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My Favorite Creative Websites |
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1. Http://www.Rassouli.com: This is my art teacher’s website. He is so talented! I love his paintings and wisdoms about life. I also love the quotes he has on his website. 2. Http://www.booooooom.com: This is by far my most favorite creative website because it is a website full of creativity! It is a site where creative people can display their and share their creativity. The web designer for this site is the creative web designer I chose to interview for Assignment number 5. Jeff Hamada, the web designer, is a graphic designer. Some of his other work can be seen on his other website http://www.jeffhamada.com. This is my interview with Jeff Hamada:
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Hi Jeff, My name is Allie Mojarradi and I love your website!!! I love that you put together a place where people can share their unique creativity. I am doing an assignment for a Creative Psychology class I am taking at California State University, Northridge. My assignment is to interview a creative Web page designer. I love the booooooom.com website you have put together and I'm wondering if you wouldn't mind me asking you a few questions about your creativity. hey allie thanks for writing - i am glad you like the site, i have a lot of fun running it and hope to make it my full-time job soon. How did you get into what you do creatively? I really just started the site for myself as a way of cataloging things i like and after a couple months there was quite an audience following the site so i really only decided to really make the site at that point. I have a fine arts diploma and a bachelors of media arts, i have worked for electronic arts as a graphic designer and been freelancing for 4 years. Do you think that you would be able to teach what you do? Yea definitely, I think I would really like to be a teacher. the things i know are not hard to learn, you just need to be willing to put in the work. What inspires you? Lots of things, movies especially. I love Wes Anderson films. What do you do to get into your creative zone? Listen to music, and sometimes listening to NOTHING. Music is great but sometimes I need to have total silence, especially when I'm writing. Often I'll listen to a bunch of music and look at websites, Flickr and then turn it all off while i work. What is your favorite accomplishment?Do you pay attention to others' strong reactions to your work? Does that affect what you create? I recently released an artist shoe with Converse in collaboration with Product(Red) and it was really fun to get involved with something that was for a good cause, not just making something for the sake of it, but so that it would help others. I don't really pay attention to reactions because there are always gonna be people who want to cut you down or hate on what you're doing. And even when they're good comments a lot of times it's people trying to butter you up to get something. So I usually get comments/criticism from people close to me that I trust to gauge how I feel about something.
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3. http://www.sswestern.com/: This is a creative website I discovered while surfing the web. The webdesigner of this website, Ali Showkati, studies graphic design and is also the author and graphic designer of the website’s comic book series. Spaghetti Strap Western (sswestern) is an online comic book series about a prostitute whose identity is mistaken for that of a woman who is wanted by the government. I really like this website because you can see the artist’s work develop over time through the illustrations of his characters. I also find the plot very interesting. I chose to interview Ali Showkati for Assignment # 6. The following is my interview with Ali Showkati: From: Ali Showkati <ashowkati@gmail.com> Date: April 1, 2009 1:50:13 PM PDT To: alaleh mojarradi <alalehmojarradi@mac.com> Subject: Re: Creativity Interview Hey Alaleh, here's your answers. It wasn't a chore at all. It was actually kinda fun to reflect on myself. Hope it works for you. Let me know if you need anything else. Ali Interview: How did you get into what you do creatively? I got into writing and illustrating comic books mainly to get my ideas out "on the page." Spaghetti Strap Western is a film idea of mine which I have decided to adapt into a graphic novel, since I don't exactly have $50 Million to spare at the moment. Do you think that you would be able to teach what you do? I don’t think I can. Only because I see myself constantly working on “the next project.” I have many ideas for not only future graphic novels, but television, film, and video games. Plus I’m constantly getting new ideas as I’m exposed to the works of other creative minds. In creative industries, one learns by doing, anyways. If you have a desire strong enough, you’ll find a way to express it. What inspires you? Mostly it’s music that inspires me. It can be anything. I don’t think I can go one day without listening to some music. It’s given me most of my creative inspirations. Also, other professional creative work can spark an idea. It can work across media too. A painting can inspire a film idea, for instance. What do you do to get into your creative zone? Getting Into my creative zone isn’t as challenging as staying in it. However one thing is essential either way. And that’s Tea. Tea is a very important component to my creative process. I steep a big mug before I start. Earl Grey if I need energy, otherwise it’s Green. Also, I listen to music as mentioned before. I rarely actually listen to it, when I’m working. I’t more to provide a sort of rhythm and ambiance. It keeps me focused. What is your favorite accomplishment? My favorite accomplishment right now actually has two parts. First are my comic books. The first two issues of my graphic novel Spaghetti Strap Westernare in print. The second part just happened last week. I was accepted to The International Comic-Con: San Diego 2009 as a professional. This particular convention is seen as the king of this brand of conventions so it’s a pretty big deal that I got in. I’ve been bragging about it non-stop ever since. Do you ever create hidden meanings or messages in your work? Explain. I think hidden messages are almost essential in a body of work. However, they’re not as much hidden, as they are underlying. If I put a underlying message inside something, I want people to pick up on it. Even if it’s on a subconscious level. I feel it’s almost pointless to say something, if you have nothing to say. People won’t care about any of it. The creative process is a form of self-expression. My life experiences will inevitably end up in my work, whether I want it to or not. It’s just the way our minds are affected by everything we experience. If for no other reason, I insert hidden messages in my work to make it more interesting to reader or viewers. Do you enjoy sharing your work with others or do you prefer to go unnoticed? Why? The main reason I got into the creative industry is to share my ideas and stories with the world. I’d probably stop working if there was no one to showcase my work to. I just can’t get enough of people’s reactions and potential praise of my work. However that’s probably due to a mild case of narcissism. Do you pay attention to others' strong reactions to your work? Does that affect what you create? I do pay attention to other people’s strong reactions, but to a degree. It’s always good to build a profile of what kinds of things people respond to strongly, whether its positive or negative. In the long run, that may guide my creative process, but if I feel strong enough about an idea, I’ll stick to my guns and go against the grain. Who do you define as a visionary? To me, a visionary is someone that can creatively envision the future, and take the risk of bringing that future into the present. It’s a risk because there is no way of the creator to know weather or not that idea will be welcomed or rejected by people. However the success of a visionary doesn’t lie in the degree of people’s reaction. It lies in the the very act of taking that initial risk. If your creative work were edible, what would it taste like? Frozen Pizza. Pizza is my favorite food in the entire world. Yet frozen pizza is not in it’s true “chicago pizzeria” form, but you can see its potential. The reason is that I want to eventually make Spaghetti Strap Western, into a feature film. That’s what it was originally meant for.
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