April 19, 2010 In books & stuff, children's books, communication, creativity, design, words and language By Patricia Saxton

iPad: The New Medium for Children's Books?

Wow. This isn’t reading, it’s a multi-media experience.

Alice in Wonderland gets an animation makeover in the video below …  it’s frenetic (clearly shown at warp speed for promotional purposes), but there’s definitely a “wow” factor and a vivid sense of what’s possible.

It’s very cool storytelling. It’s fun. But it certainly distracts from the act of reading – an act that’s pretty important in my book (no pun intended).

It’s not unlike the difference between reading a book and watching a movie. Yet entirely different from both because of the interactivity neither a classic book nor movie can claim.

And it begs the question: is this a good thing? Will it discourage reading, by making the words simply part of the visual action? Or will it encourage reading, by making it come alive?

I saw a comment calling this an “imagination killer”. Boy did that ring a bell. But will it be true?

There’s a lot to be said for hearing a story, imagining in your own mind what might be happening, and how and where, and what places look like.  I don’t think this should ever be devalued. But we know so little of the human mind … is it possible that an interactive story like this might expand a mind into even more imaginings?

I don’t have the answers, but I do agree with one thing: Whether animated or straight-forward, the iPad (and its likely successors) will probably be the next big medium for children’s books. Sooner than later.

And what I’m finding particularly strange, is that even a devout book appreciator like myself doesn’t really mind.

Nothing will replace the wonderfully textural experience of holding a book, turning the pages, smelling the paper … it’s almost sacred. But I can accept another medium, one that will show off colors in their brightest brilliance and whites at their crispiest and words their most sharp and dapper. All at the touch of a screen. It’s very neat. Very clean.

I also have to admit, I wouldn’t mind seeing my Fairies alight that screen. Not so sure I want them doing backflips or shaking fairy dust around at the whim of a “reader” … because, of course, I’d actually like them to read the words. But just a little flitting about might not hurt.

………………

Please feel free to share your thoughts! I’d love to know how people feel about this.

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April 2, 2010 In art, communication, creativity, design, illustration, intelligence By Patricia Saxton

Milton Glaser On Using Design To Make Ideas New

TED Talks (Ideas Worth Spreading) is one of my all-time favorite sources for Great Stuff.  So imagine my delight to find this video of one of my all-time favorite people there as well.

Of course, it’s really no surprise to find Milton Glaser among the TED archives, but I’d not seen this one before. (For those of you outside of the design world, Milton Glaser is the living, legendary icon of the graphic design and illustration world; the guru, the master. A glance at his bio will give you a good overview.)

Having regretfully missed seeing him this week in New York for the launch of his new book, Drawing Is Thinking, this was a sort of virtual, substitute visit.

Milton is a marvel. A man of superior intellect and talent, with a wonderfully unassuming manner for someone of his stature. And as if we need any more proof, he recently received the National Medal of Arts – the first designer to achieve this recognition.

In his 80’s now, he recently told me he’d work as long as he can. Which, as I see it, is lucky for us.

Enjoy the “visit”. He’s a voice, and a mind, infinitely worth hearing.

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March 23, 2010 In creativity, design, inspiration By Patricia Saxton

The Power of Personal Projects

Ji Lee: The Transformative Power of Personal Projects

Inspiring talk from Ji Lee – now Creative Director of Google Creative Lab – about personal projects and their ability to transform your ideas as well as your career. From his own life experience of boredom resulting in an idea which turned viral and became a design phenomenon known as The Bubble Project”, Lee talks about how he created, financed, and marketed the project single-handedly, and how it ultimately forwarded his professional career. Featured on the 99% site, devoted to “making ideas happen”, and well worth visiting.

(NOTE:  Unfortunately, the “embed this video” code didn’t work for me on this one!  Instead, click on the image above to watch/ hear the video at the 99% site.)

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March 7, 2010 In art, design, drawing, fine art, illustration By Patricia Saxton

Drawing Tips: Colored Pencil

Colored pencils are one of my favorite mediums. They’re also one of the most unforgiving, as a friend recently discovered.

My friend’s son, a budding artist, had apparently drawn an amazing picture, then decided to color it in with colored pencils. But he “hated what he did” and wanted to erase the color. She asked me if there were an amazing eraser out there that would solve the problem – or if he was doomed to start over.

My short answer was that there is no “amazing eraser” for colored pencil, and that yes, he was most likely doomed.

So maybe you too have decided to try illustrating with colored pencils. You’ve got your base drawing down and now you’re coloring away, shading, blending, watching the colors come to life. Time passes without notice.

Then in one dreaded moment, you realize you’ve gone too far. You reach for your eraser. You erase…. nothing happens. You try again. You curse. Maybe you scream. But you pull yourself together, because you think, ha! – there’s gotta be a solution. It’s just pencil, after all.

Not to dash your hopes, but here’s the harsh reality: Unless you’ve used your colored pencil v-e-r-y lightly (in which case you haven’t gone too far, so there’s been no cause for dread), you – just like my friend’s son – are probably, almost definitely, doomed to begin again.

There are people who use an electric eraser, or an eraser that sharpens like a pencil, but these take practice (otherwise they smear or eat the paper), are meant for small areas, and can be more frustrating than starting over. White artist erasers or gray putty erasers, which I personally love for regular pencil, don’t do the trick with colored pencils, only taking off slight upper layers of shading.

Aside from starting over, another option is to turn your mistake into something else – sometimes a mistake offers a new way to think about your picture. But once you’ve laid down a bunch of color, erasing is not a viable option.

The real lesson here of course, is about going slowly…. before it’s too late to go back!  And that making a sketch first (even a rough one) to test out the color is a real smart thing to do.

You can also lay a piece of tissue paper over the drawing and color over it (on the tissue paper), to get an idea of how the color might look – just keep in mind that the texture of the tracing paper creates a different feel, and that colored pencils will behave differently on drawing paper. But this simple step can let you know whether you want to forge ahead with color at all.

And like anything else, the more practiced you become, the more skilled and confident you’ll be, and those mistakes won’t be such a concern.

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March 1, 2010 In art, creativity, design, illustration, inspiration By Patricia Saxton

Week 27: "52 Weeks of Peace"

Part intention, part belief… peace is a place that dwells somewhere inside us all … beneath the fray, outside the chatter, standing at the edge of chaos … stored in elements both real and imagined … and always a little bit magical.

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February 22, 2010 In art, creativity, design, inspiration By Patricia Saxton

Week 26: "52 Weeks of Peace"

“Half-Full”

26 weeks marks the series’ midpoint – and the idea of “halfway” turned into “half-full/half-empty” … which, of course, leaves room for personal interpretation, so I’ll just leave it at that for now.

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