What to do with the ideas

[mwilleson]

It's driving me semi-crazy.

The ideas for carvings are coming at a rate of 5 or 6 per day. I can't carve that fast and don't know what do with all the ideas.

Maybe I should write them down OR should I simply let them float around? The trouble with that is they tend to create new little ideas...kinda like rabbits.

What do you do?

Mike

[Mitchell]

Buy a small journal or artist's sketch book and jot them down. Don't forget to put a date on the page with idea (just for reference).

I have a couple that I use for ideas. Works great if you can discipline yourself to use it (which I don't).

[JIM QUILICI]

Mike,

I bought a three hole binder, if I see a picture or a drawing, even if it needs to be changed I place it there. if I see something on the computur I down load it and print it up . I have a large inventory of ideas, ( I now have two binders working on three)

Just Old Jim

[Anthony Filetti]

Mike,
I do the same as Mitchell, i have a small journal ((3"x 4") that I pack around with me, in there I might store sketches as well as names that bring on ideas (caricature carver)...Like jim I also have a three ring binder for all my reference material which are usually pictures of ideas I like or a method I might want to reference in the future. A good reference library is essential when trying to bring an idea to life...

[artolver]

Mike, I get ideas from looking at the wood, or mostly cottonwood bark. I like to sketch now and then, but being the bark guy that I am, I see an image there on the bark and I grab a tool and rough it out on the spot. Crazy! So I have a ton of unfinished carvings, I'm praying for the day I get a long run of "desire to finish" them all......
Art

[Thomp]

Originally Posted by mwilleson

It's driving me semi-crazy.

The ideas for carvings are coming at a rate of 5 or 6 per day. I can't carve that fast and don't know what do with all the ideas.
Maybe I should write them down OR should I simply let them float around? The trouble with that is they tend to create new little ideas...kinda like rabbits.

What do you do?

Mike

Mike if you figure out how not to forget your favorites let me know as well...,

for several years i have been finding ideas on the web, if and when i can ill snatch a graphic and put it a folder called future projects,
some ideas run togather and i save the webpage as .mht file when instructions are provided,
also i have been downloading graphics from news groups.
i so far am running about 3 cd roms full of junk i dont know where to start on them though.....

keeping up with the graphics on the hard drive i found a freebe software called picasa2 i found it on google home page, where they talk about downloading helper nav bars...etc...

[squbrigg]

Don't ya love it when the creative juices flow!!!Smile

Note books, scraps of paper, the end of a board, anything, just get it marked down. Organize them later when they begin to pile up and sit down, and go through them, maybe re-write them onto a single book. The better ones will come to the top in your mind and you'll develop those.

Having fun yet?

Bob

[GILLY]

I do as others do, sketching that is, and I also take lots of photos......those days of picking and choosing shots to "save" film are gone. I bought a Nikon D70 SLR digital a couple of years ago and have a library of a couple thousand photos....my two cents

[Coffeeman]

Mike,

Great question.......In addition to all the above.......

Pictures: I'm constantly removing pictures from magazines when I see something that I can relate to a future carving, save it to a folder/binder. If its online, then I save it to PC folder.

What I want to get across to others though, is that is most often, not the whole picture that I like, but more often just one little attribute about it, maybe the hand gesture, body shape, clothing design/folds, facial look, etc. etc., something that I'd like to incorporate into a future carving. Bill

[RobJ]

I spend a lot of time at work looking for images for hypothetical future projects. For some reason I have a couple dozen pictures of crows & bats. I just started keeping a sketch book and I also save pics I find that look interesting. I am not much of an organizer though. It is nice to get that latest brainstorm down on paper before it slips away.