So another year is upon us and here’s hoping it’s going to be a good one! I felt that 2011 was the year I made my real start on this site and pushed my creativity to a new level. 2012 will be all about that and more.  To all my family, my friends (new and old) and to all those that check out my site I’d like to wish you a Happy New Years and all the best for 2012. Let’s make it awesome!

“What is Creative Mondays?

Monday’s are always a drag. The start of a new week, you have to go back to that routine of going to bed early/get up early. If (like me) you have to commute then you prepare for that long journey into work and that long journey back for the first time after a nice two day break.

So to kick off those lousy Mondays, I’m going to get my creative mind flowing in a positive way. Creative Mondays. A chance for me to show off something unfinished or finished that I’ve been working on throughout the previous week.”

I usually get a phrase stuck in my mind with the intention of creating something around it but never follow through with the idea. With the help of Creative Mondays I have a feeling that a great deal of work that will pop up on these posts will be representing just those phrases!

Would be nice to keep all my ideas in a container that I could just sprinkle out and complete a great artistic recipe!

This week’s Creative Mondays piece comes from a project I heard about on Twitter earlier in the week. The project created by @ph7labs entitled Illuniverse enables artists/illustrators to submit their own created planets onto a website showcasing their work. The aim is to create an entire universe with a variety of different styles.

The project seems to have taken off pretty well and you can already see a nice selection of styles from artists around the world. As an added bonus, each planet links back to it’s creator’s website and serves as a brilliant resource to explore a very creative collection of people!

What’s great about this project is that it’s an open idea. The brief is very open leaving you to create pretty much anything you want!

My first planet (I call Reddy) was an exploration from scratch. I sketched out a circle and drew whatever came into my head. I then worked on fleshing the planet out in Photoshop and the result seems to be some sort of red dripping spotted planet with a double halo ring!

The idea for my second planet was an homage to a scene from The Empire Strikes Back where Han Solo and his companions land the Millenium Falcon on an asteroid in an attempt to escape from the Empire. I created this planet in Illustrator as I rarely work in this program and wanted to expand my knowledge. Watch the clip below to see the scene that I’m talking about.

So I hope you enjoy these little guys and be sure to check out the entire collection over at Illuniverse.com!

“What is Creative Mondays?

Monday’s are always a drag. The start of a new week, you have to go back to that routine of going to bed early/get up early. If (like me) you have to commute then you prepare for that long journey into work and that long journey back for the first time after a nice two day break.

So to kick off those lousy Mondays, I’m going to get my creative mind flowing in a positive way. Creative Mondays. A chance for me to show off something unfinished or finished that I’ve been working on throughout the previous week.”

Here’s my second installment of my ‘Creative Mondays’ project and this one is for all those ideas that are boxed up waiting to be released into the internet wilderness. Wanted to mess around with one texture (the wood) and see how far it would take me. As the idea grew it became a box with hinges and a little handle! Was fun to create something from scratch and let the idea take shape.

The wood texture can be found here.

For me, when I stumbled upon this image I was taken back to when I was younger, looking at images of the planets and our solar system, thinking about how far our galaxy reaches and what other life forms (if any) also exist. I’ve always had a fascination with space and the statistics that we were taught about growing up. How far each planet is, how big each planet is in relation the list goes on.

This image taken from the National Geographic website fascinates me in the same way that I was as a child. I love looking at the detail, following the lines and working out each destination of every mission.

To see the hi-res image click here.

More details from National Geographic:

The first attempts to reach Mars (1960) and Venus (1961) failed, yet triumph followed quickly. Of nearly 200 solar, lunar, and interplanetary missions depicted on this map, most have been Earth’s closet neighbours. As rocketry, navigation, and imaging have become ever more capable and reliable, the planets and many of their moons have been examined in detail. The New Horizons mission to Pluto is under way, as is the MESSENGER mission to Mercury. Others not yet launched, perhaps not yet dreamed, await.

- Jason

Click to see more and also check out his website SCOTT CAMPBELL

- Jason