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Pen & Ink & Pepper

June 13, 2019 by Douglas Bonneville

The Chilli Jive, Vincent Bal, Shadowology, 2019 from r/Art

Filed Under: Art, Made Me Laugh, Pen & Ink

Letterpress Prints for Bibliophiles

June 12, 2019 by Mary Bonneville

What artist wouldn’t love this job? New York based studio, Obvious State combined their love of books with their talent for illustration. Now partnering with Boxcar Press, they’re able to produce high quality prints on letterpress. Lovely!

The Bibliophilia collection is inspired by an obsession with the underlined passages in our favorite books. Snippets of text from authors, philosophers and thinkers are used as a springboard for a new idea and illustration.

black and white illustration - Virginia Woolf

black and white illustration - Oscar Wilde

Filed Under: Creativity, Drawing, Graphic Design, Illustration, Inspiration

Artists Treading in the Unknown; the Only Way to Growth

June 12, 2019 by Mary Bonneville

Austin Kleon’s little, yet powerful book, Keep Going, is making the rounds, and I can see why. It’s clever, inspiring, and full of insights from artists who’ve battled long and hard in the unknown territories of themselves. He says, “to change is to be alive.”  And yet, culture is harsh with those who are struggling upstream, vouching it’s weak to change your mind, or defend your current view points till death. But, nothing alive is stagnant, and the inability to bend is to be dead in the water.

Kleon writes:

When was the last time you changed your mind about something? We’re afraid of changing our minds we’re afraid of the consequences of changing our minds. What will people think?

…Uncertainty is the very thing that art thrives on. The writer Donald Barthelme said that the artist’s natural state is one of not-knowing”

…You start each work not knowing exactly where you’re going or where you’ll end up. “Art is the highest form of hope,” said painter Gerhard Richter. But hope is not about knowing how things will turn out –it is moving forward in the face of uncertainty. It’s a way of dealing with uncertainty. “Hope is an embrace of the unknown and the unknowable,” write Rebecca Solnit. To have hope, you must acknowledge that you don’t know everything and you don’t know what’s going to happen. That’s the only way to keep gong and the only way to keep making art: to be open to possibility and allow yourself to be changed.”

Filed Under: Art, Creativity, Graphic Design, Graphic Design Books, Inspiration

Typographical hierarchy, spot on

June 12, 2019 by Douglas Bonneville

Visual hierarchy perfectly illustrated from r/web_design

Filed Under: Typography

Creativity, remote work, and working for yourself

June 11, 2019 by Douglas Bonneville

Creative, highly specialized, remote work is the future. The new millionaires will be those who adapt to this lifestyle. Digital nomads are already ahead of the game. The internet is truly the greatest form of liberation. @naval pic.twitter.com/3upDxTX0mT

— Jade (@JayBeDreamin) June 11, 2019

If you haven’t followed Naval yet, do it!

Filed Under: Creativity

Paula Scher Ted Talk; “Great Design is Serious, Not Solemn”

June 11, 2019 by Mary Bonneville

Paula Scher, designer of the Citibank logo, takes us on a journey of her career pointing out that her greatest successes came when she was having fun and taking risks. She noticed her work became “solemn” after gaining notoriety and consequently being obliged to keep up certain expectations. She shares the secrets to her greatest design, and encourages designers to gamble, play, and enjoy the ride.

My work is play, and I play when I design. – Paula Scher

Filed Under: Creativity, Graphic Design

Illustrated Fable on Being Present

June 11, 2019 by Mary Bonneville

Here’s a beautiful book about living in the present moment by illustrator, Coralie Bickford-Smith.  Coralie is a U.K. based Designer who loves working with patterns and bold colors, primarily creating book covers for Penguin press.

About her own book she writes,

This is a fable about being in the moment and how the smallest encounters in the day are often the most beautiful. I can be guilty of ignoring these tiny beautiful slices of time because I am too busy getting on with the next task. And like the worm in the story I need to remember to stop, look and cherish these moments. This book is a timely reminder to enjoy the wonders of the world around us.

Living in the present moment Living in the present moment the worm and the bird Living in the present moment the worm and the bird

Living in the present moment the worm and the bird

Gorgeous … Bickford-Smith’s life-affirming artwork raises The Worm and the Bird to the stars – The Times

Absolutely stunning. A very sweet story with a touch of dark humour too. Wonderful. A fantastic book. – Chris Haughton, author of ‘A Bit Lost’

I love love love it, just beautiful. – Millie Marotta, author of ‘Millie Marotta’s Animal Kingdom’

I love it. A book to buy and treasure, for yourself or others. – Marion Deuchars, author of ‘Let’s Make Some Great Art’ and ‘Colour’

You can buy copy of The Worm and the Bird here. For more of Bickford-Smith’s inspiring illustration and book design, visit her website.

Filed Under: Art, Graphic Design, Illustration, Inspiration

Branding for Artisan Bread Shop Mitte Brot

June 11, 2019 by Mary Bonneville

We’re inspired by the work of Studio Barn, out of Istanbul. They’ve created especially beautiful branding for the Artisan Bread Makers, Mitte Brot.

The vintage inspired logotype and hand illustrated rooster, a significant symbol for time and dawn, became the backbone for the branding and different print materials.

Branding for Artisan Bread Mitt Brot

Branding for Artisan Bread Mitt Brot

Branding for Artisan Bread Mitt Brot

Filed Under: Graphic Design, Illustration, Inspiration, Logo Design, Print Design

Balancing Intuition and Thinking in the Creative Process

June 10, 2019 by Mary Bonneville

A good reminder for those of us who still think too much and drown out the creative voice within…..

The men of experiment are like the ant; they only collect and use. The reasoners resemble spiders, who make cob-webs out of their own substance. But the bee takes a middle course; it gathers its material from the flowers of the garden and of the field, but transforms and digests it by a power of its own. – Francis Bacon

bee gathering

Cara Enteles, Bee Polinating Apple Blossom, 2017

And, a bit less poetically, Guy Claxton writes about a study of creativity in “Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind”:

The study of creativity in many different areas shows that what is required for optimal cognition is a fluid balance between modes of mind that are effortful, purposeful, detailed and explicit on the one hand, and those that are playful, patient and implicit on the other. We need to be able both to generate ideas, and also to evaluate them. Intuition is the primary mode of generation. D-mode [deliberating mind] is the primary mode of evaluation.

From an excerpt by English poet Alfred Edward Housman as he articulates his creative process using a balanced mix of intuitive and conscious effort (applicable to all artists, of course…):

Having drunk a pint of beer at luncheon… I would go out for a walk of two or three hours. As I went along, thinking of nothing in particular, only looking at things around me and following the progress of the seasons, there would flow into my mind, with a sudden and unaccountable emotion, sometimes a line or two of verse, sometimes a whole stanza at once, accompanied, not preceded, by a vague notion of the poem which they were destined to form part of…When I got home I wrote them down, leaving gaps, and hoping that for their inspiration might be forthcoming another day. Sometimes it was, if I took my walks in a receptive and expectant frame of mind; but sometimes the poem had to be taken in hand and completed by the brain, which was apt to be a matter of trouble and anxiety, involving trial and disappointment, and sometimes ending in failure. I happen to remember distinctly the genius of the piece which stands last in my first volume. Two of the stanzas, I do not say which, came into my head, just as they are printed, while I was crossing the corner of Hampstead Heath between Spaniards Inn and the footpath of Temple Fortune. A third stanza came with a little coaxing after tea. One more was needed, but it did not come: I had to turn to and compose it myself, that was a laborious business. I wrote it thirteen times, and it was more than a twelvemonth before I got it right.

As creatives, it often seems we try and forcefully recapture creativity or an idea when faced with the famous white canvas or blank screen. Maybe it’s during these times that we get off our duffs and go for a thoughtless stroll, or make a tea and play with the cat in order to allow something deeper than the intellect to percolate and bubble up in its own time.

 

Filed Under: Art, Creativity, Inspiration

Be patient with creativity

June 10, 2019 by Douglas Bonneville

Just like nature. It will happen when it supposed to happen

Opportunities, ideas, timing run on their own schedule,not on yours

For that reason i love ?@naval?’s quote. Impatient with actions, patient with results
?@morganhousel? is too good https://t.co/RsTpM1U7NJ

— Shiva Singh Sangwan (@shivassangwan) June 10, 2019

If you aren’t following @naval?, you probably should check him out!

Filed Under: Creativity

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