![\"Jo\u00e3o](\"https:\/\/mllj2j8xvfl0.i.optimole.com\/cb:c5QE.37290\/w:1024\/h:1024\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/themeisle.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/joao-santos.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nWhen it comes to our today’s guest, Jo\u00e3o Santos<\/a>, let’s just say he’s been a friendly figure in our team for a few years now. He is helping us create quality WordPress comics<\/a> for our blogs and social media channels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n His personality will quickly emerge from what you’ll read next. What we appreciate about him, aside from his professionalism, is his straightforward attitude, his way of staying true to himself, and how freely he manages to cope with work and life.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n As simple as it might sound, Jo\u00e3o didn’t pick up any productivity techniques or role models throughout his freelancing career; he just gets things done. And does them from the heart and with an open mind. He describes his work as messy<\/em>, which didn’t really surprise me… Aren’t all artists like that? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jo\u00e3o Santos was very natural and frank in feeding our curiosities about his job, and you’ll learn a lot from him no matter if you’re an illustrator or not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And, by the way, if you’re looking for a trustworthy visual artist, he’s the guy<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t\t When and how did you start working with WordPress? Is there an interesting story here?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Jo\u00e3o Santos:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n I think I started experimenting with WordPress<\/a> around 2010. I was making a portfolio website for myself, learning some web design basics as I went along. At some point I read something about WordPress and how \u2018the loop\u2019 worked and started adapting the static design I had created so far to a WordPress theme. A little bit after that, I joined a project with some friends, where I wrote articles about entertainment and other topics, and we wanted to create a type of social network for bloggers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Since we were such a small team and only a couple of us had some programming skills<\/a>, we had to wear a lot of hats and trying to build that website<\/a> was my first key test. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Afterward, because of that experience, I landed some web design \/ dev works. During that period, I was always working on stuff that was above my skill set. I was asked to create a website with an inventory of thousands of products and their manufacturers, that needed to be related to different documents, that in turn would be accessible depending on different user levels. All of that on top of a lot of quirky functionalities asked by the client. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After it was built, the client decided he also wanted to have a web store, so I needed to turn all that previous content into products, that also needed to be connected to their external CRM<\/a>. It was such a giant task for the skill set I had at that time, that when I finished it I was pretty confident about my WordPress skills. At the same time, I was so exhausted that I decided to only accept web dev work sporadically. And eventually I stopped doing web dev and design at all.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n What’s your technique for staying productive throughout the day?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Jo\u00e3o Santos: <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n A giant cup of coffee in the morning. Ideally \u201cSical\u201d coffee, freshly made. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jokes apart, I try to plan my days and weeks in advance, and when everything goes according to plans, it\u2019s pretty easy to stay productive. Now, we all know (or maybe it\u2019s just me) that things are always haywire and a lot of times you find yourself surrounded by entropy. When I\u2019m feeling this, I try to do something else for a bit and set an alarm clock to remind me to get back to work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Actually, that might be my technique. A lot of alarm clocks telling you what you need to do. And you feel guilty every time you snooze them so, eventually, you just force yourself into productivity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n How do you define “being successful”?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Jo\u00e3o Santos: <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s something I try not to define – \u201cbeing successful\u201d – at all. There\u2019s a lot of successes in life. Being alive is a major success. Being healthy and having people who care about you is also a great success. On a broader view, I see success as a moment where things go as you intend.<\/strong> For example, at some point, I wanted to do the things I liked, professionally. I\u2019m able to do it right now, but I can\u2019t say that I\u2019m successful or not, because these things fluctuate a lot and one moment you\u2019re flying high, the other moment, Tag, you\u2019re it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n I think, ultimately, being successful is something we just say about the others.<\/strong> That person that you know that has that job that pays a lot, a very nice house, a great car, great family, son plays football, daughter is number one in class, the dog does tricks. But that same person might look at others and think how much more successful they are because they don\u2019t have as many responsibilities, they can live with less money, still travel a lot more than he \/ she does. It\u2019s very subjective, I just avoid thinking about it at all.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n What do you like to do when you’re not illustrating?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Jo\u00e3o Santos: <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m that kind of person who\u2019s always finding new interests and then going through the rabbit hole until the spell breaks and something new appears. But the stuff I always love to do (and always will) besides drawing, is watching movies, listening to music, playing guitar, reading, wiki surfing, and recently I got myself more interested in video games. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I also love to spend some quality time with friends, having conversations and going to places that transform into golden memories. I\u2019m very nostalgic and I waste a lot of time dwelling on things from the past.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n What do you wish more people knew about WordPress?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Jo\u00e3o Santos: <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n The difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nJo\u00e3o Santos Interview – “Doing Artwork Is Like Playing the Telephone Game”<\/h2>\n\n\n\n