{"id":23398,"title":"Imperfection in design","description":"Designer, Sid Smith, discusses why PUNK is about imperfection and how his ideas don't always come out the way he imagines.","content":"

Bad drawings<\/h2>

I met an artist at a school I worked in who had come to work with the kids. The day started with an assembly and one of the first things he said to the kids was that today they were all going to do some bad drawings. He told them that he did bad drawings every day and that was okay. As someone with no art training or instruction, I thought this was a brilliant admission. What you see - the finished piece of art - hides all the sketches and drawings that end up discarded for not being right. But not wasted: bad drawings are part of the process.\"xagjumdaxps7jg00ppac7o90pnjdagxv8gnk0zqe7rzkp0k0.jpg\"<\/p>

Being Inspired<\/h3>

Inspiration, for me, comes from almost anywhere: a poster, a photograph, something I\u2019ve read, a phrase, the lyrics of a song. Then I start to imagine the overall design and how it fits in with the PUNK state of mind. I\u2019ve found that for T-shirts bold colours and strong lines make the most effective designs. Anything in granular detail gets lost; nobody is going to get close enough to appreciate how I\u2019ve added eyelashes one by one to a punk portrait.<\/p>

Failure<\/h3>

But not every idea makes it onto a T-shirt. I use Krita digital art software and sometimes I make technical errors such as adding too much detail onto one layer which then can\u2019t be erased without removing the background colour or textures. Other times, the final design doesn\u2019t quite meet the original concept - usually a failure of my artistic abilities.<\/p>

Sometimes, halfway through a design, I lose interest, inspiration slipping away like sand through one\u2019s fingers. The digital artwork of the punk girl holding the mine balloon that heads up this blog post is one where the idea of a girl holding an explosive balloon was better than the execution of the idea.<\/p>

That brick wall exists because, after half an hour of trying to add her legs and a pair of eighteen-hole Dr Marten boots, I gave up. I photoshopped the wall into existence and thought that I would have her sitting on the wall but when this failed, I thought she could just stand behind the wall instead. By this time, I was feeling frustrated but forced myself to finish by adding some details and clouds in the background. Now, the picture looks all wrong to me - all I can see is the catalogue of errors behind it.\"bf4bzawecgqrugqfgctxbh9tbvskjklmyvjra0szmdvilimc.jpg\"<\/p>

Imperfection<\/h3>

I remind myself of the artist and his bad drawings all the time. We all need to give ourselves permission to fail. Then I tell myself that punk is partly a response to the uptight world with its \u2018No ball games\u2019 and \u2018No trespassing\u2019 signs, that punk is freedom from the idea of everything being perfect.<\/p>

So what if I can\u2019t draw legs\u2026<\/p>","urlTitle":"imperfection-in-design","url":"\/blog\/imperfection-in-design\/","editListUrl":"\/my-blogs","editUrl":"\/my-blogs\/edit\/imperfection-in-design\/","fullUrl":"https:\/\/punkclothingcompany.co.uk\/blog\/imperfection-in-design\/","featured":false,"published":true,"showOnSitemap":true,"hidden":false,"visibility":null,"createdAt":1671802372,"updatedAt":1671804591,"publishedAt":1671804591,"lastReadAt":null,"division":{"id":248278,"name":"PUNK"},"tags":[],"metaImage":{"original":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/k09vvnf5lzijy3gbwiiazwiroyutgahlulyrx8e5ewuecwz6.jpeg","thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/k09vvnf5lzijy3gbwiiazwiroyutgahlulyrx8e5ewuecwz6.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/k09vvnf5lzijy3gbwiiazwiroyutgahlulyrx8e5ewuecwz6.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"metaTitle":"T-shirt designs go wrong","metaDescription":"T-shirt design, Krita software designs","keyPhraseCampaignId":null,"series":[],"similarReads":[{"id":22213,"title":"The founder and his PUNK vision","url":"\/blog\/the-founder-and-his-punk-vision\/","urlTitle":"the-founder-and-his-punk-vision","division":248278,"description":"Founder of the Punk Clothing Company, Sid Smith, and his pet punk krow.","published":true,"metaImage":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/ujw31rqczztzm95g0h6abrxznmhgcxdelaplxrrjkfgcof2t.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/ujw31rqczztzm95g0h6abrxznmhgcxdelaplxrrjkfgcof2t.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"hidden":0},{"id":22066,"title":"Origin Story","url":"\/blog\/origin-story\/","urlTitle":"origin-story","division":248278,"description":"How the Punk Clothing Company was born. The origin of the Punk Krow, the PUNK mascot, who is also the founder's spirit animal.","published":true,"metaImage":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/4wj9swyysa7rz1xqw83ysbu40sc94yvgxuaamuwpubnaz0gy.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/4wj9swyysa7rz1xqw83ysbu40sc94yvgxuaamuwpubnaz0gy.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"hidden":0}],"labels":[]}