Organize Inspiration with Pinterest
When I was in college taking illustration classes my instructor, John, had us sifting through old magazines looking for examples of illustrations. Once we found those images he would have us tear them out and put them into a three ring binder alphabetically by the subject that the illustration pertained to. At the end of each term he would have us turn in the binder and it was a percentage of our grade for that class. I still have those binders in my closet collecting dust because it was so much work to put them together, hours and hours of time spent. Most of the artists I know have done this same thing in their careers. It could be that you have a drawer in a filing cabinet, a three-ring binder or pile on your desk dedicated to cool magazine clippings, photocopies of an interesting image you saw or some other inspirational materials. Well no more, let the clutter stop.
Well John we have something so much better to organize our inspiration now. Pinterest. In case you don’t know what Pinterest is it is a visual social discovery tool that people use to collect ideas for their different projects and interests. I’ve read a lot of articles about how to market yourself or sell your artwork on Pinterest. These are all great posts about how to get your work out there, but don’t forget to use Pinterest for what it was made for. If you’re not already using Pinterest, now is a great time to start. If you’re just starting out with Pinterest, and even if you’re not, let me make a suggestion to you right now. Create very specific “boards”. When I first started making “boards” I would just name them any old thing like “character design” and before I knew it I had 200 plus pins in my character design board. Everything from facial expressions to hand gestures were in my character design board. Yes, technically all these things would go into a character design folder, but it made it really hard to find it easily when I needed it. I found this out the hard way a few weeks ago and had to go back and re-organize all my boards so I can find my inspiration easier. Now I have boards dedicated to all types of art related inspiration. I have a board for color theory, backgrounds and settings, tutorials, facial expressions, hand gestures and many more. It’s a fast and easy way for me to get to my reference materials.
Now that you have a nice organized Pinterest account you can go out and find inspiring artwork, follow other artists with the same taste as you, market your illustrations and sell your work on Pinterest, but always remember the power of Pinterest is great and with great power comes greater need for organization.
If you’d like to read other posts about Pinterest that we’ve done on OUaS check out “Can Pinterest Help Your Art Get Better?” and “Sigh, I’m hooked on Pinterest“.
Norm
Growing up on the shores of Maui, Hawaii, Norm has always loved drawing. Since leaving the islands’ beautiful beaches and landing in Oregon, he went to college and received a degree in graphic design as well as an additional degree in digital prepress technology. After graduating, he worked for an interactive media firm in Corvallis, Oregon. While there, he was the company’s lead illustrator/designer and was responsible for creating illustrations, animations, and interactive products like video games. Now living in Beaverton, Oregon, Norm worked as an in-house illustrator for 10 years at a large education company in downtown Portland, Oregon. While at this position, he was the creative mind behind nationally marketed campaigns, numerous brand identities, toy and product designs, children’s books, as well as Web and interactive designs for the company’s design team. After leaving this position to raise his son, he now spends countless hours perfecting his craft as a freelance illustrator. He has worked with companies like Highlights Magazine, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Reading A to Z, Kaiser Permanente, KinderCare, and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI). He has created projects such as marketing illustrations, children’s books, coloring and activity books, video games, and educational products for these companies and others. Norm’s ability to draw has given him the chance to do the thing he truly loves: Create.
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