Use your hands

This week I read through Chapter four of the book which is titled, “Use your hands”. This chapter really made me take a step back and think of how much I have changed in doing work from when I was a kid to what I am doing now. As this chapter talks about stepping back away from the computer and use you hands to get your creative process flowing. Being able to smell the markers and feel the clay and see things spread out on a big table instead of looking through a glass monitor screen where you lose all of these senses to be more creative. I think back from when I was a kid I was constantly in my dad’s wood shop building bed frames or nightstands to decorative birdhouses. I would start with raw wood plain it down sand it nail/glue it together then stain/paint it. I loved it and always had bigger better projects I wanted to do. Now I spend most of my time behind the computer screen from start to finish which kills my creativity. As this chapter suggest I am going to try to start all of my projects by hand even after the sketches are done. Cut paper up and over lap and use markers and paints to work with. And by not having the Ctrl U button to undo every time I make a mistake I will have to be creative to make the mistake better my piece. After this process is done then I will try to move to the computer just for the last edits.

The author suggest that we have multiple work areas of both digital and analog. I have mainly only been using my desk with all my computers, monitors, and drawing tablet as pictured below to do all of my work lately. My favorite place to go and work is out at my dad’s shop. He has every tool you ever would need for construction projects from table saws, planners, rotary sanders and so much more. He also has a full screen printing shop as well as heat presses and vinyl cutter. There is also a CNC machine that will engrave or cut anything using computer software and they are looking to get a 3D printer in the near future. This is just a great place to work and play with ideas when it comes to almost anything. That being said I do not get the chance to make it out there that much so In the meantime I will be using my wife’s sewing and scrapbook room to have my none digital space. Also shown below.

My Digital Space:

My none Digital Space:

This is a small project I did without using the computer by using some stencils from my wife’s scrapbook stuff and some cans of spray paint:

This week I read Chapter three of the book “Steal like an Artist”. In this chapter it is all about making what you like not what you know. Do what you want to do and do it the way you would like it and make it better than the way it has already been done. They say when you love a piece your desperate for more and the more you create the better you will become.

In this chapter it also talks about writing a story you want to read and then apply it to your life and what your life would be like if you re-wrote it. I find this a very tricky subject as I feel like everything has a purpose in life and I wouldn’t want to change it because I would have missed out on great opportunities if I would have done other things. There is nothing in life I regret, even the bad things lead to life lessons. That being said I have always had dreams of jobs I wanted to do growing up that I never did and probably never will. Most of these are complete opposite of each other ranging from a farmer to a firefighter and here I am doing graphic design. The one dream job I would still love to do which happens to slightly relate to design, is to design and produce huge production stage lighting for musical concerts. Just being able to design a show that goes with the music to set the mood and use of color and motion would be awesome. So to answer the question I guess that is where my story would take me in the years to come if I was to re-write it.

If you have never put much thought into stage lighting here is a small video that shows just a bit of what can be done with lighting
Light Show

The last part of the chapter asks to do an exercise stating, “If all your favorite makers got together and collaborated, what would they make with you leading the crew?”, So the following has some references and inspiration followed by my final piece. 

Fake it until you make it, this is a quote most people have heard before and it is one that is mentioned in chapter two of the book I have been reading, “Steal like an Artist”. I have always heard this phrase and have always had a negative response to it in the past, but now that I think about it more I realize I have done it a lot in the past. You never want to start a new job and let people think you know nothing about it. I usually go with the flow and hope I’m doing it right while observing others as they work trying to emulate them. I learn from the mistakes I make but keep faking it until I make it to where I actually know what I am doing.

This chapter talks about this but for designers.  They say no designer knew what they were doing when they first started, nor did they know what kind of designer or person they were. But by following and studding a designer and copying and coping that designer and got to know how that designer ticks to the point you know the mind of them, this prevents you from stealing the style but to steal the thinking behind that style which is how you start to find how you work. But a big take away from this chapter is that you shouldn't just study one designer, you need to study multiple. This is to start making your own style using what you like from each designer.

This chapter also talks about the differences between imitating and emulating. They describe imitation being copying whereas emulating is one step further which is breaking through into your own thing. Which goes back to my last paragraph that after copying so much you learn the thinking behind the design so you can use that to make your design.

There is a chart on page 39 of the book that gives a good understanding between being a good thief vs. a bad one.  This mainly shows that a good one honors and studies the work giving them credit as you transform it whereas a bad theft would degrade and skim from one work and plagiarize as they imitate. 

The following is a piece of work from Armin Hofmann that I am going to try to emulate. 

I am continuing to read the book “Steal Like an Artist” and Kleon suggest that one should always be reading. Now if you go back and read one of my first blogs on here I wrote how reading is one of my biggest weakness because I don’t do much if any of it, so reading this is like a kick in the shin saying I really need to.  So I went to the library and walked around for a bit just looking for books that would interest me. I ended up with the ten that are shown in the picture right below this. They are not necessarily chapter or reading books but more of so I could pull a lot of inspiration for things I do and I didn't include just graphic designs but some that fit my hobbies as well.

There is a recommended reading list at the back of this book so I decided I would pick one of these to ad to my reading list as well and it is going to be “Ignore Everybody” by Hugh MacLeod.

The fallowing images are books that I someday would like to get a chance to read or read more of when I get the time I also tried to pick a few chapter books with this list.