Bit of the ordinary, Design Stuff

A look into my Daily Practice

I began this year with a resolution. I usually don’t do New Years resolutions. I believe that if you want to change something, you should just do it and not wait for a certain date to begin.

But this year I began with a goal, one that have not been able to keep up with. But the goal was to draw every day. I kept up with it for a week. Once I started up on campus, my daily sketch dropped away.

But I have been trying to weave daily practice back into my routine. There are two of them below.

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I think drawing is an important part of looking at the world around you. And the only way to improve a skill is to use it constantly. And drawing is a skill I want to get better at. Lately I have been drawing with a pen rather than a pencil. I do this to break out of the usual habits. I usually sketch in pencil. But that always looks the same. How do I change that? How do I come to the same page with fresh eyes? My answer is using a different tool. It has been a change too. Not being able to erase, having a limited range value to draw with has made me think more before setting the pen to the page. Which is good.

Now the hard part is to keep doing it everyday.

Bit of the ordinary

“World War II on a Paradise Island” – Can you say South Pacific Research?

Found this online:

Rare color photographs of a moment lost in time, faraway from home in a tainted paradise. Buried in the bowels of the LIFE archives, I stumbled upon this unique glimpse into the island life of American soldiers stationed on the Tawara Atoll, located in the Gilbert Islands of the Pacific Ocean. Captured by photojournalist J. R. Eyerman in 1944, the year before the war’s end.

via Messy Nessy Chic.

It is an amazing glimpse into WWII life that would be perfect visual research for a production of South Pacific.

3dScan/Print

The Archetypes Burst In, Illustrated | Cosmo Wenman

I am back from the latest USITT conference. I still need to write up that experience. But in the meantime, A person I follow on twitter, Cosmo Wenman, posted this great link about bronze casting off of 3d prints.
He sent a link to part of recent presentation of his called “The Archetypes Burst In, Illustrated”. Really cool stuff.

My print is about 1:14 into the movie. One of the exciting things about this technology is that is essentially just a tool for creativity. Everyone that sees it sees possibilities.

Bit of the ordinary

Four guidelines from Scott McCloud

Great talk by Scot McCloud, who is comics artist and author. Watch his talk below:

And what Garr Reynolds pulls out from the talk is exactly what resonated with me:

What Scott is saying is that there are many ways to pursue a vision based on what can/may be. People are doing this in science, the arts, politics, personal endeavors, etc. What it all comes down to, says scott, is this:

Learn from everyone

Follow no one

Watch for patterns

Work like hell

These four guidelines will take you far indeed as you create your own life story. via Presentation Zen: Scott McCloud: Presenting comics in a new (media) world.

Four guidelines to follow.

Bit of the ordinary

A Story of the West Side before Lincoln Center

Great research for anything happening in NYC in the fifties or of course for West Side Story.

“New York stands on the threshold of a brave, new era in the performing arts,” lead a New York Times article in April 1956. “An integrated center to serve the theatre, opera and operetta, music and dance is well into the planning stage.” To build that integrated center, of course, meant doing a little urban renewal: bulldozing the tenements, shops, and light industrial spaces spread out across coveted acreage in the neighborhoods of Lincoln Square and San Juan Hill.

via Ephemeral New York.

The photos are from the New York City Parks Department Archives.

the Blog of Owen Collins