Oct 12, 2011
As you may have noticed, I regularly post images to my inspiration blog Adrian, that you see a small feed from in the sidebar of this site. In this post, with content from Adrian as examples, I’m trying to delve deeper into that material, and show you how I look at the material I see every day.
It is a common myth about all designers, musicians and artists in general that all of our work comes purely from a mental connection to the cosmos; as an artist and “creative person” we just make stuff completely out of nothing. However, nothing could be farther from the truth. Whether one is aware of it or not, we pick stuff up from all around us all the time. 
Some artists claim to be 100% original in all that they do, my proposition is that they simply are unaware of how they acquire their inspiration.
The “Ether” is a more fitting description than the “cosmos”, I suppose. Some things are just floating around, and we end up picking it up often without being aware of it. One of the more established definitions of the word creativity is the ability to see connections where no connection seem visible, which is exactly what this post is about. The most important skill taught in art school is in my opinion, is the ability to see how and why something is inspiring, and so be able to draw inspiration from nearly anything, by analyzing it.
The inspiration blog I keep mostly as a tool in my own creative process, as a toolbox of ideas that can be tweaked and hopefully made better in my own work. I have one basic rule: I’m not posting images, I’m posting the idea behind the image. Also, the idea has to be actionable. Let me give you an example. (more…)
Oct 3, 2011
Unless you have been living under a rock lately, you probably have Spotify already. So here is my first playlist, specially made for working! It’s a nice mix of ambient and bordering genres, to put your head in the right place for churning out awesomeness from your brain, whatever your profession. At least it works like a charm for me!
Click here to load it up in your Spotify player! And tell me what you think in the comments…
Sep 26, 2011
I often get requests to do stuff for free, like most people in the creative business. Usually I would love to help them, but resources are limited, so referring to this chart helps. Feel free to share it.
Sep 21, 2011
The wonderful girls at Fin magazine just launched their newest edition, with moi in it.
The interview was super funny, and they managed to boil down my batshit theories to an actually coherent article. Way to go, girls.
Aug 1, 2011
This is an illustration I did for my recent print portfolio update. Did not end up using it, however.
In other news, I got interviewed by the girls from Fin mag a few days ago, in addition to the one I did together with Kiyoshy for the Raff week in Bergen. Neither are published yet, so keep your pants on. (EDIT: the Fin mag interview is live, at fin-mag.no) Also, you might have gotten the memo earlier about me and my missus packing up and moving to Copenhagen. We’ll be hanging around being so damn danish you wouldn’t see the difference between us and a slice of salami.
Speaking for myself, I’ll go into overly social mode, attending everything and shooting business cards around with a cannon. If you know any decent design offices in the big C, let me know!
Expect lots of updates with pastry based photography in the coming weeks. No, I’m kidding. Although probably not.
Here is a quick shot of the street level of our new apartement. Peace.
Jul 26, 2011
There has been a lot of writing about what happened in Oslo and at Utøya last friday. I feel I am unable to write very much about it, but suffice to say, this has been a defining day for Norway. The people have shown their compassion, our leaders their strength and maturity.
I remember fondly going to summer camp at Utøya when I was fifteen. It was the greatest summer I can remember, I even had a summer fling with a girl from up north at that island. My hope is that the kids will come back, to resist the hate, and show everyone that we won’t be bucked down by this crap, our love will grow even stronger, not just for each other up here, but for everyone in the global community.
I found this quote from a german newspaper article floating around:
“Even in their deepest sorrow the Norwegians don’t get hysterical. They resist the hate. It is amazing to see how politicians and the whole country reacts. They are sad to the deepest thread of their souls. They cry in dignity. But nobody swears to take revenge. Instead they want even more humanity and democracy. That is one of the most remarkable strengths of that little country.” (source)
Let’s dedicate our lives to show this pathetic terrorist he was wrong all the time. Let’s make a world that doesen’t build walls between “us” and “them”, but one that heads over for a cup of tea.
Man dreper ikke folk man er glad i. Så la oss lage en verden som innbyr til å være glad i hverandre.
Some artists claim to be 100% original in all that they do, my proposition is that they simply are unaware of how they acquire their inspiration.
