Stuck for Ideas? Check out these inspiring reads.
It all begins with an idea.
The Unusual Podcast list of inspiring books on creativity that are ideal to dip in and out of, and perfect gift ideas.
How to have great ideas by John Ingledew
A rich and nicely illustrated collection of strategies, methods and ways to approach idea generation, creative thinking and problem solving. Some of my personal favourites include going for walks and searching for ‘visual treasures’ in your surroundings. This was a fun activity I even did with my kids to hone their observation skills. I also love the idea of learning to write and tell jokes as a shortcut to think creatively.
Creativity, A short and cheerful guide by John Cleese
I didn’t expect this little book to be so insightful. Backed by science and his own experiences, Cleese succinctly explains some of the intuitive feelings a lot of us may have about creativity.
His insight on the creative mindset is that people are either in an ‘open’ or ‘closed’ state of mind. The closed mode enables us to apply ourselves to tasks with vigour and concentration; the open mode is more relaxed and conducive to mind wandering. Cleese demonstrates how the unconscious mind works on stuff all the time, without us being consciously aware of it. Furthermore, he demonstrates how the language of the unconscious is not verbal, but images and feelings.
This is a great read for anyone to really understand the creative mind and its nuances such as the role of play, time, space and making mistakes. It would make a great gift to a colleague or manager who claims creativity isn’t relevant or who doesn’t appreciate creativity requires certain conditions to thrive.
Another great resource is John Cleese talk on creativity in management.
The Creative Nudge. Simple Steps to help you to think differently. Mick Mahoney and Kevin Chesters
This is a fun book based on the premise that you can’t teach people how to be creative, you can only teach them how not to be creative (a belief held by Sir Ken Robinson in his famous TED talk). Our brains default mode is working with what we know which is counterintuitive to exploring new ideas and challenging the status quo. “A nudge is a little change to our behaviour or thought patterns that can have a disproportionately large impact on an outcome.”
The book contains nine behaviours to rediscover our creativity. I like the science part that introduces each nudge. This would work well in a context where leaders or individuals want practical, easy to implement daily actions to nurture creativity.
The Art of Creative Thinking. Rob Judkins
As stated by the author upfront, this book is not meant to be read in a linear way. When your creativity is running low or you feel the need for inspiration, you can open any page at random. It is a delightful little book full of stories drawing from a range of reference points from Dali and The Beatles to Philippe Starck and James Dyson. Each chapter is a short story about a well-known inventor and his/her process, demonstrating the complexities and failures that come with the creative process and learnings that can be extracted and applied.
This is definitely a keeper for the bookshelf to dig in and out of.
A Smile in the Mind. Witty thinking in graphic design by Beryl McAlhone & David Stuart.
The advertising industry has a lot to teach us about creativity. This book is a collection of over 1,000 eye-catching and thought-provoking instances of visual communication in posters, packaging and data visualization, as well as examples of wit in digital, retail, arts and culture.
It is a delight to dip into because it centres on wit and humour, demonstrating the tools and tricks designers use to create ‘a smile in the mind’ and why this is such an effective way of forming a connection with the viewer. This timeless classic is bound to lead to many ‘ah ha’ moments.
Murals, Meditation and Digital Dresses…The Multi-Talented Dawn Ang
It all begins with an idea.
From photo-realistic pencil drawings, to woodwork and digital fashion, Dawn Ang - also known as Aeropalmics - talks us through mediums and meditation.
Please introduce yourself.
I’m Dawn and I work under the name Aeropalmics. I felt like it would be nice to encapsulate my whole creative journey through the name. Basically, it’s kind of like sticking your hand out the car window and feeling the wind resistance and feeling the breeze. I felt like it really gives you a feeling of young adulthood, a feeling of simple enjoyment, it’s like a pretty good word to work around and work towards. I do a lot of murals, and design things for offices and brands. I just enjoy learning, it's what keeps me going and keeps me excited.
Let’s talk about some of your work. It’s really hard to tell if it’s digital or pencil because it’s so precisely done and looks so real. Let’s talk about the image on the left, how did you make that and what does it represent?
So basically, the first one is the texture of the galaxy and I kind of figured out how to experiment with different tonalities with a pencil. I try to create more depth, try to create softness and hardness and a whole bunch of these textures together to create a smoky effect.
There are little stars in there, and I'm not sure if you can see but it’s these little white dots floating around that give you more of a sense of lightness, which I really enjoy because when I was growing up, I did a lot of things that are very harsh and in the dark. Everything was like monsters and dungeons and dragons and nerdy things. So, I think I swung to the opposite extreme where I wanted to create softness and heal that.
And for the other piece, I wanted to create really soft hands. It almost feels like the girl is morphing into something else like she's dreaming. It's almost morbid, it kind of looks like their head is cracking. But it's all smoke and plants and I wanted to create something against the imagination.
Are these done digitally?
These two are pencil, and they are done with one pencil. It’s 2B.
That’s amazing, how long did they take?
The girl took two days, and the star one took a lot longer because it was pretty large, I think it was A1 inside, so maybe a week, on and off.
Let's look at the next two very interesting images. Can you describe them?
So, the one on the left is called A Poem in Every Flower, which is about flowers and spring and like a new life. And so, I created something that kind of represents that, I feel, or has a bit of old charm to it. Because it's like the bottom half of the lady's face, and she's merging into petals, and there's like a stalk or stem growing from the ground. My aim was to try to give the viewer the feeling of nature.
And how about the other one with the waterfall coming out of the eyes? What does that represent?
I had been through some tough and emotional times, and I just felt like, this really captures that feeling of loss and how everyone goes through different levels of pain and how we all have our own battles, to deal with. And I thought, you know, this means a lot to me. And I had a lot of people tell me that this is very moving for them.
So where is this piece currently?
Oh, a friend bought it, which is really sweet.
Let's talk about your wood pieces exhibition at Culturi Gallery in 2020. How do comfortably move from one medium to another? Have you played around with all these mediums before? How do you go from paper and pencil to wood?
It's pretty similar. So, the job is not too large for me, because I work with murals as well. A flat piece of material generally, is not too far from the things that I worked with, like paper and walls. And I think the reason why I chose wood was that it was a lot more accessible, and a lot more valuable to me, and I can actually do the cuts with just a saw. I felt like I've been wanting to make these pieces for a long time, but never got the chance to, so I just went for it.
You're using a saw to cut out these pieces of wood?
Yeah, like a jigsaw.
Where are you getting all the wood from?
I order from a supplier, so it depends on which supplier is the cheapest.
Do you think when people come and see it, they understand that process that that goes behind it?
Like it might not be readily apparent, but hopefully, just being in the space benefits them. The whole exhibition comes with meditation music, so the moment you enter, it is like a meditative intervention. So, when you look at the works with the music, it's an experience. The whole effect is more important to me than how it was crafted. But maybe, as the viewers look at the pieces, they would come to discover new textures and shapes that they kind of enjoy, that takes them deeper into the meditation process. That was the goal.
So, it’s important to you?
Oh, definitely. I happened upon it because I did a yoga class. And then I was hooked. And I felt like every day that I meditate gives me so much clarity, because there are so many work stresses in city life, like how everyone walks really quickly, and things that we don't think will affect us that actually do. With meditation comes better decision making, your brain is clear, and you feel fresher, you've slept more. I feel like everyone would benefit.
Was your intention to introduce meditation to people through your show?
Yes, it was. I did another VR project as well, with MeshMinds, and they linked me up with a mentor who is very experienced in tech. He guided me through creating a VR piece and it was so amazing because we don't realise how much it can affect us visually to be put into a space. It feels like your existence is right in front of you. You feel like you can touch it, look around. You can see the light emanating from a specific area.
So, this whole piece was super amazing. The islands, gentle waves, looking at waterfalls…the whole thing was grey so there’s not much distraction. There were people who fell asleep for three minutes and woke up feeling refreshed, like it was quite life-changing. If I could maybe model that and try to sell it, would be good.
Yeah, amazing. I remember that installation as well. So, let's talk about some of your murals that you've done for Facebook and Google. How do you tackle a blank wall?
It was not super intimidating, because I always have an idea of what I want. It depends on the client, as well. So, I think that can be both challenging and rewarding, because you realise that clients actually help push you because I feel like the artistic process is quite internal, we might not be able to see past ourselves. So, I think when there's feedback, and people are talking about how they feel about a piece and their wants and needs, all these considerations squeeze you into creating better work. That's how I feel about it, it's really made me a better person. Someone who's more empathetic. I feel like it's easier when there are no rules, but when there are, it's also super fun.
These two were created with the Singapore landscape in mind, and how it can aid with meditation. I tried to merge the two. Google wanted something that was Singapore related and I created rock forms that look like the landscape of Singapore such as Marina Bay Sands. You can see like little rocks that represent specific buildings as well. I felt like this piece is pretty dear to me and it really is quite impactful. I got to push out an idea I’m passionate about.
The one with the coral was also to bring cheer to the space, on top of giving the space texture and trying to match the wood that was next to the wall. I chose these colours to match the space and give it character. These were created out of tree rings and how these rings deal with age and how when we slice a tree in half, we'll be able to see how much drought there is, how much water they got in the year. So yeah, that was the inspiration.
Lucky for the people in that office to get to see… And the next ones are really interesting, the digital girls. So how is it to do these digital pieces as opposed to pencil and paper?
I think it's both similar and different. Because you're still crafting these from scratch. Only that paper has limitations and I feel like the moment you erase, marks will be left and you have only a limited number of erases. It’s like you can't go backwards and the paper changes the moment you put your pencil to it. Whereas with digital pieces, I never know when to stop. So, I just keep going and going and I keep changing my mind.
Which programmes are you using for this?
This is just Photoshop, I just kept layering.
Do you have a preference for pen and paper versus digital? Is it just how you feel or what the brief is?
I originally started with paper and it took me a long time to get used to digital media and enjoying drawing with digital media because the texture is so different. We're such tactile creatures that everything is about touch, and the joy that I found from drawing and painting was all about touch. That's completely removed from digital media. But I think over the years I just stuck with it and I've found a new type of joy. Now every time I start a piece, I start digitally first because the colours can be applied so quickly and I can get a sense of where I’m going with the piece before I start on physical media. I think that's really changed my process and it's really helped streamline the process. So, I think I enjoy both now and they have a different effect. I kind of married the two and sometimes I try to make the physical media look like digital media, textures and things like paint it or draw on it, so it looks as surreal as possible.
You have started to apply your style onto products and shoes and even beer, so what's the thinking behind this progression of your work?
I've just always really loved product design, packaging and thinking about what the client wants and what the customer wants. Me as a customer is someone who really loves fashion and design in all forms. So, I just try to recreate what I feel like I want in the product.
I think during COVID, lockdown and everything felt like it’s really given me time to think, space to maybe pivot with my craft and add more colour to the designs that I work with, to push for specific shapes that I want in the direction that I’m going at.
I feel like this direction makes me happy and I think it makes people happy because everyone loves colour. Colours affect us so greatly and specific colours give us specific moods. I think I've worked with black and white for so long that this is a welcome change.
The first piece is for Converse. They wanted us to recreate the All-Star logo so I made it in gum. I created the whole logo out of gum, which I felt was exciting. I just wanted to create something pink, and I felt like maybe gum would be a fun texture to draw.
The other one is for ‘Off Day beer’. They're really lovely people and they wanted to support artists so they did one artist per month and created a beer per month for each artist. And it's going on till December 2021.
That's amazing. Is that only in Singapore?
Yes, only in Singapore for now. They're a Singaporean brand.
And the shoes?
The shoes were for Skechers. They were launching this particular shoe that was a collaboration with the Chinatown Market. It was created with a lot of cute marker lines, and the shoes came with markers. So, what they invited people to do was to just draw on it, be silly and be fun with it. I just added a whole bunch of colours, because their whole idea was about play. It took a long time but was fun to make. It was physically painted. I think there was just a lot of rivets in the texture of a shoe. So, it just took a long time to try to create an even line.
Did you just have one pair that you worked off?
Yes, just one pair, one chance.
So, where did that one pair go?
Oh, it’s with the agency that commissioned it, they are keeping it for their archives.
Was this next slide also painted?
No, this one's digital. We created it as a print, and that's an example of what it could look like in a space. I moved on to create more pieces with major themes and play as well. So colours are a bit bright, to kind of lift your mood, makes you think positively.
Finally, with this fashion piece which is you wearing this dress…when I first saw it I thought it was a real dress. Or is it? Tell us a bit about this digital fashion piece that you've done.
We created four pieces, and I collaborated with this digital fashion brand called Republiqe, and what they do is create clothing that doesn't exist. Well, it exists in the digital realm, but not in the physical realm, and I think it's a pretty interesting idea.
Maybe we might not be used to at this point in time but just thinking about filters, thinking about game avatars, technology is definitely moving in this direction, with social media and how fast fashion is something that people think about where sustainability is concerned.
Is designing something for a digital fashion brand different to designing for a real fashion brand?
Depends on the process. So, what I did was provide quick patterns, and then we discussed possible shapes of the clothes then they would recommend what would look best and then we move forward. I think if it was an actual fashion brand, it would kind of be the same. Because I'm providing the print and they take the print to be printed on cloth, but maybe it would take a lot more time.
Can people buy this?
Oh yes, they can! So the process is like this - What you do is send a photo of yourself to Republiq. After you purchase the piece, they digitally put it onto your body, which is quite exciting. I was so amazed by how well it fits, it looks kind of beautiful.
Are you interested in more of these kinds of collaborations? What is something you haven’t done that you would like to do?
Yeah, I would definitely do more of these. I love fashion. I love to see products come to life, see people wear these products.
I think what I’d love to do is more immersive, interactive, work. And I think spatial takeovers, to create installations that people can experience. I feel like that's what I'm going for. I think anything that will help me learn something new, or broaden my perspective, any kind of collaboration could possibly do that.
Did you want to say something about the final slide?
Oh, I tried animating the piece. This is the most basic animation ever. I'm not sure if it's meditative, but I'm still figuring it out. Yeah, creating some 3D wood pieces that utilise these shapes as well. That's happening soon.
In terms of your background - growing up in Singapore and being really into art, it hasn't always been easy for you, because that's not really the journey that was promoted for young girls a few years ago. Yet you still stuck at it. And now you're doing this full-time. What advice would you give to other young people who are artistically inclined?
As long as you feel like it's something that you'd want to pursue, it's worth looking at how you can go about doing it while being able to live. The trajectory doesn't have to be so straightforward. What's important is that you can't really make a mistake. Because whenever you have something that's deemed a failure, it's never really a failure. You learn to pivot, you learn to change, you figure out what you did wrong and you carry on. I think a lot of people growing up here are very afraid of failure, and fear is paralysing. I feel like that was what happened to me. And I just got lucky that when I tried it, it just happened to work. I happened to be excited enough about art that it didn't stop me from pursuing this. But I think what's important is making plans and trying to take small steps towards your goal.
Recommendations
In her free time, Dawn loves to read. She is currently reading Hyperfocus by Chris Bailey. Here are some of her other book recommendations.
Never Split The Difference by Chris Voss, Tahl Raz
Hooked- How to Build Habit Forming Products by Nir Eyal, Ryan Hoover
Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker
How To Fail At Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams
The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg PHD
Dawn is also an avid podcast listener and has recommended some that are worth checking out.
Interview-based, Insightful Podcasts:
The Business of Hype with Jeff Staple
Armchair Expert with Dax Shephard
Comedies and Podcasts to Relax to:
This Past Weekend with Theo Von
Bill Burr's Monday Morning Podcast
More From Dawn
Getting to Know Yeah Yeah Chloe
It all begins with an idea.
YeahYeahChloe shares more about herself, her teaching style and advice to young visual communicators.
You have this amazing style of combining unusual elements to create something completely new, often communicating a powerful message. How have you trained yourself to think this way?
Thank you! I don’t know if it is something that I intentionally trained myself to do, to be honest. I think it’s more just a manifestation of how I see things – how I make connections and make sense of the world.
Where did you get the idea for the drowning hands and iPhone image?
I was just feeling like I was spending too much time on my phone and drowning in content. It was all self-inflicted.
Did you study art or graphic design?
I did a Bachelor of Visual Arts, majoring in sculpture.
You are an art teacher, what is your teaching style?
It probably depends on who you ask. I would like to think I was pretty free-range – lots of room for experimentation and for the kids to find where they fit in the art world. I tried to make the units pretty self-directed. I think I probably had very high expectations…I always wanted more from them ‘cause I always knew they had more to give - especially from the older grades – but they always rose to the challenge. If you ask the kids though, they might have a different idea of it.
How important a role does technology play in the creation and promotion of your work?
Oh, it’s central. From the creation of work to subject matter to how I built an audience. My work would not be what it is today and I don’t think I would have been able to have the same opportunities I have had without it.
What advice would you give to aspiring young visual communicators?
Create works that you get some kind of kick out of. You might not be able to do this all the time – I mean I know sometimes you just have to do a job cause it’s a job, but I think this is a good place to always come back to.
More from YeahYeahChloe
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Visual Storytelling with Matt C. Stokes
It all begins with an idea.
Matt Stokes shares how he creates such vibrant scenes that feel alive, and why his characters are often blue.
Where do you get the idea for all those amazing details?
Well, I normally get a brief about the subject matter for an illustration that starts my brain going. I'll jot everything down or make quick thumbnails of bits I want to include. It is great when there is a general theme or feeling being asked for, not 'draw a specific person driving an exact car doing a particular thing'. An example of a general theme is being the subject of an illustration I've done that I think has ended up quite successful is Create in Brighton, or maybe Ballot Scotland - both location-specific and sort-of aspirational-theme-specific.
Generally, I have sketchbooks on the go, otherwise "important paperwork" ends up being dedicated to (read: defaced with) biro doodles of things that occur to me to include, or aspects I want to convey in an image. In the case of the Internet image for Eyeyah!, there was a general brief of a landscape with uses of the internet littered around it (and the format of the activity was being defined as I was doing the work as well - important to say) so I kept a list of ways the internet is being used that would seem mad to people if they were from another planet. I like reading Wired and New Scientist and things like that, so a few little details immediately came to mind like those little buttons being manufactured that you stick on your washing machine so that when you run out of washing powder, you hit the button at that point, and it puts detergent in your basket on your Amazon or Sainsbury's account - whatever you've set up, coz you won't remember when you're in front of a computer or in the shop. Little things like that stick in my mind that end up in illustrations later. Some of the uses of the internet were quite standard (Skype/VOIP), but I wanted to include ones like the woman at a computer with heart, as if she was finding love on the internet, and a person using a drone. And the person running - tracking their run on the internet, as this is something I do. There are other more hidden quirky things like the spider web behind the foreground guy's head - because it is 'the web', and the worm because you get worm viruses on computers, a fishing rod for phishing, someone defecating for 'downloading' Spam (no explanation necessary), the manhole because you can go down a hole on the internet, junk-food litter here and there because you're exposed to so much junk. There is a reason everything is there. And I am probably pushing my own idea, my own perception of what the internet is subtly (to children of all people!). The baby watching the iPad on the roof is my daughter, she was that age at the time, but we didn't let her watch TV nor sit so close to the edges of tall buildings
I do have a tendency to fill illustrations with things that make me laugh, and little in-jokes or things that no one else would get. Just for my own amusement/sanity. Like whenever I'm doing big batches of illustrations for e-learning projects and we need several people, I'll draw me, my wife, stuff like that. If I have to add a name somewhere, it is from whatever trash 60s sci-fi I'm reading at the time. A date? My birthday probably (FYI NOT my pin). Some of it comes from boredom (I had a job drawing mattresses once - who DOESN'T want to fall asleep when drawing mattresses!) - so if there's an opportunity to throw something a bit fun in, even if just for my benefit, I'll do it.
Why are the characters blue?
Basically - in a nutshell - it is down to ethnicity. I don't want people to be put off thinking: those people aren't me, because they don't share the same exact skin colour. Making them blue solves this.
In a more negative light, I have memories of an infuriating marketing manager on one of my first freelance jobs saying that a group of people I'd illustrated needed to look more "ethical" (not a typo - they would say 'ethical' meaning - I weeded out of them - that they needed to have a more diverse set of people in the illustrations). Looking at the set I was proposing (I think they were ALL based on photos of me and my wife who both happen to be white), and irritatingly they were right. This moron who couldn't use language properly (let alone commission illustration) had a point: that the diversity of the group needed to be addressed. So, I learnt the hard way, and think back about this anecdote begrudgingly as this person was a nightmare, but they were right about something important.
Making the people blue eradicates the feedback you get saying "can we change it as we need to include a Black person, or an Asian person" or feedback that is the result of a boardroom arguing over why they should or shouldn't be using a black person as the key subject in an image (true story - happened), and avoids me having to choose which ethnicity is doing what job. Am I or the art director going to accidentally make the white male the millionaire boss, and the black female the person cleaning the floor? Am I going to exercise a subconscious bias that says something about the company I'm working/promoting in an illustration?
I don't want people to be concentrating on the skin tone of the characters, but instead of what they're doing. I think I did it at first thinking about the 80s cartoon Ulysses 31 - they had this species of people that were all blue, and I liked that. I've borrowed I suppose.
What are some tips for aspiring visual communicators?
Err…keep on keepin' on? You're not going to find a good way of working and get faster and more confident unless you're practicing. You're not going to be a visual communicator unless you're communicating visually, or at least aspiring to!
Regarding style - I don't feel I've ever had one, as the brief defines the style. I've done lots of different stuff, and don't tend to do every illustration in the same style, such as Jon Bergerman or Tom Gauld, for an example. I have whole catalogues of stuff in different styles that doesn't go on the website for copyright reasons in the end (or I don't think it is successful). I find myself going through old hard drives and remembering stuff and being like 'I don't remember doing that'. I don't think aspiring visual communicators should get hung up on having a style, as often some render styles can go out of fashion. (Out of style even!)