Meg Robichaud

Illustrator course on matygo

Just finished the syllabus for the crash course in illustration that I’m teaching on matygo.com! Learn the power of Adobe Illustrator in 8 weeks. Check it out!

• illustration
• graphic design
• web design
• adobe
• adobe illustrator
• illustrator
• design
• web assets
• logo design
• layout
• typography

Copy Now, Inspired Later

Daily, we as designers try to create something genuine and compelling, that both suits some mood or feeling that we’ve seen before while remaining original, and maybe even pioneering. Unfortunately, breaking grounds is not a daily activity that anyone can maintain, and more often than we might like to admit, uninspired days show up. 

Naturally, we all turn to magazines, books, movies and (of course) the internet for inspiration. However, one could argue that this inspiration seeking is actively giving up your organic ideas; despite your best efforts you will be subconsciously copying something from another designer. However, if you spent your life as designer trying to stay current while not imitating anything that you see, you would lose your mind.   

Instead, we call it research. We research what colour scheme will convey the era/tone that we are seeking. We research different typographic styles that might suit our needs. We research competitors, and find out what other designers have done in the same space. We research cultural impact, demographic, current trends, and then we research a thousand other things. Certainly, I will be the first to advocate for the necessity of research - but it is an awful lot of inspiration, and perhaps difficult to distinguish from imitation after you’ve done enough of it. 

Somewhere between a design miracle, where the uninspired arrive at a never before seen solution and a carbon copy there is a reasonable middle ground. Something which (I think) most designers strive for, but ultimately a skill which is perfected over time. If you are truly inspired by another’s design, or admire an element, and therefore reinvent it in your own designs, you are no copy-cat in my books. As an artist, drawing inspiration from other artists is critical to pushing trends forward. Equally critical is a designers responsibility to police themselves, and feel confident that any given project is new and original, even if it is based off a collection of other artists.

But, if you’re still having trouble distinguishing inspiration from imitation, I propose an alternate solution to you: Copy now, for inspiration later.

Rather then just scroll through tumblr & dribbble while you drink your morning coffee, assuming that you’re taking it all in (you’re not), save anything that you think is new and interesting. This is particularly effective for typography - so I will follow that as my example. 

Take them into illustrator or photoshop, and copy them verbatim. For typography, this means sourcing the font (or closest approximation that’s not an arm & a leg), changing the kerning, style, illustrating when required and on and on. 

Great, now you’ve got all this work that you can’t use. Real helpful. But do 10 of them, or 20 or as many as you can make time for, and now you have a large repertoire of solutions. You’re not going to remember that you’ve copied someone to learn it, and it’s not going to look like you copied them when you’re finished. Instead, now when you find yourself stuck trying to make a vintage label, you won’t remember the 10 labels you practiced, you’ll just remember that a small caps serif that has the kerning really stretched out might just do the trick.  

• plagiarism
• graphic design
• design
• copy
• typography

Consumption Habits: Another Cyborg Illustration

I’ve nearly finished my consumption habits brochure!

If you need to get up to speed on this project…

•  original assignment
• mechanical heart illustration
• mechanical brain illustration

Todays section: Exercise. 

I started with this …

And turned it into this …

Sadly, this is only a three colour job, so I had to change it to a tritone. 

Played around a bit …

\

And finally, she made her way into the brochure ..

Thoughts?

• illustration,
• typography
• cyborg
• running
• graphic design
• habits
• brochure
• machine
• exercise

Consumption habits: Mechanical heart body copy

In association with my earlier post, I have been working on my consumption habits booklet. You can read the entire post here.

Yesterday, I posted an illustration of a mechanical heart that I had just placed some body copy onto. As promised, here’s the heart again, with a more legible version of the body copy.

It reads:

• 5 unexplained bruises
• caught the 24 hour flu once
• 10 mg of supplemental magnesium per day;  350 mg of supplemental magnesium total
• 10 mg of supplemental iron, per day;  350 mg of supplemental iron total
• 400 mg of supplemental calcium, per day;  14,000 mg of supplemental  calcium total
• 10 mg of supplemental pantothenic acid, per day;  350 mg of supplemental  pantothenic acid total
• 14 mg of supplemental niacinamide, per day;  490 mg of supplemental  niacinamide total
• 0.4 mg of supplemental folic acid, per day;  14 mg of supplemental  folic acid total
• 11.25 mcg of supplemental vitamin E, per day;  393,75 mcg of supplemental vitamin E total5 mcg of supplemental vitamin D, per day;  
• 175 mcg of supplemental vitamin D total
• 60 mg of supplemental vitamin C, per day;  2,100 mg of supplemental vitamin C total
• 10 mcg of supplemental vitamin B12, per day;  350 mcg of supplemental vitamin B12 total
• 2 mg of supplemental vitamin B6, per day;  70 mg of supplemental vitamin B6 total
• 1.7 mg of supplemental riboflavin, per day;  59.5 mg of supplemental riboflavin total
• 1.5 mg of supplemental thiamine, per day;  52.5 mg of supplemental thiamine total
• 150 mcg of supplemental beta-carotene, per day;  5,250 mcg of supplemental beta-carotene total
• 600 mcg of supplemental vitamin A, per day;  21,000 mcg of supplemental vitamin A total
• tried really hard to support whole foods, and local markets, but it’s just not possible on a student  budget
• tested for diabetes for the millionth time (it runs heavily in my family)
• 4 perscriptions from 2 different doctors
• blood pressure of 102 over 60
• not a calorie or a carb counter
• cursed wornout running shoes, but couldn’t afford new ones
• should have paid more attention to my sugar intake
• limited sodium intake
• wished I had stretched 12 times
• remembered to stretch 7 times
• went swimming once
• got food poisoning once
• bought a bike
• went to bed early 7 times
• ate a lot of olive oilate a lot of olive oil
• ate 0 broccoli
• had a blood test
• checked cancer risks once
• never checked BMI
• actually bought UVA & UVB blocking sunglasses
• 18 naps
• wore earplugs once
• ran to yoga three times
• moisturized with vitamin e 23 times
• ate so much garlic
• forgot breakfast 9 times
• remembered breakfast 26 times
• stubbed my toe twice
• slept 115 hours less than recommended
• ate 36 times
• replaced 51 meals with coffee
• skipped 18 meals
• 8 headaches from wearing old glasses
• got sick from the smokcers in my class 9 times
• slept 5 hours and 20 minutes per night
• slept 37 hours per weekslept 185 hours
• slept in instead of running 14 times
• took 5 acetaminophen
• drank 35 litres of water 
• drank 70 glasses of water 
• drank 2 glasses of water a day
• tried really hard to drink 6 glasses of water a day
• rubbed runny nose on boyfriend more than klenex
• had a runny nose 100% of the time
• actually had a cold once
• thought I was getting a cold but really was just fine 3 times
• ran for 112 km
• went for 21 runs
• convinced myself corn counts as a vegetable once
• laid in bed after yoga unable to move 11 times
• did childs pose 198 times
• did childs pose 198 times
• did cobra pose 111 times
• failed at 7 head stands
• attempted 7 head stands
• failed at 5 hand stands
• attempted 6 hand stands
• did 56 downward facing dog
• went to yoga 11 times
• threw up 3 times
• ate 117 onions
• ate 347 bell peppers
• snowboarded 117,110 vertical feet
• snowboarded 49 runs
• snowboarded 5 days
• met one very nice doctor, one was a jerk
• 2 trips to the walk-in clinic
• wished for ib profen 11 times
• took 27 ib profen
• did the grouse grind once
• ate fruit for dessert 24 times
• one dreaded appointment with the gynecologist
• indulged in deep fried ice cream once
• 8 stomach aches
• forgot to take vitamins 14 times
• Remembered to take vitamins 21 times
• made 10 fruit smoothies
• 12 bruises discovered
• ate spinach 23 times
• 3 visits to the orthodontist
• 6 only kinda greasy meals
• exercised 24 times
• 5 bandaids used; 4 on the same cut
• 5 very greasy meals
• 4 phone calls from a concerned mother
• 14 headaches

It’s in the “Health” section of my brochure, and thus is just covered in every health related fact. In theory these would have been taken directly from a diary I kept over 5 weeks … but to be honest … I’m cheating a little and making a lot of them up. Well, not completely fable. I guessed at the pourcentage of times that I think I did them, got out my trusty calculator and multiplied it by 35 days. 

The bigger issue here … will it print?

• typography
• consumption habits
• cyborg
• mechanical
• heart
• health
• habits
• health habits