Mirecle33 Creativity Patch

Where Did I Learn My Joke-Making Skills?
Posted May-30-2006
Practical Prankstering
Someone recently inquired where I learned how to create printable jokes and gags that look so realistic (see: CreativiTea, Creativity Patch, Money Plant Seed Packets, World's Hardest Puzzles).

My answer: My formal training as a graphic designer is how I gained the technical knowledge and expertise for using layout and design software such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, and QuarkXPress for my visual vicerations and typographic trappings. The rest of it comes from lots of practice, having a healthy sense of humor, and the drive to manifest the swirling going-on's of my imagination for my own amusement. When other people are amused too, that's serendipity.

Other tools of my practical prankstering trade include a predisposition for photography, a sensitivity to scanning, a prefect to printing, and a coulomb to cutting. And plenty of double-sided tape and glue.

Having had multiple jobs as a graphic designer has laid a healthy bedrock for my creative compulsions. One of my first and favorite jobs as a graphic artist was at a motivational company several years ago. I worked side-by-side with the company's art director developing all kinds of cool motivational theme logos, posters, and other program communications for various big-name companies across the United States.

I remember one time during a project brainstorming meeting (when I was going through my zany Bazooka Bubble Gum / Comic Wrapper phase), I introduced the idea of adapting the gum concept into a program theme and the room started buzzing with possibilities. We began developing the concept in the creative department shortly after, and from there on I knew that if *anything* could be conceptualized, it could be created, even if it meant fusing fantasy with reality and allowing one's imagination to fill in the gaps. •

© 2006 Chris Dunmire www.chrisdunmire.com. All rights reserved.