Inspiration

Expand your personal library of references and get to know the work of creatives from various disciplines.

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  • 10 Basic Typography Design Principles for Creating Memorable Logotypes
    Teacher Typography, Calligraphy and Lettering

    10 Basic Typography Design Principles for Creating Memorable Logotypes

    Learn to use letter shapes to communicate beyond what your words spell out Typography is a crucial element in logotype design. Using shape, not only can we communicate verbally, but we can also channel the brand’s personality visually. Elias Mule (@elias_mule) is a graphic designer specializing in branding and typography. In this blog, he walks us through 10 basic typography design principles for creating memorable logotypes. They can be applied to any style of typography, whether that be with or without serif, italicized, monospaced, or display (which is often applied to logotypes). 1. Skeleton This is the internal line that defines the basic structure of your letter. It exists for the same reason that a human skeleton does, anatomically speaking. According to Elias, it’s a great starting point for working out how to connect your letters and define aspects such as height and width.

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  • 7 Polaroids and Inspiring Quotes by Andrei Tarkovsky
    Photography

    7 Polaroids and Inspiring Quotes by Andrei Tarkovsky

    Discover this collection of Polaroids taken by the Russian filmmaker–each one is accompanied by a quote that invites you to step into his world… Memory, dreams, and spirituality play a central role in the meditative work of Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky. Born in Zavrazhye in 1932, he is considered by many to be one of the greats of film history. He won the Grand Prix Spécial du Jury twice at Cannes with Solaris (1972) and The Sacrifice (1986); the Golden Lion in Venice for Ivan's Childhood (1962); and was posthumously awarded the Soviet Union's prestigious Lenin Prize. Many of his sequences are iconic, such as the burning house in The Mirror (1975) or the protagonist’s long walk in Nostalghia (1983) as he tries to keep a candle alight. Tarkovsky was also concerned about the aesthetic and moral implications of the art itself, a topic he explored in his most-celebrated book, Sculpting in Time.

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  • A Brief History of Pop-Up Books
    Teacher Craft

    A Brief History of Pop-Up Books

    Pop-up books started 800 years ago as a "philosophical machine", evolved into scientific manuals, and still survive today as a kids' favorite. The oldest pop-up books do not have dazzling illustrations of castles, forests, kings, queens, dragons, and fairies. They were made in the Middle Ages to facilitate the understanding of natural and religious phenomena. One of them is a Volvelle (a type of book containing rotating circles attached to the pages), handmade in 1250 by the English Benedictine monk Matthew Paris, which explains the relation between the moon's seasons and phases and religious holidays.

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  • Jon Berkeley: Illustrations That Tell a Story
    Teacher Illustration

    Jon Berkeley: Illustrations That Tell a Story

    Editorial illustrations complement a text and tell a story without using words Irish illustrator Jon Berkeley (@jon_24) found his call in editorial illustration. While he usually enjoys drawing for younger audiences, he has also found that working for newspapers and magazines is ideal for educating, informing, and entertaining readers, an activity he finds challenging and gratifying in equal parts. Berkeley was born in Dublin, the city that saw him grow and develop into a professional illustrator. He took his first steps in this field when the internet had yet to become the hive of creative opportunities it is nowadays and carved himself a career by knocking on every possible door. This is how he got to collaborate with Time, Newsweek, and The Economist.

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  • Turning a Concept Into a Strong Project Statement
    Photography

    Turning a Concept Into a Strong Project Statement

    Conceptual portrait photographer Verónica Cerna shares tips for turning a concept into a strong project statement Verónica Cerna (@veronica_cerna) is a photographer and videographer who’s had her work published in magazines such as Musée Magazine, Shots Magazine, Better Photography, and Revista Pecado. Verónica started out creating self-portraits and has always been drawn to experimental portraiture. During her teens, she discovered that photography was a way for her to understand herself and take control of her body. She counts Edward Hopper, Ouka Leele, and Gregory Crewdson among the artists she’s been most influenced by. In her Domestika course, she invites you to learn about her process for creating a series of conceptual portraits. In this blog, she shares tips on how to create a concept and convert it into a powerful statement.

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  • 5 Ways to Find New Ideas
    Teacher Design

    5 Ways to Find New Ideas

    Alejandro Flores explains the methods he uses in his design studio to turn his team's ideas into workable concepts Creativity is not an exact science, and that means there is no single way to achieve it. Each person, each designer, will find their favorite method to make ideas flow. They may even want to try several of them, and choose one or the other depending on the type of project you have in hand, the team they work with, the deadlines, or the means at their disposal. Alejandro Flores, founder and creative director of the Mexican design studio Human (@human_), has 5 methods for conceptualizing ideas that his team uses to create groundbreaking designs. Mind mapping This is one of the most well-known methods. Starting from a central idea, you start making ramifications using related concepts that will help new ideas flourish. It is especially useful to discover new avenues that seemed unrelated to the original idea at first.

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  • 7 Questions To Answer Before Every Illustration
    Illustration

    7 Questions To Answer Before Every Illustration

    The 7 questions award-winning illustrator and author Jon Berkeley asks before starting any illustration Jon Berkeley has illustrated over 150 magazine covers during his career for publications including The Economist, Newsweek, and Nature, and has worked on numerous commercial projects for the likes of Vodafone, Smirnoff, and Ted Baker. In this article, Jon, who teaches the course Acrylic Techniques for Creative Illustration, shares the 7 questions that three decades of illustrating have taught him are crucial to answer before embarking on a project. 1. Where’s it going to be? The location of your image is one of its most definitive elements. There are ideas that only work vertically or horizontally and considerations change according to a picture’s position. 2. What’s the page layout? For example, if you are creating a piece for the front cover of a magazine, the design is probably going to have to strictly adhere to an established layout. Elements that will affect your concept and its effectiveness include titles, prices, barcodes and dates.

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  • 7 Architectural Works from Around the World that Represent the 21st Century
    Design

    7 Architectural Works from Around the World that Represent the 21st Century

    Domestika teachers choose the projects that, in their opinion, best define the avant-garde and the spirit of the last two decades Like any other manifestation of human ingenuity, architecture is an art in constant transformation, intrinsically related to the historical moment in which it develops. To commemorate World Architecture Day and the Architect's Day–a day invented by the International Union of Architects (UIA) that always falls on the first Monday of October–we present seven projects that symbolize the avant-garde and the spirit of our time in the vision of different teachers of Domestika courses linked to the discipline. This is not a ranking or a definitive list, but rather a set expert opinions, based on the distinctive and innovative features they believe are reflected in these creations. 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan

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  • Jean-Michel Basquiat: A Virtual Tour
    Art

    Jean-Michel Basquiat: A Virtual Tour

    You can now explore the Brant Foundation’s 2019 Basquiat exhibition online Connect to the internet and be transported to New York City. The Brant Foundation has created an immersive virtual tour of the inaugural exhibition of their East Village space. The exhibition, titled Jean-Michel Basquiat, comprises four floors filled with 70 works–created from 1980 to 1987–by the radical underground graffiti artist who went on to become a global sensation. Born in 1960 to a Haitian father and a Puerto Rican mother, Jean-Michel Basquiat grew up in Brooklyn, New York. As a child, Basquiat frequented the city’s museums and galleries and was encouraged by his mother to create his own works. When Basquiat was hit by a car aged eight, his mother brought a copy of Gray's Anatomy to the hospital. From that moment on, her son developed a fascination with anatomy, inspiring the bodily imagery–in particular skulls, sinew, and guts–that would feature heavily in his work.

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  • 5 Loop Animation Styles That Will Inspire You
    3D & Animation

    5 Loop Animation Styles That Will Inspire You

    Animator Pablo Cuello shares the work of 5 incredible creatives When you think about animation, you might imagine feature films from the big film studios. However, you don't need to create such complex or lengthy animations to inspire a deep emotional response in your viewers. Pablo Cuello (@pablocuello) is an Argentine graphic designer and animator who works with After Effects to create short and straightforward pieces that overflow with appeal:

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  • Domestika Projects: Greetings From Ha Tachana
    Teacher Illustration

    Domestika Projects: Greetings From Ha Tachana

    The Ink Bad Company's founder tells us about one of his most exotic illustrated projects: postcards from Tel Aviv My name is Juan Carlos, and I manage a one-person studio devoted to illustration: Ink Bad Company. I was born in a small town in Jaén (Andalucía, Spain), where I learned to harvest olives the traditional way, by shaking the trees. I made my mother happy choosing to study in Granada instead and ended up moving to Valencia, where I'll happily draw anything in exchange for financial compensation. My field of expertise is adult, commercial, and media illustration. And even though I have worked for important clients and agencies in pretty awesome projects, I want to believe that I really draw for myself at the end of the day. I love to dig into my brain, extract things that I have seen out there, mix them as well as possible, and try to make the result drinkable and tasty. Basically, this is how I work.

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  • Over 9000 Free Botanical Illustrations Made by Women
    Web & App Design

    Over 9000 Free Botanical Illustrations Made by Women

    Enjoy this free collection that celebrates the work of female scientists throughout history Women have contributed enormously to biodiversity research and the study of nature. They have collected specimens, researched new species, published books and catalogs, and drawn detailed scientific and botanical illustrations. Women's contributions to science become more significant when considering the obstacles they have had to face throughout history. To honor their work, the Biodiversity Heritage Library compiled this album of female scientists' illustrations from the last three hundred years.

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  • Be Inspired to Compose Artistic Photos
    Photography

    Be Inspired to Compose Artistic Photos

    Carlos Herrejón's references will help you create beautiful photomontages Artistic photo composition, or artistic photomontage, means generating surprising narratives within an image using powerful creative and visual metaphors. The process begins with careful planning and usually involves a great deal of editing. This is Carlos Herrejón's (@carlos_herrejon) specialty. He creates striking photo compositions that work as conceptual fine art:

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  • Domestika Diary: Mike Sandoval
    Illustration

    Domestika Diary: Mike Sandoval

    Art director and illustrator Mike Sandoval opens the doors of his studio and explains his creative routine during the confinement A creative workspace is always important, no more so than during a situation like confinement. Art director and illustrator Mike Sandoval (@mike_sandoval_) has made sure to create an environment that helps him in his work and allows him to continue to express his creativity in his professional and personal projects. This visual artist opens the doors of his home and studio in Mexico and explains how he works day to day as a freelance illustrator in the current situation and how he has created a space and a routine that encourages his productivity. Discover it below:

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  • 5 Contemporary Chinese Artists You Should Know
    Art

    5 Contemporary Chinese Artists You Should Know

    Get to know the work of five artists that are reviving thousand-year-old traditions China is the birthplace of ink–one of the oldest known drawing tools. While artists worldwide have adopted painting with soot, it was first used by one of the oldest empires. Given the historic importance and diverse nature of Chinese art, we have selected five contemporary artists who continue to develop its thousand-year-old traditions and give them a modern twist.

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  • A Brief History of Botanical Printing
    Craft

    A Brief History of Botanical Printing

    Discover the history of this naturalistic printing technique with Anabel Torres For any textile design enthusiast or anyone who loves DIY artisan techniques, botanical printing offers a world of possibilities. With it, you can decorate items of clothing, paper, fashion accessories, wall hangings, jewelry, decorative items for your home, and much more. Fashion designer and textile artist Anabel Torres (@anabeltorres) talks us through the origins of this artisanal technique, which can be used to dye any type of fabric with natural pigments.

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  • Draw Yourself: Mauro Martins
    Illustration

    Draw Yourself: Mauro Martins

    How did illustrator Mauro Martins start drawing? Did you know he lives in Brasilia? In this Draw Yourself, Martins recalls moments from his childhood, explains the concept of Brasilia, and defines the essential ingredients of a perfect city.

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  • Domestika Diary: Connie Lim
    Illustration

    Domestika Diary: Connie Lim

    The professional fashion illustrator shares her daily routine and the process behind her unique fashion collages Fashion illustration is part fantasy, part reality. Translating the artistry of high fashion into typically two-dimensional pieces of work, it records the details of actual garments while also infusing them with a dreamy, imaginative quality. Connie Lim (@_connielim_) is a London-based fashion illustrator whose work with fashion collages literally adds new layers to the traditional fashion illustration. Her distinctive style incorporates illustration and mixed-media to create unique textures and details, and her collaborations include work with brands like Louboutin, Bulgari, and L’Oreal. In this Domestika Diary, she shares her routine, gives a tour of her studio, and talks about her creative process and sources of inspiration.

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  • L’Abu Studio: Where Carpentry And Embroidery Come Together
    Craft

    L’Abu Studio: Where Carpentry And Embroidery Come Together

    L’Abu Studio produces a unique range of custom handmade wooden pieces featuring detailed embroidery Estela Botello grew up in Madrid, surrounded by a talented family of craftspeople. Looking back on her childhood, she recalls picking up her first needle around the age of six and learning to embroider and crochet with her grandmother (an expert at making intricate tablecloths). Since picking up her first needle, Estela has rarely put it down. Estela is the founder of L’Abu Studio (@labustudio), producing a unique range of custom-made decorative objects combining carpentry and other crafts such as embroidery and macrame–from unique wall hangings to embroidered furniture.

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  • Domestika Diary: Alex Hillkurtz
    Illustration

    Domestika Diary: Alex Hillkurtz

    Alex Hillkurtz, a storyboard artist fascinated by urban watercolor, shows us his personal vision of Madrid When it comes to the art of urban watercolor, there’s a magical mix of two elements: the unique vision of the illustrator who executes it, ensuring that no two watercolors are ever the same, and the personality of the buildings, people, and streets of the city that they’re capturing. This combination makes urban watercolor a fleeting reflection of the observer’s senses and an ever-changing environment, its results defined by the viewpoint of the artist and the location that they are seeking to capture. Few have a viewpoint as unique as that of Alex Hillkurtz. A storyboard artist with a passion for urban watercolor, he has an innate talent for reinterpreting the cities he visits through striking splashes of color and fascinating perspectives. Because of this, we jumped at the chance to accompany him during one of his drawing sessions set in the streets of Madrid. Find out more in the following Domestika Diary:

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  • What is Doodle Illustration?
    Illustration

    What is Doodle Illustration?

    Learn how the scribbles we make when daydreaming can become art from a master in the craft: Mauro Martins Illustrator Mauro Martins (@mauromartins) stood out as an art director in advertising and later established himself as a creator, applying a refined and personal version of doodle style artwork. His characterful work has secured him commissions from companies like Absolut, Domino’s Pizza, Amarula, and many more. He believes in the ability to tell small narratives through a style of drawing we typically call doodling, drawings that can grow in complexity as we improve. Below, he explains the characteristics of this playful and attractive style of illustration.

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  • Great Architectural Photographers
    Photography

    Great Architectural Photographers

    Be inspired by classic photographers who have led the way for Tuca Reinés and his professional career Tuca Reinés (@tucareines) trained as an architect, but his passion has always been photography. His work has been featured in the pages of major magazines such as Casa Vogue, A&D, Elle, Wallpaper and others, for almost three decades. He has presented solo exhibitions and created advertising campaigns for major clients: Maxhaus, Audi, Ermenegildo Zegna, Banco Santander, and Mobil, among others. Among his major awards are two golden lions at the Cannes Lions Festival.

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  • The 5 Names You Need to Know in Fine Art Photography
    Photography

    The 5 Names You Need to Know in Fine Art Photography

    Gerardo Montiel Klint shares 5 influential artists that helped him discover his passion for photography Gerardo Montiel Klint (@gerklint) is an industrial designer and photographer, teacher, workshop leader, and member of the Sistema Nacional de Creadores in Mexico. He has received numerous accolades in his career, including the Acquisition Award of the XIII and XI Photography Biennial, the Silver Medal for Fine Arts Mexico 2008, the Omnilife 2000 Grand Prize, and Fonca/Banff Center artistic residencies in 2001 and 2002-2003. His work has been featured in collections and galleries throughout the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Hungary, Denmark, Spain, and China. He is also co-founder of the Hydra platform, belongs to the advisory team of EXIT magazine, and co-directs Klint & Photo, a production house and photographic studio specialized in advertising, interior design, fashion, and portraiture.

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  • José Rosero: The Infinite Possibilities of Illustration
    Illustration

    José Rosero: The Infinite Possibilities of Illustration

    Editorial is just one of the many fields in which José Rosero feels comfortable working as an illustrator José Rosero (@rosero) is a Colombian visual artist whose graphic talents are so varied, it’s impossible to list them all. While he has worked as a painter, in theater, teaching, management, and research, it is as an illustrator that he has achieved his highest levels of success and built up an impressive career. This choice of career path has never narrowed his work opportunities, in fact, it has done the opposite. He considers being an illustrator a bit like being a platypus–in that it's made up of different parts of other animals–since you have to be able to speak different languages, all at the same time. Here’s how Rosero has used illustration across different mediums:

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