NEW ARTWORK: In Christ Alone

I created this collage for Igniter Media. I wanted to use the old Master’s paintings in a more modern and unique way. You can see a larger version HERE.

I DON’T WRITE TUTORIALS

I heard a great digital artist say “I don’t write tutorials. I think you should take time to explore on your own.” The comment seemed a bit small minded – to be honest. Creativity is not found in the tutorials we learn nor should it be a threat for someone else to know how you pulled off a certain technique. Let’s face it, if you are a one trick pony… you might be a bit concerned if others pick up on your technique. But here’s the truth, someone else WILL figure it out and share that information through their own tutorial – and get paid to write the tutorial that blows your secret. Even better, maybe they’ll figure out the technique and sell it as a plug in! It’s happening – and that’s not a bad thing. It means that creativity has to come from your unique vision and application of your knowledge.

I don’t blame anyone for not wanting to write tutorials. They are time consuming and often not worth the money involved. (real talk) However, I have learned that progression happens through peer pressure. Others may take the knowledge they’ve gained from my tutorials and use it in a way that I’ve never imagined. That’s a great thing.

COMPUTER ARTS TIMELINE: The year in design

I’m honored to have been included in Computer Arts Timeline for “The Year In Design.” I place a very strong emphasis on design over motion. I do not think a person’s motion work will be any good without focusing on the design first. If it’s ugly when you start, it doesn’t get prettier just cause you move it around in AE or C4d. Because of that, it is encouraging to me to receive recognition for my digital artwork/design. Computer Arts is an amazing magazine so it’s a thrill to be included in their publication.

(Special thanks to Jonathan Bryant for letting me know I was listed in the Timeline)

REDUCE, RECYCLE, REUSE

I designed several album cover concepts for Toby Mac after he had seen the font I created for the Lil’ Wayne tee. At one point, I created another custom font (seen top right in image below). None of my concepts were used for the final cover but I was able to recycle the custom font and use it for Owl City – the very same week. You’ve gotta love when that happens!

Toby ended up using my shiny/bling effect to his sun glasses but that was it. The album cover title also changed to “Tonight” after these concepts were presented.

HELP HAITI LIVE

I’m honored to contribute some creative services to the Help Haiti Live event coming up on Feb. 27. They already had a great video on their main page that someone else worked on for them, but I’m pleased to help in creating some content for the event. The concert event is being organized by Shaun Groves of Compassion International. Lots of great partnerships formed in order to make these events happen including Livestream! If you are unable to attend the event, catch it live. GET MORE INFO HERE.

(web graphics developed by Ruggles Creative)

RETRO TYPOGRAPHY EXAMPLES

I walked into a used book store Friday night killing a few minutes before meeting my wife for a date night. I saw a record section and couldn’t believe the # of albums with amazing typography on them. I immediately grabbed my iPhone and started snagging pics of some of my favorite ones. I can’t say for a fact, but I’m pretty sure Photoshop did not exist in the early late 70’s and early 80’s. All these albums must have been long before… not sure if they are done by hand or what. Either way, they are amazing!

A FRESH FORM OF LIGHT WRITING

I came across the work of Photon while surfing the net for inspiration a few weeks ago. I was immediately drawn to the light writing illustrations he was doing of Nike shoes. I had a tough time figuring out if it was photoshop’d or if he somehow traced the image of  the shoe perfectly for multiple illustrations of the shoe. I hit him up to see if he would be willing to tell us  more about his process. Photon is an artist out of Mexico City. Check out more of his work HERE.

Light writing was all the rage a couple years ago when Sprint launched their huge ad campaign. Your experimenting with light writing is inspiring on a different level. Are you doing this via Photoshop or with real light writing?
I really like working with analog and digital light, both have their advantages and disadvantages. What I like about analog stuff is its unpredictable nature and results. Yes, you can save a lot of time with digital stuff but… I just love analog lightpainting.

Walk us through your process. Are you creating a stencil by drawing it in Illustrator first. Then cutting it out by hand? What is your process for creating these stencils?
First I sketch my idea, then I scan and trace in Illustrator and make some minor changes. Then you can hand-cut and save $ with cardboard and exacto, if you have $ and you’re in a hurry, you can go the router way with wood or PVC.

Once the stencil is made, what is the next step? Using a light to trace in and around your stencil?
Exactly; I use a camera, a tripod, and some color leds. I found out that some colors doesn’ t react so well, you can solve this by using white leds and coloring in post-production.

When you are using photoshop for some of the work, do you have any tips for making it look so convincing? Usually Photoshop’d light streaks are easy to spot. Your images are excellent and convincing.
Light must feel organic, that’s it. Technical stuff: Liquify.

Any other plans for these types of projects? What is in the works?
I’d like to do more complex stuff, get involved with animation. I’m looking for someone interested in making a collab with this piece, I guess it would be a nice to animate and compose it with live action footage, kinda’ like the Magic Flashlights video.

SPEC WORK ISN’T ALL BAD. Just mostly.

Here are some follow up thoughts to my last post on SPEC WORK. Be smart with spec work. There has to be a reason why you would risk your time. Think about some of these things before getting involved.
1. IF the client sought you out and expressed a deep interest in YOUR work for a project AND that project is highly appealing to you… then you might consider it. An open invite to whoever will bite at some spec work is likely a waste of your time.
2. What are your chances of “winning” this gig? Who are you up against? Decide if your work is a good fit and if you think you can win the project, it might be worth going for it.
3. Have you done work for the industry that is requesting you work on spec? Work within an industry often lands you more work within that same industry. If you’ve been doing work for the music industry, that does not necessarily give you credibility to expect a full rate doing work for the movie industry (at first). Just ask Jeff Finley.
4.  Is the reward worth it? Only risk spec work for rewards that are worth it. Either the budget is amazing; the amount of exposure will be worth the effort; or you have a personal passion that drives you to want to land this gig.

Spec is a short term plan. You may have to break into an industry or into a job situation that way; but doing spec work will not make for a long term relationship between you and the client. It’s a temporary way for the client to receive options but what happens after that? No one in their right mind would continue a relationship full of spec work. Fool me once, shame on you. Full me twice, shame on me. Any respectable client is eventually going to realize that customer service, dependability, problem solving, consistency and relationships go much further than a random lottery pick of designs. There is so much more to a client/designer relationship than a one-off project.

VIDEO SHOOTS WITH THE CANON 7D

A month ago or so I posted a bunch of testing we did at Igniter with our new Canon 7d. The videos are finally out now and I’m happy to share them with you guys. Rob and Jeff wrote the scripts. I was the lead for the project – meaning I directed, chose actors, and established the look for the videos. David Womack was the shooter and Jenni Wright kept organized the whole thing for us so that it would be a good experience for our actors. I’ve become numb to the project at this point as I have seen it a million times. I keep noticing little things I wish I could change. Oh well. I’m pleased considering I rarely do video projects that have no motion work associated with it. I have a lot to learn about the 7d and look forward to gaining experience with it.

SPEC WORK ISN’T ALL BAD. TRUST ME.

About 8 years ago, Toby Mac was interested in hiring me as a full time designer for Gotee records. He knew I had the skills but my portfolio was much weaker back then. He asked me to create a design via spec. In my arrogance, I said, “no.” I felt that I should be paid and that my portfolio should speak for itself. I did not get the job. Fast forward to last year, I was asked to create artwork for a Wolfmother tour poster on spec. I’m not gonna lie. My stomach dropped and I received instant heart burn over the thought of it. I’ve been in the game for 10+ years now! Why should I do spec work? My portfolio speaks for itself. (Instant flashback to the incident with Toby occurred)

There is a risk to be taken with spec work. I did not take that risk years ago and the best thing I can claim is that I did not get that job. This time around, I thought about the reward if I take the risk.
Reward = I get paid to create artwork for one of my favorite bands
Risk = I loose some sleep and don’t get paid
I already know what happens if I stick to my guns and don’t do spec work. NOTHING. They’ll find someone else. Trust me.

If you’ve followed my blog for any length of time, you’ll know that I took the risk. I submitted a design not knowing if I would ever get paid for it. They LOVED IT! Not only did I get paid for it, but Andrew (lead singer) asked his manager if I would work on a cover concept. Once I was in, I no longer had to work via spec. In fact, they paid me for 2 other projects – one they never even used. The spec piece I did for Wolfmother went on to win the DIGITAL ARTIST OF THE YEAR Award from Intel and Computer Arts Magazine. I took a risk knowing that the reward for landing a gig with a band of that caliber could be huge! I’m glad I did.

Later this week I will write some more thoughts on spec and the risk vs. reward aspect. Please note, spec sucks! It really does. I’m not a fan of it. But I saw a greater reward if I was willing to take the risk. It’s also worth mentioning that a few months ago I did concert visuals for Toby Mac (nearly 8 years after our original discussions and not getting the job). I did not need to do anything spec at that point. I had Lil’ Wayne, Owl City, and Wolfmother under my belt. Stay tuned for more thoughts on spec!

Here is a good video about spec from SXSW.

TEACHING AT SIMPLY YOUTH IN CHICAGO. R U WITH ME?

I’m real excited to be teaching a session at the Simply Youth Conference in Chicago along with several others from RT Creative Group. (I’m not excited that it’s in February – freezing!!!) So here’s where I need your help… It is NOT a media conference but there will be plenty of people there who are interested in learning more about media and how to get started. You may be one of them!

I’ve titled the session:
DESIGN/MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS
From small budgets to big programs, we’ll discuss creative ways to develop media for your ministry including apparel, motion graphics, video and web. Find out ways to save money while improving your media program, navigate the sea of designers and avoid some mistakes along the way.

I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU… If you are in youth ministry or just starting out and need creative ideas on how to create media, get media, inspiration, etc. What do you want to know? I’ll probably regurgitate a lot of this via the blog at some point as well so even if you aren’t going to be at the event, let me know… what you wanna know. That will help me to form the content of the session.

If you know anyone in Youth Ministry that wants to know more about this type thing… SEND THEM TO THIS POST and have them LEAVE A COMMENT. R U WITH ME? Thanks!

WARNING: Compositing secrets could destroy your reality!

This amazing video has been circulating the web for a few weeks. A breakdown of the compositing was posted and it is just as enlightening as the last video I posted about compositing. Watch and be amazed! Let me know what you think. Pretty cool, huh?

INTERVIEW AND ARTWORK FEATURED IN ADVANCED PHOTOSHOP MAGAZINE

Advanced Photoshop has a feature article spotlighting a handful of artists that use Photoshop and 3d together. I have a few of my pieces featured including one I did for the Echo Conference and one I did for Collide magazine.

In addition, I was commissioned to create the 2 page spread of artwork that opened up the article. It is a great honor to work with such an industry leading magazine. Their instructions were to keep a similar tone to the Collide piece… and to use lighting effects. I wanted to push 3d text a bit further than I have before, so I invested some time into modeling various elements for the piece.