Tropical storm textures!

So, as most of you are aware – here in central Florida we’ve had Tropical Storm Fay pay us a visit. The storm has caused school closures and has brought lots of rain! Rather than going stir crazy with the kids, I spent part of the day yesterday with the kids at a friends house and we had quite a bit of fun watercolor painting. In the “10 ways to become a better designer” article I posted last week, I mentioned how one great way to improve as a designer is to get inspired by children. Now I must admit that I’ve painted watercolor textures many times over the years, but I have to admit that it’s never as fun as it is when you’re surrounded by children. We taped tons of paper to the floors and let the kids paint away with no worries.

After the kids finished watercolor painting, Hope’s friend hung out with me a little longer and helped me create some pretty cool water color textures that I thought I’d share with you all. It was fun getting to see this little guy paint with the brush, sponge and even his fingers! He ended up soaking the paper with tons of water and we’d wipe it away – and start all over again. Our only rules were that we weren’t allowed to paint any pictures and that we had to have fun. Before it was all over with both had quite a few laughs and once we finished we ended up with some pretty fun watercolor textures.

More textures
You can find these and many other textures I’ve posted in my flickr account. I encourage you to use them FREE in your design and/or photography work on ONE condition – post a comment with the texture you’ve used to share with us how you’ve used it in your work. Of course I can’t really truly hold you to that deal – but it certainly will help give me an excuse to go create some more fun textures in the near future! (Not to mention, I’d also love to show this little guy how these watercolor paintings can be used in design and photography!)

So to the point, next time you start a creative project – perhaps you might find a way to get inspired by a child. Remember, as kids they’re living life worry free and tend to approach projects more creatively because of this. The best part is that children just want to have fun – and as designers, if we’re not having fun…perhaps we shouldn’t be designing! Children can certainly help ignite the fun and creativity inside us all!

So let us know what you think – hope you all enjoy the textures!