Explore

UPDATE: OK, back again and so excited to see your names pop up on the sign-in below! Can't wait to see all your selections tomorrow over breakfast. What fun! Thank you. Oh, and I'll be sure to reply to everyone then too for this week's and last week's posts.

For today's Scribble Picnic entry, I decided to focus on what I said below — that whole idea of actively exploring without ever going anywhere physically. For many of us, that's often found through reading and for me, when working up designs, brainstorming is another avenue. As you can see here for this current logo ideation, I usually try to first scribble down some quick thumbnails.

A quick designer tip: sketching out your ideas beforehand keeps the focus on the design itself, helping you fine-tune it before ever getting to the computer. Too many people will jump straight to executing something digitally, relying on the computer to hopefully magically make it good, before properly thinking their ideas through to ensure they truly work. Quick thumbnails allow you to avoid wasting valuable time where it's too easy to let some software program dictate your design's look and feel, rather than being driven primarily by the strong concept itself. (Software's various features should only help embellish a piece within moderation, not become front and centre where all one sees are those certain affects and not the design which can then so easily become secondary by that point.)

Anyway, so for this week, no actual completed piece. Truly scribbles for our picnic! As it is, I still have too many other ideas knocking about in my head for this logo* that I want to capture first then sort through what's worth taking to the next level or not. For most designers, the joy is more so found in coming up with the actual idea, not so much its exact execution with all the various details that can later follow.

Happy Scribble Picnic everyone. Into Fall we go...

*P.S. More on this later. :)

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(Artwork TBA later Wednesday)

Time once again to muse artistically and reconnect. The long heat and brashness of summer will soon be over, for most of us at least. In it's place? Tartan shirts, sweaters, scarves, creamy lattés and slow contemplative sips. Ahhh... can there be any better time to reawaken one's creative spirit than in Autumnal promise?

Isn't it ironic that for many of us, the days spent indoors is the time where we most explore? After all, it's not just limited to what our mere mortal bodies can muster, as thrilling as that can be too. Whether it's winter, autumn or even spring, those colder days seem to gently beckon the heart and soul. Often our wanderings may take us far farther than one could ever reach by pedal, pedestrian or plane.

So, what artistic paths have you explored lately? For me and Alexandra, this is certainly a time for change. While on a new creative journey, we've also moved from the front range of the glorious Rockies to rolling hills and the distant edge of the cozy Appalachians. Life is in transition. All the while, we've brainstormed so many ideas along the way, distilled our artistic passions and found new footings. With that, I can't wait to later share the exciting news of what we're about to launch, both together and individually! Stay tuned.

But in the meantime, go ahead and join in our picnic when ready. My contribution will be up later Wednesday night where I'll be sure to add a few words about it too.

Oh, and finally, guess what? I'm rather in a muddle. The results of the our Scribble Picnic survey indicate there's equal preference among you for every week vs. once a fortnight. Hmm.... Well, let's first see how many sign up and if there's any more input on that here. Then I'll choose, although must admit, am rather inclined towards every two weeks but didn't vote, although Alex likes the idea of continuing weekly. (So, if you haven't done the survey, be sure to do that soon. Just go back to the bottom of the last post and help us out!) I'll be sure to announce this evening the new due date and picnic prompt on the side bar as well as on Instagram.

Thank you for rejoining, everyone. It's been quite the summer break, I know, but good to be back here. I'm bringing a massive baked berry pie and a tub of vanilla ice cream to our Scribble Picnic. Time to join in!