I have been getting inspiration lately from title sequences. Right now, obviously, would be a great spot for some examples or even links to examples. I got none of that. I will say though, that the title sequence for the show “The Good Guys” is so good (honestly good show too), and the title sequence to “Step Brothers” is also very good. There is some insanely good art direction in some of these. Since I cannot show you any of the aforementioned, I included a storyboard frame (the one and only) of the title sequence for a movie* about a crime busting, karma upholding, cardboard tube by the name of “The Law”. Dude is bad-ass.
*Yes there is a movie, yes it will be posted. Yes it is dumb, but so freaking funny that I laughed so hard that the oxygen going to my brain was sufficiently cut off for 3 to 4 minutes. I should also proudly mention that “The Law” character was designed by Dustin _underscore Hamlin. Paper tie and all.
Drew this for my wife. It’s a Octopus (we like sea life A LOT. Hell, we got married in an aquarium). I think the little puffer fish is my favorite part though, he’s seriously relaxed cause nothing can hurt him when he’s all blowed up like that.
I was recently in China for 12 wife-missing, massive amounts of work having, Tsing Tao and white water drinking, Peking duck eating, language barrier filled days. What an amazing country. The highlight, of course, was seeing the Great Wall and climbing all 5000 miles of it! Photo by Brian Gagnon. Check him out, he does really good work.
Just like in training and nutrition, variation keeps the mind guessing and minimizes heuristics. In training, you run at an all out sprint for one minute, then walk for a minute and a half, then sprint for a minute, walk for a minute and a half. In nutrition, you can eat extremely healthily for 2 days, eat sensibly for 3 days, and eat a lot of calories on the weekend. This keeps your body guessing and doesn’t let it go into survival mode where it starts storing fat because it doesn’t think it’s going to get enough calories.
Similarly, when you always start your projects the same way, they get run of the mill. You go through the motions, lay it out in the same 3 column 960 grid, put the header in the same place, etc. Instead, let’s vary it up a little, when you’re in sketching mode, start with a 5 column layout, or (gasp!) without a grid. See what happens. You’ll of course make sure it works later, but by starting in a different way than you usually do you may unlock new and different ideas. Then design becomes fun again.
What are some techniques you use to overcome creative block?
I’ve been working on this 10 by 18 inch poster everyday for the last few weeks in the couple of minutes between my pressing power and my laptop actually turning on. The stipulation was that I stop drawing as soon as I got the “Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete” to unlock screen. Species represented include: Giant Squid, Mahi Mahi aka Dolphinfish, Tigertale Seahorse, Giant Octopus, Humpback and Gray Whale.
Anybody else overwhelmed with gigantic list posts? I’ve honestly only done one, and it’s short. There is so much information available on the net these days, how about a little simplicity? Don’t get me wrong, I am the type of person who craves information, I love to learn everything about subjects I’m interested in. But when I see a tweet with a link to “One hundred and thirty-one thousand stunning WordPress tutorials every designer must know”, I get a sense of distress similar to driving in the car, lost, late for an interview, with the low fuel light on.
What if we cut some of these down and focused a little more on art direction, information hierarchy and conceptual thinking? Everybody is saying how to execute, but few are asking why. How about, “Two examples of using a Photoshop vignette effect to increase user understanding”, or “3 ways to cut heuristics and refuel the creative process”? Just a thought. What do you think? Am I completely wrong on this and in need of serious therapy? Or should I start writing “3 ways to cut heuristics and refuel the creative process”?
This is abso-freakin-lutely incredible. It was made by a talented director named Sam O’Hare, who describes it as “A day in the life of New York City, in miniature.” The tilt-shift effect was done in post, and the time-lapse effect was done by compiling 35,000 still photos! I love tilt-shift, I love time-lapse, and I love NY, so obviously I love this…
The Sandpit from Sam O’Hare on Vimeo.
Original Music: composed by Human, co-written by Rosi Golan and Alex Wong.
For a description of the shoot, camera, lenses and workflow, please see here
Never have I had such writer’s block than when faced with trying to think of something witty/relevant to display on bigassmessage.com. At any rate, here’s what 8 minutes of pre-coffee thinking will get you. My take on timing(note: not witty or really relevant. Also, the link opens in a new window — click on the big ass message to try your own).
I have been getting inspiration lately from title sequences. Right now, obviously, would be a great spot for some examples or even links to examples. I got none of that. I will say though, that the title sequence for the show “The Good Guys” is so good (honestly good show too), and the title sequence to “Step Brothers” is also very good. There is some insanely good art direction in some of these. Since I cannot show you any of the aforementioned, I included a storyboard frame (the one and only) of the title sequence for a movie* about a crime busting, karma upholding, cardboard tube by the name of “The Law”. Dude is bad-ass.
