I am often asked where I get my inspiration for my design work. Quite honestly, I can say that there is not one single place that it comes from. Rather, it comes from all around me. On a daily basis, regardless of what I am doing or where I am at, I am always looking at advertisements, logos, etc; and analyzing those that I think are good, bad, and once in a while – awesome. I do this to keep myself “on my toes” and my artistic eye sharpened at all times. I think of graphic design as a form of art and in order to continue improving your skills, you must continue to practice what you know and have the ability to look at someone else’s work and critique it objectively. Of course, like almost any designer, I do have a particular style that I lean to and as an avid gamer, I also find myself admiring the work that goes into producing strategy guides, video game inserts and advertisements. I have come to appreciate how much work is involved in doing graphic design in the video game industry. It is an industry that is continually pushing the limits on technology and in order to sell their product, their product advertisement must look good. And in my observations I have come to find that some of the best graphic design work is done by those who consider themselves artists – mainly traditional artists who have stepped into the realm of digital art.
Above is an entry by Timothy Bailey that was submitted to the 16th Annual Reader’s Photo Contest hosted by Popular Photography (2010). It is an example of an image manipulation; to this day, I am still inspired by this image.
Image Source: http://www.popphoto.com/news/2010/02/what-photograph