mug designs I’ve come up with from left to right & top to bottom:
Jonah being swallowed by a Big Fish.
The Egyptians being drowned in the Red Sea.
Goliath being felled by David & his sling shot.
Noah’s ark being pounded by waves in the flood.
Adam & Eve being expelled from the garden of Eden.
Daniel being lowered into the lions’ den.
My next task is to get a limited print run of these mugs into local Christian bookshops & gift outlets, as part of our ‘testing the market phase.’ If I can prove that the designs are salable in sufficient numbers then hopefully I can convince a Christian distributor to take these designs on & mass produce them.
I am also designing our 2012 Christmas cards.
We will soon see the 3rd Bible Cartoons Activity Book out in print. This one is based on the book of Exodus, with some very exciting puzzles, mazes & colouring pages for children.
I visited our church’s (Brixworth Christian Fellowship) youth group on Tuesday evening & told them all about my journey of faith & how God brought me to Bible Cartoons. We had a quiz, based on my cartoons where the children had to guess the story, with bonus points for guessing the book of the Bible too!
I’m also trying to figure out how to write code to allow customers to the Bible Cartoons website to be able to purchase a whole set of related cartoons in one go.
So you see, I am not being idle!
The main project I am working on at the moment is producing 6 “Bad Day” mug designs. The idea is to have a scene of disaster from the Bible, like the flood, or the expulsion of Adam & Eve from the garden of Eden, with the words “And you think you’re having a bad day!” on the other side of the mug.
Here’s a photo of the first 6 mug designs I’ve come up with from left to right & top to bottom:
Jonah being swallowed by a Big Fish.
The Egyptians being drowned in the Red Sea.
Goliath being felled by David & his sling shot.
Noah’s ark being pounded by waves in the flood.
Adam & Eve being expelled from the garden of Eden.
Daniel being lowered into the lions’ den.
My next task is to get a limited print run of these mugs into local Christian bookshops & gift outlets, as part of our ‘testing the market phase.’ If I can prove that the designs are salable in sufficient numbers then hopefully I can convince a Christian distributor to take these designs on & mass produce them.
I am also designing our 2012 Christmas cards.
We will soon see the 3rd Bible Cartoons Activity Book out in print. This one is based on the book of Exodus, with some very exciting puzzles, mazes & colouring pages for children.
I visited our church’s (Brixworth Christian Fellowship) youth group on Tuesday evening & told them all about my journey of faith & how God brought me to Bible Cartoons. We had a quiz, based on my cartoons where the children had to guess the story, with bonus points for guessing the book of the Bible too!
I’m also trying to figure out how to write code to allow customers to the Bible Cartoons website to be able to purchase a whole set of related cartoons in one go.
So you see, I am not being idle!
Thursday, 27 September 2012
Parable of Lost Sheep Finished.
I’ve finished my 5 cartoon set of cartoon illustrations which depict Jesus’ short parable about the Lost Sheep - see below.
As I wrote in the notes which accompany these 5 illustrations, in order to demonstrate the importance God attaches to little children, Jesus gave the disciples an illustration in the form of a parable, which is a word derived from the Greek. verb paraballo, meaning to “lay by the side of,” to “compare”; a “likeness, similitude.”
In the same way as the shepherd went out looking for the lost sheep in the story, God (referred to as “my/your Father in heaven” in Matthew 18:10) is concerned about these “little ones” or children and does not want to lose any of them. In fact we are all God’s children, so we can legitimately apply the term “little ones” to each & every one of us.
Matthew 18 - Lost sheep parable - Scene 01 - Sheep pen
Matthew 18 - Lost sheep parable - Scene 02 - Searching
Matthew 18 - Lost sheep parable - Scene 03 - Found
Matthew 18 - Lost sheep parable - Scene 04 - Cherished
Matthew 18 - Lost sheep parable - Scene 05 - Return home
As I wrote in the notes which accompany these 5 illustrations, in order to demonstrate the importance God attaches to little children, Jesus gave the disciples an illustration in the form of a parable, which is a word derived from the Greek. verb paraballo, meaning to “lay by the side of,” to “compare”; a “likeness, similitude.”
In the same way as the shepherd went out looking for the lost sheep in the story, God (referred to as “my/your Father in heaven” in Matthew 18:10) is concerned about these “little ones” or children and does not want to lose any of them. In fact we are all God’s children, so we can legitimately apply the term “little ones” to each & every one of us.
Matthew 18 - Lost sheep parable - Scene 01 - Sheep pen
Matthew 18 - Lost sheep parable - Scene 02 - Searching
Matthew 18 - Lost sheep parable - Scene 03 - Found
Matthew 18 - Lost sheep parable - Scene 04 - Cherished
Matthew 18 - Lost sheep parable - Scene 05 - Return home
Tuesday, 18 September 2012
Bible Cartoon used at New Wine conference 2012!
I received an email earlier in the year asking me to design a Bible Cartoon to be used at the Christian New Wine Summer Conferences events (www.new-wine.org). I created the required crowd scene, which had Jesus in the middle, accompanied by Moses, Joseph and the apostle Paul, surrounded by a crowd of cheering children. Notice the 2 camels on the left which were specifically requested from my Christmas activity book illustrations!
The finished design was then transformed into a 4 x 2 metre fabric backdrop for the 3-4 year old “Pebbles” marquee, where about 600 children were entertained & received good bible-based instruction.
The lady who worked so hard on converting my design into sewn fabric (Jane B.) said, “Your faces are so cheerful that they were a joy to work with but I did find it very emotional working on Jesus' hands.” I can quite understand that, as you can see the nail marks on Jesus’ hands. I sometimes have a strong emotional reaction myself when I’m drawing the wounds on Jesus’ body for one of my Bible Cartoons.
I received this email from the 2 “Pebbles” leaders, after New Wine had finished:
“Hi Martin,
I just wanted to say a huge thank you for the art work you produced for the Pebbles banner.
It was fantastic. We had many many comments on the banner and the art work.
It certainly added the WOW! factor to the marquee.
We had quite few people ask about your art work and we referred them to your web site which we had printed down the side of the banner.
One lady who came into the marquee recognised your work immediately saying that their church had used your work in the past.
Once again many, many thanks for an amazing job.
Blessings,
April H. & Anna S.
New Wine Pebbles Leaders”
What a lovely email, I was delighted to read that.
The Bible Cartoons web address stitched onto the backdrop provided great publicity for us! The fact that one lady came into the marquee & instantly recognised the style of the artwork as belonging to Bible Cartoons is great... we’re getting known!
Here’s my design in black & white, with a photographs below of the finished backdrop - doesn’t it look great?! Well done to Jane B. who translated my paper design into fabric... such dedication & hard work!
The finished design was then transformed into a 4 x 2 metre fabric backdrop for the 3-4 year old “Pebbles” marquee, where about 600 children were entertained & received good bible-based instruction.
The lady who worked so hard on converting my design into sewn fabric (Jane B.) said, “Your faces are so cheerful that they were a joy to work with but I did find it very emotional working on Jesus' hands.” I can quite understand that, as you can see the nail marks on Jesus’ hands. I sometimes have a strong emotional reaction myself when I’m drawing the wounds on Jesus’ body for one of my Bible Cartoons.
I received this email from the 2 “Pebbles” leaders, after New Wine had finished:
“Hi Martin,
I just wanted to say a huge thank you for the art work you produced for the Pebbles banner.
It was fantastic. We had many many comments on the banner and the art work.
It certainly added the WOW! factor to the marquee.
We had quite few people ask about your art work and we referred them to your web site which we had printed down the side of the banner.
One lady who came into the marquee recognised your work immediately saying that their church had used your work in the past.
Once again many, many thanks for an amazing job.
Blessings,
April H. & Anna S.
New Wine Pebbles Leaders”
What a lovely email, I was delighted to read that.
The Bible Cartoons web address stitched onto the backdrop provided great publicity for us! The fact that one lady came into the marquee & instantly recognised the style of the artwork as belonging to Bible Cartoons is great... we’re getting known!
Here’s my design in black & white, with a photographs below of the finished backdrop - doesn’t it look great?! Well done to Jane B. who translated my paper design into fabric... such dedication & hard work!
Monday, 17 September 2012
Honesty is not dead!
I’ve just received an email from a German magazine called "Die Gemeinde", a monthly journal of German Baptists, which is published every 14 day to about 5500 people.
The email sender wrote that they wanted to use my Bible Cartoon (Matthew 13:45-46 - Kingdom of heaven like a pearl) to illustrate a bible story for children in the magazine... so far so good! Unfortunately they hadn’t read the copyright information I publish on the BC website, & they paid the "normal" price of £2 (GBP).
What was remarkable was the fact that the email was alerting me to this fact, & apologising - how brilliant was that! And wonderfully honest too!
I replied immediately, thanking the magazine emailer for his honesty. I explained that I would normally negotiate a price depending on the circulation of the magazine. I suggested the magazine could include the credit “Cartoon artwork supplied by Martin Young - www.biblecartoons.co.uk” which would make me happy & help to promote BC in Germany!
I think it is wonderfully uplifting that there are still people operating in this world who are honest. As I wrote to the magazine emailer, “Thank you once again for your honesty, it really does make me glad & I’m sure that the Lord will honour & bless you for it.” I certainly pray that He will. Examples of this kind of upright & honest behaviour in business & life need to be applauded whenever we come across them, don’t you think?
The email sender wrote that they wanted to use my Bible Cartoon (Matthew 13:45-46 - Kingdom of heaven like a pearl) to illustrate a bible story for children in the magazine... so far so good! Unfortunately they hadn’t read the copyright information I publish on the BC website, & they paid the "normal" price of £2 (GBP).
What was remarkable was the fact that the email was alerting me to this fact, & apologising - how brilliant was that! And wonderfully honest too!
I replied immediately, thanking the magazine emailer for his honesty. I explained that I would normally negotiate a price depending on the circulation of the magazine. I suggested the magazine could include the credit “Cartoon artwork supplied by Martin Young - www.biblecartoons.co.uk” which would make me happy & help to promote BC in Germany!
I think it is wonderfully uplifting that there are still people operating in this world who are honest. As I wrote to the magazine emailer, “Thank you once again for your honesty, it really does make me glad & I’m sure that the Lord will honour & bless you for it.” I certainly pray that He will. Examples of this kind of upright & honest behaviour in business & life need to be applauded whenever we come across them, don’t you think?
Thursday, 13 September 2012
Head cold... and email marketing?!
I’m suffering with a horrible head cold this week - yuck. Can’t hear properly, barking cough, bunged up nose, aching limbs, the hole 9 yards (or 8.23 metres if you prefer metric!) I haven’t really achieved much in terms of drawing & colouring Bible Cartoons, although I did manage to finish the Philippians 3 “Imitating Christ’s Humility” one, which is the first cartoon in that New Testament book of the Bible.
However, all is not doom & gloom! I am taking time to sip lemon juice & honey, which is nice! But apart from that, I am researching (on-line) Internet marketing. I’m wondering if it would be a good idea to create a regular news-sheet (bi-monthly?)which can be emailed to readers via an opt-in page on the BC website. That way I can remind people of my continued existence (!) & hopefully gather new viewers, readers & potential customers in the process. I can let people know what Bible Cartoons offers & keep people abreast of our progress & development.
That all sounds great... but there is a LOT to research & reading to do to make that actually happen! There are so many email management systems/programs out there... which one should I use? There are all sorts of anti-spamming rules, guidelines, etc to consider. Even creating an email list seems to take ages. Then I need to find a way to get people to opt-in to my newsletter, news sheet, or whatever it is. I looked into this several months ago & I gave up due to information overload & analysis paralysis... now I know why!
However, “nothing ventured, nothing gained” as the saying goes. So I’ll just have to trawl through all the on-line advice, information, teaching videos, & technical blurb & try to make a reasonably well informed decision about it all before I get better & am just back to drawing the cartoons... after all, once I’m better I won’t have time to look into the merits & pitfalls of email marketing!
However, all is not doom & gloom! I am taking time to sip lemon juice & honey, which is nice! But apart from that, I am researching (on-line) Internet marketing. I’m wondering if it would be a good idea to create a regular news-sheet (bi-monthly?)which can be emailed to readers via an opt-in page on the BC website. That way I can remind people of my continued existence (!) & hopefully gather new viewers, readers & potential customers in the process. I can let people know what Bible Cartoons offers & keep people abreast of our progress & development.
That all sounds great... but there is a LOT to research & reading to do to make that actually happen! There are so many email management systems/programs out there... which one should I use? There are all sorts of anti-spamming rules, guidelines, etc to consider. Even creating an email list seems to take ages. Then I need to find a way to get people to opt-in to my newsletter, news sheet, or whatever it is. I looked into this several months ago & I gave up due to information overload & analysis paralysis... now I know why!
However, “nothing ventured, nothing gained” as the saying goes. So I’ll just have to trawl through all the on-line advice, information, teaching videos, & technical blurb & try to make a reasonably well informed decision about it all before I get better & am just back to drawing the cartoons... after all, once I’m better I won’t have time to look into the merits & pitfalls of email marketing!
Fear of failure... and success!
Which is scarier the fear of failure, or the fear of success?
The fear of failure is understandable, after all, who wants to fail, right? That can put you right off trying altogether! Although I have recently read & come to believe that failure is only failure if you remain failed! A single failure actually becomes a stepping stone to success, IF you get back up & try again.
But why would we fear success? I think that can occur if we realise that success brings performance pressure, at least in our minds. One success = an achievement, but then we wonder, "was that a fluke, or can I do it again"... whatever "it" happens to be. A string of successes is even worse, then we’ve “proven” that we are successful - arghhh! That brings even more performance pressure... once you're at the top you've got to try to stay there!
I wouldn't know... I haven't succeeded yet... but it makes me wonder what it could/will be like... what do you think?
Of course us Christians can take comfort in the following scriptural promises from the Lord God, our loving eternally present Father in heaven...
1) Deuteronomy 31:6 (ANIV)
Moses speaking to Joshua on God’s behalf, ‘”Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them (opposing forces), for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." ‘
2) Philippians 4:13 (ANIV)
‘I can do everything through him who gives me strength.’
That includes failing & getting up again, & overcoming fear of both failure & success!
3) 2 Corinthians 12:9 (ANIV)
Paul writting to the Corinthian church, ‘But he [God] said to me [Paul], "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.’
I’m sure there are a LOT more scriptures which refer to success & failure in the Bible. But that last one is noteworthy... because it suggests that even if we fail, that’s OK, because we are weak... that’s just human nature. And God is able to shine gloriously, even through our weaknesses. In that sense, even the failures (as we perceive them) can be seen as successes, since our weaknesses promote & glorify God! So there isn’t really a failure in a Christian’s life! How cool is that!
The fear of failure is understandable, after all, who wants to fail, right? That can put you right off trying altogether! Although I have recently read & come to believe that failure is only failure if you remain failed! A single failure actually becomes a stepping stone to success, IF you get back up & try again.
But why would we fear success? I think that can occur if we realise that success brings performance pressure, at least in our minds. One success = an achievement, but then we wonder, "was that a fluke, or can I do it again"... whatever "it" happens to be. A string of successes is even worse, then we’ve “proven” that we are successful - arghhh! That brings even more performance pressure... once you're at the top you've got to try to stay there!
I wouldn't know... I haven't succeeded yet... but it makes me wonder what it could/will be like... what do you think?
Of course us Christians can take comfort in the following scriptural promises from the Lord God, our loving eternally present Father in heaven...
1) Deuteronomy 31:6 (ANIV)
Moses speaking to Joshua on God’s behalf, ‘”Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them (opposing forces), for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." ‘
2) Philippians 4:13 (ANIV)
‘I can do everything through him who gives me strength.’
That includes failing & getting up again, & overcoming fear of both failure & success!
3) 2 Corinthians 12:9 (ANIV)
Paul writting to the Corinthian church, ‘But he [God] said to me [Paul], "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.’
I’m sure there are a LOT more scriptures which refer to success & failure in the Bible. But that last one is noteworthy... because it suggests that even if we fail, that’s OK, because we are weak... that’s just human nature. And God is able to shine gloriously, even through our weaknesses. In that sense, even the failures (as we perceive them) can be seen as successes, since our weaknesses promote & glorify God! So there isn’t really a failure in a Christian’s life! How cool is that!
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