Staying inspired: introducing Google Reader and list of over 250 blogs to follow!

Bierstadt study - about 3 hours in PS

According to the last post about maintaining self discipline today we gonna talk about Google Reader. Maybe you are familiar with this platform, if not I will try to clarify. Google Reader is a web-based aggregator, capable of reading Atom and RSS feeds. Simplifying - all the blogs you follow or like to subscribe gathered in one place. Easy to read, simple to navigate. This is gold for us, digital artists - people hungry for inspiration. I'm going through many blogs of other artists every day and what I find the most fascinating about it is an amount of inspiration and visual knowledge you get. It's really priceless. Let's get started.

The only thing you need to start using Google Reader is Google account. Set it up or log in and you are ready to go. Once you logged in you can add your subscriptions through Subscribe button and pasting an URL of desired blog. If you have any blogs you already follow you can easily add them to your subscription list and from now you will see all the new posts in the main window of Google Reader.

Photostudy - 30 min

There is one functionality that I would like to highlight. Starring items. You simply give post stars (you can find an icon above and below every post), so that you can easily go back to them later or just build your library of useful and inspiring posts. Literally, you are creating your own art book!

Another photo study - 1 hour in PS

I would like to share my own library of blogs that I have been building for over a year now (thanks to Coyote for sharing a concept of Google Reader with me). The list consists of 268 blogs of many different artists that I found along the way, but not only. On the list you will also find great amount of inspiring articles from different art centered blogs like Muddy Colors or James Gurney's blog. You can download and .xml file through Resources Page. Once you download it open Google Reader, click settings button in top right corner and go to Reader settings. Then go to Import/Export tab and click 'choose file' and upload an .xml file you have downloaded. That's it!

Rather old portrait of my girlfriend - 3h in PS

I encourage you to treat Google Reader as your personal magazine that you love to read. Make it your little habit. Open it during coffee break and whenever you feel hungry for anything new and inspiring. If you have smart phone with Android system you can easily download an Google Reader Application and start browsing it on the go. That's it for Google Reader!

I am really happy because I've managed to go on the seaside for two weeks. It's not a holiday trip, but I will be able to take a break from digital media. Brought some watercolors, sketchbooks and paper with me. Will be fun!

Cheers!