Cat People

Cat People © Taylor Barnes

I love the felt hats with cat ears and they are the inspiration for this illustration. 

While working on this piece I visualized a story in which, the hats were being worn by actual cat people. They needed those little pockets to put their ears into and keep them warm - human earmuffs wouldn't hide or fit their little cat ears. Even though they walked among us unnoticed the predator in them would surface from time to time. On those occasions the pupils of their eyes would contract to look like cat eyes and they would freeze and become fascinated by their prey.  

I am still not certain if they are dangerous. This character is cute and cuddly like your typical house cat but looks can be deceptive because she does have claws hidden under that window sill...

  

I Don't Know Where I am Going...

I Don't Know Where I am Going... ©Taylor Barnes

This piece is exploring the idea of weightlessness, both emotionally and physically. Titled, "I Don't Know Where I am Going," it is a response to moments when we are carried into unexpected directions, we can't see the way, we feel disoriented, and there is a loss of control — it is not always a bad place to be. The element of air and a sense of openness is prevalent in these recent pieces. Don't we all crave a feeling of freedom and possibility? A sense of "where will I land next?" Savor the moments when routine is challenged, because tremendous inner growth is often the reward. I have a feeling this theme will reoccur over a few more pieces.

Goddess of Freedom

Broken ©Taylor Barnes

Personal work is always so interesting. You never know what may emerge from the inner depths of your mind. Recently I took a friend up on the idea of participating in a guided meditation for 21 days. I was certain I would never follow through and if I did I would find it impossible to sit still.

To my surprise I have become addicted to the stillness. The imagery that I see during these moments has been rather self-revelatory. The idea of floating has been dominating my inner thoughts. Floating has so many correlations emotionally that I can't even begin to define what this means to me. So rather than write about it I have decided to do some illustrations around the concept of floating and weightlessness.

This one is about breaking free of the constraints of the material world. Hope and gratitude are also present on the journey. I call her a goddess because she is demonstrating my higher self in it's finer moments.

Goddess of Abundance

 Goddess Abundance © Taylor Barnes

This week I created this image, for a client, to represent a "Goddess of Abundance." I dove into the assignment with particular enthusiasm because I thought, "how great, maybe she'll bring some abundance into my life!"

That line of thinking stopped me in my tracks. What was I doing? Creating an image with the express purpose of meeting my needs financially? How crass, how materialistic, how uncreative of me! But if I am totally honest we are motivated by financial reward because it allows us to do the vanity project that is near and dear to our hearts.

Striking a balance between the monetary goal and the creative goal is the challenge of every illustrator.

Can chasing the dollar corrupt your work? Yes. But it can also cause you to hold yourself to a higher standard because you want to sell your work.

Can chasing a dollar make you compromise your ideas? Yes. But sometimes that compromise is because you are working with a brilliant art director (who is also chasing the dollar) and together you form a perfect synergy that makes both of you greater than the sum total of your individual work.

While I was working on my Goddess of Abundance, I was not focused on the money I would be paid or the attention she might get - I was focused on the process. I pondered every line, the color balance, the mood and the processes I was using. I was involved in the work I love to do.

In the end this little Goddess of Abundance retaught me a lesson I needed to learn again...

Do what you love and the money will follow.

Ideation

ide·a·tion

noun \ˌī-dē-ˈā-shən\

Definition of IDEATION: the capacity for or the act of forming 

or entertaining ideas.

Forming ideas does have a process. It may be a little different for everybody but the more we do the better we become. The other day my students said to me that I was the first art teacher to tell them there are rules. They said they are always being told to follow their feelings and just have fun with art. I agree with that philosophy to a degree but I know there are rules and once we learn the rules we can intelligently break them.
 
One of the rules I honor is allowing myself time to freely play with any and all ideas when I start a new project. Everything is fair game until I hone it down to what will work for me and what will work for the client. Trying not to be jaded and judgmental requires greater and greater amounts of education. The more I know the less I know.

When I start a project I look at art. I visit galleries and museums looking for things to set my mind whirling. I walk a lot and observe my surroundings. When I present a new project to my students I do the same thing for them - I present artists but I also ask them questions that cause them to see the conditions of their environment and how it impacts their art. For example - every year I do a project based upon the work of Wayne Thiebaud. I bring in cupcakes which the students place in front of them and use as a 'model.'

Cupcake painting by artist Wayne Thiebaud

Obviously there is a sensory element and a desire to eat the cupcake that adds to the intensity of the work. But I also discuss the science of the cupcake and the ingredients that cause it to expand in the oven and create the puffed top and the flared cupcake paper. I talk about imagining the pastry bag that the icing was pumped out of. The more my students learn about what they are painting the better they paint it. 
 
This year an interesting thing happened - the first day of painting I could not pick up the cupcake order in time for class so I started the project with a virtual cupcake instead. I pulled up a picture on the classroom computer and let the students reference it. The paintings were the least successful they have ever been - flat, without life or understanding of the subject. In past years this is always my most successful project so this came as a complete surprise. Today I brought the actual cupcakes in and the difference in the work was significant. It was obvious to me that if you can't fully imagine the sensation of what you are painting you need the most complete reference you can get. In time you will be able to train your imagination to create fully realized ideas that supply all the details you need to finish the work.
 
To me it was obvious that there is a process to creating the reference in your mind that you will pull to form ideas. As artists we need to know when to fill in the gaps. I recently saw a picture of the illustrator Maira Kalman drawing an egg slicer. Although her style is playful and not fully realistic she still needed to reference an actual egg slicer to get the full feeling of the object she was drawing.

Maira Kalman drawing and egg slicer.

http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/node/1901532/print

The formulation of ideas is such a complex process and to begin to break it down would barely define it. But to try and understand how we personally start on the road to a fully realized work of art is part of maturing as an artist. It helps us to break faster towards our own ideas and final pieces.
 
Ideation is about engaging the senses and breaking up preconceived notions but at the same time maintaining a certain order to your thinking. An idea is as complex as a light bulb when you think about it. It has to connect to something to spark the energy that creates the light. What a perfect analogy!

New Christmas Card for Max & Mia

The studio has been active this holiday and I thought I would show you one of the new pieces. The color is unexpected for a holiday card but somehow it all worked. This card is for a clothing line called Max & Mia.

Nothing up my sleeve...

I have been having fun in the studio for the last few days. The process of creating and exploring new ideas is positively magical. I entered full of angst and worry, and I emerged…well I emerged!

Below is a new design I did for a t-shirt. The message is my friend's but I think it is so appropriate for the times. I am about to put the finishing touches on my new line of products and what is driving me is my belief in myself. To everyone who has a dream –

 

copyright Taylor Barnes © 2010

Emotion + Design

Emotion is an essential component to any design. It is this subtle element that binds the visual together. Sometimes emotion is not so subtle - such as the work of designer, Tibor Kalman for Colors Magazine. He was a rule breaker and creator of wild, emotional conversations through design. His visuals were controversial and inspirational. Such as the Colors cover below...

Issue No. 7, Colors Magazine, 1997

Typography can convey an emotion with its shape and carefully chosen juxtaposition to the word it is rendering. Consider the following examples and how the mood shifts from word to word. Once all the emotional words come together they create a comprehensive mood along with the individual tone.


Finally, words and images together create the total emotional impact. "A picture is worth a thousand words," or perhaps one emotion. Add a word to that picture and it becomes either trite or moving, depending on the sensitivity and artistry of the designer. Consider the next illustration which I designed to portray one of the seven deadly sins, Wrath. This word and the illustration were full of emotion and it was my responsibility to pick the words, images and colors that conveyed the proper emotional meaning of wrath. You tell me if I succeeded or failed...

From the "Mona Lisa" to Mondrian's "Broadway Boogie-Woogie" eliciting emotion is one of the primary vehicles every artist must use to connect with the viewer.


How well you manipulate this element will determine the success or failure of the work as much as the execution and design. I will sign off before I become too emotional about this topic.

The Surreal Life

I have been teaching "magical realism" or surrealism in my summer school class this week and I have to admit that this exercise does open your imagination to new perceptions in reality.


The bride piece evolved 'organically' in my mind but the deeper levels of meaning to my own life are so varied it astounds me! Experimenting with this type of symbolism cannot help but become an outlet for the artist's subconscious mind.

Venice Beach - seductive and inspiring

graffiti on a store window in Venice Beach

You may not see what I see in this photo but it is inspiring to me. The play of texture, the white accent of the type, the natural grid formed by the window; it is the type of street art that goes into your subconscious mind and creates a library to pull from later as a designer.

I have watched Venice Beach change along with the rest of the world but there is something different - something resistant to change in this community. It has a "spiritual vortex." Every time I think development is going to smother the spirit of this unique place it rebounds and shows its funky side again. The weather brings out the performers on the boardwalk. The election brings out the aging hippie political reformers. The close-knit community brings out the grass-roots publishers and organizations.

In a sense this is a barometer for that old saying "the more things change the more they remain the same." As the world of design zips along with one technological breakthrough after another the basics never go away. We still need to get our ideas across in the most succinct manner possible. As designers we have to make color and font choices but we also need to keep our spirit. That is what makes us unique and our work worth looking at.

I wrote "dare to be square" as I reflected on this indomitable spirit of Venice Beach. This place inspires me because it takes on the new, integrates it with the old and creates a fascinating hybrid. That is my personal goal... to be a 'fascinating hybrid.'

Venice is covered with outdoor art; stencil art on the sidewalks, graffiti, wall murals, tagging, sculpture and if you count the street musicians and outdoor painters it is almost too much to take in. The rules get broken here because there is no monetary reward for what the artist is doing. It is simply a pure expression of their "spirit." But if you look closely street art has the roots of all other great art movements at its core. Social expression.

If I had a nickel for every client who came to me and said "I want an edgier look" I would be very wealthy now. But edgy changes and is not easily defined - until you look at the art people are creating on the street, then you see it. The best of these cutting edge ideas will later make it into the lexicon of modern design.

But to translate those ideas and make them work for the larger public you need to "dare to be square." The basics of good design make those gritty street ideas work for the rest of the world.
'Daring to be square' is the method by which one becomes a fascinating hybrid.