Creativity: an illustration

To continue to adapt my practice I decided to think like a surrealist in a way. In the documentary below, which I have previously referred to, it was discussed that the Manifesto of Surrealism itself doesn't explain how to create surrealist work; it's not a guide. It does, however, tell you what not to do and what to avoid, for example, traditional methods of fine art. Within my practice, I would start with a few ideas, draw them out and then work digitally. This steps of this method are fine to reuse however I think I should ignore my first few ideas to push myself to think outside the box, challenge my skill set come up with ideas that maybe I wouldn't normally think of. As I am only experimenting with small ideas to respond to my research I thought one small idea would suffice.

I started thinking about typography and colour but as I wanted to do something different to normal the initial ideas I came up with I chose to ignore and think about something else. Creativity happens in the brain so I decided to illustrate a brain. Just a simple outline that could be a starting point for my ideas. This is in contrast to what I would normally do which is dive in and start drawing the outcome I would make in Illustrator.

Coming back to typography, I thought made I could put the word creativity within the brain. Maybe the word creativity could be the brain. I used tracing paper to write out the word, following the shapes of the brain. The sketch is quite messy as after I had drawn the letters I transferred the shapes from the trace to the paper to allow me to refine.

When working on the image it reminded me of a designer I have previously studied along time ago. Kate Moross manipulates letterforms to fill spaces, which is what I have been doing with the brain. Made me consider that I should utilise the space in the best way possible. I also think that I need to make it more clear that it is a brain. Links for the images will be available at the bottom of the post.

(Left) Art + Bikes with The Ride Journal. Kate Moross. (n.d.).

Note. From They Made This. (2015).

(Right) Sometimes. Kate Moross. (n.d.).

Note. From They Made This. (2015).

I think waiting till I had already started working with an idea to look at what was already out there is a better way of working cause it meant that the opening stages of the design weren't influenced particularly by a designer.

I started to rework the sketch looking at how I could use the space to refine the work.

Once I had reworked it I needed a clear outline to work within illustrator and to make sure it was clear that the illustration was a brain while the letterforms were readable as creativity.

The work is starting to look quite psychedelic. Maybe this is something I can look at more as I develop this work.

I would normally avoid work like this as manipulating type is difficult if you still want the type to function. I think playing with form might be a way I can subvert my practice as this differs from how I would normally design. I have always been more function-focused so maybe changing to a form focus may have a positive effect on my ideation process, as it is a change from how I would normally work.

Bibliography.

They Made This. (2015). Kate Moross. They Made This London. https://journal.theymadethislondon.com/kate-moross

Manufacturing Intellect (2018) Surrealist Film: The Stuff of Dreams documentary (2005). [Video]. Youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=369lEhNjVXM&ab_channel=ManufacturingIntellect