Creativity Exercises

They say that to keep yourself motivated and on your feet with creativity and the process of designing, is to do some short exercises to get yourself in the mood. I thought it would be a good idea to compile them all to one place so I could refer to them whenever I needed the boost.

1) Logo Design

Go to a crowdsourcing website, find a brief, and timebox each step of making a logo. You have twenty minutes to think of as many ideas as possible relating to the brief. Shoot and go!

2) Typography

Design a quote you like with typography and timebox it. You can use different typefaces, styles, and colours. Illustration is optional. (Instead of quotes, interesting facts can also be used)

3) Photomanipulation

Choose a photo from royalty free sites, and manipulate it in two different ways. Again, timebox for twenty minutes! You can change composition, add to it, subtract from it,

4) Album Cover Exercise

I've seen this floating around the web somewhere, and have attempted it myself a few times. First, generate a random article from Wikipedia. This will be the NAME of your band. Second, go to Quotations Page and take the last 4/5 words from the last quote of the page. This will be the TITLE of the album. Lastly, go to Flickr and the third picture on that page will be the main image. Put these altogether on Photoshop, and arrange it how you like.

5) Seamless Patterns

Make seamless patterns in illustrator, using type and illustrations of different elements. Follow a particular colour scheme if you like. Again, give yourself a twenty minute timebox.

Tips

>Using quick thumbnails on paper to determine the different compositions helps before moving to digital media.

>Timebox every step! It's really amazing how effectively this works if you do it properly. Though I gotta train myself to do this better >o<

The first two could ultimately become finished pieces, if you complete the exercise in the timeframe and then later decide to develop them further. In fact, if any of these exercises turn out better than initially thought, they could be building blocks for a more advanced design.

Sources

PSD Tuts

CD Cover Exercise

Stargazing Dog

It's really nice reading in the morning.

So peaceful, and its the time when no one is raising their voice beyond limits I can comprehend.

It's been a while since I had immersed myself from cover to cover with proper books. Even though they are graphic novels. I like being lost in the worlds for that little while, and even better if there is some deep meaning behind the story. It makes you think. Though, gotta admit too much thinking can lead to distress sometimes. But I feel with these books, it leads to a reflection about certain things in life.

I love trips to the library. The Graphic Novels and Art shelves are the ones I like to shoot straight for when I enter. Next would probably be Crafts, Psychology and the 000 shelves. A lot of the time, I take books home and then don't even find the time to read half of them. Totally different from when I was a kid. I would read every single one of the thirty books I issued. I want to change that. It was a different time then, though. Uncanny how there was more time without a broadband connection. There's also the fact that the internet wasn't as valued that much then. It was more like a luxury. These days its crucial to have the internet. Almost everything is available on the internet to access, and I think it made me take the library books for granted. Truth to be said, there is lot of quality in books that you can't always access via the net. The one way to realise this is to sit down, unplugged and sit in peace with the bounded masterpiece.

Oh, these first world problems! Everything uses the computer these days, its hard to get away sometimes ahaha. Once there was a powercut, and I couldn't find anything to do so I finally sat down and read some books I had on my shelf. There are entertaining things outside of the electronic space. It's just that the computer feels so easy and accessible. But maybe its just getting too easy to entertain oneself these days. Not that I don't enjoy anything offline, either. Just that its easy to get lost in "black time" (as one of my lecturers said) when you open the browser. Doing things offline also feels more fulfilling. I just ate my words, derp.

Anyways, when did I start ranting on about computer and internet ...

I was going to write about some books I have read!


Yesterday, I read "Stargazing Dog" by Takashi Murakami (creator of Ghibli films). The first page is rather solemn, and begins with an image of an abandoned car and dead bodies. It's a story about a man and his dog. The narrative follows the dog's point of view beginning from how he became part of the family, and follows his adventures with "Daddy". At some point in the story, the man feels like the whole world is against him. He sets off on a journey to get away from everything and be free. The dog is the only one who sticks with him until the end. Murakami was sending the reader the message about the human condition, and how it in this society, its all about survival of the fittest with the "adapt or die" mentality. It makes you think. This guy wasn't totally bad but he didn't want to change and it limited him, which led him to his misery because of what people began to think of him. After he left, his reason for his happiness was his faithful companion who stayed by his side no matter what. Hah, must be a reason why they say a dog is a man's best friend. A theme that could be addressed is that you have to change with society to a degree to be able to live a satisfying life in this world. I don't like to believe in this too much, but I guess you have to learn to adapt a little to what is needed but not change your whole self to the point where you change your values and morals. Fuck no. Another theme which I think is much more prevalent than the previous one is that as long as you have a faithful friend, nothing else matters but the precious time you spend together. The man didn't have anyone else but the dog with him, but because the canine was by his side, he felt like the last days of his life were happy. Such a touching story, sob.

HAPPIE YOU ADORABLE THING.

Dude, I want a dog now! *shot* But alas I am allergic to animals ... and afraid of going too close to animals in general. They are cute though oho *stares from far away*

Today, I read a book called "A Zoo in Winter" by Jiro Taniguchi. It's about this guy called Hamaguchi, who works in this textile company after graduating from art school. His dream is to become an artist, and he finally takes the leap when an incident at the zoo gets him in a bad position at work. So, he takes his friend's offer to go to Tokyo and visit the studios of a famous manga artist called Shiro Kondo. He is put to work right away, and starts living the city life and discovering the world of the artists. Well, don't wanna spoil this too much if you actually come across this blog and decide to read it too, hah. This story is a kinda autobiography of the beginning of the mangaka's life. It really gives a glimpse of what the beginnings of an art career could be like, and the social stigma it may have in regards of the people who are more familiar with a more secure career path. The themes in any story really capture my attention, though sometimes I end up thinking about them too much and get psytracked about how it can relate to my life then perhaps get to the point where I feel shitty. LOL I must be a masochist to even begin thinking about these things then! *shot* Unfortunately, it can't be helped sometimes. Anyways, one theme is that if you really give it your best shot at something you are passionate about, you are bound to get to good results, rather than if you didn't try at all. A variation of this is that if you dream it, and do everything in your capabilities to try and achieve that goal, you can do it! (Adding realism to Disney's quote) Hamaguchi went through a struggle phase, and he defeated this by working hard and taking inspiration from his life experiences. Books can teach a lot of things.

Cheers! Here's to reading more books.

That was one of my goals this year, after all.

Here's an inspiring quote that would be good to ponder about:

"The worse mistake anyone can make is being too afraid to make one"

Well, I think posting this is a mistake because I would never normally say this much out loud. It's rare that I share much of my thoughts in public, which is why it feels like a mistake. Even if its silly thoughts about the books I recently read.

But hey, my blog my rules! ^o^)v