You have my heart – please be gentle with it. You’ve broken my heart for the last time. He / She is my heart. My heart can’t take this kind of rejection. I thought my heart would explode with joy. I swear my heart skipped a beat when I caught sight of him / her. He / She sets my heart on fire!
Tattoos have played a significant role in cementing this symbol for good. The one tattoo that seems to remind everyone of the love aspect, is the heart with a banner wrapped in front – the most popular banner stating, “Mom.” Bart Simpson walks into a tattoo shop and inquires about getting a “present” for his mother. Bart replies to the affirmative, and hops into a chair.
Just as the tattoo artist finished the “H” letter in “MOTHER”, Marge, his mom, pulls him out of the shop. Bart is left with a heart tattoo that reads, “MOTH” upon it. Marge spends the remaining Christmas money getting the tattoo removed. Ow – quit it. Ow – quit it.”
If you are interested in getting a heart tattoo, perhaps you may want to think about stopping at just the symbol.
I just got back from the HOW Design Conference in Austin where I did a session called "Living a Creatively Curious Life." Normally I get really nervous before I speak but this year I was far more relaxed. Mainly because I had been preparing and researching for this session since last summer.
Speaking to designers. (Photo by Ivan Boden)
The best advice I have ever been given about speaking came from my oldest daughter who told me several years ago "Dad, just don't be boring." Her advice has proven to be very true. Information is great, but if it's not wrapped in a compelling visual package it just won't resonate very well with designers who are visually oriented.
Outline, notes, reference, and more notes.
I can't say I have a set process for producing my sessions but I guess one could find a method in my madness if they looked hard enough. It is like producing a movie of sorts, I find myself editing out content because it's too long or just doesn't add anything to the overall message.
I got a lot of great feedback from hundreds of designers who attended the session and approached me afterwards, but the one comment I appreciated the most is a designer who told me I should have left one part out of my session and I agreed with her. I had considered cutting it but second guessed myself the night before and left it in. So that in and of itself showed me I need to improve my editing skills.
The most important element for me personally when speaking is to make it fun, let the audience laugh either at me or with me in regards to a point I'm trying to make, or a project or process I'm sharing.
I turned the tables on my audience at the end of the session and pulled out my video camera and challenged them to act on a moment of creative curiosity. I turned up the music and informed them it was time to dance and the above is the end result of how my presentation ended.
Creativity Pack includes: - Full outline (best I can do sans audio or visual) - Outline includes links to related content - Creativity Exercises - Resource Downloads - Helpful Links - Inspiring Links
FYI: My original intention was to take the audio recording HOW made and create an online version. Well the recording was at best hostage quality and dropped out in far too many places so for now this is all I can offer. If your AIGA, AdFed, or other creative or marketing group would like to hear this presentation just contact me directly and lets arrange a date where I can do it for you in person. This session is not only good for designers, it's an excellent presentation for marketing and creative managers as well. Aren't you a little bit creatively curious now?
You'd been thinking about getting a tattoo for a long time, and now that you've taken the plunge you're excited about what you're seeing. You know that the pain you went through getting the tattoo was nothing now that you see the results. Don't make the mistake, though, of thinking your job is complete. Without the proper care, your beautiful new tattoo can end up being your worst nightmare.
Getting a tattoo is not as simple as giving permission to an artist to draw and prick their needles into your skin. A tattoo is a permanent mark in you skin that you will be wearing for a long time and you should do some serious thinking before getting your tattoo. Although there are procedures now to erase a tattoo, it is expensive and painful and of course you have to avoid going through this process as much as possible.
Getting a tattoo has become a new fad in today’s society. Once frowned upon by mainstream society, it is now become a commonly viewed item in everyday life. Upon getting a tattoo, finding an artist of your liking is a big part. Since this is a permanent deal, it has to be done properly or else you will be living with this forever.
Make sure to research the artist and the tattoo shop or studio. They should have all of the proper resources to get your tattooing done properly and in the most cost effective way possible. Most shops have flash art available, for those who need ideas on what to get. They should also have fine art tattooing books available, for further ideas on ideas. Once you have an idea on what to get, they should be able to present your idea through a simple piece of artwork, which should show you if the drawing is exactly what you are thinking of.
"Stylized Portrait Illustration" for MacUser Magazine UK.
I ♥ Design I'm thankful for what I get to do for a living. I really enjoy it, and I have a lot of fun creating and working with my clients and other design firms. I have nothing to complain about in terms of my day to day job, I love.
That said, I've always been one to speak my mind be it good or bad and I'd like to think I'm fair more times than not. Over the last several months I've been thinking through a lot of issues related to the state of our industry in respect to both design and illustration and the end result is this post.
It's a good mix of hard truth, seasoned with just enough sarcasm to hopefully make it fun to read while staying informative. But I'm sure some with disagree with my assessment and that's what comments are for.
Preamble I a designer of the United States, in order to form a more perfect creative process, establish drawing, insure design tranquility, provide excellent art, promote conceptual welfare, and secure the blessings of creative liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this blog post for the designers of the United States of America.
Design Needs Drawing MacUser Magazine UK approached me about writing a tutorial for their publication that utilized the same creative methods I used to create my Billy Mays artwork. I was excited to do this because I'm a diehard MAC user myself and this type of project is just fun to work on so I said "Sure."
Before I got started the editor asked "Is there a way to replace the drawing part of the tutorial with some form of computer method instead?" He suggested the possibility of auto-tracing part of the photo. And there's the rub.
A seemingly nonchalant decision to purposely divorce drawing from the design process.
"Sure, no problem I'll remove drawing from my process. And what the hell, while I'm at it I'll remove breathing from my living process too! Because after all that makes about as much sense."
The dumbing down of creativity is a serious pet peeve for me. Those who want to bake it down so it's not too demanding of the individual and caters to the lowest common creative denominator are just facilitating pablum sucking design noobs who think the computer is the wellspring of their creativity.
"You can lead a designer to a computer, but you can't make them draw."
The Dynamic Duo!
Ebony and Ivory, Analog and Digital The fundamental problem with so many tutorials (creative processes) online today is they are merely geared for what I would call a "Tooler." Someone who doesn't necessarily want to improve their drawing skills, but thinks if they learn the latest software version, or some new pull-down menu effect, or run a filter in a certain way, or mimic some other type of convoluted Fibernachesque computer process they'll be able to skirt having to actually draw something.
Maybe it's just fear of failure? I'm sure that is part of it to some degree but any creative process that avoids risk is at best a flawed one. Approaching a creative solution from the mindset of "Playing it Safe" is just nothing more than choosing mere expediency. Too many designers look for the easy way out when it comes to a creative process and that is problematic to their creative growth. Instead of bolstering a core skill like drawing they pursue a path of least creative resistance and the end result is a Tooler.
I told the editor "Sorry but my process is both analog and digital. One is not independent of the other. I think that is a good thing to show." Nothing I do is fully digital, nor is it fully analog, I'm constantly going back and forth through out the creative process.
The editor eventually agreed to let me keep it the way I wanted (I wouldn't have done it otherwise) and I proceeded. Compared to my tutorials at IllustrationClass.com this one was going to be an abridged version that had to fit on a two page spread in the magazine.
Creativity via tools equals "iSuck."
The Dispensation of Toolers Early in my career (pre-computer) people would ask me what I did for a living and I'd say "I'm a graphic designer." and the usual response was something like "You get paid to draw? I can't draw a stick figure...." and they'd proceed to admire, recognize and clearly associate my core skill and craft with what I did for a living.
But now (post-computer) when I tell people what I do the normal response tends to be something like this "That's cool. I have a computer too. I printed some ink jet business cards for..." and they proceed to associate what they do on a hack PC in their spare time using Microsoft Paint, prefab templates, Comic Sans font, and clip-art with what I do as a professional for a living. Gone is the appreciation or even recognition of a skill or craft I possess to do my job. For the most part they don't view themselves as lacking any core ability because the computer in their mind has replaced the skill and craft they once associated with my ability.
Our industry is now inundated with Toolers, who reinforce this poor public perception for what we do. They don't take skill and craft seriously and in essence one could argue they are glorified amateurs who just know more about the software than the general public. Mom and Pop see what they produce and say to themselves "Hey, I can do that too." And thus the Tooler dispensation was born.
Compound this new dispensation with the fact so many designers whore themselves via sites like www.Crowdspring.com, and art schools are flooding the landscape with software savvy, marketing clueless, concept weak, drawing inept students at the tune of about 16,000 every six months (Stats from 2001) and you see the not so pretty big picture that is the future of the design industry.
As for me and my creative convictions I refuse to celebrate mediocrity. But I digress.
How to Recognize a Zombie Designer When ever I look at design there are "5" specific attributes I look for when I critique it.
1. Is there a core concept? Great designers should be great thinkers.
2. Is the style appropriate? It's commercial art, not fine art.
3. Is the art well executed and precise? Quality craftsmanship is a must.
4. Is it unique? Don't be a drop in the sea of marginal prefab design.
5. Is it inspiring? Does it contain a clever visual twist or metaphor?
How these attributes break down for me.
Great Design Contains all five attributes but is very rare.
Good Design Must contain 1, 2 and 3. Most often 4 too.
Marginal Design Only contains two attributes, fails the rest.
Bad Design Most manage to avoid all five attributes.
I realize not all clients need high-concept solutions so that much isn't ironclad in my critique, it needs to be balanced appropriately for each client and I go over all of that here.
A Tooler however dwells in the realm of "Marginally Bad" and only enters "Good" by accident or by deriving or copying another persons work. Because of this modus operandi and the current trend with prefab design methods, our industry has legions of zombie designers that choose to feed off the corpse of incurious creativity.
The Creative Industrial Complex Toolers are more than willing to do work for sweat shop pay grade sites like Crowdspring.com, iStockPhoto.com or logoworks.com? Their actions facilitate a growing problem being pimped by multi-national corporations like Getty and HP, who wish to turn the design industry into a mere fast-food commodity revenue stream, or as I like to call it "The Creative Industrial Complex." Makes me wonder if HP's new logo was done by their own logoworks.com for a mere $299, or if a big agency did it for a lot more? Either way it's still a piece of crap.
Mark my words, it's just a matter of time before you see a "LogoMaker" or "InstaLogo" kiosk in Office Depot stores that allows Joe Consumer to design their own logo or business cards etc. Think about it, they have the computer end covered being HP and the design side would be facilitated by the Toolers. So this business model is possible because of designers willing to create the low grade content this type of system depends and thrives on.
And to further complicate the matter and confuse the general publics perception of what we do you have so-called industry leaders like Paula Scher creating prefab design templates for the owners of Logoworks.com.
Which brings up the obvious question "Would Paula design a logo for $299?"
Toolers are to these sites, what a moth is to a bug zapper. But to see talented designers cater to this problematic formula albeit sincere, are sincerely wrong.
Fast Food Design.
McDesigners Big agencies like Pentagram, Landor, Wieden Kennedy, Leo Burnett and others for the most part don't care about these issues, they think it's below them. They're too busy working for million dollar multi-national clients like HP. But the vast majority of the design being done in our industry isn't by big agencies for multi-national corporations, it's being done by boutique firms and designers like you and me creating for small business owners.
So Toolers whoring their design through sites like Crowdspring.com, iStockPhoto.com and Logoworks.com effects everyone including the big agencies whether they want to admit it or not.
Most of the major design publications have avoided any in depth and honest debate on this topic. Sure there have been a few sidebar articles but never once has any publication done a full-blown expose on this topic. And no surprise, just look at thier advertising and you'll see why. It caters to Toolers. At least the AIGA has attempted to address it in a general sense but they never bother to get too specific and name names, that is what blogging is for I guess?
The fast food design generation is here. So, would you like fries with that design? How about super-sizing your logo perhaps?
Toolers are creative comrades.
Creative Communism As I thought about what the editor had asked me to do, I started to think to myself "This isn't like you're drawing from thin air? You're just drawing from reference, so why try to short cut it by auto-tracing? It'll just look like crap and you'll never get it to be as well thought out or precise as you do from drawing it. Besides what they liked wasn't created by avoiding drawing."
It's like someone enjoying a wonderful meal at a nice restaurant, appreciating the eloquent cuisine of a gifted chef and asking for the recipe. The chef writes it down and they look at it and ask him to replace ingredients because it'll be too hard for them to cook. Of course this is an absurd request and if granted it certainly won't taste like what they enjoyed to begin with. It's not just the change in ingredients, it's also the lack of skill and craft involved in cooking those ingredients. (All analogies fail at some point, but you get my drift)
Creativity is all about exploring. If you don't fail, that means you're not trying hard enough. Some however seem to think a process shouldn't involve any risk? When sharing a process like my tutorial there is a mindset that thinks it should enable everyone to do it via some method that doesn't require any learned skill, just the knowledge of what to click next. I'd call that creative communism, red art if you will.
"If you view my tutorial and you determine that you can't do the drawing part too well, than the tutorial has taught you something. You need to improve on your drawing skills. That is what growing as a designer is all about."
Download "Stylized Portrait Illustration" PDF below.
Anyone Can Improve Their Drawing I think drawing is very important as a designer. Whether or not you ever want to be a full-blown illustrator or not isn't the point. Improving your drawing skills will make you a better designer period the end. You'll be able to take the intangible idea in your head and flesh it out on paper, it's that simple.
In the following video Milton Glaser discusses the importance of drawing.
When I spoke at the HOW Design Conference in Boston (I've updated my presentation since HOW) I made the following statement concerning the creative process:
"Our industry may be digitally driven but ideas are still best developed in analog form."
That'll never change no matter how advanced our technology gets. So step away from your computer, grab a pencil (It's that yellow thing not tethered to a keyboard), start drawing, stop whining, take some creative risks and see where it leads you.
PS: If you'd like me to present my step by step creative process presentation called "Illustrative Design" at your design event, AIGA group, AdFed group, Design School or program just contact me and we'll talk. (See top right side bar)
It seems that more and more people are getting tattoos or talking about getting one. This is great for the industry and even better for those who would like to get a foot in the door in the tattoo industry. But don’t think for a moment that becoming a professional tattoo artist is easy. There really isn’t any such thing as easy money by becoming a tattoo artist.
To begin with, you will need talent. You will never make it in the tattoo industry by tracing or stenciling, you will need to be able to draw great designs. To even get considered as a tattoo artist, a portfolio is needed. This will require you to draw until your hands ache and then a little more. Your portfolio is your proof that you have the skills that are needed to succeed in the industry. Without a portfolio, don’t even bother.
Once you have a portfolio to showcase your talents, you will need a mentor, someone who is willing to teach you the trade and share their secrets with you. Now this is the tricky thing, tattoo artists don’t like giving away their secrets. If you do find someone good, a real professional who is willing to tell you anything at all about the industry, listen up!
The fact that you are looking for a Japanese tattoo design shows that you know your own taste in tattoos. They can be wonderful choices for just about anybody looking for new ink. When you see this style, you rarely see generic artwork inked on people, but you still see it a bit too much. This should never happen to you and here is how you can make sure you are finding the best art available to you.
I am sure you know how great a Japanese tattoo design can look on the right people. You have probably seen great ones and you have most likely seen some that make you say "what the...?" There are many reasons people settle on generic designs, but most people don't even mean to. That's why you need to know these certain things about a lot of the artwork on the web, as well as how to find the great stuff.
The Japanese Dragon Tattoo is very beautiful and colorful tattoo design. It is also very mystical with its origins embedded in myths and folklore, adding to the appeal of the Japanese dragon tattoo.
The tribal tattoo art have a rich history of tradition, dating back thousands and thousands of years. Throughout the course of time, there has always been an important role of tradition and ritual behind tribal tattoo art.
Finding a tattoo for a woman online has taken on a totally different personality. Most females could easily find the fresh, quality designs they wanted, but those days are long gone. All most females get now is a list of low end galleries and they all have the same generic artwork that's been floating around the net for eleven years. Here's what you must know when looking for a good tattoo for a woman in this day and age.
