When all is said and done, it is creating a new design that excites me most! Just playing with……stuff, and it doesn’t really matter what that ‘stuff’ is! I am equally happy working with paper, as I am with silver, or clay, or wood.
If you’re an artist, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Design is the thing that keeps us interested, no matter what our craft.
Working on a new idea; mulling things over in your mind, sketching and doodling in your journal, is always exciting, sometimes frustrating, but in the end when it all comes together, the best feeling in the world!
The things that I remember best from my days at art school, that are the informal design ‘happenings’ we had from time to time. These were generally not part of the curriculum, they just ‘happened’. We’d sit around talking about the work we’d done that morning, and then, to illustrate, our tutor would grab some thin card and quickly construct something to show what he meant, in 3D.
I still love doodling, drawing and playing with paper, it is how I like to design things, work out details, or just sit and play and see what happens! With all the new technology we now have at our disposal, another way of Playing has evolved, taking a photo with the iPhone, it goes automatically to the iPad & computer, where you can draw into the image or alter it any way you like for future use in your work!
In this blog I’m going to try and show you how I do these things, and if you don’t have a background in design, I hope I can show you how easy it is and that you can do this too. I think a playful approach to design works better than an academic one and that’s what this blog will be about;
- first you Play
- then you refine your Design (if necessary)
- after which you can confidently Create your final work!
I believe from watching many of my students, that most people have a good eye for design, (they know what they like!) but either they don’t trust themselves, have some fear of failure, or have no idea how to come up with their own original design and endlessly look for the answers in books and magazines. This is a vicious circle that leaves people more and more frustrated as their techniques continue to improve!
Now don’t get me wrong, I love my books & magazines, but only to ‘catch a spark’ get inspired, and seeing the wonderful work that’s being done by very talented people all over the world, never to copy, always preferring to find my own designs.
So, come along for the ride, I think it will be fun! Please leave comments, and let me know what you think, and if you make something wonderful with what you’ve learned here, let me know, send me a picture and I might put it in the gallery:)
Okay, that’s enough talking, let’s PLAY!
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