A vault of ideas - just waiting.

I often get asked how I can constantly come up with my somewhat unusual ideas. While I can’t claim to instantly know the answer to every creative challenge I face, I certainly know where I can go to get an idea - or at least the inspiration for one. I love books, preferably books with lots of pictures. I’ve been collecting them for decades and now have more than 1300 in my library. Hundreds more periodicals and magazines are in another section on the shelves. More than 20,000 photographs also document things I’ve sen and places visited. Scores of sketchbooks hold a myriad of notes and other ideas.  I read them regularly too!

Creative output without plenty of creative input simply isn’t possible.  These days the internet is a wonderful source of ideas too, but there’s nothing quite as relaxing as sitting down with a good book ad filling my mind with ideas. Since I know my library well, I know just where to go to find the images I need. I’ve learned through the years to take every opportunity to look at books.  When I find one I like I know better than to pass it by for often I will never see it again - especially if I am far from home.  It is always time for a good book!

 -grampa dan 

Modern tools

A computer is just a tool. I use them to help with my design. Years ago I did all my design ‘the old fashioned way - on paper with a pencil and then ink.  It worked well until I needed to make even a small change to my designs. Then it was back to the drawing board and I had to start all over. Presentations were time consuming and reproductions often second rate. There was no other choice in those days.

I still do my sketching on paper with an old fashioned pen. Then I scan my drawing into the computer and work with a digital pen - still by hand but in a virtual way - one line at a time.  The end result looks very much the same as the old way. The drawing process involves a similar amount of work. The big advantage is that the often required changes to my designs are much easier to accomplish on the digital platform. Assembling and rearranging my presentations is also much easier and I no longer have to run to town to get expensive color photocopies to present to the clients. Best of all I can send my designs worldwide in the blink of an eye instead of relying on expensive couriers who sometimes missed deadlines.

I got my first computer a little more than 10 years ago when the digital drawing tablet first came out. Since then I’ve constantly upgraded my computers and learned new programs as necessary. Two years ago I was intrigued by all the buzz I was hearing about Macs. Being a person who is anything but technically minded I wanted something that was more stable than I had been using - something I could run without worrying about the tool I was using. With the encouragement from a couple of friends who had already made the switch I bought a Mac laptop to try it out. It was love at first sight! For me it seemed easier and more intuitive than anything else I had tried previously. It was a tool I was comfortable with. I decided when my desk top computer needed to be upgraded I would consider ‘going to the other side’ completely.

I've been using the new Mac for a year now. It's proven to be a reliable tool with virtually no issues and has served me well. I'll be staying on this side of the fence. But like all the tools in my workshop it isn’t about them but rather the work I do with them.  The Mac will allows me to forget about the tool and concentrate instead on the work at hand.

 -grampa dan

SHOWING OFF

This past week has been a busy one. It was the grand opening of the MultiCam Western Canada office - a project we have worked on for the last six months. The opening was set up like a trade show and we were asked to participate. It was too good an opportunity to miss.

Early last week we helped out setting things up and tweaked last minute details through the project. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were spent talking to hundreds of people through the three days. Friday night we headed up to Whistler for a weekend retreat and celebration. All of it was well worth the effort and we established and strengthened contacts and relationships that will take us forward into the next years. After a week of very long days outside the shop I’m ready to settle down to regular work once more.

-grampa dan