People always ask me, how do you maintain a consistent level of creative design output. Francis, who works in a related industry often remarks:
You fill your graphic design portfolio with good work every day – but then you paint and draw in the night as well… how do you not burn out?
I think the key to consistent creative output is consistent creative input especially with illustration. You can’t exercise without calories to burn up. So a substantial part of my week is spent consuming quality content.
It’s important to emphasise the word QUALITY. Facebook can drain your energy just as easily as it can fuel it. So choose wisely creative grasshoppers.
These are a few sites that I use regularly to fuel my creative tank.
Not only good for consuming, Pinterest allows you to save and document your finds and an easy to access account. this is also great for sharing finds with clients and collaborators. I use Pinterest Heeeeeaps.
Ffffound
This one is similar to pinterest, though without the ability to search specifically. It’s a bit more of a hunter gatherer approach.
From Up North
A much more straight forward navigation and traditional approach to finding inspiring content. This one is particularly good for narrowing down specific categories for research.
Smashing Magazine
More of an article based site. The articles in this site a very diverse an always helpful.
Design Taxi
This is a good one to follow in facebook and I especially like it cause it diverges a lot from simply design and illustration. Some of the stuff it presents are out of the box and I wouldn’t necessarily have thought to look for it.
And last but not least, I’m a sucker for compelling TV. Game of thrones, Lost, Breaking Bad… anything character driven I find inspiring and recharging.
If there is a particular site you have found compelling – sen me an email I’d love to hear about it.