Category: Graphics

Happy New Year people!!!

In this blog post, I discuss ten ways to stay creative in 2014 and not get bogged down with the reality of getting back to a day job after the new year party is over.

1. Practice your creativity

Practice makes perfect so make sure you do keep practising regardless of your creative hobby. For my profession, I realise that I need to keep abreast of technological advances and also improve my graphic design ability to take the next level from advanced to a master’s. To improve my skills regularly I find websites like YouTube ( for free videos ), lynda.com and teamtreehouse.com a great source of improving your skill set and also improving your creativity as you will know what will and won’t work when designing websites and graphics.

2. 365-day sketch challenge

As you may know, I also like to create art as well as graphics, brands and websites but trying to find the time or inclination to draw and paint whilst trying to earn a living working 9 – 5.30 can be challenging. If you can allocate 30 minutes a day to try to create a sketch it will make you a better creative and probably cross over in your day job too.

3. 365 photography challenge

Those who feel they can’t paint ( although everyone can! ) or don’t feel they have time may prefer to point and click every day to record a special moment in their lives.

This is a great way to create a pictorial journey and with the advent of social media programs like Instagram it could be quite easy to keep a log book of what you are doing even if the highlight simply is washing the dog, or sending an email, it’ll make you look at mundane things in a whole new way, enhancing your creativity for that next project you think seems difficult to make exciting!

4. Challenge yourself

Have you become complacent and comfortable in where you are in life? Is your life becoming a bit dull? We all aim for comfortable living and able to do what we want when we want and living in a nice house with nice things is the dream of every living human but sometimes difficulties and challenges can help you advance yourself and your creativity more than being comfortable can. Setting some challenges or pushing yourself through difficulties will make you look at life and things slightly differently which will of course, once again, improve your creativity!

5. Study new things you’ve wanted to learn

Want to be an ice skater? Learn how to do it. Want to fly a plane? Do it! New experiences open up new creative avenues for you that haven’t been tapped before. Push your boundaries and be determined to learn something new you never know where new skills will lead you even if it isn’t directly related to creative professions.

6. Travel to new places

When you travel to new places it really does open your mind, my solo journey to Colombia a while back was an eye opener and this year’s travel to Norway and Mexico. Travelling opens you up to new people, new ways of living, new beliefs and new cultures and new art. These experiences will stay with you once you return back to your studio. The world is a huge and fascinating place and if you don’t at least attempt to travel to some destinations I believe it will keep your mind shut, they do say, ‘travelling broadens the mind’.

7. Believe in yourself and keep going

It is really easy to get demotivated, particularly in January, many people get the January blues straight after Christmas, it was so much fun and very relaxing but don’t worry, you will get over it!

To try and help you get over the feeling of sadness that the Christmas fun times are over put your favourite music on, get some positive vibes flowing and shake that booty, Stevie Wonder needs you!

8. Turn the TV OFF

Our lives are becoming more and more full of constant distractions! TV, computer games, smartphones, social media ( although handy for business I admit… ) and gossip…it is all endless! Take some Zen time and turn away all that nonsense and focus within, thats where the creativity resides and once you stop focusing on mind-numbing media you will find you have acres of time to improve your own skills and creativity.

9. Study the works of others

When it comes to painting and drawing I try not to study the works of others as it can influence the way I work myself but sometimes when the creativity is dried up it can be helpful.

Whether we like to admit it or not all creative professionals are influenced by each other and each creative develops a ‘style’ and usually in the style of something that has come previously by those with more experiences in life. It may not be an exact representation but studying other artists and designers that you admire it can help boost your own creative thinking and your own processes.

It really is not a bad idea to take elements of others’ ideas as long as you can add your own touch to the finished product ( and of course, you are not breaching copyright! ).

10. Do things that make you (and others) happy

It’s no rocket science to figure out that if you are happy it is easier to be creative and become motivated to act on your creative impulses and likewise when you make people happy, even a complete strangers, it is a feeling of satisfaction that you know someone is feeling good.

That positive vibes that you feel after your good deeds or just generally doing things that make you happy give you the motivation you need for the creative sparks to be ignited within you and who knows, helping others may just inspire your creativity and artwork in a theme for a painting or making a connection with a like mind you may even work together on a project!

How do you find your creative sparks when you have a creative block? Please share your own ideas of how you stay creative below.

Working in-house for MigSolv data centre & Migration Solutions consultancy I was required to design a large welcome screen digital advert that could be either still or animated. Realising that I had some time to create this design I decided to challenge myself to create a flash animation rather than a still image due to its ability to be more compelling to view than a still image. Continue “Monaco Datacentre Cloud Event 2015 Flash Animation”

I recently acquired some freelance work via Twitter from across the Atlantic where a Philadephia up and comping rapper required a digital painting for his new album. It was the first time I had really considered using Photoshop for digital painting and I knew how difficult painting faces can be using normal acrylics or oils but always up for a challenge and with nothing to lose I gladly accepted the challenge and began discussing the design brief that Max required.

Conversing over Twitter

Being in different countries and a few thousand miles apart separated by an ocean communicating through Twitter and email was a breeze. Max knew exactly the style of album cover he wanted, he had a vision and he explained to me what it was. Continue “BlackArt Album Cover and the design process”

When creating design elements everyone, no matter who we are has their own opinion of what works and what doesn’t, what is beautiful and what is ugly. Visual cues and hierarchy feel different for different people but you will find that the majority of people will be biased to one way of thinking or another. When you are just working between yourself and a client it can be difficult to reach agreements on what is beautiful and thus you need a third party to help make final decisions, that is where Desinion comes in.
Continue “Desinion get others opinions about your design”

Recently, when I was browsing the blog of a fellow creative I noticed their image was quite snazzy and I was fairly impressed alongside the excellent content that had been written by this person. As I reached the bottom I realised that they hadn’t in fact created the image themselves but used a website that allows you the use free images for blogs as long as you link back to their website. This website is Freepik.com.

Continue “7 Websites that gives ROYALTY FREE images for blogs and or graphics projects”

When I was doing a piece of design work recently I had a conversation with one of my colleagues who was adamant that you shouldn’t use more than one font per design. Now I respect the views of others greatly, in fact, the whole point of the design is to delight others whilst communicating key messaging. But this way of thinking, can be very rigid and lacks room for creative freedom which is important when designing anything. How many fonts can you use in your designs? I believe, sometimes, more than two!

Continue “How many fonts can you use in your designs?”

Lest we forget. I have been working in-house for MigSolv for the last two years now and have been asked by the board of directors to design something that could show our support and sympathy for the occasion with it being 100 years since the start of the first world war.

To begin I sketched a few ideas very basic to get my ideas out and then began constructing what I believed to be the best concept which is what this blog post will discuss in detail. Continue “Lest We Forget Graphic Art”

Pro-immigration or anti-immigration? It’s something that has been hitting the headlines in the UK since UKIP emerged from the dark recesses of middle earth, immigration has been flooding the minds and news reports of every British television channel, most of which, have a negative slant. This, my friends totally aggravates the living daylights out of me and for many reasons! In this post, I will try to discuss both the pros and cons of immigration but also how it affects a country’s productivity and creativity. Continue “Why being pro-immigration boosts a country’s creative powers”

You don’t have to be involved in the technology field to know that technology moves on and it moves on fast! In the three years, I have been practising web and graphic design I have seen coding and new devices appear on the market making the digital designer’s job harder each day. At times you will think to yourself I may get out of touch in my Industry. Don’t get left behind in design by creating routines and following simple steps…

Continue “How to make sure you don’t get left behind in design.”

When a lot of creatives read this blog title I imagine a combination of fear, disgust and anger will be running through their veins at the suggestion of such a thing but in all honesty, even though I am a designer and creator of branding there is a place to using templates. In this blog post, I discuss several places when and where it is okay to use a template for design of a new digital presence. Continue “Is it ever okay to use a template for design”