Posts Tagged ‘art’

Art, Design, and Inspiration

Friday, February 5th, 2010

I went to school as a computer programmer (and analyst); and yet, when I started creating websites, I found that design was integral to anything I had to do.

When most people think of ‘design’, they think of art and imagery. They imagine a creative spout of inspiration that makes something ‘edgy’ and new and good-looking.

That’s not design.
Design is the intelligent application of goals around limitations and road-blocks. When you design a page, you’re finding a host of different needs and working with what you have to fulfill those needs.

In this way, design is inherently different than art. Artistic expression is all about reaching into your mind and somehow sharing that with the world. Design, in contrast, is about studying every facet of your work to determine what needs to be done, and how to make it work the best it can. It requires intuition and intelligence and an uncanny knack for seeing every connection.

Next time you’re making something, take a moment to think about how it’ll be used, and who’ll be using it. A good design will take you to whole new heights.

Drawing

Monday, July 27th, 2009

I’m mainly a developer, but the artistic streak runs through my family. I was the only student in my grade, at my high-school, who stuck with band class until graduation. I sometimes draw. I was selected, for reasons I might barely understand (I was young) to be taken out of school for half a day each week or so to take art classes at the art gallery.

I have one defining piece, which I’d say really sums me up. In September of 2007, I decided I’d make drawing a hobby, or habit; whichever you choose.
I took a blue ball-point pen and some leaves of lined loose-leaf, looked on Google Images for a standard half-naked semi-muscular guy, split a page into four sections, and tried drawing the guy in the upper-left section. I shoved the image through a few filters to make it blue and white, so that it would resemble the pen I was using on the paper. It came out horribly, like some sort of headless mannequin resembling a human form only by suggestion.
I tried it again. In the upper-right section, I drew the same figure. This time, I managed to give him a head and keep him looking relatively human.
Once more, I drew the man. On the third attempt, he was shaded and properly defined and — I’d say — almost passable.
At that point, I got bored and left it.

And that’s how it goes. If I start something new, I can learn a tremendous amount about it in a short time, as long as I’m working on it. However, if I stop working on it, my skills quickly fade. I haven’t drawn since late 2008, and I’ve spent the last week tracing over circles and lines and figures in an attempt to relearn how to move my hand. I can already see a marked improvement.

My Definitive Drawing