I decided to try a new creative experiment. Obviously there are many reasons to dwell over design elements or go through revisions, but I think it’s also true that sometimes we overthink things or second guess ourselves too much when perhaps our first instinct may have been best. This is something I’ve thought about often with the process of musical composition. I’m sure it’s true with writing, painting, or any other creative endeavor. So I decided to set out to sit down with a blank canvas and give myself one hour to design, draw, and “finish” a watch face. No time to try too many variations, I was forced to accept first or second idea and keep moving. This face is the result, and I enjoyed the exercise enough that I’ll plan to do it again. Thus, this is #1 in my new One Hour series. I’m actually pretty happy with the result!
Now to be clear, the photoshop work was completed in under an hour but more time was then spent exporting the pngs and assembling the face in the Creator app. Also, these hands were recycled from an earlier project (except for the new date hand) because as soon as the face started taking shape I immediately thought of these hands as being a great match. I doubt I would have been able to also complete those hands within the one hour.
I should add that by contrast, generally I spend minimum 8-10 hours over multiple sessions on the basic graphics for any face.
Thanks @GAUSS ! You probably experience the same thing where sometimes you do what you think is the exact same process for something as you always do but for whatever reason sometimes the result is better or worse than the other times. I remember when I made these hands for an earlier project that I noticed how well the finishing had worked this time but I haven’t had occasion to use them again until now.
Impressive.
I am struggling to get up to speed with GIMP. Can’t do much there in an hour at present…
Still trying to figure out how to do a plain date dial / ring, distributing the days evenly around a circle… And you need to do 4 (28, 29, 30 & 31).