Since entering this program, but especially over the last year or so (when my technical skills have finally caught up enough that I can execute things in my head, finally) I've been thinking a lot about inspiration. Mine comes from two places, mostly: looking at paintings and looking at visual propaganda. I'm definitely moved to create things when I look at how light, form and mood are conveyed in fine art, and how a message is conveyed in propaganda posters. I love to play with those techniques in my own work.
Unfortunately, the degree to which I'm inspired and feel creative is directly proportional to how much energy I have, and my big struggle over the past couple of years is finding the mental energy to be able to create things. So I've struggled with the same thing Phil has: ending up with lots of pieces that look like each other, totally cookie-cutter, but finding it hard to find the energy (and time!!) to give each piece the space to develop into something inspired. Having time to just play with a design is crucial -- usually there's an ah-ha moment after I've been messing with a bad design for awhile. But in the real world, there are short deadlines, low-res images, clients that are afraid to go out on a limb, etc. Now, the problem I'm trying to solve is in how to strike a balance between pressure and creative time.
A bonus in grad school is that we get to create utopia projects...Projects we have almost total creative control over. That's been a big boon for my inspiration. I'm scared to leave, in a way, because I know that at work, 95% on what I do is pretty boring. But hey, it beats waiting tables.
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