Von Glitschka is a illustrator, designer, author and owner of Glitschka studios (vonglitschka.com) based in Salem Oregon. 5 Alarm Concepts was one of the first sessions I decided on, and it did not disapoint. The Five-Alarm Concepts session was all about learning how to establish conceptual triggers that help you think through problems and formulate […]

Tuesday I was supposed to take part in a roundtable lunch with a speaker. I signed up to dine with illustrator Eleanor Grosch. After meeting with the other six designers at the table (including the infamous “other Kelly Anderson” from Sports Authority) we started to eat our sandwiches, then our side dishes, then our desserts. […]

“If they birthed it, they can’t kill it.” Sam Harrison is the author of ideaSELLING a book for creatives to improve their presentation skills to clients. His session was on how to survive and successfully sell your idea pitch to a client. His ideas were deceptively simple. While they are most relevant to agencies, they […]

Mike Perry is a designer and artist, best known for his work with American Outfitters. He is an avid creator of zines and his style has greatly influenced the graphics community. His presentation was more of a show-and-tell than anything. When it came to giving advice and answering audience questions, he was amusing, but not […]

Eleanor Grosch is a freelance illustrator who is known for doing flat, colorful illustrations, primarily of animals. Her session was on developing a personal style. A great deal of her discussion was about how she has had to overcome criticism about her style, which is apparently similar to an artist famous in the 50’s. Grosch […]

Yes, Mutual of Omaha may already have a color palette, but I couldn’t resist checking out the color forecast session hosted by Pantone. Our speaker opened by discussing what influences the trends in color. Here’s a quick summary of a few of them: World Events such as the World Cup, BP oil spill, Olympics Movies […]

What could be better first thing in the morning than listening to a 6-foot tall guy in a nun’s habit and making crafts with Play Doh and pipe cleaners? Stephen Mumaw, co-author of Caffeine for the Creative Mind led a session on how to get the most out of brainstorming. His two main points: Creativity […]

I apologize for the lack of posts, I was counting on more free time and more free wifi. Rest assured, I’ll get the rest of the sessions up.

Gail Anderson Former Rolling Stone art director, Gail Anderson explains how projects she did for herself influenced her work later on as a creative. Five things inspire her: Illustration, Obsession, Nostalgia, Magazines, and Celebrities. Illustration. Gail has many illustrations of herself and others that all bring out different qualities. She often uses these to inform […]

Andy Stefanovich kicked off the evening with a terrific keynote exploring five points on what he calls the “inspiration continuum,” a recognition that inspiration requires rigor and different inputs to fuel different types of thinking. These points are: Serendipitous Recreational Abstract Targeted Cultural Serendipitous refers to unplanned disruptive connections that turn out to be pretty […]