Evernote

I think it's time for another moment of gratitude, and today I would like to share my appreciation for Evernote - an app that helps me to organize pretty much every aspect of my life.

Between my professional photography business, my home life, and the Land of Le Beef, I have a lot of things to keep track of.  I have spent most of my life with random ideas written out on napkins, scrap pieces of paper, the back of envelopes, and wherever else I could find some free space, but now I have finally found a simple and intuitive way to keep everything in the same place, and easily access it from my phone, tablet, and computer.

Evernote - helping me achieve great things

One of the beautiful things about Evernote is that everyone can use it in their own way. Here are some examples of ways that I use it:

• Daily and weekly planner

• Track personal and professional goals

• Write blog posts (like this one)

• Keep tabs of my clients, products, prices, and other business related items

• Remember marketing ideas

• Make notes of any changes I want to make to my websites

• Organize the photography lessons that I offer

• Jot down ideas for cartoons

• Plan trips and holidays

• Remember recipes that I want to try

• Keep a journal

• Plan different stages of projects that I am working one

• and a whole lot of other things

Anyway, I just want to say 'thanks Evernote', you're awesome".

Gratitude - Staedtler and Uni-Ball

I believe that one if the most important things that a person can do is express their gratitude and appreciation for the people and things that enrich their lives, and this is something that I would like to start doing more of.
Today I am going to start off by expressing my gratitude to a couple of tools that help make the Land of Le beef: Staedtler Pencils and Uni-Ball Uni Pin pens.

Me hugging my comically oversized and slightly scared looking drawing tools...

I have been using Staedtler pencils (and erasers, lots of them) since art school, and I have never looked back. They have always made a high quality, reliable product. I especially like the HB (although I would never turn down a 2H either). Staedtler pencils provide the foundation of all of the Land of Le Beef sketches.

The pens that I use, Uni Pin by Uni-Ball, are a relatively new find for me. When I started the Beef a couple of years ago, I didn't put too much consideration into which pen I used. Eventually I had bought a bunch of pens just to try them out, and I would just randomly grab one whenever my sketches were ready for ink. Some pens would frustrate me by how fast the ink flowed, or their lack of precision, but I always felt great when I had a Uni Pin in my hand. Now I can't imagine using anything else. They come in different thickness; I typically use 0.2 for the main lines, and 0.1 for small details and shading. If I happen to be doing a larger illustration I might use a 0.3 or even the 0.5.

Anyway, to sum it all up, thanks Staedtler and Uni Pin. You're awesome.

The actual pens and pencils in all their glory...