To “animate” means to breathe life into things. In these 5 exercises we make stones come alive.
(more…)Why do we like images?
(more…)How do I even begin my drawing? The secret to jumpstart our creativity is fun.
But how does that work?
(more…)Last summer, I found myself at a farmers market of a small town in Southern France. The air was alive with chatter and the joy of yet another sunny day ahead. I made my way through tourists, neighbourhood regulars and other early birds. To escape the buzz, I stepped into the nearby cathedral.
(more…)The emotional rollercoaster I experience in art supply stores can be summarised in one word: greed.
(more…)Great ideas are hard to find. Drawing makes it a lot easier. And fun. How?
(more…)No idea?
If we want to understand what a picture is, then we must look at the difference between perception and imagination.
(more…)Designers share a problem with politicians and business consultants: nobody knows what they are actually doing. I can shed some light on what designers do.
(more…)Why do some images support a text better than others? Let’s start with a quick example:
(more…)on the difference between seeing and knowing
The following exercises are a bit more advanced than the ones in the “Quick beginner’s guide to drawing”, and I hope you find them equally fun!
(more…)An ancient feud rages at the very core of your creative endeavour: The rational logical you and its fuzzy intuitive rival are in constant dispute.
(more…)6 drawing exercises to get you started right now!
The basic craft of drawing is about two things: you learn to control your hand and to see.
(more…)Some drawings look fresh and alive while others … don’t. What is their secret? Let’s look at cameras first.
(more…)Many creatives know this phenomenon: They start a new project on a promising topic with excitement, but when they can’t come up with an original idea instantly — they lose interest. They come to the conclusion that they picked the wrong topic. So they restart with a new topic, only to find out that the grass isn’t any greener on that side of the fence either.
Where do these commitment issues come from?
(more…)There is this forbidden question which many people would love to ask when confronted with a piece of art. And it goes something like this:
“What does the artist want to say with this piece of art?”
(more…)Ask: “Does it need to be done?”
Almost any creative person I know has to deal with heavy doubts in their process. And to a certain extent this might be an unavoidable part of our artistic lives. But I might at least pull one painful thorn out of your side: The question of whether your project (yes, the one from which you are procrastinating right now!) is good enough or not.
(more…)We are obsessive problem solvers. When we see something imperfect, our perception wants to figure out what is going on — we get curious. On the other hand, when something is too irregular or “crappy” we ignore it as irrelevant noise.
(more…)Pick a small topic for your creative project!
One of the biggest mistakes you can make in your creative project is to pick a topic which is too big.
As an artist and designer I keep making one mistake time and again. So if this article sounds like me giving advice to other creatives… it is actually an attempt to keep myself from making this mistake yet again.
(more…)