Use Your Hands

After reading Chapter 4 of Steal Like An Artist I kept thinking of all the true points the author had. Austin Kleon is absolutely right when he says that computers are alienating us from using our body to create things. He is right when he says that you never really get to touch things until they are printed and all you ever really use when designing is your mind because you're stuck sitting on a desk. I think that getting away from a computer desk can help generate ideas and the main reason you should use your computer is to edit your ideas. I think that engaging more of your senses through things that are more physical such as sketching your ideas will save you time as well as help generate more ideas. When you also incorporate things like the sound of music you are more involved in your process and it doesn't feel as boring. The reason a computer is not good for generating ideas is because they aren't as easy to start over on. For example, with sketches you can simply just turn the page and start sketching again. On the other hand, with a computer, you have to be more detailed and it just simply works better for editing ideas you sketched out. 

PROCESS

FINISHED ART

Go Make That Stuff

Chapter 3 of Steal Like an Artist can be summarized as motivation. The author, Austin Kleon, writes about the importance of being yourself. He writes about the importance of doing what you want. What I got out of it was pretty much inspiration to the things I want to get done started. The author says to write the story you want to read. If I were ever to re-write my life it would possibly be in a bigger city. I come from a small town of 3000 and I believe that living in a bigger city would also mean their would be bigger opportunities. In this story, I would hope my career as a graphic designer would take off. I would want to have enough experience to work for a big corporation such as Nike or Adidas in the future. I don't think I would change many other things about my life besides the place where I live because of the opportunities.

Dont Wait Until You Know Who You Are To Get Started

The author, Austin Kleon, brings up many important points in Chapter two of Steal Like an Artist. An important point mentioned that struck me was when Kleon writes that the act of making things and doing work is the way that we will figure out who we truly are. He is absolutely right, we must know ourselves and what we are capable of to truly figure out who we want to be. For example, some people may not be capable of dealing with hurt people so they should not become doctors. A positive example would be someone who is very creative, they should dedicate their creativity in the Art field. Another point that I got out of the reading was that is okay to copy. Its okay to copy how others work, act, or even think. Copying can lead to the development of even better works and ideas. In life there is good theft and there is bad theft. Good theft includes, honoring, studying, and transforming what once was. Bad theft includes degrading, stealing from one, plagiarizing, and imitating. Basically, what the author says is that we need to give credit to the people who deserve it.

You must understand where a style is coming from in order to steal the thinking behind a style. It is also possible to do so by not imitating a work. You can steal the thinking behind a style by starting a different project with similar characteristics of the style you were inspired from. Imitating is copying oneself after and emulating is trying to be as good or successful as something or someone else.

A way to emulate my mentors work is by studying his style. Studying his background, his inspirations, and his way of thinking. Herb Lubalin is known for many clever logo creations and I take great inspiration from his work. When designing my logo for project 2 I took the time to study his designs and tried to be clever. A way I did that was by designing a 0 on a horizontal plane to look as if it was buried underground for the program Ground-Zero.


Inspiration:

Creation: 

Books

Ive been asked many times what my favorite book is. Can I answer that? Honestly, no. I find myself telling myself I should read a lot more than I do but I live such a busy schedule that I don't find the time to fit reading in anymore. The author of Steal Like An Artist, Austin Kleon, states that there is magic in being surrounded by books. It is true, there is so much more you get from reading a book than from watching a movie. Reading develops the imagination and the mind. It is such an important activity that I plan on getting back to soon. There are many books I wish I had time to read and will surely check out further in the future. These are some of the books that I look forward to checking out.

Pricing Estimating & Budgeting - Theo Stephan Williams

Chip Kidd: A Kidd's Guide to Graphic Design

Lubalin - Adrian Shaughnessy

Workbook38

Animation Unleashed - Ellen Besen

The Art of Pixar - Amid Amidi

I want to read these books for various reasons revolving around graphic design. The reason I want to go into depth on Pricing, Estimating, and Budgeting is because I don't have a good understanding of what to charge clients for designs. I also don't have any idea the cost to print things and those are a few of the things I plan on learning from reading this book. After reading Chip Kidd's books I hope to have a better understanding of how he approaches his designs and what he gets inspired from. I think he is one of the best book cover designers and I hope to find out more about him. I also want to learn more about Herb Lubalin. I know that he works with communicative typography but I want to learn more about his works and influences. The reason I want to check out the Workbook38 is because I saw some brilliant designs that I hope to use as inspiration in the future. I hope to learn a lot more about animation this semester so I am planning on checking out the book Animaton Unleashed and The Art of Pixar. I saw a lot of interesting things from flipping through these books and I know reading them will benefit me a lot in the future.

On page 20, the author quotes John Waters as saying "nothing is more important than an unread library." I agree many times we should find ourselves separating and collecting books to read for later dates. I have seen many books that have been turned into movies that I have never read and hope to soon. A couple of the books that I plan to read in the future include: 

My research for project 2 includes: