Creative Spotlight: Chelsea Carlson

Chelsea Carlson first grabbed our attention with her Adobe Ideas-created artwork on her blog. We love her cute, whimsical designs featured as our Adobe Touch Apps Twitter background. We got in touch with the Scripps College student to ask her some questions about where she draws her inspiration from and how Adobe Touch Apps have impacted her workflow. Check out what she had to say, along with her Adobe Ideas work, currently being featured as our Twitter background, below.

Creative Layer: How have the Adobe Touch Apps changed your creative workflow?
Chelsea Carlson:  Adobe Ideas has fundamentally altered my workflow. I used to sketch out ideas, scan, and then recreate in vectors. This method was time consuming and often emotions were lost in translation when I moved from drawing to digital. Now, I sketch in Adobe Ideas and then move directly into Illustrator, which is more efficient and effective.

How much of a difference has direct touch input made to your creations?

I find that I am able to capture ideas more quickly and store them for future use. Now, when I have an idea, I quickly sketch it out and it doesn’t get lost on a corner of a napkin that ran through the washer in my pocket.

Of the different Touch Apps, which is most instrumental to your creative process and why?

I use Adobe Ideas constantly. I whip it out in meetings to quickly communicate ideas for graphics and sketch layouts and I also use it for more detailed work and longer-term projects.

If you had the opportunity to travel to anywhere in the world with your Touch Apps, where would it be and why?

Oh dear. My list of places to go is quite long. If I had to choose based on sketching though, I would have to say Paris. That city has to have the best people watching in the world. I’d love to sit at sidewalk cafes, sip eight-dollar cappuccinos, and draw the fabulous characters as they teeter by in their Louboutins.

What are the top three sources you look to for inspiration?

I acquired a bunch of 1930s National Geographic Magazines that I often turn to inspiration. The photography is amazing and the people’s faces just jump off the 80-year-old pages. I also love visiting thrift stores. You find the most wonderful things that all kinds of people have abandoned. I found this book a couple months ago called something like “Betty Crocker’s Guide to Throwing Children’s Parties,” which had the best illustrations, and was hilarious to boot. When I’m really stuck, I try to visit galleries and museums. Sometimes all you need is a good 10-minute stare at a Rothko to get the ideas flowing.