Scott Hansen is probably my most favorite designer and influence. His retro style, mixed with those earth-tone colors, resonate with me completely. He is also a great musician who goes under the name Tycho, a sound that compliments his design aesthetic. If you want a complete experience, check out his portfolio site, that way you get to experience his work both by sound and sight. Incredible.
It’s time we stop and think about how we are living. Throw out what isn’t necessary. Keep the raw, the basics. Back to where our “soul” is pure. You can recognize it when you see it. You can feel it. It’s rare. Vital. It hits you at your core, and demands your attention. It pulses through your veins with an aching, unquenchable need to be expressed.
Go back to the pencil and paper, the acoustic guitar, the brush and paint, the tambourine, the canvas, and the powerful sound of single human voice. Turn off all those effects and filters. Stop turning to electronics and software to achieve that “perfection.”
Unplug. And, savor every single imperfection that comes with it. It’s real. Alive.
I was about to go to sleep, when I started to let my mind wander. All of a sudden I started to get ideas and images for future projects. Before I knew it, I was super-charged with the urge to start creating.
And here we are, 6:15 a.m., and I’m still up. Just literally stuffing my sketchbook to the brim with concepty-goodness.
Some may think that sounds crazy, but those of us who have stayed up till sunrise just because we had to create something, understand all too well.
P.S. I need some more coffee…
We tend to get in the habit of following a creative process religiously. First concept, thumbnails, roughs, then revisions, etc., etc. We develop structures to repeat positive and effective results—to get the same outcome on a regular basis. While this is very helpful, and necessary, we also miss those moments of flowing inspiration. These kinetic ideas that are constantly moving and fluctuating through our thoughts can be the spark that quickly erupts into bursting creativity and originality.
Yes, it is necessary to have a process when you have clients and deadlines. However, make sure to grab hold of those brief moments of inspiration when they happen. Get them down on paper! A personal project can turn into the greatest piece you ever made. It might even be applied to a real project later, you never know.
It’s a great joy to empty your mind, put on some good music, and just begin making something. Create what comes to you and relax. You would be surprised how often we think we’re relaxing, but are still very tense and rigid.
Sometimes you just need to start creating. Ya dig?
My bar coaster doodle.
This afternoon I got to hold and move around an original animation cell from a bugs bunny cartoon and other major Disney films.
The detailing from the hand-brushed lines was incredible. You don’t see that level of skill and detail that often anymore.
Amazing.
Barry's View
My view from the 4th floor, 1104 wabash ave. I need windows when I concept and design, it helps me daydream.
Tip: If you ever feel your ideas and creativity running on empty, go outside fir a few minutes and soak in the scenery. It works. Fact.
This site is great. Not only does it have countless band poster designers, great ones I might add, but you can actually buy prints too! Still drooling…
I was checking out the new Art Directors Club gallery and came across a series of ads promoting the Manchester Comedy Festival. It consisted of headshot photos with apathetic, to annoyed, to downright unhappy looking people. Brilliant.
Done by: Mark Lester
Agency: Mark
It’s easy, while you’re still in school, to forget why you are there in the first place. Maybe, you set out with hopes to become a famous artist like your classical heroes, the next David Carson or Milton Glaser in the design field, the next Matt Groening or Seth MacFarlane in cartooning, the next influencial writer of our time and etc.
After you’ve been in college for a year or two you begin to drift. All of a sudden, you begin to put off your homework till the day before it is due, your professors point of view begins to drown out your own. And worst of all, you stop creating projects of your own just for the fun of it, all because you “don’t have the time anymore.” You start to look at “creating” as something you have to do, instead of something you love to do.
The truth is, whether you are in school or the job field, we are all susceptible to falling into this rut. It is a state of creative desperation.
When you stop and think about it, it’s too easy to get swept up in the daily grind and forget what truly makes us happy. You forget that life is about connecting and collaborating with other creative people. It is in that state of social collage, filled with ideas and aesthetic, that we truly feel energized and happy. We need that “spark”.
It seems to me, that your purpose as a creative individual is: -to create something every day -to develop your point of view, and explore it to it’s very heights. -to always remain curious, about everything -to connect with others and share ideas and inspirations -to get involved in your community and help promote others like you
And, most of all, to find out what you enjoy most and pursue that very thing as if your life depended on it…
…because it does.