15/12/2011

Creative Review-- Books


I’ve read a couple of books recently that have given me some great advice, motivation and steps to aid my illustration work. These books are great tools to go into my final major project with, as they are simple and pretty obvious at times!

The first book is “A Technique for Producing Idea’s” by William Bernbach. This book has been around for nearly 50 years, but the same principles apply now just as they did back then. The key points from the book are that there are five stages to producing ideas, and I’m definitely going to follow these through in my next projects:

  • ·      Gather new materials—research
  • ·      Work over the materials. Sketch. Doodle. Think.
  • ·      Leave it for a while for your unconscious to mull over
  • ·      THE IDEA ARRIVES
  • ·      Develop the idea to fit your needs.


See, simple! The other point I got from this book is about the fundamentals of simply having an idea. It has two general principles—that an idea is simply a new combination of two or more things and that the ability to make new ideas is heightened by an ability to see new relationships.

Then I read Paul Arden’s “It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be.” I’m sure this is a book I’ve been encouraged to read for years, but only just got round to it recently. It’s pretty amazing, it gets across simple ideas, and has helped unclutter my mind recently. I’ll just share some of my favourite points from the book as there are so many I could talk about:


  • ·      Do it! Then fix it as you go
  • ·      If you get stuck, draw with a different pen
  • ·      Have a goal!
  • ·      Find inspiration from everywhere
  • ·      Don’t aim to win awards—that’s following the fashion!

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