thomasandrewshimko asked: As a visual artist, do you believe you are what you see? We exist in a time where the internet gives us the ability to zoom through an infinite landscape of illustration + photography. Does surfing blogs etc. become a way of practice or study, in the same way a writer would fill their mind by reading books? Do you think the access we have to this pool of imagery waters down/ paralyzes artists, or makes them a more complete/ knowledgeable designer?"

I believe you are what you believe.

I think it’s important for writers to read, for designers to look, for musicians to listen. It’s called studying. It’s exposure.

To study means to spend time with something. Music and books have the benefit of having the qualities of time baked in to them. I can’t experience November Rain in 2 minutes. I can’t watch Citizen Kane in 20 minutes. Infinite Jest is a bonding experience because it asks so much.

Visuals don’t have time baked in to them. It allows us to consume our peers and predecessors work incredibly quickly, but, dangerously, at a cursory level. I don’t think most design blogs are places for study. If they were, they’d be a lot quieter and slower. If a design blog were made in to a successful place for study, it’d be in spite of the format’s temporal qualities, not because of it.