Inked. My brush pen exploded. Now I have inky fingers.

WIP on a show piece for the end of April. I’ll probably be asked to walk the plank for sharing this with you, but I’m super excited about it.

‘A Game of Design’ sketch and inks

Having updated the website, my attention is back on something I’ve been trying to wrap up for a while now. Here’s a peek…

Remember those sticker books when you were young, where you’d have a blank environment which you could peel and stick your own scene with?

This is a lovely little promo from Nintendo that I received in the mail today, cleverly drawing on that nostalgic notion and at the same time promoting the in-game mechanic.

Took the mother and pup for a walk. It’s like Hoth out there today.

Design Week Blog 20/12/12 - The Potential Experiment

Let me paint you a picture of a sci-fi landscape in an interdimensional universe in which an alternate reality version of yourself is doing great things - designing a website for the president, creating a range of hats for dinosaurs, having a home studio hub in a tree house - the good stuff! How can we make sure we are that person?

When we make decisions there are always a number of variables to consider and adjacent possibilities attached to them. In the grand formulae of a successful creative career, a basic rule to have for one’s self is to always take a positive step in the right direction, leave no door closed. Everything you do as a creative type acts as a catalyst for whatever comes next. All the while you are improving, investing your time while you can to become better and therefore realising your full potential. The explosions of success are not easily obtained however. Some days only blue froth will seep from the design beaker labeled ‘almost’.

When you’re presented with a design path to traverse, filled with potential, it will most likely require some careful steps of experimentation.
In a relatively objective way, it’s about improvement by doing smaller things, the smaller experimental projects formed from your own curiosity. You can learn through repetition, being intrinsically motivated to try and find the best way to accomplish a creative challenge, though not necessarily concerning yourself with the actual repetition of a task. Think of it more as incremental focused knowledge or, becoming an ‘expert’.

Isn’t that the most exciting thing about being a creative? You start with nothing and slowly accumulate evidence of thoughts and experiments until your cauldron serves up the golden concoction - an idea that works! Failure should not be a beast to be afraid of. As a designer, failure is a friendly specimen as it highlights weakness and makes you more objective. Even a failed attempt is a small success in itself, and with each of these smaller increments you’re constantly creating a base foundation of experience, which statistically and scientifically will result in the achievement of a larger positive goal.

Experiment with your potential, otherwise in the back of your mind you’ll always know that out there in the cosmos, through time and space, there’s a version of you that did take a positive step in the right direction when you thought you’d play it safe and choose not to cross the proton beams.

http://www.designweek.co.uk/industry-voice/the-potential-experiment/3035775.article

My lion has joined the undead. Happy Halloween!

Design Week Blog 28/8/12 - Great ideas are just around the corner

It’s just not working. The arms are too long. The composition angle is off for some unknown reason. And the hands… don’t get me started on the hands.

That was an hour ago. Since then, I swallowed my pride, set an injunction against illustration coming within 100m of me and I got a quick divorce from design. I left them in pursuit of a new career in walking the leafy summer streets of self-loathing, and before long I had completely forgotten about their existence. Momentarily.

Suddenly the crunch of a snagged pencil shaving on my shirt rubs against my hand, acting as a catalyst to bring all of the memories flooding back. The arms, the angle, the hand - that’s what I should do. Gosh, why didn’t I think of that before!

We’re always looking for the ‘click’, the eureka moment. Unfortunately, a lot of the time ideas just don’t happen like that. Inspiration cannot be forced; inspiration finds you. Ideas strike us out of nowhere usually when we least expect it. This goes for the majority of mediums within the design cosmos. Think of it like Cupid’s arrow, but more constructive.

During and in between briefs you need some breathing space. This is how I have been able to overcome a creative block or what is commonly known as ‘one of those days’ where, in my case, I couldn’t draw anything.

In a situation where nothing is working out, it would be advantageous to distance yourself from the project at hand. Whether it’s taking 10 minutes to remember that you’re not a cousin of Edward Scissorhands with Wacom styli for fingers, or taking a week off to go rock pooling in Devon to find your ‘inner sanctum’, it’s essential to allow your mind some time off to digest everything. It’s here within our subconscious that these inspired moments occur. Doing a whole lot of nothing could be the best thing you do when you’re looking for a great big massive something.

What could you do differently? Maybe you’re taking the wrong approach. Are you stuck in a groundhog day of creativity (or lack of therein)? Get yourself out of that comfort zone so that you can feel the spark of urgency, where every idea feels more vital.

Before you know it, you’ll be having a walk with a trendy hot beverage only to find that the idea you’ve been looking for all day has been just around the corner.

http://www.designweek.co.uk/industry-voice/great-ideas-are-just-around-the-corner/3035139.article

Check out that insane box art from 1992! After 20 years, I finally have Turtles in Time.

Beautiful ‘Katamari Dance Party’ print by Matt Taylor.

Kindly accompanied with a special birthday message for Katie Moth.