Daily Post – Random Swirls

This is not a Magic Eye. There is no secret hidden shape.

I know that I said yesterday that I would have more work on the invitation upcoming, and I will . . . just, not today. I need to work on the invite at home with my tablet and pen to finalize the drawings that will be on the front and inside and I just didn’t get a chance last night. Anyway, instead of more glimpses at the invitation I am posting a picture of some of the random swirls that I like to doodle when I am thinking. When I was in high school and when I first went to college, I would fill notebooks with these swirls. I used them as a way to zone out but also focus at the same time. See, when I draw them, I just sort of let the pen go where it wants, and I zone out on whatever is going on around me. But, I also try to not let the shapes get too big or let them touch each other, and that’s where I have to focus. I tend to start at the bottom left corner and work my way up to the right. These swirls seem to help me clear my mind when I am having creator’s block or when I just don’t know what to do with myself. I’ve been doodling them for about 15-20 years now and I can’t think of a week that’s gone by since I started that I haven’t doodled some of these shapes at least once. Sometimes I fill a whole 8.5″x11″ sheet of paper with them and sometimes I only doodle 10-15 shapes before getting my head back into whatever it is I should be doing. I’m sure I’m not the only one who does something like this to help get the creative juices flowing or to get one’s mind clear. Am I?

Daily Post – More invitation work

Ignore the creepy baby face, it's just a sketch

I’ve done a bit more sketching and refining of my idea for the invitation to my son’s birthday. The sketch I’ve posted incorporates the cover art and the inner art into one sketch. What I’m thinking of doing is having a picture on the front of my son holding his favorite monkey. I’ll put some “You’re invited” type text or something with a circle cut out so that you can see his head from the picture on the inside. When the invitation is opened, you’ll see a drawing of my son’s monkey holding him. I’ll probably put the contact info and date/time information on the inside of the card. Apparently, I am under the clock to get this invitation done, so expect the next few daily posts to be dedicated to my attempts to get this thing done.

Daily Post – Quick Sketches

Facebook logo, a face, and a ski bunny

No big explanation today. Just a few sketches I did on the back of a greeting card I got for Christmas. Enjoy!

Daily Post – Invitation Sketch

Invitation Sketch - Front

At the end of next month my son will be turning one whole entire year old. Neither my wife nor I can believe it, but we have accepted it. To celebrate this momentous occasion, we are throwing a fairly small party for him at my in-laws’ house. My wife has given me the responsibility of designing the invitation for his party, and I couldn’t be happier. Her one request was that I get a picture of my son and a monkey on the invitation. I think I’ve come up with a creative way to do this. I want to put an illustration of a child holding a stuffed monkey on the cover of the invitation with a cut-out for the head with my son’s picture in the cut-out. Then, when the invitation is opened, there will be a large monkey holding my son on the inside. I think I can pull this off without too much effort. The only thing I am unsure of is how we are going to cut the circles in the cover of the invitation. I’m thinking I can use a scrapbook cutter, but I will obviously have to do a bit of research to make sure. Check out the rough sketch ofthe cover to get an idea as to what I am thinking.

A new mission

As you may or may not know, Brian Hanson Design is a brand new company. As such, my client base is very small at the moment, as in practically non-existent. I do have a couple of projects up in the air that I am awaiting final word on, but until I get that final word, I don’t have much to blog about. So, because I don’t want this blog to sit idle for weeks at a time (as it has been) I have decided that I will post sketches and design ideas every weekday. I already have a daily sketch section on my site, but I will not be posting those sketches here. Also, I may decide (if I like an idea enough) to post the steps of an idea from sketch phase to completion. Regardless of what it is I decide to post, I will be posting every weekday starting on Monday, December 28^th. As always, comments and feedback on these post is welcome and appreciated.