Creative Grab Bag is a collection of work from artists, illustrators and designers from around the world. Author Ethan Bodnar created over 30 unique tasks and gave each contributor a task that was different from their typical work. The book contains images of each artist’s creative task, typical work, and a biography with a short reflection on their creative process. Together, they capture the spirit of exploration and innovation and challenge readers to break out of their usual work.
The book includes both well-known and up-and-coming creatives.

The process of making this book was remarkable. I extend my thanks and gratitude to all the contributing artists, everyone at HOW Books, and friends and family. Making a book like this one is something special and has been a beautiful experience that has produced an insightful book made up of visual explorations.

Purchase
Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Borders, Your Local Bookshops

Details
Published by HOW Books (F+W Media) on August 28th, 2009, 
ISBN 1600611478
9 inches wide by 10 inches tall, Including Work from 101 Contributers, 230 Pages

Participation
In the back of the book there are perforated cards that can be torn out to make your own Creative Grab Bag. Looking forward to see what people make. If you have done something please email your submission. We will post the ones we recieve here.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ethan Bodnar is a graphic designer in his sophomore year at the Hartford Art School. He is the author of the book Creative Grab Bag, published by HOW Books. Ethan founded and publishes two blogs, including Synthesis, the Hartford Art School’s blog. He is an Eagle Scout, the online director of the University of Hartford’s student newspaper and the president of the school’s Student Art Council. Ethan is also the leader and founder of the Hartford Art School’s AIGA (the professional association for design) Connecticut student chapter and acts as the student representative on the board.

With experience as a freelance website designer, an intern working on business strategy and marketing with Behance, and creating theatrical lighting designs for main stage productions, he has been interviewed on the blog Speak Up and was nominated as one of Print Magazine’s “New Visual Artists.” Ethan is the recipient of the Henry Wolf Award in 2008 and the Mohawk Fine Papers Award in 2009, both Worldstudio AIGA Scholarships. He will be speaking on the mainstage at the biennial AIGA National Design Conference in October with Charles Harrison, Lifetime Achievement Award Winner from the Cooper-Hewitt National Museum of Design, part of the Smithsonian Institute.

PROGRESS UPDATES

July 3rd, 2009
I received two advance author copies of the book in the mail today. It was a remarkable experience to be able to hold the book in my hands and flip through it. The book is now available for pre-order online and will be released at the end of August. Thank you to all the contributors and everyone else who made this possible!


August 30th, 2008

The completed manuscript for Creative Grab Bag, was sent off to my wonderful editor, Melissa over at HOW Books at the end of August. I have received initial feedback on everything and they are very pleased with the outcome of the book and the direction we are moving forward with it. The book is scheduled to be published sometime later this year in the Spring of 2009. Thank you to everyone who has made the book what it is and to all of the contributing artists. It is a wonderful thing to create a book and I look forward to sharing it with you.

August 7th, 2008

Just wanted to take a moment and provide an update on the book that I have been working on for over a year. The first announcement is that the book will be entitled Creative Grab Bag which is a name that I am very pleased with. At this point in time I am waiting for the final round of work to come in from the contributors that have agreed to take part in the book.

December 12th, 2007

I am very pleased to announce that F+W Publication’s HOW Books will be publishing Grab Bag Book. They are responsible for bringing us HOW, Print, and I.D. Magazine along with the HOW Design Conference and a range of other wonderful books and magazines. I started this project last spring when I came up with the idea to have a collaborative visual book that challenged artists to explore their creativity.

March 13th, 2007
I have started to work on a visual collaborative book about trying something new and exploring your creativity. It is a book of visual creations by people from around the world. that will come together through the exploration of new things to create something beautiful.

LOOK INSIDE

Below you can find the a glimspe of the first pages of the book. These are the first pages and we have made them available to give you some insight has to how the book looks and is organized.

PUBLISHER INFORMATION

Founded in the early 1900s, F+W Media is a publisher of special interest magazines and books in a broad variety of consumer enthusiast categories. The Company also operates book clubs, conferences, trade shows, Web sites and education programs, all focused on the same consumer hobbies and enthusiast subject areas where the magazines and book publishing programs specialize.

HOW Books (Graphic Design division of F+W Media) offers a range of instructional and inspirational books for graphic designers of all experience levels. The HOW Design Conference is the single-largest gathering of graphic designers in the U.S. They publish HOW, Print, and ID, three of the top magazines in the industry.