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	<title>Doodle Alley</title>
	
	<link>http://doodlealley.com</link>
	<description>A Picture Blog About Sustainable Creativity</description>
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		<title>Diversify Your Study</title>
		<link>http://doodlealley.com/2013/05/01/diversify-your-study/</link>
		<comments>http://doodlealley.com/2013/05/01/diversify-your-study/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 May 2013 15:13:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>stephen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[On Improvement]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://doodlealley.com/?p=610</guid>
		<description />
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		<slash:comments>7</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Updates Returning Soon</title>
		<link>http://doodlealley.com/2013/04/17/updates-returning-soon/</link>
		<comments>http://doodlealley.com/2013/04/17/updates-returning-soon/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 17 Apr 2013 15:53:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>stephen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://doodlealley.com/?p=606</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Hey friends, I wanted to let you know that by the grace of God I&#8217;ve overcome THE FEAR, and I am returning to the internets soon to finish this book! Thanks for you patience&#8211; please stay tuned.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://doodlealley.com/2013/04/17/updates-returning-soon/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>THE FEAR</title>
		<link>http://doodlealley.com/2013/02/26/the-fear/</link>
		<comments>http://doodlealley.com/2013/02/26/the-fear/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 26 Feb 2013 00:12:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>stephen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://doodlealley.com/?p=570</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I hope you don&#8217;t think I know what I&#8217;m doing. I hope you don&#8217;t think I have it all together. My comic essays aren&#8217;t about truths I have mastered, but about truths I struggle to embody everyday. I&#8217;m currently in a season where I struggle with fear. My publisher has decided to wait and see how well my books sell before they offer me more work. It is a time of waiting and wondering and watching the money in the bank dwindle. I&#8217;m afraid. Have you ever felt like the money you have in the bank is like a fuse on a bomb? The money burns down and down, and when it all burns up, your life will blow up. If only I could make that fuse so long I&#8217;d never have to watch it burn. I&#8217;m afraid. So let&#8217;s talk about fear, everybody. I think many artists struggle with fear, but don&#8217;t talk about it nearly enough. Fear comes from believing your art will make you happy. I wrote an essay about this, I should know better, right? But one of the reasons I&#8217;ve been struggling so much lately is I keep believing that being a successful cartoonist will [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://doodlealley.com/2013/02/26/the-fear/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>18</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Know Your Artistic Lineage</title>
		<link>http://doodlealley.com/2012/12/07/know-your-artistic-lineage/</link>
		<comments>http://doodlealley.com/2012/12/07/know-your-artistic-lineage/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 07 Dec 2012 17:12:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>stephen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[On Improvement]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://doodlealley.com/?p=547</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;d love to hear about your artistic lineage. Who inspires you?]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://doodlealley.com/2012/12/07/know-your-artistic-lineage/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>14</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Need for Sustainable Creativity</title>
		<link>http://doodlealley.com/2012/11/29/the-need-for-sustainable-creativity/</link>
		<comments>http://doodlealley.com/2012/11/29/the-need-for-sustainable-creativity/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 29 Nov 2012 17:51:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>stephen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Introduction]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://doodlealley.com/?p=541</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Recently, more and more research is coming to light that indicates talent is a matter of time spent practicing, not a matter of innate ability. The idea that it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to master a skill is increasingly gaining mainstream acceptance. Personally, I&#8217;m a big fan of the idea because it gives hope to people who once believed talent to be a gift they had not been given. Even though this radical idea has massive ramifications for artists, I don&#8217;t think it has properly made a debut in the dialogue about what it takes to become a great artist. We are still asking &#8220;How do you draw that?&#8221; when we should be asking &#8220;How do you get yourself to keep drawing for years and years and years?&#8221; I believe making creativity a sustainable practice is one of the most important and difficult issues an artist deals with. My hope is that Doodle Alley becomes a platform where artists can share their insights about the long journey to mastery, and that my comics become good fuel for thought and discussion. Thank you for being here!]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://doodlealley.com/2012/11/29/the-need-for-sustainable-creativity/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>16</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Practice Does Not Make Perfect</title>
		<link>http://doodlealley.com/2012/11/21/practice-does-not-make-perfect/</link>
		<comments>http://doodlealley.com/2012/11/21/practice-does-not-make-perfect/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 21 Nov 2012 00:00:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>stephen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[On Improvement]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://doodlealley.com/?p=523</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This essay is easier to understand if you’ve read these previous ones on immersion and on failure.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://doodlealley.com/2012/11/21/practice-does-not-make-perfect/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>16</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Does Beauty Exist in the World or in Us?</title>
		<link>http://doodlealley.com/2012/11/13/does-beauty-exist-in-the-world-or-in-us/</link>
		<comments>http://doodlealley.com/2012/11/13/does-beauty-exist-in-the-world-or-in-us/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Nov 2012 17:11:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>stephen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://doodlealley.com/?p=513</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In the comments section, I recently had a great discussion with an illustrator named Mike over my recent comic essay called Hug the Elephant. Apparently Mike has lived in Japan and studied Japanese like me&#8211; so I&#8217;m sure we&#8217;ve got a lot in common, but we couldn&#8217;t be farther from each other in regards to our views on beauty. Here&#8217;s a piece of our discussion&#8211; it&#8217;s kind of long but very interesting. I&#8217;ve got plenty more points to add, but I wanted to pause here and invite you to join in. What&#8217;s your opinion? What do you think about beauty? Mike I agree and disagree with a lot of your points, but I would still argue that beauty is almost entirely subjective; sure, there are some things that are more commonly considered beautiful than others, but I think just about anything can be beautiful to someone in some way. I don’t think it’s that there’s a universal elephant that’s hard to see, it’s that everyone has their own personal elephant which they see so clearly but struggle to show to others. The fact that many people’s elephants happen to resemble one another gives the illusion of a universal elephant. I [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://doodlealley.com/2012/11/13/does-beauty-exist-in-the-world-or-in-us/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>14</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Hug the Elephant</title>
		<link>http://doodlealley.com/2012/11/07/hug-the-elephant/</link>
		<comments>http://doodlealley.com/2012/11/07/hug-the-elephant/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 07 Nov 2012 15:15:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>stephen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[On Improvement]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://doodlealley.com/?p=474</guid>
		<description />
		<wfw:commentRss>http://doodlealley.com/2012/11/07/hug-the-elephant/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>46</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>20 Years of Spider-Man Improvement</title>
		<link>http://doodlealley.com/2012/10/24/20-years-of-spider-man-improvement/</link>
		<comments>http://doodlealley.com/2012/10/24/20-years-of-spider-man-improvement/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Oct 2012 19:05:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>stephen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://doodlealley.com/?p=453</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Hey Friends&#8211; I moved recently and things have been busy, so I won&#8217;t be able to get a new comic up this week. I&#8217;m working hard on it right now though&#8211; it&#8217;s the biggest one so far&#8211; the title of the essay is going to be: &#8220;Hug the Elephant.&#8221; Please stay tuned! In the meantime, I wanted to show you something special. I was digging through old sketchbooks while packing for the move and I found these little gems&#8211; drawings of Spider-Man I made from age 6 onward. I&#8217;ve been drawing Spider-Man periodically for about 20 years! Here&#8217;s my progress! Age 6: Age 9: Age 14: Age 18: Age 22: Seeing improvement is fun, isn&#8217;t it? Today I decided to draw another entry to the spiderman series: Age 25: I want to encourage you guys to revisit your work every month or so. If you are consistently making things, you&#8217;ll be able to see a progression in your work, which helps you keep going. See you next week!]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://doodlealley.com/2012/10/24/20-years-of-spider-man-improvement/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>11</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>When People Try to Use You</title>
		<link>http://doodlealley.com/2012/10/19/dont-let-people-use-you/</link>
		<comments>http://doodlealley.com/2012/10/19/dont-let-people-use-you/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 19 Oct 2012 00:41:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>stephen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://doodlealley.com/?p=440</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Hey, I just wanted to send this because it&#8217;s always nice to be appreciated. Your comics are beautiful and I think that the even more important thing is that the advice you give is completely true. I have tried to find ways to explain the creative-process to my parents or friends who asked, &#8220;How can you come up with this stuff?&#8221; My answer had always been, &#8220;I don&#8217;t know. I practice?&#8221; Comparing my answer to yours I feel rather stupid, but you have a wonderful turn-of-phrase and can clearly explain what most of us can&#8217;t. I do have one question for you, though, and I&#8217;m not entirely sure about how to go about solving the problem. My parents and friends are really encouraging with my design work in school (I&#8217;m a New Media Designer), but I find that sometimes I end up being smothered by their help. They start suggesting ideas and offering every scrap of advice on colors and how I should design things. I do take their advice and perhaps make a few compositions and stuff out of it, but in the end most of it doesn&#8217;t turn out great and I end up taking bits and pieces [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
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