The 74 ways to be Inspired series is all about finding inspiration and applying it to your creative life ~ whether it be for your own satisfaction or as part of the process of setting up and maintaining a small creative business. These interviews aim to inspire by gaining an insight into the inspirational and creative process of those who are doing exactly that. Today we are talking with Heather Dutton from Hang Tight Studio.

First off, an introduction,  tell us a little about yourself, what you do and perhaps, briefly, how it came about.
I started my career off as a fashion designer in San Francisco, which was an amazing experience, but I found myself wanting more. I had been introduced to the world of surface design in art school, and became more & more interested in it while working in the fashion industry. As the years passed by, my passion for surface design continued to grow, & I finally decided to pursue it as a career. It was scary to switch gears & basically start my career over, but looking back, it was the best decision I made. A few years later, I left the traditional working world & started my own surface design business, called “Hang Tight Studio”. Now I live in an old farmhouse on the southern coast of Maine & I spend my days designing patterns & graphic illustrations for companies across the US. I realize every day just how lucky I am. I basically get paid to draw all day. It just doesn’t get any better than that in my book.

What was the inspiration behind the name of your shop/blog?
When I first started Hang Tight Studio, I thumbed through my sketchbook, looking for some inspiration for a possible logo graphic. When I came across an old sketch I’d drawn of a gator swinging on a rope, I knew I’d found my guy. The name Hang Tight popped in my head & seemed to stick. Later on I came up with the catch phrase “hang on tight, it’s going to be a wild ride”… sort of playing off my gator character (who I’ve named Gumbo by the way) & the creative ride I’ll take my clients on while we develop new designs together.

Now this series is about inspiration, so where do you find inspiration? Either online, in the “real world” or from whom? What kind of things inspire you?
Ooohh… Great question! I’m a complete magazine junkie & one of my favorite things to do is sit down with a big stack of new magazines & my sketchbook… but I find inspiration just about everywhere. Books, blogs, flickr, traveling, or just relaxing in the backyard. I start every day with a long walk on the beach with my dog Emma Jean & that really wakes up my creative mind. I actually created an entire fabric collection inspired by our beach walks, called Adrift.

Your work covers quite a lot of different mediums, from your own work to your work for others. Can you tell us a little about the different facets to your work ?
I create designs for a wide variety of clients & products, which is one of the things I love the most about my job. The variety keeps me from getting bored & it challenges me creatively every day! Sometimes my designs are done 100% on the computer (in Adobe Illustrator), and other times I’ll start from a sketch or a hand painted illustration, scan it in to the computer & turn it into digital artwork. I love the variety that freelance designing offers. I could be working on a super girly floral, a bold graphic illustration & vintage inspired kids collection all in the same day.

Do you catalogue your inspiration in some way, either virtually, clippings in a notebook or perhaps an inspiration board?
I’m a bit of an inspiration hoarder I have file cabinets/folders for my magazine tear-sheets & folders on my computer for all the amazing digital ref images I come across, and way too many website bookmarks. I also have 2 large bulletin boards in my studio that I cover with new images every couple of months to keep me inspired. Last but not least, I save my all time favorite images & paste them into my inspiration journals. These have become my new obsession. They’re chock full of images that inspire me, cool things I’ve found on-line that I don’t want to forget about & pictures that just make me happy. Like I said… I’m a bit of an inspiration hoarder.

Tell us a little about your creating process, do you set aside time and focus or do you find yourself multi-tasking?
I’m definitely a muti-tasker, but I think part of that comes from juggling different projects for different clients at the same time. When things slow down & I have the luxury to work on something for myself, I like to sit & noodle around with a design for a while. Some of my favorite designs have come about completely organically, just by playing with shapes & colors. I love it when little surprises like that come along.

How do you find juggling the creative life with your home and/or work life?
Ahhh… having my studio in my home is fantastic, but it can be a curse at the same time. Work is always there & sometimes it’s hard to escape. Whenever I can, I try to maintain quasi normal working hours… but there are a lot of late nights & working weekends mixed in when things get hectic. To help balance things out, I try to take one spectacular vacation a year. Traveling always wakes me up & reminds me how important it is to get out of the studio & live life. I’m actually planning a trip to Spain & Portugal later this year, so if anyone has any suggestions for things to see or places to stay I’d love to hear from you.

Running a small business can be quite the time consuming, can you share with us how you organise your time ~ what with online marketing, staying up to date and then the actually creating?
Balancing all the aspects of running your own business is a constant juggling act. I love to start my day catching up on blog posts while I savor my morning coffee. There’s something fantastic about starting the day off with a burst of creative imagery. After my morning walk, the rest of my “work” day is devoted to designing, whether it’s for me or for clients. If my creative juices are still flowing when I turn my studio lights off, I’ll plunk myself down in a different room & play around in my sketchbook, or work on new ideas for my Etsy shop. There are never enough hours in the day, but it’s a labor of love & somehow it all seems to get done.

And because we are in blogland, can you share a couple of your favourite or most inspirational blogs/sites.
Ooohh… There are so many fantastic blogs/sites! Some of my favorites are: 74 Lime Lane (of course!), Print & Pattern, Decor8, Creature Comforts, Oh Joy, SF Girl By Bay & Sunday Suppers (simply because I’m a sucker for gorgeous food photography). I also don’t know how I survived before Flickr came along. I could easily lose a whole day looking at all of the amazing imagery!

Thanks for stopping by Heather. I was moved to ask Heather to participate in the interview series after she left a comment on this post, where she designed the sweet vintage sippy cup for ore. I too am a blog-reader over morning coffee kinda girl, and it only just struck that it is good for that burst of creativity and motivitation in the morning.

You can find more of the very talented Heather Dutton at:

website | etsy | spoonflower | facebook | flickr