Rikon is a sci-fi and fantasy convention held annually in Rijeka, Croatia. Even though it has a longstanding tradition (since 1997), it never had a logo. I set out on a task to create the logo design and branding guidelines for this convention that caters to a variety of interests and age groups. See my hand lettered logo design process from sketch to finish! Read more...
When I was a kid and I started getting nice stationery for birthdays, my grandma warned me that I should not 'play' with it, but keep it safe for when I was older. I internalized this story: I don't deserve nice things now. Fast forward 20 years, I realized I still kept my 'nice sketchbooks' because I felt undeserving. Read more...
Don't ignore the question of pricing before anyone asks you. You need to come to the art buying conversation prepared. If you have no idea how to figure out how much to charge for your creations, I've got you covered! I'll show you the exact process I used to figure out the pricing for my art. Read more...
In the start-up world people often present early concepts of their work because they don't want to put thousands of hours of work and boatloads of money into something that isn't even interesting or useful to other people. And what do most of us do? We wait until we build it — no actually, we wait until we perfect it — and then we show it to the world. Read more...
This Friday I was exhibiting my art in Zagreb during the Freaky Friday event. Freaky Friday takes place each Friday the 13th and it features performance artists from all over the world, as well as local visual artists. I displayed my 10 darkest artworks in various techniques including paintings, drawings and mixed media collages. Read more...
Last weekend was filled with various cultural events here in Rijeka, and sadly I couldn't get to visit all of them, but those I did visit I thoroughly enjoyed. I'm continuing the tour next weekend, so I'm making this a 'part 1' of a series, starting with Witching Day and Wallpeople 2014. Read more...
About a month ago I took part in a free CreativeLive workshop Build a Successful Creative Blog taught by April Bowles-Olin of Blacksburg Belle. Some of us who attended decided to create a blog tour, highlighting our biggest takeaways. If you want to learn how to improve your blog (or start a new one) definitely read this post, and the other posts in the series. Read more...
Fear of failure is probably the single biggest thing that stops people from doing what they love and achieving success. Why is fear of failure so prevalent? Why do we allow it to govern our lives and prevent us from having what we want? What is the difference between people who embrace failing often as a part of their success strategy, and those of us who don't (and hence don't succeed)? The answer is: to some of us, failure is not 'just failure'. Read more...
There's a saying (I have no idea where I first heard of it) 'If you want to achieve something, you need to think like a person who already did it'. In this post I'm sharing a technique you can use to get yourself into a mindset of this person. Here's the gist: create a 'superhero' persona that will step in and lead the way when you need to make decisions and take actions that will lead you toward your goals. Read more...
For years I've been living in apartments with no room for a proper studio. I've been creating on kitchen tables, balconies, beds and even floors. All my art & craft supplies had to fit in two drawers. I tried to make the best of what I had. Now I have a wonderful dedicated room just for my creative work. It's an office and an art studio in one. I have plenty of room for creating, and enough storage space for all the art supplies and tools I own. I absolutely love spending my days here. Read more...
Recently I've been e-mailing back and forth with my online friend and we came across the issue of people's taste not being aligned with our own artistic taste. She mentioned how some of her very dear and important works went almost unnoticed, and those works that she didn't consider that good got a huge amount of feedback. The good side of this phenomenon is people like something. At least you have fans! The bad side is, they don't like what you want them to like. Read more...
We've been called unfocused, irresponsible, flaky, Jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none and a gazzillion other things, mostly negative. Occasionally someone might call us a Renaissance person or multi-talented (usually people who are themselves multi-passionate, so they see the benefit), but in general we have a really bad rep in the world of specialization. Read more...
We usually imagine Resistance, or creative block, as a solid, heavy thing blocking our path. It's difficult to bypass and impossible to move or destroy. Sometimes we see it as a little nagging monster, riding on our backs the entire time, covering our eyes and generally causing mayhem. I propose a different visual that might feel less intimidating. Read more...
I this video I talk about how art journaling can help with releasing perfectionist tendencies. I call myself a recovering perfectionist, I'm still not completely completely over it, but I saw some progress and I'm really happy with how it's working so I want to share some of my tools and techniques with you so you can see this progress in yourself as well. Read more...
There was a time when I was concerned about what my art represents, and what it does to the viewers. I was concerned that I was spreading negativity through my art, that I was airing my dirty laundry, and that maybe it wasn't a smart decision. My family's concerns about them possibly looking bad in public cast doubt on my work as well. So there was a phase when I really wasn't sure whether I should publish such art at all. But after I examined this subject from all sides, I decided it's OK for me to publish my art, and that I will continue to do it as long as I feel the need to. Read more...
Here's a tip on how to use your calendar or planner in a different way than you might be used to — instead of just looking forward to things that you planned for the future, you can also look back and learn from it. Companies invest millions of dollars into "big data" research that helps them make decisions that will bring in even more millions, so what can we learn from this example? That data can be extremely useful when we know what to do with it. Read more...
Did you ever wake up one day super motivated and excited, with your fingers itching to make something today, only to get lost in menial work that isn't really what you had in mind? And then the evening came, and you realized you didn't get to do a single thing today that you were so excited about. But tomorrow morning you aren't really that motivated or excited. You don't really feel like doing any of the stuff you wanted a day earlier, even though you have time to do it. The magic is gone. Yesterday was your super awesome day, and today isn't. That's just the way things are sometimes. Read more...
When I asked people what they would like to know about logo design so I can write about it, most of them were confused about the process itself, and they didn't know if it's bad if they have no idea what they'd want their logo to look like. In this post I share the entire logo design process for one of my clients, so you can get all the inside info about what goes into making a logo, from sketch to finish. Read more...
Download this free guidebook and you'll learn: how to get more brilliant ideas, how to keep & organize your ideas and how to turn those ideas into reality. This book is formatted as a series of texts in which I share tips and inspiration, followed by worksheets with exercises so you can take action as soon as possible. Read more...
If you're not a visual creative yourself, and you find yourself in need of some design or illustration services for your project, there are two options: pay for them, or try to ask a friend to help you out for free (or cheap). If you opt for the second route, here is a short guide to help you approach your friend in a way that will not endanger your relationship and create resentment on either side. Read more...
I can become your design fairy godmother and transform your brand from a frog into a prince.