These monsters looked hungry for some cereal, so I made them breakfast cereal mascots.
I got nothing.
It happens every now and again. You feel it starting to take hold. You try to resist but once it sets in, it leaves you with nothing.
I started this blog not only to inspire others but to keep me creatively sharp. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve posted and that can only mean one thing. I am suffering from creative block. Apparently there is no known cure. It’s one of those “ride-it-out” things.
This graphic illustrates how I deal with creative block. I start out with nothing and then I end up counting the days until it subsides or I am finally inspired again.
I haven’t posted a Free Inspiration in almost 3 months. Honestly, I haven’t been inspired by the free photos that Shutterstock has been giving away. It’s not their fault.
A trickle of creativity hit me last week with this free photo.
I felt it was unworthy of its own post, but it made me laugh.
I can not stand this client. He know’s exactly what he wants but can’t put it on paper. He is demanding, impatient and belittling when it comes to my work. Did I mention he is also me.
I’ve always believed that the hardest client to please is yourself. I mean, I couldn’t even design my wedding invitations that my wife asked me to do. I was lucky that one of my designer friends was more than happy to do them for us.
Sitting down to design something for myself includes: procrastination, tons of revisions, beating myself up because, “it’s not good enough,” and eventually compromising by creating what I think is mediocre work.
I know the reason I do this is because when I design something for myself it will represent me. It’s just like when you want to look your best when you go out. I think this is a never-ending battle and it just comes with the territory of being an artist.
In all the years I’ve been doing graphic design I can only think of two projects that I designed to promote myself (with the exception of this blog heading). That’s right, two. These are just the finished projects. There are several more that I deemed to horrible to be viewed by the human eye.
Final thought: designing for yourself is torture.
This two screenshots of my portfolio are simple but the client was pleased enough to show it in a job interview.
This is a business card for my lifegroup that my wife and I lead.
I decided to flex my photshop muscle with this week’s free image of the week. I couldn’t get over the firey red hair of the model.
I just just made it more dramatic by replacing her hair with actual fire. Enjoy!
After joining the Data Flow in March I was asked to design a few marketing ads. Data Flow is in the middle of changing its image from a business form provider to a full service graphic design company, offering a wide variety of print and promotional products. The first ad ran in the Amarillo Country Club directory. I used vintage and modern elements to create a simple typographic ad.
This ad introduced our new custom clothing and apparel services. We offer everything from tshirts to dress shirts with you custom embroidery or screen print. I stuck with the theme of the first ad but brightened it up with a fresh blue. This ad also has our new logo where we dropped the “DF” circle.
Below are envelope stuffers that are enclosed with every invoice we send out. I resized our ads and printed them on 14 pt. glossed coated covers.
With these fresh designs it will be easy to get the word out about the new face of Data Flow.
This week’s free image from shutterstock is an alphabet of ransom letters. Here’s the only good ransom I can think of. Enjoy.
I got the chance to design a shirt for the 3rd annual Amigo’s Car Show. A quick google search will show several shirts featuring flames, metallic letters and multi-colored cars. Thats not exactly my style and I tried to get away from that.
The challenge what to design the shirt using only one color. So I went retro and tried to rise above all of the auto show design chaos.
The free vector on shutterstock featured several pairs of glasses. Some of them are instantly recognizable from film and television. Can you guess who?
Ah, the original Texas license plate. So simple, so clear. Nobody would ever want to change it.
1969 – 1983
Fast forward to 1991. A Texas flag was added to the plates.
1991
Let’s not stop there, lets put more pretty pictures.
1999
Ok now its starting to get out of hand, in 2008, there was a contest where Texans could choose the look of the license plate. These were the choices.
Well as long as they dont choose the one with script font and a weird 90’s corner scribble.
2009
Oh, God no.
I almost cried the day I had to put these on my car. I have heard these referred to as hideous, an abomination, and just plain ugly. While I keep my comments to myself, I’ll just let you decide whether you would pay the extra money not to put this on your car.
2012
Thank you 2012! Texas has learned the error of its ways and has returned to a much simpler time. I am counting down the days when I can proudly put this on my car. I might even pay the $7.00 to get it earlier.
Moral of the story: Simpler design is always better design.
beingtyler 