A strong connection

At a recent art exhibit, the artist featured stated that the authors of the Beat Generation inspired his paintings. It is easy to imagine that the literary talent of Jack Kerouac fed ideas to generations of artists with descriptive excerpts from “On the Road” and “Dharma Bums”.

There will always be a strong connection between the written word and the visual arts. Paintings have been inspired by books, books inspired by art, and novels inspired by both art and music.

Chip Kidd, a well-know book cover designer and author is an amazing example of this. He quite literally reads books to get inspiration for the covers he designs. He describes how his inspiration literally “comes from the text”. Arty Chantry, famous for his unique and iconic poster design, describes the “art of distraction” as being key to his creative process.

Distraction?

So you might be mistaken to think that the latest “distraction” that you picked up at the local bookstore is a downtime activity. It may actually be what you need to kick your productivity into high gear. Vary your subjects to keep your mind lively to new ideas. You might find that a WWII novel will inspire you into looking at uniforms, architecture, and even the industrial gray paint they used for navel ships of that era. Creative process comes from research. It might not be relevant at the time, but a fiction or non-fiction recreational read may come in handy for the future.

Fiction books are a great way to take your mind off of the world and into your imagination. If you feed your imagination, it will show in your work. It is rare that you find a truly inspired designer that doesn’t get immersed in books and literature to some extent.

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All the best,

ThePerfectDesign.com Team