The Victory Comes Slowly
Thoughts about drawing inspiration from past, and recent items to check out
Since moving to Barcelona my eyes have been opened to so many inspiring things. Walking around the streets of places like Cadaqués or San Sebastian you’re greeted with letters and type and paintings and colors that for me, were never part of my day-to-day life. It’s really brought about this desire to try and use what I see on my trips and in walking around Barcelona into my personal design work.
Because, let’s be honest, inspiration is everywhere. Yet so much of our culture and creativity is recycled. Especially in digital culture, so much of what we see and experience is a riff or a take on something from pop culture that’s maybe 20 or 30 years old. For me, this feels sad and boring, like we’re stuck in an echo chamber, a void of creativity, really. I know, this isn’t news. A lot of great creative work pulls from the past, from odd scraps and random experiences. I guess for me, it felt like I never encountered that feeling all that often as Los Angeles is such a new city, for the most part.
This has inspired me to start pushing my own design and branding farther, to play around, do things differently than I would have before. Below are some random things I put together, which are super rough, and super random. The work isn’t even good. But you know, I went to bed that night thinking of how much fun I had creating these random marks.
I feel like I’m devoting more of my time to experimenting, trying weird things. I’m having such fun taking apart my logo and making these oddball configurations. And I’m even more excited to see what else I can dream up and then beginning to apply it to upcoming projects. In my head I keep thinking of the phrase “building a mythology” to describe what I’m doing. Like crafting a story from my personal history, and melding it with the place I call home for now. The process and development is fascinating to me and I’m excited to see where it leads me.
Found this mix from GREER over on Soundcloud titled its overcast and im alone v2 and I’ve been putting it on while I write and in the early mornings. Great vibes, super ambient and minimal, and a great selection of tracks.
Tsuchika Nishimura is a Japanese illustrator who sometimes draws himself as a tiny bear, illustrating his random experiences in life.
Satisfy Running’s digital magazine POSSESSED has a series about the world of extreme distance running. I’ve known a few people in my life who do ultra marathons and the experience sounds wild.
Studio SPGD is doing some really beautiful work, a big inspiration to me and my work lately.
For my Angelenos, The Cut goes deep on the origin and history of Erewhon, the hippest grocery store in Los Angeles. Haven’t read this yet but I can’t wait.
Cheers Bobby. Loved the GREER mix. Have you checked out the new Everything is Recorded session? You might dig it; https://everythingisrecorded.bandcamp.com/album/autumn-equinox