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The Creative Process - 'Putting Out the Dog'
Coming up with the topic for each week's 'Daily Good Dog' is often decided by the graphic images I discover the week before. On weekends I browse thousands of images, open to all possibilities, saving those with promise in a temp file. Inevitably one particular image moves me, suggesting a theme. OK, so now I have the theme - what next?
Most themes are presented (text and graphics) in four segments - (Mon-Thur). I usually select 20-30 'semi-final' images to work with. Many final graphics are comprised of combining multiple images in a collage of sorts. Like I said, this is the fun part - the creative part. This creative process usually takes 3-4 hours per final image for each day's 'Good Dog' heading, including incorporating the headlines.
After the four final images are completed, I start working with the quotes that would support the theme and the graphics. It may sound backwards, creating the graphics first - but to me, it makes perfect sense as a picture tells a 1000 words. When done to my satisfaction - it all works seamlessly and each segment supports and adds value to the other.
For each day's 'Good Dog,' usually comprised of 5 - 6 quotes, I start with hundreds, then sort and rate and sort and rate until I filter it down to the final choices. This part of the process takes 2-3 hours.
Finally, I blend and format the graphics with the text - tweak till perfect and hit the publish button. Oh, and for those of you wondering why I send these at crazy hours like 3:00 am. - I don't. I schedule them to be auto-published at a particular time, convenient for the majority as 'Good Dog' is delivered to people on many continents.
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