My advice for designers: Make your ideas happen
How to make your ideas happen
“How does he/she do it?” is one of those frequent questions that come up whenever you look at an amazing piece of work, whether it’s design, illustration or more artistic pieces that tease our imagination. At Adobe, that’s something we’re very interested in, because we believe great ideas are a good start but don’t tell the full story – the gold comes from actually bringing those ideas to life.
This is easier said than done, of course. Making ideas happen means that it takes more than a great imagination to do great creative work; you need to understand the vision behind the idea but also the techniques that bring that idea to life and how to effectively show the world your latest piece of work. Ideas are only the beginning and there’s much more we can do in terms of providing advice for designers. During May, we’re going to share quite a few resources to make your ideas happen.
Masterclass: How to make your portfolio
Among other things which we’ll reveal throughout the month, I’m happy to announce that next week I’ll be hosting a masterclass on how to create a first-class portfolio.
Your online portfolio is one of the most important ways to promote your creative career and today’s creatives need to learn how to PR themselves. In this session, you’ll learn how to use Behance, our free platform, to help you find inspiration, showcase your work, connect with other talented creative professionals and get feedback on the work you make with Creative Cloud, in real time. Also, using the official Behance mobile apps (which also include a Behance app for the Apple Watch), you can connect with this creative community anywhere, anytime.
My masterclass on ‘How to create a first-class portfolio’ will happen on May 13 at 12pm BST / 1pm CEST. Make sure to register in advance here.
Masterclass: How to build your own career
On May 20, we’re inviting the elusive Musketon, the award-winning graphic designer and illustrator who has worked with clients like MTV, Nike, Steve Aoki and Night Owl, to talk about how to build your own career. In this masterclass, he will reveal the tips and tricks that helped build his own career, how you can promote your work to gain attraction from clients, how to build a strong portfolio and how being active on social media can make new opportunities find you.
The masterclass with Musketon is scheduled for May 20, 12pm BST / 1pm CEST. Make sure you register in advance here.
Masterclass: Live digital painting with Therese Larsson
Swedish illustrator Therese Larsson will be hosting a masterclass on June 4, covering digital painting techniques for character design and storybook illustration. If you’ve ever wondered how a character is created from the ground up, some of the fundamental aspects of designing life-like figures or painting light and colour in a credible way, this session is perfect for you.
Therese will be hosting her masterclass on June 4, 12pm BST / 1pm CEST, but make sure to register in advance here.
Making it happen starts with you
In our careers and in our work, we can only get a few things right, so we need to choose what we focus on purposefully. This insight comes from Scott Belsky, who delivered a talk about choosing to do things that are different from our peers, exploring new niches and realising that “self-awareness is the only sustainable competitive advantage you can find.”
Scott Belsky: What Are You Willing to Be Bad At?
Another way of looking at it is by taking James Victore‘s advice and realising that your work is a gift. By using some of his own creative challenges as examples, Victore argues that it is only through finding your voice, your fears and your passion — and expressing them — that you can make great work.
James Victore: Your Work Is A Gift
https://player.vimeo.com/video/46112891
How do you make things happen?
Make sure to share your advice on making things happen by tweeting with the hashtag #MakeYourselfHappen.