A mid-week treat of assorted links.
It’s hard to say two sentences about inspiration without mentioning dreams. The most interesting thing about dreams is that they are an entire world, separate from our waking one. Though the true nature of dreams is not fully understood, there are many theories running the gamut from the physiological to the spiritual in nature. I believe that dreams are by and large our way of digesting information. We have a voracious appetite when it comes to ideas and just as a burger must be taken apart by our bellies, so must the latest episode of 30 Rock by our head. However this process can be quite messy as many dreams are strange amalgamations of reality and surreal, the cerebral and primal.
The above is a detail from a larger piece I did a long time ago while traveling through Italy. It’s a scene from one of the most vivid dreams I’ve ever had. The dream wasn’t necessarily scary as it was tragic but it was so intense that I nearly cried after waking up. It would be nice to paint the entire piece but just doing this one part half-assed took long enough as it is.
My fascination with dreams goes back quite a ways and is partly how I justify my fairly atrocious sleeping habits. I even kept a dream journal at one point (a practice I highly suggest everyone try). This passion for the Sandman’s empire greatly influenced my tastes, leading me to adopt surrealists like Dalí and Chagall as favorite artists early on. The work of one Jacek Yerka brings such work to mind. His combination of hyper-realism and surrealism is reminiscent of some Dalí works yet they possess a unique attention to detail that even Dalí forwent. In addition, the artist’s meticulous layouts are quite captivating.
If that weren’t enough, his tendency towards symmetry is yet another aspect of his work I love. Clearly his work would be right at home on an album cover…maybe a few decades ago. My only issue with his work is that despite the wide variety of scenes, they all share a very similar palette and sense of scale. Most use a combination of pastel yellows, greens and blues with slight variations. Likewise all focus on a singular subject or setting at medium length possibly with some landscape in the background.
Of course it is very difficult to get across any sensible idea using surreality and as such very difficult to create a website one could safely call “surreal.” Jim Carrey’s website comes to mind for its whimsical nature, a good reflection of the man himself, but Flash is the devil so we must search elsewhere as hard as it is to avoid in cases like this. It’s actually quite hard to find “surreal” sites which is a real shame. I’ve always felt that a websites greatest potential is to become a window to another world so why not a dreamworld? Thankfully a few such sites exist and Dreispitzhalle is one of the few of those to do it well.
The layout of this site simply gorgeous, with its stunning black and white backgrounds cut into strange abstract patterns. This makes the page feel very kinetic, as if it’s about start moving at any moment. I also love subtle touches like the smooth menu hover states and the amorphous animated logo and matching browser bar icon (nice touch!).
In contrast to its absence in web, dreams are almost inescapable in film. Indeed one of last year’s biggest hits, Inception, was completely based around the concept. While the dreamworld is often used as a parallel setting, often the setting is never explicitly declared to be a dream but we somehow reflexively know it to be i.e. if the walls are melting. Dreams, like so many great inspiring things, are universal to the human experience allowing all to recognize and empathize. Some even claim to have shared dreams and there are even certain dreams common to all people (teeth falling out, naked in school, etc.), not to mention the entire science of dream reading. It’s hard to know whats true or not when it comes to the unconscious world (third eyes, not so much). Yet maybe that’s fitting since that’s how that worlds works anyway. If the following video were true, it would all be a lot more straight forward. Sweet dreams.
The Sketching Mechanism is a series of weekly posts, published on Mondays, containing the artistic musings of Mobile Designer/Developer Ben Chirlin during our Monday morning meeting at the NY Creative Bunker as well as his inspiring artistic finds of the week.
We are fans of the the documentary series Everything is a Remix, written and remixed by Kirby Ferguson. Yesterday the last part was released, and here are all the parts compiled in one location for easier viewing. This is a must-see series for anyone who produces creative work. If you want further background, including a master list of all the works sampled throughout the series, please visit EverythingIsARemix.info. If you want to support Kirby, and really we all should, check out his next project This Is Not A Conspiracy Theory at Kickstarter.
The Thinking Mechanism is a series of weekly posts written by Antonio Ortiz and published on Fridays, covering the ideas The Mechanism is thinking and talking about with our peers and clients. This edition of The Thinking Mechanism is cross-posted in the blog SmarterCreativity.com.
There is a famous saying “theater is life, film is art, television is furniture.” Well, no more, television is technology:
A mid-week treat of assorted links.
I can easily say music is the most inspiring thing in my day to day life. The first CD player I remember owning was a gold Sony Walkman. Now it’s iPhone every day, morning and night, at the office or at home. It’s what gets me through my art, code, errands and commute all alike. I’ve always felt the right song can make anything better which is why I love DJing at parties and the like.
The sketch this week came out of some doodles I was doing for a friend’s concert poster. I went with a block-print look in the coloring and I feel it came out wonderfully. I’d like to spend more time on the lines and colors, especially of the character, since I made her nearly perfectly symmetrical to save time.
I love going to concerts and seeing people dressed to the nines as she is. But most of the time, music is my escape rather than my destination. That’s why if you ever see me in the street, I’m always wearing my headphones and while I don’t own a pair of Urban Ears, I greatly respect every aspect of the company’s design. While I could easily highlight them for their strengths in stills, video and web, I think I’ll just share their photography for now.
Besides the great choice of vibrant colors used in their products, I love how they’ve incorporated their products into these intricate, and bemusing, scenes that capture the customer’s attention. Give their site a quick look and revel in the catchy hues and fun videos showcasing their headsets. They’re very affordable and stylish, I’d love to give them a try sometime.
I’ve felt for awhile now that the music one listens to can be a quite a defining characteristic of a person. Assuming others use music as I do; to enter into their own world outside of their surroundings, it must reflect how they think in order to allow us to detach. If a person creates music, we can learn that much more about them. Clearly Dan Mall realizes this as personal description on his site changes from “pianist” to “designer” to “speaker” to “new dad” in sequence.
The site is filled with such marvelous little touches that go miles towards clearly differentiating him as not only a superb designer but also a superb individual. It’s hard not to like the guy even though we’re only “meeting” him through his own website. Take a look at his “About” section which includes funny little snippets like “Days without soda” and “I cut my own hair.” On top of that, his portfolio, blog and more are all laid out beautifully, simultaneously respecting and pushing the gridded layout of his site. Walking this line between the order and organic can be quite difficult but he pulls it off marvelously.
Obviously music and video have been intricately linked since the birth of MTV. However the new era of digital distribution has redefined the musical handbook. Simply watch the documentary PressPausePlay previously showcased in the Voice if you don’t believe me. There is a new era for both musicians and music video creators with an incredibly low barrier to entry. This is most clearly embodied by the rise to fame of OK Go thanks in large part to their ingenious viral music videos. I especially love the number of amazing animated music videos now being released on a seemingly daily basis. I was overjoyed to see a new such video from one of my favorite musicians, Gotye, who will actually be coming to NYC soon. The touching story of a girl growing up and leaving behind her childhood (in the form of a pack of cute buffalo creatures) accompanies his song “Bronte” perfectly.
Keep listening as I know I will and feel free to share your great new musical finds. Mine? Phantogram.
The Sketching Mechanism is a series of weekly posts, published on Mondays, containing the artistic musings of Mobile Designer/Developer Ben Chirlin during our Monday morning meeting at the NY Creative Bunker as well as his inspiring artistic finds of the week.
