ISSUE THREE - INK & ARROWS Magazine by INK & ARROWS Magazine

WELCOME to issue three of INK & ARROWS Design Magazine!

*Cover Illustration by Isabella Morawetz

Who are you and what type of creative are you? I am eighteen year old photographer living in a little town in southern Poland. After graduation from high school I would like to become professional. Where do you get your inspiration for work? It may sounds cliché, but I get inspirations from everything: music, films, literature. Also travels and nature inspires me. I love finding beauty in little details. My other source of inspiration is flickr. I could spent hours just on exploring this site. I fell in love with lots of pictures posted there.

What is your artistic process? I’ve never thought about my artistic process until now. It starts with an inspiration. Later I see an image in my head and I think about the future shoot. Finally the photos are taken. What photographs are you most proud of and why? I am most proud of a picture of a girl shopping in Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert in Brussels. It’s titled “Windowshopping”. I like it because I think I captured “the” moment. I also feel special about this photo because it reminds me a wonderful time I spent in Belgium.

Who are you and what type of creative are you?

more people reacted and connected to my work, the stronger I became. It still amazes me how powerful photography can be; people see something in me that reminds them of something in themselves and I believe that’s what art is meant to do.

How did you get started in self-portrait photography and photography in general?

What made you interested in sculpture and design?

My name is Kalie Garrett, I am twenty three years old and am finishing up my final year at Dickinson college studying studio art and art history. I’m an artist; I’m a photographer, a sculptor, a designer, and a creator.

I really took to self-portraiture once I realized how therapeutic the process was for me. My childhood and high school years were perfect in many ways, but like so many people, I also experienced some really painful times. I wouldn’t say I’m incredibly open about my emotions since I tend to deal with them internally, but there’s something about shooting myself that seemed so natural to me and even from the beginning, I couldn’t help but be honest in front of my camera. Photography became a coping mechanism and that’s something I hadn’t really thought about until very recently. I shoot to figure out why I am the way that I am, why I feel certain emotions, and how I deal with them.

There are a lot of people who know your name and or your self-portrait photography online. Why do you think your self-portraits grabbed peoples attention?

I’m honest in front of the camera and people respond to that. The whole “internet fame” (as some people call it) has been a snowball effect because I was initially really hesitant to reveal so much of myself to complete strangers, but the

When I began college I found that I was tired of working solely two dimensionally and that I wanted people to experience my work in a more physical sense. Because photography is such direct medium, it’s easy to translate my emotions into a photo since I am the subject matter of the work so I wanted to push myself further. When I started working with more abstract materials, I had to learn an entirely new language and I had to learn how to create an object that reflected me. Easier said then done. So while it’s been a challenge, I’ve really enjoyed connecting with people in a completely different way.

Who/what inspires you?

I’ve never been happy with how I answer this question because my answer is never enough and who/what I admire is a constant, growing list. I won’t list everyone here but I will mention Duane Michals: a photographer I always come back to for both his striking photo narratives and his profound insight. I read this quote of his the other day and it hit home, “I don’t believe in the eyes, I believe in the mind...I’m not interested in what things look like, I’m much more interested in what things feel like.”

What is your artistic process?

Sometimes, I’ll have some sort of narrative in my mind before I start shooting, but I’ve never been one to fully plan out my scenes because of how my narratives tend to evolve as I am shooting. Since I work with natural lighting that is always changing and because my self-portraits are so emotionally charged, I can’t over think a concept beforehand because it’s completely dependent upon so many variables. Often, I’ll get this sudden urge to shoot when I least expect it and I love that about photography-it’s such an easily accessible art form. In contrast to my sculpture work, which takes more time and patience, photography is an incredibly quick release for me. It’s spontaneous and I find value in the fact that I cannot ever recreate those moments.

What pieces from your portfolio work are you most proud of and why?

I really enjoy the sculpture work I created this past semester. The large woven box, the light box, and the smaller egg-shaped piece represent this breakthrough moment I had when I was trying to figure out how to really connect with my work. I also love my little ceramics pieces. I’ve never worked with clay before, so it was really humbling as I learned my way around the wheel but I ended up loving how hands-on the process has to be. As for my photography, I’ve never really had one photo I love more than the other; I see them all as a body of collective work that’s constantly changing.

Who are you and what type of creative are you?

My name is Katie Sanvick, I’m a 23 year old classy lady working in Minnesota as a Graphic Designer, and freelance illustrator. I graduated in the spring of 2011 from Winona State with a BA in Graphic Design and a drive to create. When I’m not drawing, or creating sweet graphics, I dabble in other random things like sculpting, animation, sewing, photography, writing, book making, and weird DIY projects. I sort of just do what I feel like at the time.

What was it about graphic design that made you want to go into that field?

I was completely amiss of the directions and possibilities as an artist that I could take when I entered college. I think I had the idea of “starving artist” engrained in my head for so long I just figured that it was impossible to make a sustaining career out of it. When I sat down with the graphic design professor at my university for the first time and talked about design, and how versatile it can be, it was like a lightbulb went off in my head. I most identify with illustration and traditional art, but graphic design can incorporate so much if that, and on so many levels, that it seemed like the perfect direction for me. I love that graphic design just sneaks up on you. No one realizes how much

thought goes into the designs we’re surrounded with daily. I like making functional, informational pieces that are amazing to look at. I think illustration and design often (and should) intertwine with each other, bringing the best of both worlds to the table. what made you interested in

illustration? I can think of the exact moment I decided I liked to draw. I was very young and impressionable, and my brother drew a lot. I copied him on pretty much everything, so I started drawing too. eventually he stopped, but I just kept going, making laminated books about turkeys getting their heads chopped off when I was 8 and eventually creating a body of work for a solo show, my last year in college. I’m drawn to illustration because of the satisfaction you get once you complete a piece and you stand back and look at it and just say, “man, I really killed that…” or just knowing that this vision you had in your head is now out, and part of reality for others to see. It’s definitely a powerful and provocative communication tool.

Where do you find your inspiration?

Oh man, what a question! Where don’t I find inspiration is more like it… I think the internet is unarguably the greatest creation of all time, ever. Not only do I find inspiration here, but its a place to easily and successfully promote my art. I think Tumblr is my go-to when I need to get inspired because you can literally find ANYTHING there, and whatever you find will lead you to more things like a trail of bread crumbs. I’ve got archives of random things I find on the internet that inspire me, like photography,

different textures and color pallet ideas, and illustrations by artists I admire. At work, my boss and I do a “show-and-tell” monday where we share something we’ve found that’s design related and that inspires us. Some pretty cool ideas have sprouted from show-and-tell monday… Dreams are also a big part of where I get ideas, as well as magazines like Hunger, Hi-Fructose, Spectrum, Computer Arts, and ImagineFX to name a few… There is a down side to all this inspiration though. Sometimes I’m too overwhelmed with ideas and don’t know where to start, or start a project and then abandon it because I have another great idea that I don’t want to forget about. It can be a vicious cycle if you let it. Do you start an illustration project differently from a design project? I think my process is fairly similar for both. For illustrations, I’ll gather all of my inspiration. It may be just a single photo, or a bunch

of things that I just sort of stitch together in photoshop to help me visualize what I’m trying to do. Then I’ll get out the good ol’ paper and pencil and start drawing, and scan that into photoshop to color. It doesn’t always happen like this but lately, this seems to be my preferred process for my illustrations. Finishing touches aren’t too planned, usually I’ll throw some sort of texture on there. I like digitally painting because I like experimenting and un-doing or deleting anything that doesn’t turn out. I feel I have more freedom this way verses all the pressure of purely traditional art, although I do enjoy that, I just feel like I can relax more when I’m creating digital work. For designing, I usually start with a mood board of different ideas, color pallets, fonts, or anything that conveys the sort of direction I want to take, then just start pluggin’ away. There are usually multiple versions before I’m happy with the end result.

What designs and or illustrations are you most proud of and why? I am extremely critical of my work and for that reason I think the older my work is, the more I start to dislike it, or really notice how much I’ve grown. Whatever I create “in the now” is what I’m most proud of because I feel like it best portrays where I’m at with the direction/ skill level of my work. One day, I’ll be happy with everything, but I’m not there yet.

Some of my favorite recent works are “M31” and “Andromeda”. I have an ongoing obsession with greek mythology and outer space that is reflected a lot in my recent work. I don’t know what it is about it, but it’s extremely inspiring. “M31” is just the right balance of traditional and digital. A lot of that is my original drawing which some times gets completely covered up or erased as I continue on the piece in photoshop.

Who are you? My name is Andre De Freitas and I’m a 24-year-old illustrator and photographer. I was born and raised in Lima, Peru, and I studied computer animation in the states. you graduated from Full Sail University with a bachelors degree in computer animation. Do you ever do animation or do you just focus on the illustration side of things? If so, why didn’t you get a degree in illustration instead of computer animation? I did indeed. I don’t do animation that often anymore (3d animation at least) since I’m a full time illustrator and photographer now. The thing is that while I was studying animation, I realized that oddly enough, I was way more interested in the concept of stillness. That’s why I majored in 3d modeling. It wasn’t until I got out of school that I got into illustration. A month after graduation, I got a job as a video editor. During that time, I used my free time to finish old drawings, and slowly got into illustration. Eight months later, I quite my job and became a full time freelance illustrator. What is your inspiration behind the name Megatherium? Megatherium is a nickname that one of my art teachers gave me. It means “great beast” and it’s an extinct species of giant sloths.

One day, my teacher saw me drawing on a tiny Moleskine sketchbook and she couldn’t stop laughing. She said that I looked ridiculous. I was way too big (6’2) to try to draw on a tiny sketchbook. Plus, I was pretty lazy back then. I never wanted to finish my drawings or paint them haha. So, she started calling me Megatherium, a great beast that also happens to be lazy haha. I thought it sounded pretty cool so I kept the nickname. Now, the skull in my logo is not from a megatherium, it’s a lion’s skull. I like lions too. what/who inspires your work? Why do they inspire you? What inspires me? Silence, stillness and fashion photography. Who inspires me? Artists like Sachin Teng, Damon Loble, Sam Weber and Carlos Nunez. Why do they inspire me? Basically because of the colors they use and achieve. I’m a very monochromatic for some reason. So I always need a little help when I need to chose a color palette haha. Plus, they are amazing artists. What is your artistic process? Once I have an idea of what I want, I’ll draw a very basic sketch on a piece of paper. Then, I’ll scan the drawing and bring it into photoshop, where I clean the lineart, fix whatever needs to be fixed and paint. The last part of my process is adding noise and texture. What illustrations are your favorite and why? These [images that are featured] are my favorites, because I think these marked the beginning of the style I’ve always wanted to develop.

Who are you and what type of creative are you?

I am Danielle Roxanne Nagel. I am a Graphic Designer, Illustrator & Fashion Blogger based out of San Diego. I work at Jedidiah Clothing designing all the Ladies & some men’s T-shirt graphics.

What made you interested in graphic design?

I have been an artist since I was a little girl. I come from a wonderful family who really values creativity. I originally received a degree in fashion design, but I found the job market was quite difficult. I decided to take a few graphic design classes and I simply fell in love. I just can’t get enough design!

What is your artistic process?

I have many different styles of design, but i’ll talk about my illustration. I usually draw them by hand first and scan them onto the computer. From there I bring them into photoshop to clean them up a bit. Then I bring them into Illustrator and live trace them. Once they are vectorized I’ll color & tweak them to my liking. I often add font and other elements. Then I bring them back to photoshop and add textures and effects to give them a rough or watercolor look.

What designs are you most proud of and why? Where do you get your inspiration for work?

I am love finding what’s next! Designing in the fashion industry I have to be up to the minuet with current trends. Especially because what I’m designing won’t be released until next year. I observe and research a lot. Sometimes online, but I prefer going outside and seeing things for myself. I am very inspired by nature and exploration.

Like I was saying, I have many different styles. For my job I often have to make more mature font & photo based designs. But I’m a sucker for all things adorable, and my favorite designs are definitely my cutesie illustrations! These designs show more of my personal style.

who are you and what type of creative are you? I’m Elizabeth Gadd, 20 years old, born, raised and currently and living in Vancouver, Canada. I’m a portrait/landscape photographer.

how did you get interested in photography?

About 7 years ago my dad let me use his digital point-andshoot camera so I could have fun taking photos of... well... everything. But mostly photos of my pets (whom I love a little too much). I was instantly hooked, and a camera has rarely left my hands since. For a few years I just took photos of every little thing I found interesting, from flowers and candles and icicles, to dogs and birds and wildlife, to lakes and mountains and sunsets. It became evident over time that my favourite photographs involved nature and landscapes. Then, about 3 years ago, I realized that in order to really grow and improve as a photographer, I’d have to step out of my comfort zone. So I ended up doing a project of taking a creative self portrait (something I had previously been nervous about) every single day for a year. By the end of the year, I came to greatly enjoy portraiture, and not only that, but I still had my love for nature/landscapes, so I started combining the two types of photos. Thus my own style was created!

do you plan to make photography your career or are you interested in doing something else? That would be the dream, to make photography my career. We shall see where opportunities lead me!

where do you get your inspiration?

I get my inspiration from looking outside, going for walks, watching the sunset... The area around here is so beautiful, filled with mountains, forests, lakes and ocean. It really doesn’t take much for me to take one look at the scenery and feel inspired to keep photographing it.

what images are you most proud of and why?

Attached are some of the photos I’m most proud of. I like to to think the viewer can look at these photographs and hopefully feel some of the emotions each person in the photographs felt... Mostly a sense of awe and peace. Some of the most up-lifting moments in my life were those spent enjoying the peaceful silence around me while taking these photos. In these moments I found it easy to let my thoughts flow freely, allowing me to just... be.

Who are you and what type of creative are you? I’m Oliver. I’m an illustrator/graphic designer born and raised just outside Liverpool, currently living in Manchester. My passion for art started at an early age; having a big passion for ancient history and mythology I would draw scenes of Jason and the Argonauts, Homer’s Odyssey and random characters. My dad taught me how to draw after it being a passion of his too. As the years went on my drawing technique improved and I started to think more creatively. It’s only while I’ve been at University that I’ve realized which direction I want my work to be heading. I think it’s important to have your own kind of bucket list, a to do list of what work you want to create in the future and where you want to see it. Where do you get your inspiration for work? I take inspiration from anything and everything; whether it is something on the street or something someone has said. I would say my main influences are popular culture, music, film, history and anything unusual. I think it is important to look at new styles and artists, where the trends are heading and what people are looking for. However I like to be individual and create something new out the styles. I think looking for inspiration from the past is also a great technique. By taking inspiration from all walks of life, new processes and designs can be created. What is your artistic process? I think it is important to look at a piece of work in different stages. I start off with a rough idea of what I want from the piece and gradually illustrate more layers and versions for

the piece. I like to work this way as I get a better perspective of the piece I am drawing. Some pieces of work will be computer based, but I do prefer to hand draw my images and perhaps only tweak them on the computer afterwards. The outcome from this style of work always works for me. Each piece of work I create depends on the mood that I am in. Sometimes depending on the project the piece will be heavily coloured, using mixed media and patterns. Whereas sometimes the drawing is best when it is just black and white. What designs are you most proud of and why? The two designs I am most proud of are the two skateboards I have designed. Named Long Live The King and Long Live The Queen, they were both screen printed onto the boards. I was first told that this process would not work because of the curvature of the skateboards, however they came out really well. I had a group of friends holding the boards whilst I maneuvered the screen, trying to print the characters I had designed on there. I think I am most proud of a piece of work when the finished outcome is exactly how I wanted the illustration to look. I think a lot of designers have a idea of how they want the outcome to look, however actually getting to that stage exactly is one extreme to another. It can look perfect or horrible.

Who are you and what type of creative are you?

I’ve always been an artist, as far back as this wrinkly mass of gray-matter in my cranium can remember. If it wasn’t Crayons, it was color pencils or markers. My parents even went so far as to paint my bedroom walls white so that I could draw on them with Sharpies of all things. It was that encouragement that let me be the illustrator that I am today. As for the type of creative that I am, I’d have to say that if I am not inspired to draw, I wont. I don’t believe in half-hearted designs and illustrations. If I sit in front of my sketchbook or computer and the creativity doesn’t make its way to my fingers, I’ll walk away. I’ve realized that it’s for the best. There’s nothing shittier than a work of art with no passion behind it. I’ve tried it. I always end up looking at the finished piece and tearing it up.

What made you interested in illustration?

I’d say it was a good mix of nature and nurture. My grandfather was into handwriting and calligraphy. My father enjoyed architecture as a hobby. It seemed likely that I would grow up with a love for drawing. It was something that came naturally. I’d say it’s my only real talent. The combination of my natural urge to draw and my parents’ encouragement are the reason for the love I have for illustration. No matter how much time I put into a drawing while growing up, my dad would take me aside and say “That’s great. Now let me show you how you can make this better.” It was that kind of approach that has allowed me to welcome and grow from constructive criticism. Art is magic. The ability to take a thought or vision and bring it to life on a sheet of paper never fails to amaze me. I have so much appreciation for artists and creatives. Being a part of that community is an honor. My next step is working my way into playing a more prominent part in the art world. First locally here in Miami and then hopefully branching out.

What is meaning behind your name “Little Black Heart?” That actually may not be as interesting as you would hope. Haha. Let’s just say that my sarcasm may be a talent of its own. So when people do or say something that I find cruel or mean spirited, I usually respond with “Bless your little black heart” in lieu of telling them what an ass they are. I really liked the sound of it, so I stuck with it.

Who/What inspires you?

First and foremost, I’m inspired by the people who have shaped me for the better: my parents, my daughter and the love of my life. Who would anyone be without the people they love and who love them?

Aside from that, I am very much inspired by other artists. They push me to try new things or to take different approaches. I am constantly searching online, through magazines or album covers for illustrators and their work. And now with Instagram, it has gotten so easy to follow an artist’s process that I find myself on there far too often either looking for inspiration or sharing my own work. Look me up on there if you’re interested: LittleBlkHeart. I could use your feedback!

What is your creative process?

I don’t actually have one single process. It’s all in how the project comes to me. Sometimes an idea comes to mind and I dive right in. There are other times where I may not be sure what direction to take, so I do sketch a bit. After that, it’s ink and markers. I am a Prismacolor enthusiast. Most of the illustrations I do are Prismacolor on watercolor paper. I’ve learned to treat the markers like watercolor and it’s a process I’ve fallen in love with. After that, depending of what feel I’m going for, I usually scan the artwork and give it a distressed and aged feel on the computer. Something else I do a few times a week are drawings on index cards. As a graphic designer, I spend countless hours on a computer. So, as a mental health break I try to do a few drawings a week to post up around my gray cube of wonders. It helps my mind unwind as well as keeping my hands practiced. I also post those up regularly on my blog to keep the galleries fresh with new material.

What illustration are you most proud of and why? As artists, not only are we our own worst critic, but we are always growing and changing. So when a piece is done and I am satisfied with it, I’ll look at it a few months later and realize what I could have done to make it better. So I envision a better version of my finished piece. That makes it hard to have a favorite, I think. I don’t know that I have one illustration that I am most proud of. My Ganesha piece has gotten a lot of print requests, and I’m pretty happy with that one. But I also love the last illustration I did of my girlfriend and I am particularly fond of a set I made of a man with an octopus head and another with a fishbowl for a head. Then there’s this poster I did for a Marilyn Manson concert years ago. That one has also gotten a lot of good feedback. But I can honestly say that I don’t have a single illustration that is my favorite. I think that’s good. It means I will always strive for better.

Who are you and what type of creative are you? I’m a 21 year old Australian girl trying to move my butt to the big city of Sydney. I am a digital artist, photographer, and I am just about to gain a degree in graphic design. My art style of late is primarily digital painting and general post-processing in Photoshop. How did you get interested in illustration and photography? I have been drawing since I could hold a pencil - always loved it. I grew to love painting in particular, and photography followed pretty naturally as well I think. I discovered Photoshop around the age of 12 and taught myself from then on. Digital post-processing quickly became my obsession, and that lead to teaching myself the basics of using the brush tool and then drawing/painting with it. If you would work for anyone you wanted who would it be and why? Pixar, Bungie, WETA, so many places... Where do you get your inspiration? I spent a huge chunk of my time of the internet, so I guess you can say that’s my main source. Games, books, movies... Childhood memories, too.

How do you go about starting a project? What is your creative process? I have ideas swirling in my head all the time. Coming across pictures that intrigue me or scenes in day to day life. A lot of the time I work from photo reference, and as I’m always on the internet I see work that makes me want to practise. I’m constantly trying new techniques and styles, trying to improve and just get better at painting. Studying light and shadow and tone or colour. It comes down to the fact that I generally enjoy the feeling I get while painting, and putting that time into something that I can be proud of. What illustrations are you most proud of and why? Anything I finish I feel really proud of and then when I paint something new I see so many things I could fix in the first.

Who are you and what type of creative are you? My name is Karen Kavett and I am a graphic designer currently living in San Francisco. I also produce YouTube videos on my channel xperpetualmotion about graphic design and crafting projects. I also make a jewelry line, which is for sale at DFTBA.com.

day after school for about four years, whether it was class assignments or just other projects I wanted to make for myself. I grew to love this medium which is in a safe environment where you have an undo button and aren’t going to cut off your hand with a bandsaw. I love its similarities to remix culture, where you’re taking images and fonts that may have been created by somebody else and putting them together in a unique way to create a beautiful product. Where do you get your inspiration? I read design blogs such as Nubby Twiglet and The Die Line, and if I’m working on a project in a specific style, I’ll search for inspiration on Tumblr and Pinterest. I also have a fairly sizable collection of design books and magazines that I love to page through. Some of my favorites include Stereographics: Graphics in New Dimensions, Papercraft II, and New Illustration with Type.

What made you interested in graphic design? I went to a high school that had a big focus on the arts, including graphic design, video production, journalism, etc. I was very lucky that I got to learn how to use Photoshop freshman year of high school and then keep taking design classes at such a young age. I had Photoshop on my computer at home, so I just fell in love with it and was designing things every

How do you keep yourself inspired? All of my friends are incredibly creative, whether it be in graphic design, illustration, video making, writing, or anything else. I’m a part of quite a big network of designers and YouTubers online, so anytime I see something cool that they’ve made, it just keeps me inspired to keep pushing myself and working hard on my own projects. How do you go about starting a project? I’ll usually start in my sketchbook and make some notes and ideas about what kind of direction I want

to go in with the project. I’m not great at drawing, so all of the sketches are pretty messy, and there’s a lot of just writing words to describe what I want to do (I got a lot of flak from my professors in college about that), but it definitely helps to organize my thoughts on paper before jumping straight onto the computer. What is your favorite part of the design process? I love the moment when it all starts to come together and I can see the finished product on the horizon. Especially if it’s a project where I struggled to think of a good concept, starting to be happy with how the project is coming out is just the biggest relief in the world. And when I do print work, I love just holding the finished product in my hands and being able to say - I made this. This exists in the world because of the decisions that I made. What are your favorite fonts and why? I go through phases with fonts, where I’ll use a few fonts for a bunch of projects in a row and then get sick of them and switch to something else. I used to use Gotham in everything, but lately I’ve been really into Interstate and Alright Sans. I also really love the two fonts I use in my website header, Populaire and Sackers Gothic. What projects are you most proud of and why? I’m really happy with the box set I did for John Green, since it’s the first thing I designed that you can actually buy from a physical store. The feedback from his fans has been really great on that project too. I also still get a kick out of seeing things I designed while I worked as a UX designer at YouTube for a year, such as the emails template and the annotations timeline, which I use every day for my own video work. Do you have any advice for people wanting to get into the graphic design field? Or for people just starting out in graphic design? You just have to do it. Reading books and collecting inspiration is great, but it only gets you so far. Design something every single day, and give yourself assignments like you’re in school. Redesign magazine spreads, shampoo packaging, a CD cover for your favorite band, anything you can find around you. It’ll take a while until good design starts feeling intuitive and you start liking the things you make, but if you keep working at it, you’ll get there.

W h o a r e y o u a n d w h at ty pe o f c r eative ar e you?

While I consider myself a graphic designer, I love to incorporate a variety of interests into my work including photo art direction, hand-lettering, and illustration. I was born and raised in South Carolina where I learned the importance of southern hospitality, and I attended Savannah College of Art and Design where I graduated as Salutatorian in 2009 with a major in Graphic Design and a minor in Advertising Design. I’ve worked as a full-time designer for Target, Yahoo!, and currently for IDEO with freelance clients including Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn Teen, and Workman Publishing.

Y o u ma j o r e d i n G r a p h i c D es ign and m ino r ed i n A dve rti s i n g d e s i g n at SCAD. How did yo u mang e to f i n d e n o u g h ti m e to do yo u r p ro je c t s a n d n o t g e t b u rned o ut?

I viewed college very similarly to how I view life in general: work hard, play hard. It’s about striking a balance. I am very much a list-maker, and I stress out if there are too many things randomly floating around in my head. I believe that if you are organized with the ability to prioritize, you are able check off all the important work things on your work list while leaving time to play. Play-time is important, no matter how you choose to spend it. Mental breaks allow for rejuvenation and new forms of inspiration. In the end, it benefits your work by allowing you to stay mentally fresh.

W h at was i t a b o u t g r a p h i c des ign m ade yo u want t o b e co m e a d e s i g n e r ? Since I was three years old, I wanted to become an artist. In 8th grade, my aunt (who is a graphic designer) told me about graphic design. And from then on, I just knew that it was the

career I wanted to pursue. It was not only a viable way to make a living through art, but it was a way to communicate at scale. I believe in design for impact, and graphic designers are empowered with the unique ability to communicate visually and drive change.

What is yo ur f av ori t e part of t he de si gn pr o c es s ?

My favorite part of the design process are the reactions. When you show a client a design for the first time and their eyes light up with excitement. When you show teammates a design and they say, “YES! That is what I had in my head, but you were able to visually bring it to life better than I could have imagined!” I love the power that design has to elicit emotive responses. Designs speak. And being able to provide that visual voice to others feels so good to me.

Wher e do you ge t y our i nspi rat i on and h o w do yo u inc orporat e y our i nspi rat i on i nt o yo ur wo r k?

Inspiration can come from any number of places: designer contemporaries, historical designs, art, architecture, books, nature... It’s important to gather inspiration from a range of sources in order to not imitate, but to interpret bits and pieces through your own voice. Every project is unique, and I generally have an innate guidance on how the final design solution should “feel.” I then try to create a design with the goal of eliciting a desired emotional response.

How do yo u st art a proj e ct ?

I generally begin projects with thinking and research in order to get into the mindset of the project and to understand the landscape in which I’m working. What has been done? What hasn’t been done? What would be a unique approach to the project,

but not be so experimental that it wouldn’t communicate effectively and easily? What conceptually makes sense? What style of design would best lends itself to the concept? Once I think through these things and understand the landscape, the design process is more guided and intentional.

W h at a d v i ce w o u ld y o u give to s o m eo ne who wa nts to b e a d e s i g n e r/art dir ec to r ? My advice: do what you love! Work hard and crave self-improvement. You’ll never stop learning, so embrace challenges as opportunities to grow. And be nice to people. Generally, people don’t want to work with difficult designers, and your work can only improve through positive collaboration.

W h at p r o j e cts , th at yo u have do ne, ar e yo u mo s t p r o u d o f o r a r e y o u r favo r ites ? Why? It’s so hard to say which projects are my favorite! I love them all for different reasons, but projects that I enjoy the most are ones that involve great relationships. It makes for a truly enjoyable process that is collaborative in nature. From food packaging with Williams-Sonoma to personal stop-motion videos I’ve made with my husband, the projects that are both creatively successful AND fun ideating/making/processes are the most satisfying.

who are you and what type of creative are you?

My name is Whitney and I am a fine art photographer. My creativity comes into play when I plan out, compose, shoot, and process an image.

how did you get interested in photography?

It honestly all started with boredom. It was during the summer of 2009, when I had a job that hardly gave me any working hours, and I spent a lot of time online, trying to figure out a new hobby. I came across a Flickr profile of a photographer named Rosie Hardy, and I decided that I wanted to do what she was doing. I wanted to create interesting images and fantastical visual narratives, and so I picked up a camera and started shooting. The rest is history.

candid photography or planned shoots? both? why?

Personally, I like both. I think there are some shots that you just simply cannot make someone pose for—it has to be natural. Some of my favorite photos are images I have taken of someone just overlooking a landscape, or brushing their hair out of their eyes, or laughing at something a friend said. Candid photography can be absolutely beautiful. However, if I wanted to plan out a conceptual shoot, obviously the model isn’t going to just naturally ease into a pose I find suitable. I have to plan the setup and then pose the model in a way that completes the photo. Those are also beautiful shots, but it is very different from candid photography.

why do you like portrait photography more than other types?

Portrait photography is interesting to me because you get to capture emotion in people’s faces—you get to, in effect, capture the soul in their eyes, in their facial expressions, in their body language, etc. It’s something that you can’t really do any other way.

where do you get your inspiration?

Would it be horribly wrong to say I get my inspiration from everything? I have so many talented friends and artists that I look up to, that really spur my inspiration; they push me to improve my art, either through conversation or just in the beautiful work they produce themselves. I’m also inspired in huge part by music and lyrics. Commonly, I have a song in mind when I plan my shoot, and will either title it after that song or make some reference to it in the image. I am also inspired by traveling and seeing new places in the world around me; I have had the opportunity to travel around the world, and I often take bits and pieces of things I do and see and incorporate that into the images I create. Really, the best thing about inspiration is that it can come from so many sources—it can really come from anywhere, and I love that.

what is your artistic process?

It’s always been hard for my to put my artistic process into words. It’s often a changeable combination of research, planning, boredom, frustration, and a relentless desire to create. Sometimes I have a really just go into a shoot with the hopes that a concept or an image idea will come to my mind, and other times I do intense planning—with costumes, models, drawings, and specific equipment to help me achieve what I am visualizing. I wish I could tell you step-by-step what I do in every shoot, but really no two photo shoots are ever the same.

what photographs are you most proud of and why?

That’s a tough one. I have several images that I am proud of for very different reasons, and it’s hard to pinpoint a short list of images that mean the most to me. A few in particular I can name are as follows:

*This image means a lot to me because of some of the intensely personal feelings I was having at this point in my life. I guess I would term it as a dark period for myself, as I was struggling a lot with self-worth, hopelessness, and negativity. I took a break from school and went home for a while, and I took this photo as a representation of my spirit draining with what I was feeling. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s powerful to me because even looking at it now, over two years later, I can still remember exactly how I felt at that moment.

*I am very proud of this image because it turned out exactly how I envisioned it. I went into the shoot with a specific idea in mind, and the final image was even better than I thought it would be! I love it when a shoot turns out really pleasing, because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a pretty rare thing these days for me to be very happy with my images.

*This one means a lot to me because of the concept behind it. I have always been a bit of a free spirit, and at the time this image was created, I was feeling like I was trapped in a place in my life that I wasn’t really happy with. This image reflected that feeling, and to me, the wings on my arms and just beginning to stretch, as if to say I am ready to break out of that cage and fly away. [The accompanying narration of the photograph from Whitney’s Flickr] “What am I?” “You’re a bird,” he whispered. I thought about this for a moment. “How am I a bird?” “Because you’re trapped. You want so badly to fly away, to be free, but you’re stuck in your nest here. You’re not strong enough to fly yet.” I dropped my eyes, amazed that he could know so much about me, without really knowing me at all. “Well, when will I be strong enough?” I ventured, my voice small. “Only you can decide that. You’ll know when you’re ready.” “And until then?” The corner of his lip twitched into a small smile. “Stretch your wings, little bird.”

*This is an image that I created while I was in LA for a large Flickr meet-up. I am most proud of this piece, not only for the way the final image looks, but also because of what went into taking this photo and the memories attached. I had several other people helping me with reflectors and behind-thescenes photos and composition suggestions, etc, and that was such a great experience.

Who are you and what type of creative are you? Photography is a type of “show and tell”; it’s about creating the images and feelings I have within me. The images and feelings in my head are translated into the external world. Photography for me is like any other art form, it’s nothing but tools of an alchemist, and the body is the magic medium. I just use the tools the i’m commanded to use to get what i want. I think like a sculptor and photograph like a painter. The scale is extremely important to me, the final piece must have a sculptural weight to it. My interests are to fill the space with a unphysical weight or substance thru hue and composition. How did you get interested in photography? Born in a small town in rural North Carolina, I quickly became transformed by the arts as a young boy. Beginning as a abstract painter and figurative sculptor; my motivation grew from my interest in chroma and psychophysical effects of these stimuli acting upon our five know senses. Photography holds all the intrinsic values of all the other arts; but differs in the fact that it’s the foundation of existence. Nothing can exist without the photon, and every aspect is controlled by it’s usage.

What is the meaning behind your identity/website name? My commercial one www.PhotonOrganon.comThe modern concept of the “photon” was developed gradually by Albert Einstein from his studies of “General Theory of Relativity”. This single development of general relativity brought about a radical change in our concepts of space and time. But long before Einstein’s brain was turning; you had arguably the greatest mind contemplating it’s very existence thousands of years before. Aristotle was one of the first to publicly hypothesize about the nature of light, proposing that light is a disturbance in the element air. And this is were I had the two connections for my Logo, because the word “organon”( greek word for tool) was also used be Aristotle to denote his followers on logic. And the elemental particle/wave of light is a photon; therefore we have photon+tool=PhotonOrganon. So the name just really fell into place from my interests in these two great thinkers. My fine art site- www.Omni-Phantasmic.com Is the name of the series; the combination of two words to create the them of the series-

Omni-Phantasmic -----------------------------------------*Omni 1. A combining form denoting all, every, everywhere; as in omnipotent, all-powerful; omnipresent; omnivorous. *Phantasmic 1. Something apparently seen but having no physical reality; a phantom or an apparition. Also called phantasma. 2. An illusory mental image. 3. In Platonic philosophy, objective reality as perceived and distorted by the five senses. Where do you get your inspiration for work? Eons ago we somehow begin this evolutionary track from virtually nothing but water. My endeavor into the idea’s of origins and the simplification of existence; that idea extends into the water being a driving photographic element in my work. I think a lot about origins of thoughts pertaining to living creatures, and how to illustrate that abstract idea. I like the innate power of water to create and destroy in the same wave of energy. It’s only from a human’s point of view that we label each one bad or good; helpful or useless. Our first 9 months we start floating in our mother; how strange to be floating in a container inside a human body that is also made from water. How powerful is that; if we could remove the memory of what that water had been apart of before it started forming a fetal’s organs. Could it have flooded a valley of dinosaurs, been the urine of Jesus, or the fluid of a dragonfly’s eye? What is your artistic process? Visceral, intuitive, and explorative. I want to create an image with a raw wonderment. I desire imagery that resist decay to notions to style and time; I strike to simply create imagery that punches through the skin of creating musings.

What photographs are you most proud of and why? I believe my strongest distinctive feature lies below the senses, inside the intellect of the individual where the single experience of the image exists. It’s strange for me to ponder the correlation between the ideas of the viewers of my work and my own ideas of the work I produce. The individuals who have built a framework of their world which is derived from their personal intricate sequence of experiences, view my work and proceed to see into their own lives as they connect my art only with what they know of their ideas and thoughts. Their life floods into my compositions with their emotions, fears, and rationalities ultimately controlling their final experience of viewing my work. I take this into account, and not only ask myself how I want to control and display the outcome of the piece, but ask how the individual audiences are going to interpret it. I try use the shyness of the human form, values of art, and emotions of happiness in an individual as a tool to suppress the hollowness of society. Art for me is by-product of life. The final form, or product is the transformation of time (in which experiences exist) into an external pseudo-solid state. This idea starts from non-living substance, coming from the beginnings of Earth, including raw materials like dirt and water. From this organic material comes life, and intelligence which take the raw material, synthesizing it with our experiences, and producing yet another non-organic and non-living piece like a work of art.

Thank you everyone who was apart of ISSUE Three of ink & arrows! If anyone has a question, comment, or wants to be featured in issue FOUR of INK & ARROWS email us at inkandarrowsteam@gmail.com.

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