of boredom…with Adobe Illustrator

haha! edit: so a few hours later i animated it…geez man, i really have a long way to go with this shit. i want to fast-forward to that moment already!

It’s always exciting to see your friends succeed doing what they love to do; especially when you know they’ve put their blood, sweat and tears into a project. Anyways if you’re in LA, check out Marka at Munky King on Melrose this Thursday for his Mexico Minigod Release Party and Art Show!

http://www.taubaauerbach.com 

by Venus. Done with the now extinct (can someone confirm this?) Gocco printer. The results of this mini screen printer are crisp, xerox-like graphics but in color…I wish I had time to experiment with one but I never got around to it. Anyway, this is one of my favorite stickers; I won’t ever peel it off though since it’s one of a kind.

Edit: The Gocco Pool on Flickr

i think this applies to anyone who needs to be creative; i know it helps me out a great deal. Source: All Graphic Design

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I bet that you are a very creative designer. Everything you touch probably turns into a masterpiece. But, what do you do when you wake up one day and all of your creativity has disappeared? You woke up and all of a sudden you look at the Comic Sans font and it looks pretty good. Additionally, you decide to use neon orange for the color of your client’s brochure. Something isn’t right today. Your creativity has dried up.

What do you do, as a graphic designer, when you are completely un-inspired? What do you do when you need to draw up ideas for a design, but all your mind wants to draw is a blank? What can you do when you are hit with a serious case of creative block?

You need to jump start your creativity and find the inspiration that seems to be lost. You can’t force creativity, so what do you do to get it back? Hopefully, this article will help you find answers to this serious problem.

(1) Go Do Something Else

This is usually the solution to the problem. Step away from your computer and find something else to do. Anything else will do. Just get your mind off of that darned project and you will feel better. Some ideas that I’ve heard work:

 - Exercise to Release Those Endorphins.

The best thing that you could do is exercise. Taking a walk will normally work for me. While you are walking, you have plenty of alone time to collect your thoughts and work out your creative ideas. Furthermore, the endorphins created by exercising is a good way to break through creative blocks.

Take a Hot Shower or Bath.

I get my best ideas in the shower. I don’t know why my ideas come out in the shower, but my guess is that a good shower releases endorphins.

Lay Down on Your Back and Close Your Eyes.

Lay down on your back, relax, and close your eyes. Let yourself fall to sleep. Sometimes when I am drifting off to sleep, my mind wonders and I come up with the best ideas. I always leave a notebook next to my bed for just this reason.

    - Have Someone Give You a Massage.

    Ask your significant other or friend to rub your back, arms, legs, head, etc. If you don’t have anyone to massage you, find a company that offers massages and see if they can pencil you in for that day. A massage releases endorphins and will help you with your creativity.

 

    - Go Out and Get a Cup of Coffee or Piece of Chocolate

    Maybe you could use a little boost. Go out to a coffee shop and get a cup of coffee and a sweet treat. Not only will this get you away from the computer for a bit, but the caffeine and sugar might perk you up a bit.

 

    - Have Sex.

    I won’t go further in to this because this isn’t the right kind of site for that. However, it has been found that having sex can help relax you and helps you break the barriers of a harsh creative block.

 

(2) Get a Pencil and a Pad and Draw it Out.

This one almost always works for me. Get your pencil and paper out and start doodling. Doodling makes me feel like a little kid again and my creativity normally comes out. Stop thinking of your boss or your client and just have fun. Try to remember the enthusiasm that you had for art when you were a child and enjoy what you do. Forget all of the pressures that you have and let your creative juices flow. You can even get out crayons if it makes you feel more like a kid. Using paper instead of your computer might also be beneficial for reducing stress because it helps you to escape from the computer (remember : sometimes the computer can be daunting because the computer holds all of your customer’s emails, documents, and files … getting away from references to your client or boss can help a lot.)

 

    If you want your paper sketches to feel more like a solid design, I suggest using a Sharpie marker instead of a pencil, pen, or crayon. The solid lines from the thick Sharpie tip, will make a bold statement and possibly help you to concentrate. A big Sharpie marker also helps you ignore the little details (since there is no erasing) and instead concentrate on the big picture. Read more about sketching with a Sharpie.

 

    Start with your designs’ grid and layout the structure and page elements first. Don’t draw in the details, just get the essential shapes right. This will help you get the overall page structure right.

 

(3) Try Doing Something Unusual

Try to do things that you haven’t been exposed to before. The point here is to heighten your senses and to expose yourself to to things outside your norm and far outside of your usual routine. Listen to new music. Go to a movie or see a play. Read a book in a new genre. Visit a museum or store that you have never visited before. Go eat at a restaurant that serves food that you haven’t ever tasted before. Take a long scenic drive on roads you have never driven on before. As you are experiencing new things, try to be very sensitive to (depending on what you decide to do) different sounds, colors, styles, forms, features, elements of design, smells, etc. Let your body take in these new experiences and be open to letting them influence your inner being. Maybe your new experiences will help rekindle a sense of wonder that is integral to the creative process.

 

(4) Think Outside the Box.

Throw away your crutches and try new design ideas. When you are sit down to start designing, throw away the first knee-jerk reactionary idea that pops into your head. Your first idea is probably one that is created with your usual problem-solving ideas. Try to challenge what you already know and come up with new solutions to your problems. If you look at your design project in a new light and look at it from an entirely new angle, you might be surprised at the direction your mind will bring you to. You might find an entirely new style that you never knew was living inside of you.

 

(5) Immerse Yourself in Design - and Make it a Daily Habit

You should make it a daily habit to immerse yourself in design. Join our graphic design community (and other graphic design communities) and our design forum (and other design forums) and participate in design discussions with other designers. Find your favorite design magazines, / ezines, and design blogs and read them on a daily basis. Find new design resources in our directory or at social networking sites and have fun learning about your craft. Buy books about design, colors, typography, or design software and learn more and grow as a designer. Have fun immersing yourself in the world of design. Take advantage of every outlet that you have at your disposal and try to find new ways to design beautiful layouts.

(more…)

edit: so i guess this is from a book, and i might have to buy it. damn it, i really wish i had more room for all these books that i want. and i have to add this link: a tribute to herbert lubalin

Worth renting on Netflix if you like this kind of stuff. When I had to lay out and quickly crank out newspaper ads many years ago, you best believe Helvetica was one of my top font choices - it’s bold, legible and it just looks clean. My other top fonts were Avant Garde Gothic, Adobe Garamond, Eurostile and Futura. I could probably keep on going with this font nerd shit; I have a shitload of fonts, but I keep going back to the same, familiar typefaces. I even had my fonts memorized at one point! But, I digress. Anyway, even if you aren’t a graphic designer, you can probably sit through this documentary.

stolen from Swank’s blog

I thought this was a cute, funny and interesting design; I can definitely relate.

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Fear is one of our basic, natural and involuntary emotions that grant our survival warning us of possible dangers. Modern life, and economic systems expose men to extreme situations of pressure that silently trigger psychological reactions to real dangers, even if they don’t exist. Human beings never developed the capacity to control this primitive reaction, and throughout the centuries refused emotions, considering them the vulnerable “or weak part” of the person.

Now scientific studies have verified that rational decision without an associate emotion does not exist. Emotion and cognition work together.

It is not possible to be taught to think, to reflect, to decide only with the knowledge. We need to learn to handle our and others’ emotions, because in every decision we take, emotions will take part….

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Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/superdd/372556537/

I actually had fun doing comps for these titles. I hope I get to see my Blu-ray menus one of these days…that would be cool. Too bad I don’t get any freebies of anything I’ve worked on; nor does my name get credited. I’m pretty much a ghost artist. Weak.