Sport Coat and Jeans: how to pull it off

Wearing a great pair of jeans paired with a nice sport coat can work if you know what you're doing. However, if you don't get the look right it can end up being the business casual version of a mullet. While there are exceptions to every rule some simple guidelines will help you look sharp and ready for anything.

A monochromatic color scheme is a great place to start. A charcoal colored button down shirt, black jeans, and a black sport coat create a classic look that most men can pull off well. Make sure your shirt-tails don't hang below your sport coat. If you decide to tuck in the shirt you have the opportunity to go flashier than normal with your belt (no studs or crazy stuff but push the envelope here a tad). If you want to rock the t-shirt, make sure it goes: a bright shirt will not work here. Instead try a black shirt with a muted design, or a high quality gray ribbed t-shirt.

If you go blue instead of black with the jacket, wear blue jeans and a white or cream colored button down. The t-shirt is not a great option here, but if you must, pick a cream with some texture or even a light brown. Also on the navy blazer you will want to avoid the golden buttons (unless you own a yacht and then go for it).

Mix in striped jackets, bold blazers, and other more aggressive options as you become more comfortable with the look. 

Shoes Say A Lot: make sure you send the right message

Dress shoes are an investment, they complete a suit or outfit and they are one of the first things that style minded people look at. Good dress shoes should communicate that you are a professional and that you are successful. Buying new shoes is a great way to make those statements but over the long haul, taking care of the ones you already own makes much more sense. 

Before we talk about shoe care, let's cover storage and protection. Leather shoes should always be given at least a day to 'rest' in between wearings. This allows the moisture that accumulates during normal wear to be released by the leather. If you wear the same shoes day after day, the leather will become too moist and will wear out quickly. Also when you store your shoes use cedar shoe trees to keep the form of your foot and to help wick away that moisture. Cedar also helps reduce foot odor. 

Caring for shoes is actually quite simple and requires only a modest investment of time and money. You will need a horsehair brush, two soft cloths, and some shoe shine or polish that matches your shoes. First use the brush to remove any dirt or debris from all surfaces of the shoe. Then apply shine to the shoe using one of your soft cloths; this will become your 'on' cloth. Work in small sections and apply only a small amount of shoe shine or polish. When you have covered the entire leather surface, use the other cloth, your 'off' cloth to buff out the shoe, leaving a clean and often shiny quality. Finally go over the shoes once more with the brush to remove the last trace amounts of polish and you're done.

Many men and women admit to judging others by first looking at the shoes they are wearing. Make sure the message you send with your footwear is a positive one.

Interviewing: it's a process of elimination

If you are interviewing for a new job you may think the employer's goal is to find the best candidate from all those who applied or sent in résumés. That is not the case. From the employers point of view they need to quickly weed out as many of the applicants as possible by whatever means necessary. 

Few interviewers have the time or inclination to sit through dozens of long interviews trying to figure out which prospective employee is the best. Rather they eliminate candidates based on dress, promptness, neatness, grooming, first impressions, and an infinite array of other seemingly minute details. 

Here is where you must do your part to insure you make the short list of interviewees that the employer will spend some time with. If you have a weird hairstyle or a nose ring, now is the time to make a change. The more professional you look, the more likely you are to get through this process of elimination. 

It doesn't seem fair that employers are going to be judging you based on these surface issues, but it is a fact of life and the sooner you realize this the better. This same concept holds true if you are meeting new clients, making a sales pitch, or even going out on a first date. In other words, when there is nothing to object to, people will take time to get to know the real you.

Don't be Sheep: go after what you want

Many of us are too concerned about appearances to actually express our real thoughts and feelings. We let ourselves be led around by the expectations of others or some preconceived notion of what our lives should "look like." Instead we ought to take some time to analyze what we want out of our lives and create a plan to make those things happen. 

If travel is a real passion of yours and you are constrained by your current situation, start looking for ways to create a life that includes travel. Maybe that means looking for another job or even changing careers. Whatever the case, you only get one shot in this life so make it count. 

Perhaps you are interested in a new position or opportunity at work. If you don't let anyone know about your desire for that position, chances are they won't ever know you were hoping to make a change. It is your responsibility to go after what you want, whatever that may be.

Think of today as your first chance to express who you want to be and tell someone about it. Work hard for the things you want and take pleasure in getting them. Don't be a sheep, instead be a billboard advertising the new and future you.

Inspiration: it's a two way street

Last term I taught a course called “Comprehensive Illustration” to two groups of twenty students. I have taught this course several times now and I find that it is always the highlight of my year. This year I specifically planned to push the students creatively and assigned projects with creativity as the central theme. As an example, one of these assignments required students to hand draw a scaled dimensionally accurate machine that would turn one type of animal into another. The students loved it and they turned in a variety of machines, from an assembly line that through a series of gruesome steps turns a zebra into an ostrich to a series of electrically charged holding tanks that morph an elephant into a goldfish.

The most interesting thing happened as these students churned out tough assignment after tough assignment. I became engaged in their creativity and excitement. I spent more time preparing for that class than I have in years. I constantly polished my lectures and reviewed tests and handouts like they were religious text translations.

I also solved many pesky little problems that had been plaguing my department for months. I created new forms for the committees I’m on, I took on additional courses to cover for a sick co-worker, I even cleaned my office. The transformation wasn’t restricted to work either. I donated my old motorcycle to charity and cleaned out my garage and turned it back into a studio where I can paint again.

At the end of the term I had the students each paint a small square, which when put together formed the image of an Asian American looking out over traffic on a busy street. It was a picture used by the U.S. Census Bureau to highlight immigration issues. The painting turned out beautifully and I framed it, in my garage/studio and hung it in the computer lab of the graphic design department. Hopefully it will remind the students of a wonderful semester of work and how each of them faced creative challenges, but it will definitely remind me of why I chose to teach in the first place.

Creativity and enthusiasm breed more of the same. Being surrounded by students who love what they are doing and who didn’t mind working hard to make something just a little better brings out those same feelings in me.

I believe that students are motivated by their professors but just as dramatically, maybe even more so, instructors can be motivated by their students.

Make a List: how to embrace change

Would you like to be happier with your life? Are you looking for a new job? Would you like to be more confident? All these situations and many more really boil down to a desire for change. While the examples above are generally positive changes we know that change can be negative as well: loss of a job, a break up, being forced to change careers, etc. The common theme here is change and it is up to you to make it positive. 

Some of the best changes you can make in life start out as negative situations that you can not escape. They key is to list your greatest talents and desires as they relate to the change in your life. If you lost your job, try listing the attributes of your ideal position. What would that job be? Where would you work? What type of environment would you like to work in? Focusing on how you can improve your situation should provide you with a set of guidelines with which you can embrace this change and how you can better yourself in the end. 

Making a list is important because it may highlight skills or characteristics of which you were not aware. Are you good with people? Do you like solving problems? Are you good at math? Answering these types of questions will help fill your list with those hidden talents and desires that make you, well you. Knowing your strengths as well as your weaknesses gives you a roadmap that can help lead you to the perfect scenario.

Think of your current situation as being slightly broken... then describe what your "fixed" state would look like. Would you have more friends? Would you have a better job? Being able to visualize this "fixed" state gives you a target to strive for. Without a clear picture of what you want, you may drift into repeating past mistakes or even making new blunders. It is much like going on vacation: if you don't have a map you may end up anywhere. If your map is detailed and thorough enough you may end up in that perfect place.

Suit Buying: how to look good

When buying a suit there are a lot of choices to consider but the desired result is usually the same, "I want to look good in this suit." Unfortunately, there is no one size, or style that fits all, so let's break suit buying down by two basic body types.

If you are tall and don't want to appear taller avoid vertical stripes and stick to a three button jacket. Also try to choose a suit with pleated pants. The idea is to break up all the long vertical lines to create an illusion of width and substance. You may even want to get your pants hemmed with a cuff to create another visual break in the long lines of your legs.

Conversely, if you are wider than you'd like to be try a suit that has vertical stripes. Choose a two button jacket and avoid pleats and cuffs at all costs. Here the idea is the opposite, we are trying to extend all the vertical lines in your suit to give the illusion of height and reduce the width of your torso. Get your pants hemmed with a "full break" meaning that they fall all the way to your shoes with a slight wrinkle about 4-6 inches above the tops of your feet. It is important to get your suit fitted while wearing the style of shoe you will be wearing with the suit so that the break is appropriate for those shoes.

These two strategies cover the most basic suit choices, more details and other options including altering and ordering custom clothing will be showing up in later posts.

Drawing 101: avoid these beginner mistakes

Every artist has to start somewhere and if you are new to drawing it can seem pretty intimidating. This post covers a few mistakes that new artists often make. Avoiding these in your illustrations should help get you started off on the right foot.

One of the most common mistakes is using the wrong pencil. "Make your marks heavy and dark," is great advice for taking a standardized test but not so much for illustrating. You want a range of tonal values to choose from and a number 2 pencil is pretty hard and creates light shading. For average shading and medium toned areas try a B or 2B. When drawing highlights and light detail use a 4H. Dark areas and heavy shading might call for a 6B or even 8B which are softer and allow for easy coverage. 

Another common mistake happens when we try to take what we think we see and draw it. Does your favorite pet have an outline? Then why do you draw one? Outlining shaded drawings kills the effect of the tonal change between shaded areas. It destroys the illusion of depth and dimension. Sure, you can start your illustration by drawing the outlines of simple shapes and build it up from there, but these outlines should be very light and not visible in the finished work. 

Drawing every hair or blade of grass is yet another bad plan. You should create the illusion of hair or grass by using good shading technique and by adding details only to the few lightest and darkest individual components. When drawing leaves and foliage avoid using the tiny circles or scribbly ovals technique. Instead draw more crescent shaped marks and add shading in front and behind your marks to indicate the overall shape of the tree or bush.

Shadows are black, not dark gray. Do not limit your tonal range to a small spectrum of grays. Carry your illustrations from the lightest gray you can accomplish to the deepest black. This more closely resembles how we see the world and will make your drawings more interesting.

Remember these mistakes the next time you get ready to start a new drawing and make a plan to avoid them. This will help you become a better artist and boost your confidence.