methodology stop motion

It's the big debut! My first attempt at stop motion is now ready for viewers. (You can view it larger on vimeo.)I created this to compliment the poster I designed for my senior show theme, which became a promotion piece. It's an animated journey through the creative process via paper cut outs and frame by frame animation.
I spent a weekend printing and cutting out all the little pieces and then signed up to use the lighting studio. They have this great contraption that is made for documenting 2D work and allows you to attach the camera facing down and has even lighting. My friend/roommate Amy Miller volunteered to help and so on a Tuesday night we went to work. As I mentioned before, this was my first attempt at creating a stop motion and I learned a hell of a lot from the process, for example:

• Determine early on how long you want your animation to be and how many frames equal one second (I originally shot for 15 frames).
• Think about the music beforehand. Amy had created a song that was perfect for what I envisioned and was also willing to help make the music fit the animation for timing.
  
• Consider if some things need to move faster than others and how many frames are appropriate.
• Having a friend is incredibly helpful, especially one that is good at counting/documenting
• Lighting is difficult to get exactly right unless you really know what you're doing. The lights ended up blowing out some parts of the animation, which in the end appeared as a happy accident rather than a disaster.
• Go with the flow.
• Don't rush.

So in 8 hours of shooting, we got almost 800 pictures that would equal out to about a minute. I was so thankful that we completed it in one night, because if we hadn't finished before the school closed I would have had to clean up and risked the next batch of photos looking different from the first. It took another weekend to edit all the photos (Thank God for Photoshop and Automate Batch) then to dump them into iMovie and make it work together. I'm really pleased with how it turned out, and am excited to work on another one.

color film

I finally got my rolls of film developed from my trip home a few weeks ago. I had been itching to go explore and capture some photos on my old camera and so anytime I saw something interesting, I snapped a photo. I love old signs and buildings, so often they'll catch my attaention. I love to imagine the stories and history of them, who used to work there or who built it. I'll post a few here, but there are many more. Check them out on my flickr!

i'm employed!

Great news! I've been offered a job at redpepper as a production designer. I'll be working part time until graduation and then jump in full time in May. It's such an honor and a relief to have a job with a company I love and know that I will be challenged at. I'm so excited!
But I must admit, I'm really ready for the semester to be over already. It's the last month and while I'm not too super stressed, I am ready to have portfolio and the senior show off my plate. Only a few weeks to go, and I know it'll be over in a flash.
My website will be ready to go live soon, so I'll post it when the time comes. Best of luck to everyone in the last month of the semester.

Johnny Kelley - Animator

I have been doing a lot of research in preparation for my stop motion project (which will be filmed tomorrow) and was especially inspired by Johnny Kelley.
The first animation I ever saw by him was The Seed, a combination of simple line animation and 3d paper art stop motion. These days, it's really nice to see such a beautiful animation that doesn't heavily rely on computer graphics. And it tells the story of a humble apple seed in such an incredible way. Watch it here. You can also check out the making of on their site too, which is also a fascinating behind the scenes look.Then I came upon his graduation film from the Royal College of Art called Procrastination. It is awesome, and incredibly pertinent for every single person on the earth. Click the image below to watch it too.

eight weeks.

In eight weeks from now, I will be a college graduate. In six weeks, I'll have my senior show. I must admit that my brain is in a somewhat constant seesaw of thoughts and feelings. I'm stressed, I'm relaxed, I'm confident, I'm freaked out, I'm exhausted, I'm refreshed. Those are normal feelings in life, but suddenly with the end of Spring Break looming, they seem to have hit me all at once. I still have so much work to do. And I'm having to realize that I may have bit off more than I can chew with some projects I wanted to complete by April 30th.
For example, I was planning on creating an extensive Flash animation and was super confident about it. I started and applied my basic knowledge, but ran into numerous road blocks. And then I realized today that I don't realistically have the amount of time before the Senior Show to teach myself how to really use Flash to create the animation that I visualized for my Methodology illustration. There are a lot of other projects that need to be reworked and revised. So how do I animate it without using Flash? I'm thinking of doing it old school and creating paper cut outs and animating it using frame by frame animation. I've been wanting to do that for a long time as a fun project anyway, so I'm actually looking forward to it more now. So, hopefully I will have something impressive to show for it within the next few weeks.
I've also been doing a lot of research for job opportunities and feeling hopeful. I'm fighting off procrastination and doing my best to stay on track. Everything will get done.
On a parting note, I'd like to share this animation from John Kelley called Procrastination.

welcome spring, I am ready for you.

Life is still going well in my part of the woods, moving forward with my portfolio, working hard at school and at redpepper. I'm trying to focus on self promotion and researching future job opportunities. There is so much to consider, and what I send to potential employees will likely change based on who they are and the type of work they do. I'm working on a flash animation as a way to catch attention and drive people to my website (still under construction). I've been working on my resume, and designing business cards. I want to do something a little different and I found an idea through AIGA about recycling old Pantone swatch books and using them for business cards. Since you're suppossed to get new Pantone books every year (the color fades and doesn't remain true) I figure it's a great way to reuse a very job specific item as a promotion piece. Not to mention the fact that I can utilize all the great colors in the swatch book.
I'm currently home for my best friend's wedding this coming weekend. It's nice to have a change of scenery and see old friends and family. It came at a good time with Spring break starting next week so that I don't have to rush home. I'm hoping after the wedding festivities to get a lot of school work done next week. I'm also planing on taking lots of photos. I've had such an itch to go out and take photos with my film camera lately, so I bought some color film and snapped some on my drive through TN, GA and SC. Too bad it's rainy here today, or else I'd be out exploring all the great things around. I'm trying to make a sincere effort to be creative in other ways that have nothing to do with schoolwork, clients or deadlines. Let's hope the sun comes out soon.

hurrah.

Congratulations are in order to all the WCAD students who took home Student ADDYs! We claimed 26 total, silver and gold and even Best in Show went to a Watkins Student (Ligia Teodisio). I was awarded a Gold for my editorial spreads for Context Magazine, an assignment I completed in Typography III with Professor Sweeney-Obryan. It was a great night, regardless of the laryngitis I suffered from last week (I lost my voice for 6 days).
In other exciting news, the senior show plans are moving along nicely. We've secured a venue and this year's senior exhibition will be held at Terrazos in the Gulch. I'm still plugging away on my portfolio, polishing old work and creating new. I'm part of the committee for designing the space and its been fun to think of how we can modify the event space. It's pretty raw but we have a lot of fun ideas and plan to be resourceful. The official theme is Design Fighter: Portfolio Attack! and was designed by Andy Gregg. He's illustrated all of the graduating seniors in a Street Fighter-esque style and it's fun to think of how we can apply that to the space. It's only 10 weeks until the show (April 30th) and I know it will be here in no time at all. I feel as if I will awaken tomorrow and it will be the big day. I'm psyched.

addy fever

I'm currently on the edge of my seat anxiously awaiting the possibility of getting the "You made it" email from the ADDY Awards. There were a record number of entries this year to the AAF Nashville ADDYs (480!!) and in the next few days the students who had winning work will receive an email. I entered 5 pieces of work this year and I'm feeling really anxious. Did I place? Please say I placed. I felt really good about the work I submitted this year and I would love it if I could put another ADDY Award on my resume.
Another fun aspect of this year's ADDYs was that I got to create the Call For Entries poster for all of the schools in Nashville. Since I'm currently the work study designer, I was able to set up the professional ADDYs judges a few weeks back and met Tim Templeton, a big wig in Nashville's AAF. I was working on the Call For Entries poster that day and he asked me if I'd like to use my design for the entire spectrum of Nashville colleges and universities. Heck yes I did. This is what I created:


I played off the idea of Looking for Fresh Meat and made typography out of ground beef. It was fun and certainly a new experience making meat letters and photographing it. I had a friend with mad photo skills help me out and was pretty happy with the results. Anyways, I've got ADDYs on the brain and hopefully I can post good news on here in the next few days...

daily drop cap

If you're a lover of typography, then I am about to serve you up some gourmet lettering. Introducing Daily Drop Cap, an ongoing project by typographer and illustrator Jessica Hische. "Each day (or at least each WORK day), a new hand-crafted decorative initial cap will be posted for your enjoyment and for the beautification of blog posts everywhere." You can even post them into your own sites or blog.

Every letter is a beautiful work of art. It's one of those projects and skills that I seriously envy. Here are some of my favorites, but you should check out the site, and check it often since Hische posts new Letters almost daily. Enjoy!

hello febuary!

Well hello second month of the year! You bring with you lots of work and new opportunities, and for that I thank you.

My semester has been going great so far. I'm finishing up my senior show theme this week for the final class vote next week. Mine is called "Methodology: our process & progress" and I am creating a poster with machinery all working together as a visual of our creative process. All the professors here really emphasize the process and how potential employers want to see how you came to your final design, so I thought I'd focus on that in my theme. I'm excited about it, as well as seeing all the other senior's finished designs. We have seven students in the Senior Portfolio class and we all have very distinct styles, which I think is a great thing. I'll post some images when it is more complete next week. If my theme is chosen, I'd like to also create animated videos to go along with it. Perhaps, I'll do it regardless since it would be nice to add more Flash based projects to my portfolio.
I'm feeling good about polishing my previous works, and creating new things from past ideas. We also have to create a Hero project, where we can do our dream project. It can be anything we want. Which is a bit daunting, but exciting. I've got a few ideas and will narrow them down in the next week. I'm also creating fun work for my Work Study job, like posters for the upcoming gallery shows and workshops. I'm really grateful for that job. It's so nice to have freedom when you're designing and also to be creating for other creatives!
The internship at redpepper is still going well. We have grown the program so that including myself, there are now 4 interns all from different schools. It's nice to collaborate with other students and to learn from one another. I just love going there so much.
I think this entire post has been a bit mushy, but I was feeling overwhelmed earlier and now I am just so freaking happy about my life. There is much to do and much to celebrate in the next few months.
Hope you're enjoying life too.

creative alphabets: yay!

The other day, I stumbled upon a blog from a dude named Reuben Miller featuring 22 of the world’s creative alphabets. And indeed, these are some seriously creative ways to create letterforms. I was so inspired by the packed meat type, I recreated some of my own for the Student Addy poster for AAF this year. Here are some of my favorites from the list. And you can check out the rest here.

"How to Be Creative"

One of my professors, the honorable Judith Sweeney-Obryan, shared this article with my Special Topics: Advertising Campaigns class.
I wanted to share some of the key points that stood out to me, and how helpful they were. I often struggle with finding the "perfect" solution and kick myself in the head until it comes. It's often such a struggle for the good ideas to come. It was a nice reminder to hear that creativity is a process and you have to get through all the crappy, cliche ideas before the good stuff can come out. Remember, the best solutions take work.

1. Create a routine.
Establish working routines that follow your mental instincts.

2. Let the assignment set some boundaries.
The specifics of your problem will help center your thinking. How you think about a project comes from it's true nature.
3. Start with basic thinking techniques.

"I always write a thing first and think about it afterwards, which is not a bad procedure, because the easiest way to have consecutive thoughts is to start putting them down."
-E.B.White, essayist

4. Suspend judgment.
"Be fearless around bad ideas. There is no such thing as a bad idea when concepting. Often the worst ideas are your tour guide to the best ones. It wouldn't be a cliche if it weren't so damned true. My ratio of bad to good is probably 50 to 1. I fill pages with bad. I build a monument to good on a trash heap of crap."
-David Baldwin, executive creative director, McKinney & Silver

5. Use both lateral and vertical thinking.
Be abundant and uncritical while also being analytical.

6. Hang tough.
A good idea is tricky. Learn to suspend yourself in a problem without being panicked by the sense of weightlessness that comes with no-idea-yet.

7. Find more than one solution.
"You cannot dig a hole in a different place by digging the same hole deeper."
-Edward de Bono, Lateral Thinking

8. Consider multiple points of view.
Every situation has more points of view than you are currently considering.

9. Restate the problem.
Adopt the perspective of a first-time user or someone who doesn't speak the language.

10. Read, stay curious, try to know at least a little about a lot.

clients, gotta love em

Seeing as how I'll be heading in the workforce in the near future, I've been thinking often about how to best work with clients. I came across this article on smashingmagazine.com on how to work with clients. It's called "How to Explain to Clients That They Are Wrong" and I wanted to share it here. Check it out, the information is quite helpful.

inspired by: BUNCH

Lately I've been inspired by unusual typography and wanted to share a design group in the UK called Bunch. I recently have come across their limited edition design of 300 books entitled “TEN” after Milton Glaser’s essay “Ten Things I Have Learned.” The beautiful publication showcases a cross section of paper stocks available from the represented paper merchant with beautifully illustrated statements enveloping the pages including typography using among other items, toothpaste and pieces of toast.
According to their profile, “Bunch was established in 2002, by Denis Kovac and Paulo Silva. It spread organically from London to Zagreb and then to Singapore. Talented friends joined, and the union formed the multi-disciplinary design agency that is the Bunch of today. We use our wide range of specializations to create intelligent and consistent brands for our diverse clients. And believe that creativity, clarity and consistency are the keys to successful design.” They do work for well known clients including Nike, McDonalds, Nissan, Diesel, Mulletover (awesome name right?), and an endless array of companies worldwide.

I discovered the firm awhile ago and was quite impressed by the extent of their talents: they produced the elegant identity for the Insitut Parfumeur Flores and applied it to signage, bags, stickers, pencils, ribbons and labels along with various promotional applications to both the interior and exterior of the store. A palate of flowers, designed for the company’s identity (which can be used in isolation or all together to communicate the brand), kept it sweetly playful and diverse.

Another very unique project from the bunch team includes Bastardised, a book they created from a request to artists and designers to recreate their logo. From 750 contributions, they selected 289 that showcases the wealth of creativity, beauty and humor found within the submitted works. View all the submissions here: http://www.madeinbunch.com/

I am not going to be able to do this agency justice in one single post. Please, please, please go visit their website and check out their impressive portfolio. I have been studying their work and they truly embody their belief that creativity, clarity and consistency are the keys to successful design. Everything they create is unique to the brand they are working with and they always present something fresh that is impeccably designed. They respect the conventions of classic design but maintain an element of experimentation in their works which I hope to do in my own designs.

PS. If their portfolio wasn’t enough to blow your mind, their showreel of video and animation work will take you to a whole ‘notha level of awesomeness. View it all here: http://www.bunchdesign.com

is it the end or the beginning?

My final semester of college began today. It's not quite real yet. There is much to be done in the next few months but I know that it is going to speed by and graduation day will suddenly be tomorrow and then today.
I'm feeling good about everything that is happening. I'm jumping back in at redpepper tomorrow and they are kicking off a new intern program, and since I am the senior most intern (I've been there for a year at the end of this month), I'll be an ambassador of sorts. There are two new interns, plus a returning intern from last semester. We'll be making lots of plans and experiementing with new mediums and ways of communicating. I'm getting a lot of ideas from a book I asked for for Christmas: How to Be An Explorer of the World by Keri Smith

The book opens with a quote from T.S. Eliot:
"We shall not cease from exploration
And at the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time."

That spoke to me so much, and the book has been wonderful as a jumpstart tool for getting out there, trying new things, looking at things differently.

Smith breaks it down like this:
How to be an Explorer of the World
1. Always be looking.
2. Consider everything alive and animate.
3. Everything is interesting. Look closer.
4. Alter your course often.
5. Observe for long durations (and short ones).
6. Notice the stories going on around you.
7. Notice patterns. Make connections.
8. Document your findings in a variety of ways.
9. Incorporate indeterminacy.
10. Observe movement.
11. Create a personal dialogue with your environment. Talk to it.
12. Trace things back their orgins.
13. Use all of the senses in your investigations.

I intend to take her advice and hope that it brings new lessons and lots of inspiration. I hope the same for you, whoever you are, that this year is filled with eye-opening experiences and opportunities.