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High ResolutionI have way too much fun with my burnable cds…..
Just an observation.
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Sam Roberts - Detroit ‘67
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Saul Bass on leaning to draw (apparently it’s Video Thursday…).
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Milton Glaser on acknowledging and accepting failure.
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Steve Jobs on Creativity
“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people. Unfortunately, that’s too rare a commodity. A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So they don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have.”
- Wired, February, 1996
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Random Thought for the Day
It’s taken me a while to figure out why I hate updating my portfolio, tweaking the layout, etc. For a long time, I dreaded those work days but never really analyzed why they drove me bonkers.
Turns out, I just have no desire to go back and revisit (or reanalyze) old projects. I find that I need to do this with every portfolio update because there’s the inevitable layout shift, which usually leads to the following questions:
- Does this image fit here well? No?
- Should I take a new photo?
- Which angle would most flatter the piece?
- How well does my type work fit in with the new image?
- Should I alter this one page to accommodate the change or shift the whole layout a bit so that it’s all uniform?
I know, logically, that this process is unending, but it drives me nuts. Client projects have turned out to be much more smooth, in this sense, because a single company or client has a general aesthetic that will be compiled into an overall piece. It’s fairly easy to sit back and decide whether or not what you’ve created goes along with the established aesthetic. My portfolio is a compilation of all these different aesthetics and begs the question “What should my overall aesthetic be? It needs to accommodate all these different styles but not overpower them. But I still need some sort of graphical voice, don’t I?”
I won’t delve any deeper into this only because it feeds into the larger concept of creative identity, which is something I’ve been thinking about for some time now.* Suffice it to say, that issue is much larger and more complex than what I’m willing or able to deal with today.
So we’ll just leave this as is….
*That post is still in the works. Keep an eye out for it, though. Should be finished and up soon.
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High ResolutionPortfolio Frustration.
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Of Monsters and Men - Little Talks
Good God…
On a separate note, this is the best comment from YouTube:
“Alright…who let Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros and Mumford & Sons form a supergroup without letting me know?”
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High Resolution“Once a little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved it. I answer all my children’s letters — sometimes very hastily — but this one I lingered over. I sent him a card and I drew a picture of a Wild Thing on it. I wrote, “Dear Jim: I loved your card.” Then I got a letter back from his mother and she said, “Jim loved your card so much he ate it.” That to me was one of the highest compliments I’ve ever received. He didn’t care that it was an original Maurice Sendak drawing or anything. He saw it, he loved it, he ate it.”
- MAURICE SENDAK (1928 – 2012)
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High ResolutionAPRIL’S TOP 5
Short list of things that grabbed my attention this past month and wouldn’t let go.
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1. 180ª South
• • The movie, the music, the subject matter - there isn’t really anything about 180ª South that I don’t like. Which is why it’s Number 1 with a bullet (or two….if we’re being really specific…).
2. The Protomen
• • These guys aren’t new but they’ve kind of brought on a second bout of enthusiasm in both my work and the Buffalo music scene. I can’t even really articulate just how jazzed I am that they’ll be up here in only a matter of weeks. I never say “Nerd Love” but if I did, I would certainly say it about this band. But yeah, I’m…not…gonna say that….
3. Traveling
• • I know, I know, I put this on January’s Top 5 list. I know this. Whatever. I was just dreaming at that point. I’ve got some weekends freeing up over the next few months which means I’ll actually have the opportunity to pursue this insanity. I don’t have any solid plans mapped out yet but I’m thinking some Boston, some Philadelphia, some Asheville (or OBX), and, if I’m REALLY adventurous, some San Francisco. My wallet and I are going to have to have a chat about that last one, though.
4. “Action” Movies
• • When I say “Action” movies, I mean surfing/rock climbing/spelunking documentaries. This kind of ties into numbers 1 and 3 in the sense that I am THAT person who watches rock climbing movies and thinks “Omigod, I want to do that!!” and who then convinces herself for a good hour or so that quitting her life for a year to pursue that dream is a legitimate impulse.
5. Freelance Illustration
• • Two things: 1 - I love drawing as a professional service. 2- I deal with maddening amounts of anxiety whenever I first start an illustration. It goes away once I find my zone but there is some very real and palpable fear in the first few moments after my pencil’s hit the paper. Anyone have an explanation for this?
ANNE MAUSER
Hi, I'm Anne and this is my blog. An assortment of thoughts, projects, observations, and obsessions, this site is my attempt to make sense of an illustrator's post-grad world. If you find yourself nervously navigating the waters of creative professionalism, or simply enjoy illustration, design and randomness, feel free to stay awhile and check out some findings from my creative travels.
