Today’s post is an interview with Rukmini Poddar, a visual designer and illustrator. She’s based in New York City and also works as a designer for The Bhakti Center. I met Rukmini through Jay Shetty, a mutual friend of ours and was particularly inspired with her Enneagram illustrations. For those of you who don’t know, the Enneagram is a personality typing system that consists of nine different types. Everyone is considered to be one single type, although one can have traits belonging to other ones. Check out the interview below.
Where are you based?
New York City
What is your creative zone of genius?
I would hope to think that it lies in the intersection of creative illustration and healthy self awareness.
What is the story of this particular project?
The seed for this project, 100 days of Illustrating the Enneagram, was planted in my heart a few years ago. It started in 2016 when I decided to dedicate 100 days of my life to illustrating the murky, unclear and often obscure emotions I feel in my life. That is when I started to become endlessly fascinated with understanding human emotion and different personality frameworks.
Not too long after, a friend told me that I was drawing Enneagram types without even knowing it. I didn’t know what that meant.
I soon found out that the Enneagram is an incredibly nuanced and specific personality typing system. It’s a powerful tool for understanding the human psyche and ultimately for self growth and transformation.
Unlike most personality typing systems, it focuses on motivation rather than behavior.
Last year I dived into head first into the world of Enneagram when I took 2 intensive Enneagram workshops entitled Excavating Your Ego, hosted by Upbuild. As I was taking these workshops I immediately dreamt of the day that I could help share this knowledge through illustration. I found that visual guides could make the enneagram so much more accessible and understandable to people.
It’s a tool that I found to be so helpful in understanding myself better and for creating stronger sense of empathy in understanding the sufferings and joys of others.
What was your inspiration for creating this?
I find illustration such a powerful way to share knowledge with others. The Enneagram has proven to be so helpful in understanding myself and others better, that I wanted to find a visual language where I could make it more accessible and easily understood to people.
What did your creative process look like in making this project?
My creative process is done daily. It’s as consistent as possible. It’s forgiving (none of my images are perfect), and it involves minimal tools (sketchbook and $20 paint set). Basically, my creative process involves me to sit down and draw an illustration every day and to trust that in consistency and persistence, all things come. I do not wait for inspiration. In fact, inspiration is barely part of the picture. I have to create so rapidly and quickly that I have no time to bother with inspiration. And I find that so freeing. Because the moment I don’t use inspiration as a crutch, I begin to realize that it’s been next to me all along.
How can people help you get involved?
Right now I’m just encouraging everyone to engage with this material. Check out my different enneagram types on my instagram account and see what resonates with you. Learn more on the enneagram if you’re interested and follow me for more daily drawings.
Where can people follow you or see more of your work?
You can follow me on instagram and see my daily updates: @rockinruksi and you can also check out my other side project, Dear Ruksi: www.dearruksi.com
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Today’s post is an interview with Rukmini Poddar, a visual designer and illustrator. She’s based in New York City and also works as a designer for The Bhakti Center. I met Rukmini through Jay Shetty, a mutual friend of ours and was particularly inspired with her Enneagram illustrations. For those of you who don’t know, the Enneagram is a personality typing system that consists of nine different types. Everyone is considered to be one single type, although one can have traits belonging to other ones. Check out the interview below.
Where are you based?
New York City
What is your creative zone of genius?
I would hope to think that it lies in the intersection of creative illustration and healthy self awareness.
What is the story of this particular project?
The seed for this project, 100 days of Illustrating the Enneagram, was planted in my heart a few years ago. It started in 2016 when I decided to dedicate 100 days of my life to illustrating the murky, unclear and often obscure emotions I feel in my life. That is when I started to become endlessly fascinated with understanding human emotion and different personality frameworks.
Not too long after, a friend told me that I was drawing Enneagram types without even knowing it. I didn’t know what that meant.
I soon found out that the Enneagram is an incredibly nuanced and specific personality typing system. It’s a powerful tool for understanding the human psyche and ultimately for self growth and transformation.
Unlike most personality typing systems, it focuses on motivation rather than behavior.
Last year I dived into head first into the world of Enneagram when I took 2 intensive Enneagram workshops entitled Excavating Your Ego, hosted by Upbuild. As I was taking these workshops I immediately dreamt of the day that I could help share this knowledge through illustration. I found that visual guides could make the enneagram so much more accessible and understandable to people.
It’s a tool that I found to be so helpful in understanding myself better and for creating stronger sense of empathy in understanding the sufferings and joys of others.
What was your inspiration for creating this?
I find illustration such a powerful way to share knowledge with others. The Enneagram has proven to be so helpful in understanding myself and others better, that I wanted to find a visual language where I could make it more accessible and easily understood to people.
What did your creative process look like in making this project?
My creative process is done daily. It’s as consistent as possible. It’s forgiving (none of my images are perfect), and it involves minimal tools (sketchbook and $20 paint set). Basically, my creative process involves me to sit down and draw an illustration every day and to trust that in consistency and persistence, all things come. I do not wait for inspiration. In fact, inspiration is barely part of the picture. I have to create so rapidly and quickly that I have no time to bother with inspiration. And I find that so freeing. Because the moment I don’t use inspiration as a crutch, I begin to realize that it’s been next to me all along.
How can people help you get involved?
Right now I’m just encouraging everyone to engage with this material. Check out my different enneagram types on my instagram account and see what resonates with you. Learn more on the enneagram if you’re interested and follow me for more daily drawings.
Where can people follow you or see more of your work?
You can follow me on instagram and see my daily updates: @rockinruksi and you can also check out my other side project, Dear Ruksi: www.dearruksi.com
6/14/18
Community Feature: Rukmini Poddar
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Today’s post is an interview with Rukmini Poddar, a visual designer and illustrator. She’s based in New York City and also works as a designer for The Bhakti Center. I met Rukmini through Jay Shetty, a mutual friend of ours and was particularly inspired with her Enneagram illustrations. For those of you who don’t know, the Enneagram is a personality typing system that consists of nine different types. Everyone is considered to be one single type, although one can have traits belonging to other ones. Check out the interview below.
Where are you based?
New York City
What is your creative zone of genius?
I would hope to think that it lies in the intersection of creative illustration and healthy self awareness.
What is the story of this particular project?
The seed for this project, 100 days of Illustrating the Enneagram, was planted in my heart a few years ago. It started in 2016 when I decided to dedicate 100 days of my life to illustrating the murky, unclear and often obscure emotions I feel in my life. That is when I started to become endlessly fascinated with understanding human emotion and different personality frameworks.
Not too long after, a friend told me that I was drawing Enneagram types without even knowing it. I didn’t know what that meant.
I soon found out that the Enneagram is an incredibly nuanced and specific personality typing system. It’s a powerful tool for understanding the human psyche and ultimately for self growth and transformation.
Unlike most personality typing systems, it focuses on motivation rather than behavior.
Last year I dived into head first into the world of Enneagram when I took 2 intensive Enneagram workshops entitled Excavating Your Ego, hosted by Upbuild. As I was taking these workshops I immediately dreamt of the day that I could help share this knowledge through illustration. I found that visual guides could make the enneagram so much more accessible and understandable to people.
It’s a tool that I found to be so helpful in understanding myself better and for creating stronger sense of empathy in understanding the sufferings and joys of others.
What was your inspiration for creating this?
I find illustration such a powerful way to share knowledge with others. The Enneagram has proven to be so helpful in understanding myself and others better, that I wanted to find a visual language where I could make it more accessible and easily understood to people.
What did your creative process look like in making this project?
My creative process is done daily. It’s as consistent as possible. It’s forgiving (none of my images are perfect), and it involves minimal tools (sketchbook and $20 paint set). Basically, my creative process involves me to sit down and draw an illustration every day and to trust that in consistency and persistence, all things come. I do not wait for inspiration. In fact, inspiration is barely part of the picture. I have to create so rapidly and quickly that I have no time to bother with inspiration. And I find that so freeing. Because the moment I don’t use inspiration as a crutch, I begin to realize that it’s been next to me all along.
How can people help you get involved?
Right now I’m just encouraging everyone to engage with this material. Check out my different enneagram types on my instagram account and see what resonates with you. Learn more on the enneagram if you’re interested and follow me for more daily drawings.
Where can people follow you or see more of your work?
You can follow me on instagram and see my daily updates: @rockinruksi and you can also check out my other side project, Dear Ruksi: www.dearruksi.com
6/14/18
Community Feature: Rukmini Poddar
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Every personal brand stalls in one of three gaps: Identity, Signal, or Infrastructure. Most people have the third and spend years fixing the first.
A month of kung fu training in Wudang, China taught me that the body learns at the speed of honesty rather than the speed of ambition. Here is what martial arts taught me about practice.
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A magnetic through-line is the one or two word idea your whole brand becomes associated with. What it is, why it matters, and how to find yours.
Creative coherence is the state where who you are and how you’re seen are the same thing. Why it matters more than frequency, and how to build it.
Identity Alchemy runs in five phases: Deconstruct, Curate, Architect, Become, Express. A walkthrough of what happens inside each, and where people get stuck.
Identity Alchemy is a five-phase method for rebuilding who you are and how you’re seen so the two finally match. Here is the full process.
A Brand Brain is one authored source that holds your identity, voice, and frameworks so every AI tool writes like you. Here is what it is and why you need one.
Being great at what you do doesn’t automatically turn into income. Here is the expertise-to-income gap, why it exists, and how to start closing it.
A real brand team runs $30,000 to $70,000 a year. Here is the full breakdown of what each role costs, and the engine I built to replace it for $997.
Your AI sounds generic because it reads the whole internet and returns the average. Here is how to make AI write in your actual voice instead.
About the Blogger
I was born in a low middle class conservative religious family in the suburbs of Seattle. Art was and always has been my passion, and more than that a way of life. Starting as a graphic designer, I taught myself photography, built a commercial/editorial business shooting for the worlds biggest brands like Nike, Coca-Cola, Adidas and more. I've also had the opportunity to photograph the world's biggest celebrities like Justin Bieber, Usher, Jessica Alba and more. I've curated a lifestyle around creativity and have learned a lot along the way which I get to share here.
I was born in a low middle class conservative religious family in the suburbs of Seattle. Art was and always has been my passion, and more than that a way of life. Starting as a graphic designer, I taught myself photography, built a commercial/editorial business shooting for the worlds biggest brands like Nike, Coca-Cola, Adidas and more. I've also had the opportunity to photograph the world's biggest celebrities like Justin Bieber, Usher, Jessica Alba and more. I've curated a lifestyle around creativity and have learned a lot along the way which I get to share here.
