Eclecticism

I've noticed how being exposed to diverse ideas and mediums, broadens my horizons and helps to both inspire me and guard me against creative stagnation, regardless of my current occupation at the time. As a result, the work I create is very eclectic. Meaning, thefreedictionary.com's definition of eclectic, "[to] employ individual elements from a variety of sources, systems, or styles."

If you aren't already, would encourage you to be more eclectic in your life and work; always looking for elements and concepts from areas unrelated to your own. Who knows? You my find something that sparks that "ah ha" moment to make what you do better.

On a related topic, I've recently added some new blogs to my "Creative Feed" below. Here are a few of them:
http://archidose.blogspot.com
http://www.linesandcolors.com
http://typographica.org

On a slightly unrelated topic:
I've been working on some illustrations for Madwire Media's motion graphics artist, Brian Davey, on a series of online video spots for local publishing company, Group Publishing. Below is the video of the animation that I mentioned in the previous post as well as another video spot we just finished. The idea was for us to communicate the product message effectively using a very simple style and stick figures. As it turns out, the publishing company liked them a lot and will be doing several more fun spots like these.

2011 Madwire Media / 2011 Group Publishing

Madwire Media Illustration Project and Notes on Life

Here are a few vector illustrations I did for a motion graphics ad promoting a local publishing house's re-launch of a Sunday School Curriculum. The client wanted very simple stick figures that would communicate their ad script in a fun way. Although these are just still images, I wanted to draw the figures in an animated way using expressive poses. I then vectorized the drawings and sent them on to the motion graphics artist who is now in the process of creating the final ad. I'll hopefully be able to post the final video once it is complete.

2011 Madwire Media

Other notes: 
Oddly enough, my current job as a marketing account executive at a marketing and webdesign firm isn't closely related to animation or illustration. If you've read my previous posts, you'll discover that I went to school for animation and that one of my life goals is to run my own animation studio. I've come to the conclusion everything you do in life can be significant step toward your goals, no matter how insignificant.

Let me show you what I mean. I want to own my own animation studio, right? Ok. Now think about some of the skills that an animation studio executive needs to have.

• Work ethic (anyone can work hard, but not everyone can persist or persevere)
• Sales skills (the ability to convince)
• Business knowledge (how to structure, form, and maintain a business effectively and profitably)
• Management skills (this is more than a one-man show)
• Networking skills (how one finds the best employees, advisers, and investors)
• I could keep going, but you get the idea.

Over the course of my working career I have learned a lot of these things from jobs seemingly unrelated to animation, from pizza boy to retail clerk to office assistant to salesman to the job I have now. Although I've worked on a number of animation projects while I worked at those jobs, including an internship at a major studio and working as a shortfilm producer, the skills that I learned from those seemingly unrelated jobs propel me toward my goals. I often remind myself of this: A mountain isn't conquered in a solitary step.

Until next time...

"The Sign": A Charcoal Experiment

^ Charcoal on paper,

colored in Pixelmator

I was going over some of my old charcoal drawings from college, when I started thinking about how some renaissance artists painted over charcoal to get better contrast between the lights and darks in their pieces. I thought to myself, "what would my charcoal drawings look like in color?" So, I whipped out my Mac and fired up Pixelmator... and voici! I think that the hand colors turned out pretty nice.

Interface Design and Fan Service

^ Illustrator, Photoshop, and ImageReady

This image is a hypothetical website design that I created recently to help me practice web interface design. Since Joe is one of my friends and favorite artists, and since he doesn't have an official website, I decided to design a site which not only captured the feel of his work but also the amazing future that I see in him as an artist. 

In the past, I've worked with print design a lot and have developed a working knowledge of how visual hierarchies can guide a viewer's eye communicate information quickly. From what I have observed about web graphic design so far, I believe that my print design knowledge can be applied to web design. This belief rests on my perception that both signs and websites are similar in nature and depend on similar communication concepts.

I will need to expound this idea more, however, I have run out of time for this post and will continue this at a later date.