Retraction - Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer

Today, I unfortunately have to retract my previous statements and recommendation of Imagaine: How Creativity Works.  When I read this book I was impressed at the substantial scope of both the topics and people covered.  The comfortable pace and language made it an enjoyable way to learn about some truly fascinating ideas and, at the time, I appreciated the seemingly honest effort to objectively analyze the very personal and intimate moments of creation.  The most interesting part of the book (the part that hooked me at least) was the anecdote of a young Bob Dylan struggling with his own creativity.  As it turns out, the Dylan quotations in this opening chapter were fabricated and the entire validity of the book has been compromised. 

Though I am very disappointed that one of my recent favorite books has been discredited, I'm not going to stand on the proverbial soap box and berate Mr. Lehrer for making up these quotes, or lecture on ethics or the immorality of plagiarism (yes...even if it's with your own work).  Since the exposé he has made a public apology, resigned from his staff writing position at The New Yorker and jeopardized his own meteoric rise to journalism fame.  Furthermore, Imagine: How Creativity Works has been recalled by the publisher and has virtually disappeared overnight from bookstores, so I'm optimistic that the seriousness of this situation motivates him to straighten out these facts and be more accurate in the future.

Read the Tablet Magazine article for the full story as uncovered by Michael C. Moynihan.            

Marketing for the Visually Inclined

Do the tomes upon tomes of marketing theory books at the library intimidate (bore) you?  Admittedly, their are some very useful marketing books out there applicable to illustrators and other creative industry professionals.  But if you have a limited time budget, check out the Noob Guide to Online Marketing for an aesthetic info-graphic of a marketing campaign's life cycle.  You may just find it useful...or at least entertaining.  Enjoy!

The Education of the Economic Draftsman

Have you made the upgrade to Adobe® Creative Suite® 6?  If you have, there are many free resources on the internet that exhibit the new features that come along with the new software - simply perform a search on Google, YouTube, or take a look at some of the free videos available through Adobe® TV in the learning resources section of their website.  While providing valuable information many of the free tutorials out there, however, are either very brief or tailored to a very specific function of the software.  These tutorials can be useful if you're diligent enough (and have the spare time) to find an acceptable curriculum amidst the many insignificant and insufficient "walk throughs" available.  But don't get me wrong, there are many applicable and professional quality tutorials out there for free and I frequently reference them. 
   Another possible solution?  Perhaps purchase one or more of the many textbooks that highlight, in depth, all the ins and outs of CS6.  Retailing at $30-40 per book will get expensive but the trade off is potential expert level knowledge.  If it better suits your personal learning style, this direction may be a perfectly viable option.  If these books don't fit into the budget, there are also many relatively inexpensive options obtainable in the periodical or news stand section of the local bookstore.  One that I recommend is the Creative Suite Masterclass put out by the makers of Computer Arts (pictured above).  This particular publication covers Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and After Effects.  Lessons include brief overviews of the new features of CS6, the Top 50 master tricks for each program, in depth tool set breakdowns, and access to online video tutorials by industry professionals.  Note: This is a British magazine and the video tutorials are indeed performed by British design professionals - complete with very thick accents - so there may be portions of the tutorials that require playback to decipher what they are saying.  Also don't be distracted while reading as the British tend to favour the use of colour.  Priced at $25.99 (retail) the Creative Suite Masterclass can be seen as slightly pricy for a magazine, but if you look at it as a wolf in sheep's clothing...or a book in magazine format...the cost is easily justifiable.  If it's not your cup of tea..a-hem...there are many other publications to choose from.  Again, decide what works best for your particular learning style.
   The resources are numerous in this age of information and knowing, as they say, is half the battle.  The other half is positively applying this knowledge through experiencing and experimenting.  In comparison to picking out the proper learning materials, gaining a full understanding of the Adobe® Creative Suite® 6 is all about figuring out what works (and what does not) personally.  Persistently practicing will eventually lead to a comfort level that will make this particular software a very powerful extension in your creative arsenal.

Come and play at Illustration Friday!

Illustration Friday, the funnest creative website around, has recently undergone a make over.  Not only has the site itself gone though some changes, the formerly plain text emails have made the jump to more aesthetically pleasing and easily navigable HTML emails (complete with graphics, links, the weekly winner and, of course, the weekly topic).  So whether you're feeling bogged down or just want to have some fun, come check out Illustration Friday and participate in "a super fun weekly artistic challenge."       


 
*for those of us, including myself, who thought funner or funnest were unacceptable grammatically, here is an excerpt from my computer's dictionary.*

adjective ( fun-ner fun-nest) informal
amusing, entertaining, or enjoyable : it was a fun evening | what's the funnest part of wakeboarding for you?

Compositional Warm-ups, the breakfast of champions

My sketchbooks are arguably the most important resources available to me in and out of the office.  Consequently, no matter where I am, there is always my travel size sketchbook in my back pocket (unless of course I'm drawing in it, then it works better open and in my hand).

Some of my Moleskine® cahier journals (travel and large format)

I like to start everyday with some compositional studies over breakfast.  In this exercise, I use simple shapes (circles and squares) just to explore randomly assorted layouts and relationships within these patterns.  By eliminating subject matter, I can focus exclusively on composition getting into a mindset that will transcend into all other drawings and paintings throughout the day.  Taking this fifteen or twenty minutes to explore visual rhythms often saves me valuable time later when working on more complex images, creating a somewhat subconscious recognition of what works and improving the caliber and speed of the overall editing process.

Note how the shapes of these studies are very simple and often not developed in quality.  As stated earlier, these are purely exercises in composition to "warm-up" for the rest of the day.  I like to think of it as stretching before a run. 

For more in depth studies and lessons on composition I highly recommend getting your hands on a copy of the book Composition by Arthur Wesley Dow.            

13.1 Miles of Free Advertising

Issaquah, WA- The Taylor Mountain Trail Run was held this past weekend in the Issaquah Alps of Washington state.  A grueling 13.1 mile course was plotted out on which participants had the option of running either a 5 mile loop, a half-marathon, a full marathon or, for the truly insane, a 50k trail run (this being the half-marathon course twice plus the five mile loop tacked on after that).  Seeing as I am only partially insane, I opted for the half-marathon run and utilized the opportunity to get some free -but not so easy- advertising for my website.  So I made a t-shirt and hit the trail.

The Tee Shirt (pre-race)

   The single lane trail chosen for the race consisted of three river crossings, steep uphills (netting 2,000 feet in elevation), and treacherous downhills that took down even the most experienced trail runners.  In addition to the ludicrous topography of Taylor Mountain, typical Seattle weather decided to show up a full two days prior to the race, cascading copious amount of rain on the trail.  The final tally was said to be over an inch of rainfall, which when added previous rainy days, easily blew away June's monthly average in just 48 hours.  The result: deep mud puddles spent the day impartially splattering runners and trying to suck the shoes right off their feet.
   Here are some before/after pictures:

What my shoes used to look like.

Stretching out the legs with my "sponsor" gracing my shirt.

Two and a half hours later, legs cramping up at the finish line.

The mud covered shoes.

  
    Running the half-marathon, up and down the mountain, was a physical and mental challenge to say the least. In retrospect, of course, I had a great time slopping through the mud for a couple of hours; slugging it out against the terrain; motivated and determined by the desire to get the most mileage out of the mobile advertisement on my back. 
 

Cardboard Chromatics: An Economic Draftsman Story

  
Peculiar was the day in the Pacific Northwest.  Ordinarily consisting of the perpetual peppering of a light and misty rain, this day, the heavens opened up as a torrent of thick showers coupled with the ever elusive thunderclap.  The artist was feverishly working in his lonesome studio, with a thought slowly creeping up his spine...climbing and retreating...ebbing and flowing...alas, lurching into the back of his mind settling into a parasitic slumber leaving the artist had no choice but to stop working and track the order online.

Where are those supplies I ordered last week?

A moderately melodious, cannonade of click, tap tap, click clack emanated from the studio walls until a diminutive denouement...click.  A gloomy animated GIF performed its stationary spiral routine on the unnatural glow of the computer's bleak and vacant display of a browser window.  Loading...loading...loading...

The artist, all too familiar with the temperamental nature of his internet service during inclement weather, began cursing it under his breath as he set out for the journey down the hallway to reset the modem.  Creaking sounded with each step as if the floor boards were caught off guard by the sudden and unexpected burden of carrying the inhabitant of the house.  With the modem reset -and router for good measure- the artist began to make the trek back to the studio, floorboards groaning all the while, until an unfamiliar noise came from downstairs.  The artist stopped cold in his tracks effectively ceasing any complaints from the ground beneath his feet.

Footsteps!

ClinkClunk...ClinkClunk...ClinkClunk...CLINKCLUNK!  THUNK...BuMMP.BuMMP.BuMMP.BuMMP.BuMMP!

Another soul was rapping at the door.  The artist shook himself from the temporary paralysis that came on like a freight train with the sudden surprise of the pounding, nimbly tip-toeing to the asylum of his studio where his computer was just now re-establishing its internet connection.  Click...refresh...and the tracking information was promptly displayed......

Parcel delivery confirmed (left on front porch).

The artist, laughing at himself, calmly descended the stairs to retrieve the delivery, and rescue it from the deluge, peeking though the door's window along the way.  The truck (assuming that a delivery truck would deliver such things) was no longer present as the artist reached the door.  Clunking the deadbolt to rest, a new creaking sound introduced the sonorous storm, formerly known as the repressed resonance. Lightning flashed and a thunderclap (in full surround sound) engulfed the mere humanity of the artist as he gathered up the inanimate packages that lay at his feet.  Awestruck by the sheer force of a sound's ability to shake the seemingly solid earth beneath him, the artist slowly closed the door and punctuated the action with the re-clunking of the deadbolt.

With the storm effectively muted once again, the artist retreated to his studio with the three packages where he gleefully (almost too gleefully) sliced the packing tape with his box cutter to reveal the spoils of his new inventory.  Everything he ordered was laid out systematically across the work bench in neat piles contrasting the slapdash remains of the packaging materials on the floor behind him.  A growing sense of agitation, both at the mess he made and at the wasteful nature of the delivery industry, began to creep up the same avenue of his previous nagging inquiries.

Now what am I gonna do with you?

Box cutter in hand and a full-on maniacal sneer gracing his face, the artist approached the cardboard boxes and began to plunge the blade into the outer seams, slicing downward until the boxes lay splayed open on the work table.  The artist proceeded to methodically cut and slice the box into stacks of smaller pieces.  The cardboard squares and rectangles were organized, precisely stacked and filed away deep in the artist's hidden supply closet where they would stay until the artist called upon them...one by one...to be reused...as paint palettes.  One last burst of lightning fought its way though the half closed blinds of the studio; a distant roll of of rumbling carried the heavy rains out over the deeps of the ocean.