the mehallo blog. beta.

Line art by Steve Masseroni

gurus plant ideas
Steve Masseroni is an incredible artist I knew in high school. He was dabbling with working for Marvel Comics at the time, but set out in his own direction. In a afternoon critique in 1985, he gave me his favorite brush and a few tips on being an illustrator.

This was before I realized I was going to be a graphic designer. I was still concentrating on inking techniques and developing my illustration vocabulary.

Which after many years of trial and error, today I use Sumi brushes, a few different glass pens and a broad edged pen (typography influence, of course) or just work directly from pencils (the small Spalding pencil helps with playful, quick swooshes). But those are just tools. Like the buttons on a Macintosh.

Tang, by mehallo, 2003

the thinking
One thing that stuck with me was the importance of working when you’re in the right mindset. We talked about that a lot. Otherwise, you’re just spinning your wheels. Or producing  . . .  without your heart behind it.

Paula Scher talks about all this in this TED video. She defines it as ‘solemn’ vs. ‘serious’ – serious play being where the true creativity occurs:

getting there
How does one get to serious play? Is it even possible once we’re adults? Personally, I trick myself into getting there – to get as close as possible. I liken it to being a method actor. I’m a method designer. I need to get to the right place. A visit to the right bookstore, nightclub, a drive thru the delta, a trip to LIMN – all work to get me in The Zone.

My work space is set up with music, movies, TiVo and books at my fingertips; ffffound! and other resources. Getting in The Zone isn’t hard, but multitasking once there – designing for a financial company while doing a tee for a band – not the easiest thing to accomplish.

(Personally, I’m into ‘mono-tasking.’ Here’s a dang good blurg on why it’s gooder.)

But environment is very, very important. So trial and error ‘play’ can take place – some of it becomes solemn, with serious dancing around – sometimes at the forefront, sometimes not; keeping in mind true creativity doesn’t always lead to good communication. That’s the kicker.

creativity is, by nature, weird
I was called ‘weird’ by someone just last week. And my reaction was, yeah? If you only knew  . . .

For more on work habits of creatives, Johno at I Love Typography retweeted this article on writing a few days back. It’s what got me thinking about this.

Creativity works in strange ways and tis best if the general public doesn’t find out too much about it.

‘To retain respect for sausages and graphic design, one must not watch them in the making.’ -Otto von Bismarck

It really is something like that.

tags: art, design, illustration, thoughts // 2 comments  . . .