Creativity Tips for All Weekly

For two decades, Julian Velard has turned heads as an all-around entertainer and creative force in the worlds of music and comedy. His technical versatility and one-of-a-kind aesthetic has made him ubiquitous across media - a piano man turned renaissance man, from the stage to the screen to the smartphone. Loyal listeners and fans hold Velard as one of the best-kept secrets in the arts. In the mid-’00s, he posted a batch of demos to Myspace that led to a major label bidding war and a stint as a London-based pop star. His albums and live shows drew rave reviews from The Guardian and Time Out. Before long, he returned to his native New York, becoming a regular on The Howard Stern Show and NPR’s Ask Me Another, an artist-in-residence at The Public Theater, and a singer-songwriter with a cult following in (of all places) The Netherlands. His one-man musical Please Don’t Make Me Play Piano Man earned rave reviews, with Broadway World hailing it among the best shows of 2020. Velard’s uncanny fluidity as a performer has made a mark in the worlds of commercial media and event planning. His unique vision and storytelling chops have powered virtual and in-person events for YouTube, Yelp, Twilio, The Whitney Museum and others. His songwriting, production skills, and distinctive baritone have caught ears in ads for Google, Coca-Cola, Buzzfeed, Wix, Audible and Aldi Supermarkets. And he’s seen songs and videos go viral thanks to coverage from Mashable, The A.V. Club and even the New York Knicks. Beyond his solo work, Velard has happily shared the spotlight with a galaxy of talent. He’s been seen performing alongside musicians like Jamie Cullum, Paul Carrack, Goldfrapp, Amy Macdonald, and comedians Will Ferrell, Reggie Watts, Paul Scheer, Jack McBrayer and Rob Huebel. And his know-how as a one-man band, road crew and traveling showman has led to a variety of platforms to deliver the goods, including hosting live piano karaoke at Sid Gold’s Request Room, teaching music and songwriting online for Linkedin Learning, and the creation of Julian Velard’s Virtual Lounge, an original venue streaming exclusively on Twitch.

Experienced Creative Director, designer, writer, author, and speaker in the Orange County, CA area.

When I'm not working for my clients, I like creating books and videos that help designers design, photographers photograph, and creative people create (creatively).

My dad built a darkroom in the upstairs bathroom when I was ten or eleven (this replaced some gerbils that had been living in the bathtub there, but that's another story). I don't believe I got any good pictures out of that darkroom but I did get to experience the amazement of seeing images appear out of all of those magic liquids. A lot of people lament the loss of analog shooting but I think there's even more wonder to be derived from modern tools and from the continual process of exploring one's own sense of seeing. It's rare that I don't learn something about my own visual sense when I'm shooting and I find that fascinating. I love new gear as much as the next photographer, but I believe that improving at photography or any other media production is a process of self-exploration, not technical. This has informed all of my work, from still photography to video production to writing. Through that self-exploration, I learn more about why subjects interest me and why I understand the world the way I do. That, in turn, makes it easier for me to effectively convey concepts and ideas to others.

Thanks for your interest in me and what I'm up to! I'm a writer, author, photographer, and an instructor here at LinkedIn Learning and love sharing tips and tricks on how to take better pictures and tap into your creativity. I also lead The Picture Series projects where I share thematic daily photo prompts with a growing, thriving community of photo enthusiasts. My 4 books include the titles Elevate the Everyday: A Photographic Guide to Picturing Motherhood and Expressive Photography: A Shutter Sisters Guide to Shooting From the Heart. Check out my courses on LinkedIn Learning: The Art of Photo Composition (NOW AVAILABLE!) is my most recent course is focused on how to dramatically improve your photography by using the elements and principles of art. Simple, creative, and fun, the course offers lessons on composition and creative photo challenges help you take what you learn and put it into action! Simple Photo Edits walks you through the basics of photo editing, using the simple tools in your phone to dramatically improve your photography. With a few simple clicks, you can transform your pictures. Creativity for All; a series of short videos that demonstrate the many ways YOU can engage with your own unique creative vision every day. If you've ever thought that you weren't creative, this class is for you!

Denise Jacobs is a Speaker + Author + Creativity Evangelist who speaks at conferences and consults with companies worldwide. As the Founder + CEO of The Creative Dose, keynote speaker, and trainer, she helps individuals in companies unleash their creativity through banishing their inner critic and hacking their creative brains. Through research-backed data, vivid storytelling, and experiential exercises, Denise’s keynotes and trainings give A Creative Dose™ – an injection of inspiration and immediately applicable tools to help people do their best work. Through working with Denise, people become engaged contributors, synergistic collaborators, and authentic leaders. Denise has presented at events and organizations worldwide such as Google, Facebook, Automattic, GitHub, FastWeb.It, the BBC, South By Southwest Interactive, The Agile Alliance, NDC Oslo, UX Week, The Society for Technical Communications, various chapters of The American Marketing Association, Creative Mornings, The Future of Storytelling, The Future of Web Design, Inbound, and TEDxRheinMain. Denise is the author of Banish Your Inner Critic, the premier handbook on silencing fears to unleash creativity. A Web Design & Development industry veteran, Denise is also the author of The CSS Detective Guide, the principal book on troubleshooting CSS code, and is co-author to the Smashing Book #3: Redesign the Web, as well as the book InterAct with Web Standards: A holistic guide to web design. Denise is the Head Instigator of The Creativity (R)Evolution, a movement to spread the force of creativity around the world as a vehicle for positive change, and is also the founder of Rawk The Web, a movement focused on changing the face of the tech industry by increasing the numbers of visible diverse tech experts.

Animation and computer graphics professional with extensive experience as a writer, director, producer, and educator. - Write, direct, produce, and animate for companies such as Nickelodeon, Warner Bros, Disney, and Comedy Central. - Built a successful animation studio, producing several hundred cartoons for broadcast, interactive, and film. - Managed 3D, Video, and CAD segments for Lynda.com, helping it grow to $1.5B valuation. - Created hundreds of hours of original educational content for Lynda.com, LinkedIn Learning and others. - Author successful books on animation, write articles for industry publications. - Educator, speaker, and industry expert. Specialties: animation, design, education, writing, directing, and production.