Top advice from Artists and Designers

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The advice from over a dozen artists and designers from across the globe each with their own thoughts and advice that they have kindly shared for those wishing to become like them.

Remeber, the full articles can be seen in the interviews section.

The Question:

“What advice would you give to would be artists/designers?”

“Make the most of your time at art school and take all possibilties you can take to spend some of it abroad (if possible). I often feel I didn’t make the most of my time studying”

Mattias Adolfsson

“Don’t ever compromise your vision.”

Yeva Babayan

“Keep your mind creative, love and take an interest in all around you.”

Tung Le

“Make sure you believe strongly in your own work and do just what the worlds greatest living artist told me to do… “Trust yourself”.”

Guy Sargent

“Let it become your life, be passionate, work harder than the next guy. Oh and use the Internet, it has become a second university for me, get involved with forums, visit ted.com, write your own blog, you will learn a lot, all for free.”

Jase Cooper

“Do something else…” (very funny guys!)

Space Invaders Design Group

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“Don’t be afraid of anything. More impudence and freedom in creation. The more you’ll try the better the result is.”

Alexander Ovchinnikov

“be original and believe in yourself”.

Abhijeet Kuma

“Reach beyond your grasp.”

Matt Huynh

“Remember to embrace your personal experiences and your own unique and fresh design vision”

Yoann Henry Yvon

“In the words of German techno group Scooter: It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.”

Cecilia Levy

“If you have an ace up your sleeve, just don’t keep it long. If you keep it for too long, it’ll go rotten. Just show everything you have to people, listen to what they say. You’ll be able to create something much better, to learn how to show your ideas to people, and to make your community.”

Mac Funamizu

“Get out there and get your work seen by as many people as possible. You should never be afraid to show people your work. You maybe the best designer/illustrator in the world, but if no one sees your work, you won’t get commissioned”

Rod Hunt

“It depends on what you want your career to be and what kind of person you are. If you wanna work at Disney you must bend your mind to the “Disney way of life”, I suppose. From my point of view I’d suggest: do your best to develop YOUR art and style. Nowadays it’s very difficult to be completely original but strive to put your mark in your work. Client work tend to leave you with little or no time, but try to keep some to do new experiments with your art.”

Leonardo Sala

“..believe in the work you do, and make the best they can in everything you do. That’s the best attitude to have in relation with all areas.”

Luis Porem

Get inspired. Have fun. Keep it current. Get a Mac. Go probono. I can’t preach this any louder. Young designers get so mad when you tell them you gotta start doing some freebies. Do it because you love it. They all think their work is worth so much money already haha. I started emailing people if I could do a site for them for free. I just loved designing and growing my skills. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to be a good designer. Also have lots of resources. I had a teacher (who was once the creative director for MTV) tell me that you are only as good as your resources. Pretty much sums that up.”

Dann Petty

I started my own firm at a very young age. sometimes I wish I had worked for some of the architects that I admire prior to going out on my own.”

Jeff Kovel

Interview with Jeff Kovel – The architect of the Cullen House (Hoke House) from twilight.

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When I wrote the original Cullen House article I never imagined it would gain the popularity it did. As promised, I have been in contact with Jeff Kovel from Skylab Architecture and have prepared the following interview/bio along with a few more images for all the mad fans!

“I am in architecture, development, and rock and roll.”

– Jeff Kovel

Jeff Kovel grew up just outside of New York City and lived there until he attended Cornell University’s Architecture school. Since then he has made his way to the West Coast and in 1996 he finally settled down in Portland, Oregon. However, it was while growing up in New York that Jeff realised he wished to become an architect. His family had begun work on a new home and a young Jeff thus developed a new fascination for both building and design.
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Dann Petty Interview – Web and graphic designer

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Take a look at this entertaining interview with the very talented, hard working, mac-loving (no..dont judge..) inspiring web designer, Dann Petty..

Check out some of his impressive work and the interview with the man himself here!

Tell us a little about yourself, where are you from and where are you living now?

I’m a 25 yr old dude from a small town in Tennessee called Tullahoma. It’s tiny. Have you ever heard of Jack Daniels Whiskey which is made in Lynchburg, TN? Yea I went to school right beside it. I practiced baseball in cow patties while enhaling the somewhat nasty smell of a mixture between the cows and JD’s distillery or whatever that was. I was an hardcore athelete. I played every sport available baseball, football, basketball, track, golf, hockey you name it. Baseball was my passion though. I always thought I was going to be a professional pitcher so I never really thought about my career as anything else. I even played in the junior olympics.

I went to a design school in Franklin,TN called O’more College of Design which is right outside of Nashville. Google it. A lot of designers don’t go through school these days but I have to say it really helped out. It helped me see how how other students are thinking. How to give presentations and stuff. I wouldn’t say you learn design at those schools though. I think that just comes all natural. Also I was lucky to get a sweet internship at Anode in downtown Nashville through that school. They really pushed my skill sets. I did so much flash work and design work it was crazy. So far my favorite art director was from Anode, Adam Goleniewski.

I’m now living in San Francisco, CA. Talk about a transition right. Growing up in the south is totally different than here. I love it though. It has been nothing but a rad adventure. I always knew I’d move out to California. It just felt right for me. I’m a very driven person. I’m always looking for that next big thing. I fell like I’m working on 100 start-ups of my own right now. I need programmers! If your a programmer let me put you to work haha.

 

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Luis Porem; Industrial and Furniture Designer – The Trico Chair

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Following my earlier post on the RGB glasses, I have been in contact with design Luis Porem and have some more of his impressive work to show,

In particular Porem’s newest addition to his already impressive folio, the Trico Chair

Wood, metal and textile, in three different colours, are the caracteristic that lift the Trico Chair. Joining the three materials it is possible to get a distinguishable simplicity and harmony.
The fact of being able of pile the chair and work with different materials make the Trico chair a functional, versatile object, with is own character.

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Bonnie So and ‘this is’, Young Australian Designer

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Bonnie So is a Melbourne based recently graduated designer, making her mark in the design world.

I first saw Bonnie’s work on display at this year’s Design Market in Melbourne –

Bonnie is a creative entrepreneur and has already founded her own design brand and name, ‘this is‘ at only 22 and 1 year out of uni!

Check out some of Bonnie’s amazing products and designs and help support this aspiring young designer (all of Bonnie’s products are available to buy) along with an accompanying interview with the designer herself!

Tell us a little about yourself, where are you from and where are you living now?
Born in Hong Kong in 1986. I moved to Australia for education in 2001. During my Bachelor of Design (Industrial Design) in 2006 I spent a year aboard at Hochschule Techknic fur Wirtscharft in Dresden, Germany where I further develop my passion and found my purpose for design. In 2007 I graduated as an industrial designer from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University. On the same year in 2007, I established the brand, ‘This is‘ after designing a homeware product, This is a Trivet. A product that is about re-purposing waste. I first showcased ‘This is a Trivet’ at the Melbourne Design market during the Melbourne Design Festival in 2007. After the success I have also exhibited at the Salone Satellite, Milan International Furniture Fair in 2008. Sine then I’ve continued to further my practices to in design and continued develop ‘This is’ in Melbourne.

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Leonardo Sala, Illustrator and Artist – The Mannequin

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Today we have Leonardo Sala who has kindly told us a little about his emotive pieces from a series called ‘The Mannequin

“With ‘The Mannequin’ I wanted to create a style to quickly illustrate concepts, with a bit of a surreal atmosphere. I like very much to put constraint in my art process too. For ‘The Mannequin’ the constraints were: clear concepts, minimal style, draw directly with a pen. Feeling a strong emotion while creating is another essential part of the process.”

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Rod Hunt – Freelance Illustrator and artist behind ‘Change the world 9 to 5’

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I was fortunate enough to get in contact with Rod Hunt, freelance london based artist who has successfully represented the likes of BBC, Maxim, FHM, Orange and Vodafone..

As well as the cover art for widespread publication ‘change the world 9 to 5’

We have been kindly given a taste of Rod’s retro styled isometric work along with a bit of background and some great advice for up and coming artists.
Rod stresses the importance of knowing your rights as a working artist, along with the need to just get out there and show your stuff to the world.

So without further ado, the much appreciated and insightful interview with Mr Rod Hunt!

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Mac Funamizu and the future of Internet search?

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Can you imagine a window..? A window that you could carry with you in your pocket and could give you the power to search for anything and everything you see, when you see it?

Well so did Mac Funamizu Born and bred Tokyo Japan, in-house web/graphic and industrial designer.
“This is what I wish the internet search will be able to do with a mobile device in the NEAR future. Touch screen, built in camera, scanner, WiFi, google map (hopefully google earth), google search, image search… all in one device. Like this way, when you can see a building through it, it gives you the image search result right on the spot.”


“You can even see flowers that are not actually blooming.”

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