“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.”

This week’s Creative Mondays piece is just a nice reminder to myself. I’m only at the beginning of a big adventure and there’s so much still to learn. There’s so much inspiration out there and if you’re a budding designer/illustrator or creative person in general then I’d suggest getting yourself on Twitter and explore the plethora of talent and knowledge. You can find me there @jasonwstanley

“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.”

This week’s creation ties in with another project I used for #7 of this series. This is officially my second entry into the Photoshop contest that’s currently running on PhotoshopCafe. This time the fake film is all about a robot designed to help and protect humanity. Something (as per usual) goes wrong and the robot turns on the people and begins a destructive rampage wreaking havoc on anything in his path.

Initially the idea was to create a film based on a robot that becomes the first to be accepted alongside humans. I had created the entire robot but purely by accident added the head onto this image and it struck me with more impact. I may decide to go back and attempt the original concept.

So here’s hoping this entry does well. I had a lot of fun experimenting with various textures and images. To pull it all together into one design was great!

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!

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 introduce something 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’m kicking off with this piece that I call ‘A Good Song’. From other designers that I talk to, music can be a huge inspiration and this phrase popped into my head as I was listening to some classic tunes last week.

Dribbble:

Dribbble is a great site for designers and developers that want to share work in progress (WIP) screenshots of their latest projects.

Anyone can become a member and explore the work of the site but to contribute you have to be ‘drafted’ by existing members. Dribbble states that this is to sharpen the focus on sharing interesting work while enabling the support and scaling of the site.

I can see great potential in Dribbble as most of the people I follow on the site are friends from other networks enabling me to see the kind of work they are currently doing. It’s also an interesting approach to give viewers a screenshot of what’s going on and not the full piece thereby showing off a community at work rather than just showcasing final projects.

Forrst:

Forrst is similar to Dribbble in the way that it’s a community site made up of designers and developers but purely focuses on the discussion of a piece of work.

Users are encouraged to post links, snaps, code or simply ask a question to try and draw comments or critiques from others within the same field.

Joining Forrst is also an invite only process but some work can be viewed by those not registered. I’ve only just started using Forrst but in that short time I’ve really come to appreciate the discussions and ideas bouncing back and forth. You will be surprised at how inspiring discussing yours and others work really is.

Behance:

I think Behance is perhaps the most well-known out of the design/developer networks currently online and it certainly feels like one of the most professional out there.

Essentially it’s an online portfolio for creative professionals across a variety of industries enabling users to showcase their work through other partner sites and industry-specific served sites.

The site is popular within the industry as it is used by creative companies and recruiters to find talent to hire.

To sign up you must request an invitation describing your creative work. Once accepted it’s simply a case of uploading your portfolio, sharing your work and connecting with others within the same field. There’s also a jobs section and a place for recruiters to post job vacancies.

It’s clear social media networks are here to stay as we all need a means to communicate with each other but what we’re seeing are niche groups that enable users to focus their discussion.

There’s a whole host of other networks out there including the big names but I think the important thing to do if you’re a designer or a developer trying to further your knowledge and engage with others is that you get into that discussion. Create work, share with others and discuss and you’ll be surprised about how much you learn and improve.

Click the image to see the full poster!

Okay, so I’m not really into labelling anything as ‘favourite’ but watching Inception I can see why people could call it their favourite film of 2010. It’s one of a few films that has come out over the past couple of years that has made sci-fi sexy and cool without having to ‘dumb’ everything down for the viewer. It’s also one of those films that by watching it a second time you can be ‘gifted’ with another great experience.

I sketched out a few early doodles and I was liking where the idea of tracing the name and the buildings was headed. On a large scale I mapped out the maze one section at a time until the full piece came together.

The idea behind this design was to create something simplistic at first glance but once you get closer you could easily get lost and keep looking to find new twists and turns. I kept the style very monotone to reflect the drawn out colour of the film.

- Jason