This month’s roundup comes to you a little early (gasp) and so is a little shorter than normal (double gasp) because I’m going on holiday next week. But don’t worry there are still plenty of great reads in there from some of the usual places (the minds of Austin Kleon and Jocelyn K Glei to name a couple) and some sparkly new sources, so hopefully there’s something in there to catch your eye and get you reading and thinking afresh.
SHORT READS, IF YOU’VE ONLY GOT A FEW MINUTES:
Artists Need Pockets
Austin Kleon’s blog is one of my favourites and this short piece on why artists need pockets is a great demonstration of why. Austin manages to pack in some great artist anecdotes, a brief history of the politics of the pocket and some super interesting links out all in a 2 mind read.
The Women who Designed the Pattern for Modern Britain
This (mini) Guardian feature on Enid Marx, Minnie McLeish and Lucienne Day, who were a generation of revolutionary print creators, is pretty darn great. If you’ve never heard of them, if you live in the UK you’ve most certainly sat on their work.
Beginning Graphic Design: Color (video)
This video was linked on a great thread by Lauren Baldo about how she chooses her colour palettes for her illustrations and it was so helpful (in just 6 minutes) I had to share it all with you here.
LONG READS, IF YOU WANT SOMETHING TO GET YOUR TEETH STUCK INTO:
5 Brainstorming exercises for introverts
Inspired by Susan Cain’s research on the power of introverts and how solitude, like collaboration, is a crucial ingredient to creativity, Allison Press from IDEO asked her colleagues what strategies they use to incorporate solitude into the most extroverted of activities, brainstorming. As a fellow introvert I can personally attest to the power of the first two.
On Needing to Find Something to Worry About
Something a little more philosophical/psychological for this week’s first pick. I occasionally dip into The Book of Life’s blog posts when I’m in the mood for something self-help-y but not self-help-y if that makes sense. This piece about needing something to worry about really spoke to be a serial worrier and all round anxious bear. If you’re having an anxious day/week/year give it a read because it’s super calming, even if you enjoy nothing else but the steady cadence of the writing.
10 Book Cover Designers Discuss the Covers They Rejected and Why
You know I love book cover design, and harbour a not so well hidden desire to design book covers as a job. So when I saw this piece from Electric Literature where 10 incredible cover designers shared their design process and their rejected covers, I knew it was a must read. I was not disappointed.
Confessions of a Burnt Out Over-Achiever
Jocelyn’s intro to this article is way better than anything I could write so I’m just going to quote it and then leave you to read this mini saviour in your own time. “If I asked if you could continue working at the pace you currently work for the next 10 or even 20 years, what would you say? I think for most people, the standard response would be: “Hell no!” But what we do today, and what we do tomorrow, rapidly becomes the status quo. Until working in a way that is completely unsustainable starts to seem quite normal.”
Sketchnotes 101: The Basics of Visual Note-taking
If you enjoyed my piece last week on how and why I make my notes visual, this piece from Core77 taught me a lot of what I use and is a great follow on read. Plus the little sketches are really lovely.
WHO TO FOLLOW, IF YOU WANT TO SPRUCE UP YOUR INSTAGRAM FEED:
@moritzwienert
Moritz Wienert is another new smaller follow for me, but I love his modern minimal style. His combinations are bizarre and hilarious, so if you’re looking for something fresh go and check out his feed
@manjitthapp
I tend to try and feature smaller artists you might not already know about in this section, but this week I just want to talk about Manjit Thapp even though you probably all follow her already because she’s great. I’ve followed her for quite a while (4 years I think) and her work has truly come into its own. Her use of layers and texture in her illustrations now is just so good, but she’s never lost her signature style or colour palette, simply refined them. Honestly, I’m more than a little bit in love.
@ohkiistudio
I’m ending on another bigger fish in the form of Ohkiistudio aka Angela Mackay. All of Angela’s illustrations are wonderful but I particularly wanted to highlight her sketchbook scenes in place because they’ve really got me in the holiday mood recently because they really embody that idea of just getting out there and enjoying the colours of your surroundings.
