Takeover Tuesday Veterans Day Edition with Jeffery Lawson

An interview with Jeffery Lawson: an Art director / Illustrator born and raised in NC who it a bit of a tactile tradesman , lover of all things nature and color.

Interviewer: Bella Alfonsi

Read time: 5min

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Bella:

Thanks so much for joining us for Takeover Tuesday, Jeffery! Could you tell us about yourself?

Jeffery:

I am a Veteran, Art Director, Designer, and illustrator born and raised in North Carolina. Most of the work I love making is mixed with fun and a bit of thoughtfulness. I love printmaking and collecting vintage goosebumps books. I am a nature lover and 80’s horror movie aficionado and lover of all things spooky.

Bella:

How did you find your way into motion design? A bit of your background?

Jeffery:

That's a bit of an interesting story! Hold onto your seats, this one's a doozy. My journey into motion design looks like a bit of a treasure map with many points. In the early 2000’s I got started in design learning to be a screen printer and tattoo artist in my local area. Fast forward many moons later I ended up leaving my career in the military and going back to college to be a student.

A frame from Jeff’s Logitech project with Demo Duck.

Bella:

How was the transition from the military to being a student?

Jeffery:

It was by far one of the most challenging periods in my life. I like to call this my transition phase. My most memorable moment, which was the most challenging, was when I separated from the military on a Friday and Monday morning I was sitting inside a college classroom. It was a complete mental shock not only culturally but mentally as well. Having served in two combat zones made it a little harder given the difference between military life and civilian life. For example, there are strict timelines in the military, and transitioning to civilian life you no longer have those in place and must set them for yourself.

Bella:

What did you learn from being in the military that carries over into your career today?

Jeffery:

There are a few military lessons that I still carry with me but the most important comes from an old army leadership manual. For more about this topic, you can google the 4 c’s of army leadership.

• Competence - This means being operationally and technically skilled at what the organization does. When one moves up their understanding of the entire process is far more important than technical skills.

• Commitment- This means placing heart and soul not only into the organization but most importantly of all its people. For example, A great leader arrives an hour early and leaves an hour after the last team member clocks out. A committed leader takes the time to learn the habits of each team member and then leads them accordingly.

• Candor - This means always being able to be candid at all levels regardless of position. Basically, it means being able to be honest about something regardless of how someone might feel.

• Courage - This means having not only physical courage but moral courage to say and do what is right even if one must stand up to someone.

One of several concepts chosen for a client pitch for Tango Analytics

Bella:

What do you want to say to those who were in your shoes a few years ago?

Jeffery:

I'd tell them to reference an old proverb that goes like this “Seek and you shall find “. How this relates to your career is as follows.

• 1- Seek to fill the gap- There's a beautiful video series by Ira Glass that was shared with me called The Gap. In this video, he talks about going through a volume of work to fill the gap between where you are and where you want to be. My interpretation of this is something I always share with my mentees and I want to share it with you. In order to get where you are trying to go you have to fill this imaginary hole with things that are going to make you better. Examples of these things are tutorials, podcasts, lectures, meteors, personal work, feedback, and books.

• 2- Seek discipline - There's a great book out there that I've read several times called “Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual” by Jocko Willink which is essentially the key to filling the gap that I discussed above. The term discipline equals freedom applies to every aspect of your life and if you want more freedom you gotta get more discipline in your life.

• 3- Seek a village - There's a quote by the motivational speaker Jim Rohan that states that we are the average of the 5 people we spend our time with. My interpretation of this is that during my career so far I've befriended people who share similar values and beliefs as I do but who are also far more talented than me. By seeking a village of people who support you but who can also offer up honest advice it will help you see the chinks in your own armor and make you stronger.

Bella:

What are some of the techniques you use to create the work you do?

Jeffery:

A magician never tells his secrets, am I right? WRONG. To be super transparent I'm all over the place with techniques because I love exploring and experimenting. I will say that I consider myself a tactile tradesman of sorts. I enjoy integrating things that can be done using printed methods or by hand and merging them with digital aesthetics. For example, recently I had the pleasure of creating a title sequence project at Gunner School, and after brainstorming and pitching two directions I settled on one that used scanned-in elements from nature to emphasize the core elements of the movie.

Art Direction Jeff provided for Prisidio vis Demo Duck

Bella:

Do you have a favorite type of project to work on?

Jeffery:

This question is a bit of a hard one! In general, I have a deep appreciation for mixed media art. My interests span from collage to two-dimensional works and even dabble in a small touch of 3D. My preferred project styles can vary, but there's usually a common thread tying them together, and that's the element of enjoyment. Much of this passion is showcased on my website within a category I've named "TIDBITS," where I explore diverse artistic styles.

Bella:

You mentioned schooling and I see you recently attended Gunner School. What was that like?

Jeffery:

Attending Gunner School was a truly transformative experience. I had the privilege of exploring new ways of animation, thanks to the guidance and support of my peers and mentors. This opportunity encouraged my passion for learning and pushed me to unlock my potential. Through collaboration and hard work, I grew into a more confident and knowledgeable individual. This journey left a lasting impact on my life, opening doors to exciting possibilities and shaping my identity and outlook in profound ways.

Bella:

What are your goals for the next couple of years?

Jeffery:

Career:

• 1- Full-time employment with studio

• 2- Explore more creative styles of design

• 3- Publish a book on creative thinking

Personal:

• 1- Spend more time with family

• 2- Nurture more creatives

• 3- Watch more horror movies

Jeffery’s new demo reel.

Bella:

Was there ever a time when you didn't think breaking into Motion Design was even possible?

Jeffery:

Indeed, it's important to remember that every profession has its share of highs and lows, and taking that initial step can be quite challenging when embarking on any career journey. In my own experience, after graduating, I initially had a fantastic internship opportunity lined up, but unexpected circumstances threw a wrench in my plans. After this happened, luckily, I had the awesome support of a mentor whom I met through School of Motion to help me navigate such an event. Fast forward 8 months and with this person's help I had built a portfolio.

Bella:

Who are your personal heroes?

Jeffery:

Please bear with me as I share a touching story about my personal hero, Amanda Russell. Amanda is a Creative Director at CREAM Studio, and she is not only a highly accomplished professional but also an exceptional human being. Her boundless compassion has left an indelible mark on me that I try to emulate to others. Countless times, Amanda's unique blend of creativity and kindness has guided me through challenges in my own career that I couldn't have overcome on my own. In addition to her unwavering empathy, she serves as a deep wellspring of inspiration, embodying the qualities I deeply admire and aspire to cultivate in myself. Her steadfast commitment to creativity and the well-being of those around her should serve as a guiding light for anyone seeking a mentor in their career.

Bella:

Who are your personal heroes?

Jeffery:

Eddie: I was in the desert once, out in the middle of nowhere, absolutely nowhere. Just me, the sand, and silence. But if you know what to listen for, it ain’t silent out there. I heard a music out there I never heard before. In the silence. That’s what I’m after, kid. That’s intense. You dig down deep and touch something like that, people are gonna listen. They’ll listen to you because you got something to say! Not just something to show. You understand?

This quote comes from one of my favorite 80s movies called ‘Eddie and the Cruisers”. Sometimes you have to shut out all the noise of the world so you can hear your own internal voice. We all have an internal compass / creative voice we must listen to and when you add in the many distractions of the modern age it can get quite noisy. Enough to the point where you can't even discern what direction you should point your compass.

Takeover Tuesday with Jordan Knight

An interview with Jordan Knight: a multi-media designer, animator, illustrator who has worked with clients all over the commercial, social media, and entertainment world.

Interviewer: Bella Alfonsi

Read time: 5min

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Bella:

Thanks for joining us for Takeover Tuesday, Jordan! Can you please introduce yourself?

Jordan:

Hi! I’m Jordan Knight, I’m a motion designer based out of Brooklyn but originally from upstate New York and I’ve worked as a freelancer for the majority of my career. I am also queer, I like to bike (as a commuter mostly), love a painting exhibit (late 19th century is my favorite), and I also have a pet snake.

Bella:

How did you get into the motion design world?

Jordan:

In school I had much more patience for art and drawing than any other subject, and I loved movies. So animation felt like a convenient way to mix both of my interests. I went to SCAD for an animation degree and when I was 90% of the way through I took an intro class for After Effects and only learned then about motion design. I thought there was so much more room to grow as an experimental designer in that industry, which I eventually realized was such a huge priority for me in my own creative process. So I made the choice to switch gears after graduation. It took a few transitional years of working as a graphic designer for bodegas and bars, as a studio manager for a small agency, and then slowly working on my after effects confidence on the side to get to a point where I felt I was ready to try taking on a freelance job. I made a lot of mistakes, but I learned a lot in that process and I think I grew the most in my skills as an artist, as a professional, and as a person, by taking that leap into freelance.

The best Motion Design quote ever from Jordan’s Grandpa.

Bella:

Do you have any advice for other artists who are trying to go full-time freelance?

Jordan:

This is sort of advice for anyone, not just freelancers, but don’t have any shame about sounding stupid when it comes to asking questions. Books and blogs are great resources, but building real life connections to talk about rates, contracts, new technologies, is going to be your most valuable resource throughout your career. I’ve learned so much about technique and insider tips by asking other artists out for coffee, going to workshops, and community events. As a freelancer staying organized is also extremely important. Keep track of your invoices, your contacts, emails, projects, backups of those projects. Life is so much less of a headache when you know where to find everything. This advice comes from some of my biggest mistakes throughout my early career, so set up goals and learn early, and keep learning to stay relevant and engaged with the industry. Oh, and taxes are just so much easier with an accountant, it’s worth it and a write-off.

Bella:

As a multi-media designer, you have mad skills in multiple different areas. Is there a certain area you prefer to work in? Like animation over design or directing, vice versa?

Jordan:

I’m very much a conceptual thinker so I do typically prefer to spend the most thought and care in the design department. Unfortunately, advertising hasn’t always allowed for that kind of time and money so I often use a lot of my down time to explore design techniques and style.

Illustration titled “Moth.”

Bella:

Where do you find inspiration?

Jordan:

This is where living in NYC really has its perks. We really have some of the most amazing museums in the world. A couple of my most frequented include Poster House, and of course the MET. Walking down most New York streets is an absolute advertising vortex of posters, video installations, stickers, murals, made by incredibly talented artists. I’m also really big on Sci-fi and horror films so older special effects really have a soft spot in my heart. A couple years ago I bought a bunch of Heavy Metal magazines from the 70s-90s and I absolutely love the variety of illustration work in there and always look back to find cool drawing inspiration. Lately just a shadow hitting the sidewalk in a strange way will spark my interest and I’ll wonder if I could distort it, stack it, cut it up and collage it, and find use for it in a design.

Bella:

How does your creative process for client work differ from the process for a personal project?

Jordan:

I think professionally as an animator I’m very outcome oriented. I have a deadline, a structure, and a good sense for how I am expected to execute in a timely manner. My own projects are much more chaotic and I often don’t know what I’m making until I’m surrounded by scraps of doodled on papers, made three new pinterest boards, and bought a new stupid thing on ebay that I’ve convinced myself is the answer to all my creative blocks. But it works for me!

Frame from “NYC Votes.”

Bella:

I love the collage style that you've used in several projects. What's the best way to approach animation for this style?

Jordan:

My biggest focus is making something digital look tactile and handmade. I have TONS of stockpiled textures that come in handy for this and I often make many of my own. I’ve got probably ten different saved expressions for giving a gritty stop motion feel that I use interchangeably. I also think starting the design process by hand and then finding a way to adapt digitally second allows me to be more expressive in the initial stages and leaves me more room to explore what sort of motion would work best with a specific style.

Bella:

What would you say to someone who is trying to "find their style?"

Jordan:

Frankly I can’t even confidently say I’ve found my own, and I may never commit to just one. I think I feel very comfortable with that. Some people really find a style that works for them and that's great. I don’t think finding a style is always necessary. It certainly has benefits as a freelancer to brand yourself to a type of work but I’m definitely a person who loves exploring different mediums. Although I’ve sort of been known for my collage work I am definitely constantly evolving that style into something different. So my advice is just make what you want to make, whether you want to stick to one style or not, that decision will come later and it will come organically.

Bella:

I'm sure it's difficult to choose, but do you have a favorite project you've been a part of?

Jordan:

I had a lot of fun working on Paris Hilton’s documentary. While I was animating on that I shared a coworking space with Miguel Hernandez, the illustrator on the project, and we had such a blast working together. He had me help out with illustration tasks, which isn’t a skill I often get to flex as primarily an animator, but I had so much fun with it. Every week he’d lend me a ton of art books and graphic novels from his collection that I’d spend every night absolutely devouring, so I got to learn a lot in that time on and off the project. Even when deadlines were tight and overwhelming, Miguel made the process fun and easy.

I also found out later that I had indirectly worked alongside my current partner, an assistant editor on the project, who I hadn’t officially met until two years after the release. So shout out to Paris Hilton for the matchmaking.

One of the scene’s from the Paris Hilton Documentary Jordan worked on.

Bella:

Any projects that you're excited about?

Jordan:

I just finished up a really fun project with the absolutely wonderful team at Mighty Oak: NYC Votes!

Also keep an eye out on my instagram @jjknightart for more work!

Meet the speakers: Loe Lee

An interview with Loe Lee: an illustrator and art director based in New York

Q&A hosted by Ashley Targonski.

Read time: 15min

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Ashley:

Loe, it's great to have you here. I think we can begin by introducing yourself.

Loe:

Yeah, my name is Loe Lee. I am an illustrator and art director here based in New York. Some people I've been lucky enough to work with would be Coca-Cola, the Democrats, VICE, and Uniqlo. I've been both on the agency and the vendor side. One thing that I can usually lend is a bit of experience from both. Recently, I went full-time freelance.

Project with Havas Atlanta for Coke Coffee

Ashley:

How did you get into illustration and art directing?

Loe:

I first started getting into illustration when I worked at an agency called Translation. This was years ago. We did a lot of advertising work. In some of those cases it kind of lent itself to illustration. The first illustrations I did was for a brand back then called Google Play Music. We did illustrated animations that would play together and become social posts. So it was a social rebrand for them. My style back then, since I was just getting into it, was actually mostly vector, especially for animation, but it kind of sparked my, like, "Oh, I can actually do illustration for work." Because before that I was just drawing in my notebook and on coffee cups.

Ashley:

Yeah. It's really cool to realize that something that you love doing can actually be your way forward and how you make money. I know that you create a lot of different illustrations for different platforms like: digital, motion, murals and print, and all kinds of different mediums. How do you balance what to focus on?

Loe:

That's one thing that I feel like I'm weirdly good at. I think because I have a design and art direction background, when I was just doing pure design, I was made to work with all kinds of vendors. So I think that experience of being like, "Okay, well, if I have to break this illustration down for motion, I know what I need to do." Just because I've messed up so many times in the past. For print, I think it's probably not as hard as people think. I think everything is about getting the specs right.

Ashley:

You mentioned earlier that you just went full-time freelance. What made you make that switch from full time? Because I think the last time we interviewed you for a Mograph Lunch, you were just starting at VICE, which is really interesting to see your path to now..

Loe:

I know, I feel like my path is definitely not linear and crazier than I want it to be. I really loved VICE. It was so great. The team was amazing. We worked on a bunch of wonderful projects together. At the same time, I was doing a lot of freelance work. To the point where, if I have to be super honest, I didn't have a social life. I didn't sleep that much. Because after work, I would go home and do work. I would do work on the weekends. Even when I went on vacation and I traveled with my partner or my friends, I was doing work. I was constantly working. I felt like, "It's been kind of tough, I think, on my body for a long time." Doing the freelance thing, I guess I was nervous, because I was like, "Oh, well, I feel like the job is very secure." So many people feel that way. Especially in New York, it's so expensive.

At the end of last year, there was a lot of craziness within the corporate world. There's a lot of restructuring within all the companies. That is also true with the companies I was at. After VICE, I was also at another agency for a little bit. But with all the restructuring, coupled with all the freelance work, I it just wasn't sustainable. It was impacting my health a little bit, which I promised myself I would never do. So I just made the leap within the new year. I was like, "You know what? New year, let's try it out."

Illustrated animation for VICE’s Global Logo ID series

Ashley:

Yeah, that was going to be one of my questions, how do you balance a full-time job and your freelance work? I think that would be difficult for anyone, of course. Especially when it's starting to affect your health. I'm hoping that now that you're fully freelance, that's been a good shift for you.

Loe:

Yeah. I think it's definitely possible with the right parameters. If you're like, "Well, I'm only going to take one freelance job a month."it's definitely a balance.

Ashley:

Yea, and I noticed a theme of your work is mental health. Going into that a little further, I know you focused on sleep towards the beginning. Why was that a focus of your earlier work?

Loe:

This is something that I think I talked about mainly when I first started illustrating. When I was in college, I had this mental health issue that I never really had before. Basically, I had insomnia. It wasn't really something that I had before my twenties. I think a lot of mental illnesses do get diagnosed within your twenties. When I got that, I just suddenly wasn't sleeping for a really long amount of time, and it was starting to impact my life at school. I was passing out randomly. Since I was in New York, I was passing out on the subway. Just because of my sleep, I wasn't regulating it at all. There was nothing really I felt like triggering it. I mean, consciously, I wasn't staying up all night working, right? It's just you tossing and turning, walking around at night. It got to a point where I had to take a medical leave for a semester to deal with it. During that semester where I went to get help, at first, I didn't really know much about mental health back then. That was years ago. I had to go back home to my family, but my family thought I had a brain tumor or something like that. I was going in and out of all these x-rays and scans and MRI seeing what was wrong with me, because, of course, it had to be something physical, right? And then when someone suggested that maybe it was mental, even I kind of rejected it because I never really knew about it growing up. It wasn't really something that was taught to me. The only thing I really knew about was depression and I didn't feel that I was depressed. So to me, things weren't really connecting. But once I learned more about insomnia, what triggers it, how it's not just physical.

Personal project titled “Time to Recharge.”

When I went back to school for my thesis, I wanted to explore that theme more. So I did this project called A Hundred Ways To Worry. I interviewed a hundred people. I collected their biggest worry at the time and I turned it into an illustration book. And then when you flip the book, it has an affirmation. It was a project where you have one thing that you're really grateful for or you're really proud of and one thing that you're worrying about. And then I also made them into cards.

So when I gave them to the recipient ... Only they know. It's all anonymous. Only the recipient knows their own worry and story. The test was like, "See if you're still worried about this in a year or two." A lot of those people have said, because I know them personally, "Yeah, it's kind of funny because this is something I'm not worried about anymore." It shows that a lot of our worries, I mean, not all of them of course, are transient. That project was received really well.

100 Ways to worry project.

Ashley:

Yeah. That's really cool. Because I think when you're in it, it's hard to step back and be like, "This won't worry me in a few years." How do you feel like that experience made you grow as an artist? Or did it help you at all as you continue to grow?

Loe:

It definitely did. A lot of questions that people ask me is how I got my style. I always tell people there's no formula to finding your personal style. I think that just continuously drawing things that you like, you'll notice yourself gravitating towards certain colors and themes. For me, because I had a lot of anxiety, I tended to draw things that were calming. So a lot of blues, a lot of soft colors, and a lot of themes where it kind of brings it back to this dreaming, calm state. Honestly, that pervades a lot of my personal work today because that's when I'm the most content, just lying at home, putting HGTV on the TV for background noise and just drawing something that calms me down. I think that's just something really prevalent in city life as well because there's always so much hustle and bustle, especially when you go outside your home or apartment when you go to work. So it's just one of those things where that theme at least helps bring some peace into my life. It's something that I want to put into the world.

Personal project highlighting Loe’s style.

Ashley:

Yeah. I love that. As you've been creating your style, it's interesting to see how you've incorporated that into different brands. What's something that you start to think of when you get a new client and you're trying to meld those two styles?

Loe:

A lot of my work recently has been commercial work. I'm trying to put more personal work out there, but it's definitely a balance. At first when I started doing commercial work, I bent a lot to the brands. Especially before, I wasn't as confident in what I was bringing, in my direction or my style. So I was like, "Okay. I'm putting really hardcore branding in there." Because I'm like, "This is for a brand. I'm just happy to be here,"But I think now, very luckily, when people approach me, they know it's going to be a mix between real life and a little bit of fantasy or a little bit of whimsy.

Every single client is definitely different, so I think the key is always to ask those questions in the beginning. Something I always ask is, "How strongly should I be taking from your brand cues or your brand style guideline?" Because sometimes people are really strict, and sometimes they want you to do something entirely on your own. I think one example would be ... Even when I was working at VICE, obviously my style and VICE's style is very, very different. I know VICE is a little bit grittier. Sometimes it can get a little bit gross, sometimes it gets a little bit scary, so how can I implement that into what I bring to the table and meld those styles together? Sometimes it takes a lot of reworking, a lot of noticing little things, like VICE uses a lot of black. They use a lot of gritty textures, things like that. So just noticing those small details and adding that to my illustrations. When I worked with Uniqlo, for example, I think our brand messageswork together really well, positivity, vibrancy, living on the edge of helping people in their everyday lives versus going towards a little bit of fantasy. So when I worked with them, they were like, "Go crazy. Have fun. Do what you do." As long as it pertained to their theme, which was living vibrantly in New York. So it really depends, but it's definitely a sliding scale.

Ashley:

When you were first starting out and you had started to develop your style, was it nice to have your personal artwork on your website? Did that help people come to you for brand work?

Loe:

Definitely. I would say that's the biggest advice I give people who are starting out, is that a lot of times people, even for me, too, when I hire for something or when people hire me for something, they want to see the literal thing, which is really funny. Once I was pitching myself for these Subway ads. They were like, "Well, but have you done a Subway ad?" I was thinking to myself, "I haven't illustrated a Subway ad, but I've done plenty of print, so I'm not really sure what the difference is." The difference is there's really no difference. Honestly, now that I've done it so many times. It's just the specs. As long as you work with the specs, it's really the same as any print project.

Hope in the streets of NYC

One thing that I urge is that if you do a personal project, the funniest thing is even if you put it on a mock-up just to show what it would look like, and you post it online, it does get you hired for that specific dream project much easier. I don't think there's any problem putting that mock-up onto your site. I think what’s happening ... at least on my end, after I was doing more mood boarding and direction ... A lot of times, art directors have to do things really quickly. You have a time limit. Sometimes things have to go really fast. There's a quick turnaround.

So when I'm doing a coffee bag, for example, and I see, "Oh, this illustration's amazing, but I have to show some illustration on coffee bags. But for me to mock them up, it's going to take time that I don't have." If I already see on Pinterest, on Behance, or something like that, I can quickly grab it and put it on the mood board and present it, and then find the illustrators who worked on it. It's very easy to grab and see it so literally. It's so easy to pitch yourself and for the agency or the art director to pitch you to the client. Because a lot of clients, they're not art directors, so they can't tell you can do it until they see it.

Ashley:

Yeah. I was going to say, I think some clients ... There's some study about this, where creative people can actually see things in their mind on an object and other people can't. So when you're trying to pitch something to someone who's in an industry that doesn't require that skill, they just can't see it. So that is a really cool thing, if you have it on your website, they're like, "Okay, I already know that they can do this because it's there. I see it. It's tangible." When you get new work, what are clients and projects that you try to take on? How do you differentiate what you want to take on versus what you say no to?

Loe:

I think, definitely last year, when I was super busy, I was much pickier. This year, I'm much less picky because now I'm doing this full time. But I think things that I was really picky about is if it's a project that doesn't really match my style very well, but for some reason they want me to work on it. That happens a lot, actually. I'm not really sure why, but I think they want to see if I can fit the mold. But if the mold is really just so different from what I offer, I don't really take those projects on as much.

I think one other thing is if I see red flags in the process, the pitching process. For me, that would be wanting an answer within ... I know everything is rushed, but if a client or an agency messages me and then I don't answer in an hour, they're like, "Hey, we need this right now." I'll be like, "Hmm. I feel like the process is going to be really crazy." If I don't get back to them immediately, it seems like a fire drill. Everyone's different. A lot of people are probably like, "That's totally fine and normal." But for me, that's an indication of what the process is going to be like.

Or if you get asked so many questions down to the wire, especially when it comes to licensing, I think those are red flags as well. For example, there was one project where they're like, "Yeah, you're just going to do this one thing." And then in the license it would be, "For print." Even though what we discussed was just going to be a card. It'd be like, "Print is vague. It should really just be, 'For this card, for this amount of time.'" And they're like, "Well, we want to include, 'For print,' and leave the timeline open-ended, but the price is the same." Of course that's a big red flag. So you're like, "Maybe this is not for me," because you don't want to get in a place where your card is now a promotional poster which you didn't get paid for. Little things like that. Otherwise, I try to be pretty open to the projects.

Ashley:

Yeah. Sometimes they don't fully know how to build a contract. But it is good, as you were saying, to create those parameters. Be like, "Actually, this should just be what we agreed upon, the card, not all print materials."

Loe:

Mm-hmm.

Ashley:

When you think about art direction or something that would need more of that type of work, do you go about it differently than you would just starting an illustrative project?

Loe:

Yeah, I definitely do. Most times when I do just an illustration and it's a one-off, they know my style and then they come for that specific thing. Of course, they have their own brief and concept, but they want me to do my thing, in simple terms. But sometimes whens a bigger project especially a branding project, they want to see where you will take it. That's where I think the design direction comes in. Because at least for me, I'm very familiar with making decks, especially decks that tell the style and the story of where the direction is heading. So I think that's really where it comes into play. Because then you could be like, "Okay, well, this direction is sliding scale of your style. So here is very commercial. Very, oh, more standard, more commercial, very digestible and approachable"

And then, "Here is something that's really outside of your box. It still has some nods to your brand, but this is really pushing the limit and bringing it a little closer to what my personal style is." A lot of times I like to present one safe option, one wild card, and then something in the middle. When you do those three directions, it's usually a longer deck. It's a longer presentation. It's a longer pitch. But I think for those, it's more like a walkthrough and more of ... Not like a sell, but yeah, it's kind of like your pitch of these ideas, and the rationale behind it. All that good stuff that people are really familiar with when they're trying to sell a client something. And then some of the one-off illustration projects, it's like, "Okay, they're coming to me, I'm going to do my thing, and then we're going to collaborate on that."

Ashley:

I did want to talk about your mural work a little bit because I really love it and everything that goes behind it. I wanted to talk about your Care for Chinatown project. I don't know if that's still ongoing, but if you want to talk about what started it, what inspired it, and then how that went.

Loe:

Yeah. I actually really want to get back to mural work because last year I just could not do it, because it just takes so much time. Because you have to be onsite for days at a time, which I couldn't do. I couldn't take off from work. But for the Chinatown project, that was during COVID and that's when we started working from home. My family's from Chinatown. That's where they immigrated to in the sixties. So we have a lot of roots here. And I have seen this area change within the last 30 years. My family's still here. I'm living here currently. We're just very ingrained in the culture here, in the neighborhood. But it was during COVID, I think that ... It was no mystery that there was a lot of ostracization and xenophobia here.

Here in Chinatown, as you may imagine, it is an extremely popular tourist site for New York City. It's one of those things that everyone always hits and goes to. But during COVID it was like a ghost town, which I've never seen, ever. Except maybe when I was growing up, when it wasn't that safe back then. But now it's very bustling. I think that during that time there was also a lot of ... There was a lot of violence. There was a lot of vandalism. People were coming to the area to mess with the people here, the neighborhoods here and the residents. It was just really tough and difficult for all of us, I think, because nobody is really supporting the restaurants anymore. It was a really tough time for the Chinatown neighborhood, in general. Dealing with the racism, the lack of business, all this vandalism, which we don't have money to repair for.

There is an organization that banded together, which is Welcome to Chinatown. It's actually a lot of working professionals that are younger, that came together to kind of help revitalize the neighborhood. Because one obstacle that was happening,, is that a lot of the residents that are part of the culture, like the people who own the local shops, are family run. Those families immigrated here to give their children a better life, mine included. They worked really hard And then that's really an older generation that is still there because the kids like me, we have more of an office job. That's what that generation wanted for my generation.So those generations aren't always coming back to do the family business.

A lot of those times, those restaurants or those small businesses, they don't know anything about social media. They don't know anything about marketing. That's not really a thing. A lot of people, they don't even know English. So it's really hard to market an area if you're not physically there. So what Welcome to Chinatown did is ... because they have a lot of savvy people. There's actually a lot of marketing people in that organization. They created the campaign, the website. They throw events. They do experiential stuff. All throughout Chinatown, they plan stuff. When I saw them start doing that, they also rearranged the restaurants to ship food to the hospitals, because there's a lot of hospitals around us as well.

Ashley:

Yeah.

Loe:

Because the hospitals were overworked, and then they needed the food. And then the same thing with the restaurant scene of the business. So that partnership really helped a lot of people. When I reached out to this organization, one thing that they wanted me to do is help do these art projects or these murals within the community and for businesses that wanted them. Of course it'd be donated, and then we would raise the money for the supplies. It was really great.

Sins

Loe Continued:

What I really loved is that a lot of times for these projects, they also f turned into mural workshops. It was all planned out. It would be announced where you could go. You would have to get access, of course there was one mural where we did it in the community center. All the kids there helped out. They honestly painted the mural way more than I did. I mean, they did most of the work Once you showed them what to do, they're like, "Oh, this isn't so hard." And then they were able to take it away. When I say kids, I mean kids in high school.

Ashley:

Oh, I was thinking little kids!

Loe:

I was like, "Ah, painting murals, and then they're swinging the paint brush." That'd be really cute, but I think the people at the offices would not like that ... But no, they're high school kids. They're really interested in art and they're going to go to college soon. I think that was really close to my heart \There's a big organization called CPC. They help the lower income communities here. My family was part of CPC when they were growing up. They took them off the streets. So to be able to help the kids of this generation in CPC, earn more about art and that this is a viable career path, I think that was probably the best part of the whole project. More than just making pretty murals, which is really fun. But just showing that there are ways that you can help the neighborhood and it could be done through design and art.

Ashley:

Yeah. I love that there's a community of people that are, like, "Here's how we can help," and that you were able to be a part of that.

Loe:

Yeah.

Ashley:

I was curious, to pivot a little bit, about your thoughts on AI. Especially being an illustrator, is there anything you're worried or excited about with the topic of AI?

Loe:

It's really funny because everybody's talking about this, right? All the illustrators are like, "Oh, my God, the AI is going to make us obsolete," all these things. My old boss was like, "Who says we're not obsolete already?" And I was like, "Oh, my God.." But I don't know, it's definitely interesting. I think there are a lot of ways that AI can help people. There's some people I know that it's actually helped them find, for example, gaps within their resume, gaps within their writing. They're not trying to copy it, but it's helped them learn and improve. So things like that I think is really helpful. But when it comes to I guess the AI generating of images, I do think it can help you generate new ideas if you're feeling stuck. But I think it's definitely a tricky topic. It's one of those things that's like, "I don't really know who asked for this, but here it is."

Ashley:

Yeah.

Loe:

Right? It's to make art, I think, more accessible to a population who doesn't really specialize within the industry. For me, I'm probably not the target audience for an AI art generator because this could go as a direct competition to my work. But I still think that there's definitely a missing element that only humans can create or provide. A lot of the projects that you get, of course it has to do with art, but a lot of it is also about collaboration.

We can only hope that through the proper channels people will want to work with artists themselves. When people go back to the Polaroids and the records, or things like that, even though it's a really weird comparison, you still want to work with people. You still want to work with specific artists and specific agencies and specific companies. So I don't think it'll be a dystopian robot takeover.

Ashley:

Yeah. I think we hit on earlier, people come to you for your style, but then also because of that collaboration. So I think it's, as you were saying, hand in hand. You have to be able to create the art, but then you also have to be able to work with the brand, meld the two brands together, understand your client. There's so much more that goes into that. I know a lot of people are afraid of AI, but I think I feel the same way as you do.

Loe:

Mm-hmm.

Green Day

Ashley:

I just have some questions for advice for illustrators. My first one is, what advice would you give someone trying to get into the industry as an illustrator?

Loe:

I think if you're looking to do more commercial or branding work, putting those mock-ups on the site like we talked about and showing that, oh, you can adapt your style towards these different brands, I think that helps a lot in terms of selling yourself.

In terms of just putting it out there, sometimesI feel like a lot of people put a lot of pressure on social media. Where they're like, "Oh, I'm going to post this artwork," let's say on Instagram. Then they're like, "Huh, that sucks. Nobody saw it." And then you're like, "Oh, What's even the point of doing this?" But I think spreading it across different platforms, you have Dribble, Behance, Pinterest, Instagram, TikTok, all these things.

You never know who's going to see it. Sometimes when I talk to art directors, as the vendor, they'll show me the mood boards. And then the pieces where all I did was put it on Behance or put it on my own personal website, because I was like, "Oh, no one's going to see this. It's a niche little thing that only I like." If I see it on the mood board, I'm like, "How did you find that?" So you really never know how anybody finds you. Because I think someone was like, "Yeah, I saw you on a blog post." And I was like, "Wow, that's so crazy," because that's the last place that I would think. But you really don't know. Or someone was like, "Yeah, I saw your stuff on LinkNYC," which is those charging ports on the street. I was like, "Oh, that's so funny." Sometimes, I think we put a lot of pressure on social media and it kind of discourages us to put the art out there. You never know who's going to see, so I still think putting it out there is fine. It can never hurt you.

Ashley:

Mm-hmm. I think that's great advice. Because it could just be a random passerby looking at something, and like, "Who is this artist?" That's really cool. And then I know that you ... I don't know if you're still represented by an agent, but at one point you were. Are you still represented?

Loe:

Yes, I'm still represented by the same agent, Rapp Art.

Ashley:

Can you talk about the process of getting an agent? And then any advice you would have for someone who's looking for one.

Loe:

Oh, yeah. I think this is something that a lot of my friends ask me when they want to switch to illustration. When I applied for an agent, I went on these industry sites, like ADC or Society of Illustrators or Director of Illustration to see who my favorite illustrators were represented by. That was how I saw this list, or I made this list of reps that I really wanted to apply to.

When you see someone, you're like, "Oh, I really love this artist," and they're represented by Rapp Art or Debut or something like that, you want to apply. At least for me, I had to cold apply. Of course you get mostly silence. At that point, I just started doing illustration. I always thought when I got a rep that I'd be like, "Oh, my God, my life is set. I got a rep. They're going to be throwing me work constantly. I'm totally set." When I finally got into Rapp Art/Mendola, I was ecstatic, because I really love a lot of the artists in there. I love the whole team now. They're so great. I couldn't live without them now.

But there's definitely a reality check in that, just because you have a rep, it doesn't mean that you're going to get a constant stream of work. You still have to put in the work to get work. A lot of people are like, "Oh, I just want a rep so I don't have to do this outreach pitching anymore." And I'm like, "No, You're going to be doing that still. Make no mistake, that is still happening." At least for me, I think a lot of the work I get is 50% myself and 50% the agent. There's a lot of agencies where if you get the work yourself, you may not have to pass it off to your agent. It depends on your contract.

That's part of it too. They've thrown me a bunch of really great projects. I think that's a great way of how I got started. But now, it's more like 50/50. I would say I got my first really big project from them. And then once you do a good job on that project, then I think more projects start rolling in. But instead of depending on your agent to get you work, you guys are working together in tandem to get work together.

Ashley:

Yeah. I didn't even realize, when I first got into the motion industry, that agents were a thing. So it's so cool to see that it could be a good partnership for people in the industry.

Loe:

Yeah. I think for anyone looking to be represented, I would definitely do a deep dive on the reps you're looking at. Because I love Rapp Art. And then there's other ones that have over a hundred people on the roster.One thing I hear is that if there's a lot of people on the roster sometimes you can get lost in the list and you don't get any work. The agent doesn't know you as well, you're new, so you don't always get mentioned.

If that agent who has 500 artists doesn't really remember you in that moment, and they always pitch the same, let's say 100 people, then I would say, yes, that is tough, because that's something that I've heard from other artists. But at the same time, when you have a roster that's 10 people or 20 people, it's much harder and more competitive to get in, as well. So I would do research on what you want.

Ashley:

Yeah. I think that's great advice. For someone who is struggling to find their style or niche within the industry, do you have any advice for them?

Loe:

I think my biggest advice is always just to keep drawing. You don't always have to share what you draw. I know an artist that's like, "I really like Adventure Time." And then they started drawing a lot of stuff like Adventure Time. But then eventually, as they kept drawing, they're like, "Well, I like different things. I'm a different person." So eventually they start going more in the direction of what they like.

When I started drawing, I really liked a lot of black and white ink artists. Because I didn't own an iPad or anything like that, so I was just drawing on ink and paper. I didn't learn illustration either, so that's the way that I started. I always list an artist named Maggie Enterrios. She's also known as Little Patterns on social media. I was in love with her drawings in college. I've told her this. So I was drawing just like her when I was in college, in my notebooks. But of course, if you look at my style now, it is just so different from that. I also love artists like Dave Arcade. I love movies from Studio Ghibli. I think you take all these inspirations and you eventually find what your own thing is. It's kind of annoying to say, because that's not the easy way. It's just like, keep doing it, keep doing it, and it takes so long, but it's really the only way. It's like learning how to cook. It's like, yeah, you can do a quick workshop on how to cook these things, or you could do a quick training, but to really find the nuances of it, and find what you like, and discover, "Oh, this is my way," you have to just keep doing it.

Ashley:

Mmm-hmm.

Loe:

As long as you keep drawing and finding things that you like, what make you unique, you'll eventually find your own themes, things that you like to draw, ways that are more comfortable for you. You'll find it, but you just have to actually put in the work to doing it. You know?

Ashley:

Yeah. Kind of like learning the rules before you break them.

Loe:

Yeah, exactly. That's the way I did it, anyway. I was kind of emulating a bunch of people I liked. And then eventually you become confident in what you like and your direction, and you find yourself. In a cheesy way.

Ashley:

No, I love that. I think especially with media now, seeing all of these different artists and being inspired by so many people, I think that's a great starting point. Find what you love that's out there, and then build off of that.

Well Loe, it was great to meet you and I’m really excited for you to speak at the bash later in the year!

Loe:

Yeah. It was great talking to you too. Good to meet you!

Meet the speakers: Ariel Costa

An interview with Ariel Costa AKA Blink My Brain: an Emmy award winning Creative / Animation (mixed-media) Director based in Los Angeles, CA.

Q&A hosted by Mack Garrison.

Read time: 15min

---

Mack:

Ariel! Welcome. We're thrilled to have you come to The Dash Bash!.

Ariel:

I'm honored.

Mack:

I'd love to find out where Blink My Brain started. What's the idea for it? Where did you get the idea that you can make the weirdest stuff out there and make it commercially viable?

Ariel:

But it's not for all brands. I'm aware of that, but that's okay. I passed the point that I was trying to fit in and trying to make my craft more popular. When I mean popular, I mean more accessible for clients.

I've been working with Motion Graphics for almost 15 years now. It's been a while. During this timeframe I've been trying to explore and do all kinds of animation. I dove my feet into 3D a little bit, and cel animation. But collage was always part of me because I remember when I was a kid, I usually cut out characters from my mother's magazines to make action figures.

Mack:

Oh, cool. That's cool.

Ariel:

Yeah. That was super fun. Eventually, I started to draw my own characters. I had my own studio back in Brazil. I ran my studio for four and a half years. I figured that I was becoming more of a manager, a business guy.

It's natural because if you have a studio, of course you need to count on smarter people to do the job for you because you're going to be busy doing other stuff, taking care of people. It's more about making everyone in your environment happy to produce good stuff.

It’s better now, but during the time, motion graphics was something very new for the entire world, and especially in Brazil. The agencies back there, they didn't know how to work properly and how to ask for some motion graphics work. So that made my life at the time very miserable because we already had the Motionographer and all the websites.

We used to have way more websites at the time, to get references, to be inspired. I was feeling very hungry to produce those kinds of things.

The combination of not having the opportunity from the agencies in Brazil to do that, and my managing role that I had to take at the time made me very miserable inside. So, I was not happy at all.I wanted to develop my craft. I wanted to do something cool. I was always looking for everyone's work and getting inspired. I said, okay, now I want to be doing this stuff. I want to produce. I want to create.

I decided to leave my studio. I built up a website, with a bunch of fake ads. Now I know that people call it spec works, but at the time, it was completely fake stuff. I put a bunch of well-known brands in there, like Nike and stuff. I did some side frames, just so I can show people what I was capable of doing. I just wanted to send out some portfolios.

I bought a flight ticket to Los Angeles. I just said, okay, I'm going to just toss the coin and see what happens. I sent work to a couple of studios and said, "Okay guys, I have this ticket already. I'll be in LA next week. I would love to schedule a conversation with you."

Luckily for me, at the time, professionals like motion graphics artists were in a very high demand, but there was not a lot of people doing this kind of stuff. I got a call for a couple of studios. I luckily got a job. I came here to the United States. I worked for this nice studio called Roger. From Roger, I felt like I needed to expand more of my stuff because to me, it's always about learning. It's always about connecting with people and trying to absorb the skills. It's about evolving. I don't want to be better than anyone else. I just want to be better than I was yesterday. I'm doing it for me, for myself, for my soul. I want to learn. I feel happy, I feel alive when I'm learning something new, when I'm out of my comfort zone. I decided, okay, let me just give it a shot. I'll send some of my stuff to Buck. I got a nice response from Buck. Then, I luckily was hired. I worked at Buck for two and a half years. Then again, I think I was not designed to be staff.

Mack:

Sure.

Ariel:

For some people, it works and it's fine. Whatever works for you. It's not for me because I like the freedom that I have, to do whatever I want, to have my time.

Anyways, Buck, I feel like it was the school that I never had in my whole life. I had the chance to meet such amazing people, not just talented folks, but incredible people and friends that I carry up to today.

It was an amazing experience for me. But after two and a half years, it felt like, okay, I feel like it's time for my next leap. I know that I don't want to be searching for another studio for me to work.

Blink My Brain, it started as a joke. I wanted to create the Blink My Brain as a website of references.

Blinkmybrain

I wanted to do something like that because Blink My Brain, to me, is something that you get so focused on something that you love. You were watching those references. It just got paralyzed. You were asking for someone, "Please. I felt like my brain just froze. Please, can you just blink my brain so I can come back to life?," something like that.

I always loved this name. I decide, okay, and I want to go as a freelancer, but I don't want to go as a regular freelancer. I wanted to be more like a problem solver, rather than just a tool.

I don't want to go to studios and just be the after-effects guy, pulling buttons here and there. I want to operate more as, it's a one-man studio. I always tell my clients, "I can operate according to your project. So if your project demands me to hire more people to help me out, I can scale and I can get those people. I can get a producer."

I just want to be a problem solver. I want to just offer my services as more of a creative director. Also, I can provide you all the tools you need, but without the hassle.I don't want to compromise myself, of having a studio again and becoming a manager again. I'm okay if I can become a manager for a couple projects, but I don't want that to be my main role.

Mack:

So prior to starting all of this, this endeavor, what were you doing in Brazil that got you in motion design?.

Ariel:

Man, I always knew that I wanted to do something involving creativity. I had a lot of phases in my life. There was a point I wanted to do comic books. There was another point that I wanted to do painting.

Something that I carried for a very long time, when I was trying to discover myself in a creative way, is my desire to become a live action director. I always wanted to become a live action director because I wanted to tell stories.

It’s Ariel!

There was something about the camera, the lenses, how it can capture and frame an action or something. That was very appealing to me. It was more like, deep inside of me, I always loved the design of a shot, the design of the composition, the lighting, the entire thing. I love the structure to create a very appealing image, something that was very, very, very nice. In Brazil, we don't have a lot of... of course, at the time, didn't have a lot of film schools. I ended up doing media art back in Brazil. They have these television programs where you can be behind cameras. Eventually, you can move yourself to a director to the commercials and stuff like that. That was my main plan.

They have a channel in Brazil, that’s just for colleges. So, every college has its own show in there. So, I got this internship there. The only role that they had at that time was to create the promo, the graphics and the opening for the shows and stuff like that. It was after effects, this weird software that I had to learn in, I don't know, two weeks. It was fun. It was a fun, scary moment. But once I figured out the possibilities, I completely fell in love with its abilities. In my mind was, okay, I'm able to make cinema here without needing this big crew.

Mack:

So you're running your own shop again. I know there's probably things you want to do differently. You knew what you didn't like. You wanted to lean into what you like, which I'm sure comes back to this very unique style. Did you know that when you started Blink My Brain that you were going to lean into this particular style?

Ariel:

Nope. That's the thing. I knew what I wanted, but I didn't know what I was, who I was. That was two different things. First, I knew that I wanted to become independent. Once I decided to leave Buck, I did what everyone that wanted to get work to do. You do a portfolio, make a portfolio.

I made my portfolio. I showed to a couple of friends. They told me, "Ariel, that's cool. It's an amazing portfolio, but I feel like this portfolio, it's not you. This is Buck."I look at and say, "You are absolutely right. I love the work that I did at Buck, but it's hard for me to show to other people what I can offer because this is not my portfolio." There's a bunch of other people working on the same project that I was working.

So, I decided to come up with a personal project and something that I was... it needed to be completely different of what Buck was doing at the time.

Then I brought back the collage kind of thing. It's something that, it's not shell animation, it's not so organic. I wanted to do something monochromatic. Buck, it was all about colors, all about gradients and stuff. Then I decided, okay, I want to do a piece of art. I was watching Seven, Dave Lynch. So I thought, man, that could be cool. That could be really, really interesting.I came up with this concept of... it's not more like a storytelling, but it's more like a concept. It's a representation of the seven deadly sins. So I decided, okay, let's do something different. I want to do something very provocative, very shocking and something that it's not... I want to be totally the opposite of what Buck is doing because Buck was doing something that was very, not just...How can I say? Of course, it was beautiful, but it's kind of kids friendly. I want to do something very, very opposite, very aggressive, very-

Mack:

Edgy. Different.

Ariel:

It's like a statement. I'm here and I'm not here for bullshitting. I just wanted to show attitude. I just want to show something different. So, yeah. Then I created these project scenes and I put it out there. I was really, really surprised with the reception.

Sins

Mack:

I'm assuming that it just starts to grab and garner attention. People are like, what is this? Did you land some big clients right off the bat from that?

Ariel:

Yeah, from that. Luckily for me, I brought back to life this passion for collage. I found, okay, now this is something that I really enjoy doing. I want to do something more focused into that.

The idea of creating this contrast between the vintage, like old photos, with the modern, put them in a digital, manipulate, mix it up with something else and create something, give a different life to an old photo. To me, it was very interesting. After that, I received this email from Warner Music. They saw this piece, Sins. "Man, I saw this piece and I feel like you could be a good fit to do a music video for a band," at the time, like Green Day. I saw, man, really? Oh, that's cool. So, I did a little treatment. They liked it. Then I did the music video for Green Day.

Green Day

After that, my name passed along inside Warner and went to Rhino, which is a sister company from Warner. They usually take care of the most old school bands. At the time, Led Zeppelin, they were about to release their... it's a box with the best of the best of shows.

Mack:

Oh, yeah. Like a box set. Yeah. Yeah.

Ariel:

Yeah, a box set. It's a BBC release. It was something big for the company. They wanted me to create a music video for one of the songs. That would be part of the campaign of release.

They invited me to do something for Led Zeppelin, which was awesome for me. It was surreal. Even today to me, something that I cannot believe that I had a chance to work with Led Zeppelin. I thought it was impossible because they're no longer a band. But it was a great moment because even though they're no longer a band, the brand Led Zeppelin, for me to working with them and getting feedback, from the band, it was amazing. After that, I had a chance to work with some incredible other clients, that I'm very grateful to be on this journey. Yeah.

Led Zeppelin

Mack:

So you come up with this edgy aesthetic. It lands the Green Day music, lands the Led Zeppelin endeavor. I'm sure stuff starts to roll in. Now all of a sudden you're in this. You've defined the look for yourself. You've created this edgy persona.If you look at your website right now, the first thing that you see is fuck average. That's the first thing that you see on the site. Right?

Ariel:

Yes.

Mack:

I mean, it is bold. It is in your face. I always find myself giving critiques to students who are trying to get in the space. "Put the work on your website that you want to do. If you don't want to do that work, don't put it on your website."

Ariel:

That's it. That's it, man. That's it.

Mack:

So, here I am looking at your site. It's got this aggressive but confident mentality. There is a very clear style. Now you're in it. So, I'm assuming that the clients who do reach out to you now, they get it. They don't question that aggression that comes with it because that's who you are. Is that right?

Ariel:

I did a couple of projects that were still simulating what Buck was doing and was trying to understand that. I was pushing myself. I think it was a naive and very young part of myself, trying to discover himself. I was trying to compete with people on Instagram and say, "Oh my God. Now that guy did this. I need to do something similar, but better or similar but with different colors."

I was seeing projects that other people were doing. Oh my God, I wanted to do that. Why didn't I come up with it? It was a battle that I was having with myself. It was a very poisonous kind of thing, relationship, with me and my work. I was not happy at all with that.

Once I started to stop caring... not caring, but stop trying to be someone else, I told you, okay, now I want to do what I want to do. I don't care what other people would think about my work.

I want to do what makes me happy. I'm going to stop doing this, and I want to do what... I'm going to stop mimicking other people. I'm just going to be real to myself. That's when I found, really, joy.

Of course, I still see work of other people and I think, oh my God, it's amazing. It's beautiful. But this is not something that I want to do. This is not something that I want to mimic. I love seeing other people’s work out there. Now I feel like I'm more mature. I know how to appreciate other people's work.

Mack:

Well, it's really interesting because social media can be amazing because it connects us with all these artists, all these different shops, all these studios. You get all this great inspiration. You see this amazing stuff. But it can also be toxic because all you see is amazing stuff.

Ariel:

That's it. That's it. It's light. It's light. It's beautiful. My creative process, every time that I'm trying to create a concept for a project, I'm just seeing things that, it's not related to motion graphics. I'm just seeing science books or anything that is nothing related to the work we do. That helped me a lot, to see the possibilities that I have. I'm not limited to just one thing. I can spread my stuff elsewhere. It's fun.

Mack:

You've done such a good job of creating this space for yourself and who you are, your brand. You have a very distinctive style, and you're happy with the stuff you're making. I know that as creatives, one of the things that we all navigate with and struggle with is burnout. Right?

Ariel:

Burnout is something that will happen. To me, it's just like exercising. You might love doing exercise. You might love to work out, lifting weights, lifting weights. But if you train every day, your biceps, you're going to overtrain sometime. You're going to have muscle fatigue out of that. It's the same thing with our brain. No matter if you love what you're doing, but if you are doing in a very constant way and if you're dealing with stress...Because in the end of the day, it's about the client's needs. I know I create this craft, but I tend to do sometimes projects that I'm not creatively proud of, but we have to pay the bills. It's normal. It's part of the industry.

Now that I'm almost in my forties, things that have usually upset me in the past, they don't upset me anymore because I know how to deal with that. I know how to recognize when I'm leaning towards the burnout path. I tend to avoid that. But it happens, for sure, for sure.

Mack:

I think it's just being in tune with who you are, how you're feeling and to acknowledge it. I think sometimes we put a lot of pressure on ourselves as creatives, to be creative on demand.

We’ve talked a little bit about your past, the beginnings, what you were doing in the middle years, where you are now. But what I'd love to end this conversation with, Ariel, is a little bit of the future, thinking ahead.

We're in this really weird and kind of unique space of motion design. Technology is making things easier than ever, but it's also introducing some controversial things, like AI, the generated art, the ChatGPT, what's come out. As you think about Blink My Brain in the future, are you excited about these new technologies and how you can use it in your work? Or does it make you nervous with how automated it is?

Ariel:

I have mixed feelings about all of these. At one point, I see that could be a really nice tool for you to create some sort of inspiration or to create color palettes, to create maybe some textures out of that or things like that. But it bothers me that people are putting out something that they just typed in a prompt and they just proclaim themselves as AI artists.

Everyone is free to do whatever they want. Again, I passed the point of judging people, but this could be a really dangerous path, if you think about it.

One of my friends told me that one agency in Brazil just fired 20 people, just to be doing things with AI. So, they're doing AI for commercial release now. They're using the AI creation. This is something that I'm not pro. I like the idea, of course, you can generate whatever you want and just post it, whatever you want.

But again, I feel like this should be used as a source of inspiration and not as a source of making money. I posted the other day that I lost a pitch for a guy that did AI.

Mack:

I saw that.

Ariel:

Yeah. I spent, I don't know, two weeks doing a treatment for that.

It was for a band, a band that's supposed to be all for creativity. It's an art, craft, just like we all are doing the animation. They decided to go with the AI. I saw the result the other day. It was the most generic kind of... The visuals, it's very similar to everything that you are seeing out there. They just generated the same frame five times, putting in sequence. Every scene is just a version of that shot. That felt weird to me.

Mack:

To me, it's the originality that comes along with that, using the tool for inspiration, using the tool to build off new ideas and to push the boundaries of what's possible with the accent to help with that direction.

But as soon as you look at it as a replacement... Like the agency you mentioned, that let go of the 20 staff members, a replacement, the band that looks at it through the lens of, this can be our music video, a replacement.

You get to this negative space. That's where it's this constant churning of just the same old, same old. It's not new. That's what I said. It just feels like it's being borrowed from what's out there. I don't like that.

Ariel:

It's not a tool. It's doing the work for you. You're not doing anything. You're just typing shit in the prompter. It is a tool once you use that as a source of inspiration, again, as you can create. I want to spark some ideas for new characters or for color palette. I just want to see what I can come up with. That is a tool. But once you use the results, the outcomes of these typings into your work and you post it and you say, "Okay, I'm a AI artist," that's not a tool. That's a fucked up thing.

Mack:

I think with the originality of an artist and pushing that and being more different, it even highlights the importance of more artists finding their own Blink My Brain, like you did. Because finding your style, finding something that's unique for you and pushing that forward is more important than ever, as these tools are generating more commonalities in the space.

Ariel:

I feel like to me, I'm kind of oversaturated with this AI thing. I don't even use the Midjourney. I used to use Midjourney for a source of inspiration and things like that, just to come up with some ideas for colors and stuff. But it felt so saturated because now everyone, no matter what prompt you put in there, it feels like everything's the same. So, I just stepped away from these directions. I don't think, again, it's for me. Yeah. I'm not against it, but I don't support it if you use it in the wrong way.

Mack:

Yeah. I feel the same way. It's going to be an interesting future.

Ariel, just wanted to say thank you so much for hanging out with me and we’re excited to have you at the Bash.

Ariel:

It's going to be amazing. It's going to be amazing, dude.

Takeover Tuesday with Lili Boisrond

An interview with Lili Boisrond: a mixed media artist specializing in animation and design.

Q&A with Lili Boisrond.

Read time: 5min

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Bella Alfonsi:

Thanks so much for joining us for Takeover Tuesday, Lili! For those who aren’t familiar with you or your work, please give us a lil’ intro!

Lili Boisrond:

Hi! My name is Lili, I’m a mixed media artist specializing in animation and design. I grew up in Paris and headed to NYC for university where I ended up staying for 8 years. I’m now back in Europe and rediscovering the pleasures of French cheese vocabulary!

Bella Alfonsi:

How did your career start? Did you always know that you wanted to get into the motion design industry?

Lili Boisrond:

My pursuit of motion design actually started on a miscommunication in choosing a semester class in college. Thinking I enrolled in a drawing class, I ended up in “drawing for storyboard”, which led to experimental animation and later to narrative animation. It was mesmerizing because until then I had too many passions to see a clear career road, always having to choose between visual arts, music and storytelling. The animation world and motion design showed me they can coexist in a larger, multifaceted creation. I love the idea of a “global” piece when it comes to making an animation. Goosebumps.

Shots from Architectural Digest project with IKEA

Bella Alfonsi:

The motion design industry is full of folks who have extensive schooling and some, none at all. In what ways has having a formal education in visual arts, art history, and jazz affected your career? Would you recommend higher-education to others?

Lili Boisrond:

This is a tough question for me. I very much enjoyed taking the liberal arts road for education, but I think it’s such a personal choice. I had no idea what I wanted to do and couldn’t pick between one artistic or academic area so it was an ideal mix for me. When I started working in an animation studio fresh out of college I realized I had literally no technical knowledge. No kidding, on my first day I asked a freelancer sitting next to me how to make something bigger in Photoshop...

I worked my way up with intensive ‘head banging against the wall after effects tutorial marathon nights’ and learned things quickly, but I always wondered what things could have been if I had attended a school like SVA.

Looking back now, I definitely wouldn’t change the path I took and I think there are tons of advantages to being self taught - you have to be quick on your feet and I think it makes you a creatively independent person faster. I’m also happy I get to feed my work with a broader source of education whether it be music, philosophy or literature, it makes you stand out and you can always nourish your technical abilities later on!

Bella Alfonsi:

What’s the animation scene like in Paris? Are your clients mostly French or do you find yourself working more internationally?

Lili Boisrond:

I’ve only been back in Paris for a year now, and I have to admit, the scene is not as fluid and funky as New York. For starters, the freelancing system still feels very new here and it takes way longer to establish a solid relationship of trust with studios. In the US, producers are proactive and understand that if you did a good job in another animation shop, there’s no reason you won’t do great in theirs. Well Parisian studios and agencies don’t quite work the same way… Over the course of one year I would say I worked 90% with my US contacts, and 10% were French gigs that took weeks to find and book. When you’re still on NYC rhythm, the French work system feels SLOW.

Compositing and post-fx work with Mighty Oak on their Affirm project.

Bella Alfonsi:

You’ve worked with a diverse group of impressive clients (IKEA, Lyft, New Balance, etc.)! What advice do you have for freelancers first starting out who dream of working with clients like these?

Lili Boisrond:

What worked best for me has been to constantly nourish relationships with studios. On five projects maybe only one will be creatively interesting to you, but for all the times you helped out on a project that was never-ending, all the not portfolio worthy projects, the day will come that you are their go to person of trust. And that day you will be leading the project and make the creative decisions you were only dreaming of taking!

And if you find the time, don’t underestimate the power that personal projects can have on your portfolio - studios can see how you can handle a project from head to toe and that you’re serious about your work. Make sure you sprinkle a nice explanatory case study breaking down your process on top, and voilà.

Bella Alfonsi:

You’ve worked on so many fun projects over the years. Are there any in particular that really resonate with you?

Lili Boisrond:

Yes! The last project I did this summer before starting a year of studies at Gobelins comes to mind right away. My favorite animation studio - Mighty Oak - asked me to art direct a stop motion project for L.L Bean. It’s not often as a freelancer that you get to work on a project from stage A to Z delivery day, besides personal projects. Since I never specialized technically, I’m the Swiss army knife kind of motion designer and it was just wonderful to use all my toolkit in one project… storyboarding, designing, stop motion, compositing etc. Hopefully it’s the first of many more projects like this.

New Balance - Data Driven Design project.

Bella Alfonsi:

It feels like people are freelancing more now than ever. What’s something you wish you knew before going freelance yourself?

Lili Boisrond:

I was lucky enough to have the advices of friends in the industry who were already freelancing rockstars, and I will say what they said to me - never undersell yourself, only share projects that showcase something you like doing because that’s what people will call you for, start building a strong list of animation contacts and nourish it with clever updates. In short : put yourself out there!!

Bella Alfonsi:

When you find yourself in a creative rut, how do you get out of it? What or who inspires you?

Lili Boisrond:

A few things have worked for me over the years. I’m a strong believer in talking your way out of a creative rut. Your friends and family might not be into discussing style frames or art direction, but even saying things out loud helps. The power of voicing out a problem is incredible, and the best is having a buddy to bounce ideas off of. I’ve been torturing my husband for years and it’s worked wonders!

A second way out is to stop thinking about it. You may think taking a walk or heading out to an art show will be a waste of time when you’re on a deadline, but it will most certainly make you snap out of your blockage faster than sitting at your desk pulling your hair. Who knows what you might see or hear along the way, and by giving your brain a break it will thank you creatively.

Bella Alfonsi:

What do you think the future of motion design looks like? Anything you’re excited about or things that are concerning to you?

Lili Boisrond:

I’m continuously in awe of what humans are capable of creating, the new styles that come out every year, and how we still find novel ways to tell stories to others. But with the huge acceleration in AI with tools like Dalle 2 and Midjourney, I’m concerned (yet still hopeful!) about what the future of our creative industries will look like. Will young teens still doodle on a drawing pad or dab in creative writing when the most common tool of creativity will be writing a prompt for an AI to do it? I’m hoping it will open a door to many creative minds and new ways of thinking, but it does raise a lot of questions on where we’re heading.

Bella Alfonsi:

Any final advice/takeaways?

Lili Boisrond:

No regrets! This is my #1 rule in life. I live by it, I work by it, and most importantly I eat by it.

Takeover Tuesday with Caibei Cai

An interview with Caibei Cai: designer and animator who lives in Shenzhen, China.

Q&A with Caibei Cai

Read time: 3min

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Mack Garrison:

Hi, Caibei! Let's start at the beginning: how did you start your career in animation?

Caibei Cai:

I studied animation during my undergraduate, and after I received MA Animation degree from Royal College of Art, I started working as a freelancer. I have made some advertisements, music videos and visual designs, sometimes I also curate programs for the animation weeks.

No More A-Roving Tour

Mack Garrison:

What's the animation scene like in Shenzhen? Is it a pretty big community?

Caibei Cai:

Shenzhen is a city with many Internet companies, animation is usually used for the APP or games. Normally, they would like to choose conservative artistic styles to cater to the public taste. So it is quite difficult to get a suitable project for me.

Mack Garrison:

Do you mainly work with local clients or do you collaborate internationally?

Caibei Cai:

I often collaborate with some agencies in Shanghai and Beijing. I haven’t worked with foreign agencies before, and I’m willing to try it.

Mack Garrison:

Your style is very unique! The textural and organic approach provides a really tactile feel in a digital space. How did you develop this approach?

Caibei Cai:

Thank you! Seeing can mean touching the texture of a thing as people can see roughness and smoothness. Our eyes can feel the coarse edge of the paper, the smooth silk or the sticky oil bottle. So what I trying to do is invite the audience to touch my film through their eyes. But not passively following the storyline or fully understanding the meaning of the film. For me, the film is like a body, you could feel its’ breath, skin, hair instead of dissecting it’s muscle or organ inside.

Pining

Mack Garrison:

Could you tell us a little bit about your process? How do you come up with ideas for a project?

Caibei Cai:

I am very interested in people’s emotions, especially anxiety. Half Asleep talks about a silent relationship, Pining is the unobtainable feeling and the clocks in my room stops is about the insomnia experience. In the pre-production of Half Asleep, I created a linear story, but I only kept the emotion and removed every specific plot. It is similar to the force triggers tactile, you can’t see the actual force but you could feel the physical changing. As for me, the story plot is similar to the force, which let the audience could feel the changing emotion, so I tried to hide the plot but only left the emotion in the film. Besides, Havelock Ellis mentioned that Touch is the most irrational and emotional in the five senses. So showing the tactile could also enhance the emotional expression in the film.

Half Asleep

Mack Garrison:

I noticed you've received Vimeo Staff Picks for Half Asleep, Pining, and The Clock in my Room Stops; congrats! Do you have a favorite of those three? Why or why not?

Caibei Cai:

I don’t have the favourite one, because I always looking forward to my next film, and I’ve just finished an animation short film called Silver Cave, which is about the hunt, domestication and desire.

Mack Garrison:

How long does it typically take to make this style of animation? Is coming up with the idea the hardest part of bringing your vision to life?

Caibei Cai:

Most of my animation is drawn frame by frame, drawing on paper allows me to touch every frame in the film. But it is really time-consuming. I would like to share the working process of Half Asleep. First, I drew all the movement on the paper with charcoal or soft pastel...

I projected the animation on fabric and recorded it.

Finally, I printed the frames out and re-coloured them.

And when I made the logo intro for the BlackFin Production, I drew the frame by colour pencils, and then scan the frames, finally printed it on the waterslide transparent paper.

Mack Garrison:

What's your proudest professional moment so far?

Caibei Cai:

Probably is the moment I got a tattoo of 1920 X 1080 on my arm.

Mack Garrison:

Any advice you'd like to give the next generation of animators?

Caibei Cai:

Eat well, sleep well, play well, and draw well!

Takeover Tuesday with Nol Honig

An interview with Nol Honig: director, designer and animator who lives in New York City.

Q&A with Nol Honig

Read time: 5min

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Mack Garrison:

Hey, Nol! Thanks so much for taking the time to hop on a Tuesday Takeover; I've been a big fan of yours for a while. For those who are not familiar with you or your work, could you tell us about yourself?

Nol Honig:

Hi Mack - thanks for the kind words, and for inviting me to participate in this excellent series! Really glad to be here and in the company of so many others I admire.

My name is Nol and I’m a director, designer and animator who lives in New York City. I’ve been freelancing as a motion designer since the late 1990s, which makes me OG. At this point I’d say that I’m best-known for photo-driven, mixed-media “collage” animation, as well as for teaching After Effects Kickstart at School of Motion. Hello everyone!

The Andy Warhol Diaries

Mack Garrison:

How did your career begin? Did you always know you wanted to be in the motion world or did it take a little more luck than that?.

Nol Honig:

It took a lot of luck!

My parents were both very artistic, and encouraged me to be creative from early on. So right there, that’s extremely lucky. I was really into drawing and painting and all the usual stuff, but when I was seven years old Star Wars came out and after that I became fascinated with visual effects, stop motion, photography, and optical trickery. For me, that’s pretty much where it all started. I was also pretty lucky to have an older brother who got seriously into ‘home computing’ in the early 80s, and so I grew up feeling comfortable around computers ahead of a lot of other kids of my generation.

As a teenager I really wanted to be an indie filmmaker like Jim Jarmusch, Spike Lee, or the Coen Brothers, so after making a lot of 16mm films in college I applied to NYU for an MFA like all of those guys. And I was lucky to get in. When I was there I was really drawn to editing and post production, and volunteered to cut my thesis film on the film department’s first ‘non-linear’ (aka, computer) editing system — an AVID, which the department had just gotten that semester. Spending a few months working on a film project on a computer, and having to learn new software, was a big turning point for me.

I graduated in 1996 and while working in film production, I found myself much more interested in learning the newest software from Adobe called After Effects that had come out in the last year or so. I know it sounds obvious now, but at the time After Effects was the missing piece of the puzzle that allowed me to combine my love of filmmaking, design, animation, storytelling, staying indoors, and technology together in a way that just clicked for me. Still, there was no coherent motion design community at that time, and I worked in various production and post-production roles for many years — including directing a number of music videos for indie bands like Guided By Voices and Apples In Stereo.

My entryway into full time motion freelancing also happened as a result of luck. Somehow I had talked my way into working as an editor for a company that was producing commercials for then Senator John Kerry, who was running for President at the time. And after a few days I convinced them that I should be making commercials for them in After Effects, and not AVID. I made a ton of spots for the campaign that way, and even though John Kerry lost, I became a one-man freelance graphics department for this company. Fast forward many years, and that’s how I wound up as a lead animator for President Obama’s team in 2012.

Fireside History with Michael Beschloss

Mack Garrison:

You've got a really impressive resume of clients: Golden Wolf, Elastic, Buck, Pentagram, Hornet, Block & Tackle, PepRally, Ranger & Fox, Gretel, and let's not forget winning a Martin Scorsese Post Production Award! Tell us a little about that.

Nol Honig:

Well, the Martin Scorsese Post Production Award was something I won for my thesis film at NYU — specifically for the editing. I didn’t get to meet the great man, but as part of the award I was required to write him a letter of thanks. Not much of a story there. I believe the award was $300.

But yeah, in terms of studios … I’m super lucky to have worked with so many excellent teams over the years. As a senior freelancer, I appreciate great producers so much. They work tirelessly to make everything run smoothly, and often don’t get much credit or attention. For people entering the industry, remember: Creative Directors inspire, but Producers hire. Be nice to them, be honest about your calendar and the way you estimate your time, and always make sure to credit everyone on the team if you post about your work — including the producers.

Munn, After Losing

Mack Garrison:

You're a creator and a teacher. What led you to the education side of motion design. Do you prefer one more than the other?

Nol Honig:

I wouldn’t say I prefer teaching over animating, but I will say that being a good teacher is much harder than being a good animator. At least for me. People are more complex than keyframes.

Honestly, I got into it by accident. In 2000 a friend recommended me for a job teaching a class called “Broadcast Design” at Parsons School of Design. I got hired on the spot because I knew After Effects, even though I had no prior teaching experience. But in the end I taught at Parsons for 18 years and in 2017 I won a Distinguished Teaching Award for my contributions to the school. And I’m still in touch with a number of very talented people who I first met as students and are now working in all corners of the industry.

Even better, I had the great luck to team up with School of Motion in 2017 to create their foundation class After Effects Kickstart. I am so proud of that class, and couldn’t be happier that I partnered with such great people.

Mack Garrison:

I see you also do some writing as well. How important is it for creative to be able to write in your opinion? Any tips or tricks to being a better writer?

Nol Honig:

Being a good writer is very important, in my opinion. It helps me make good first impressions over email with people who want to hire me. It helps me win pitches for new work. And it helps me promote that work.

My advice is to remember that writing and editing are separate tasks. Both are necessary, but write first and then edit second if you can help it. And don’t skip the editing part.

The Endless Scare

Mack Garrison:

Tell us a bit about "The Drawing Room." Where does the name come from and why not just go by Nol Honig?

Nol Honig:

Traditionally, a drawing room is where the owner of a house, perhaps with a guest, could ‘withdraw’ for more privacy. For me, that’s where I want to work. In that private, relaxed space, maybe with a friend.

But the reason I don’t work under my own name is just mostly for tax reasons, as boring as that sounds.

 Mack Garrison:

Looking ahead, what do you think the future of Motion Design looks like?

Nol Honig:

Laser-guided keyframes.

Mack Garrison:

Any final takeaways?

Nol Honig:

Generally — figure out what works best for you, and then work in that direction. If you want to be a better designer, find sources of visual inspiration outside of motion design. If you want to be a better animator, observe the world intentionally.

Also ... if everyone is doing X, do Y. But that’s just me.

Takeover Tuesday with Samy Halim

An interview with Samy Halim, an illustrator and graphic artist from Bordeaux, France.

Q&A with Samy Halim

Read time: 5min

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Madison Caprara:

Hi, Samy! I really appreciate you taking the time for this interview. Why don’t we kick it off with an introduction to yourself? Who are you and what is it that you do? How did you find yourself in the creative industry?

Samy Halim:

Hi, my pleasure!

I’m Samy Halim, an artist creating vibrant pop portraits and some animals, mainly on iPad and in the Procreate app. I’m based near Bordeaux in the south-west of France, born in Algeria from an Algerian father and French mother, studied at the Art school of Algiers, then we moved to France in 1994.

During my 10 months of military service I was supervising the Graphics office of the International Cooperative Technical Service of the Police in 1995-1996 where I started getting a little familiar with digital tools like Photoshop. I remember at that time there was just one layer and one undo level, so I had to be really sure of what I was doing :D. I learned Corel Suite also with a goal of replicating what I did organically in a digital format.

After my service I started working in Parisian studios and agencies. My first job was in a small studio near Bercy in Paris that had about 4 people including the CEO and two secretaries. My last job as an art director in graphic design was in an agency called Pixelis, where were approximately 80 or so. I left it in 2011 to create my own studio, specializing in illustration and packaging design and then in 2017 I won a packaging Pentaward for the design of three liqueur bottles.

I worked and currently work with different international agencies and companies like Dior, Lancôme, Hilton hotels, Harper Collins, Washington Post, Hennessy, Clément Rhum, Tanqueray gin, FFF (French Football Federation), Savage Interactive (Procreate developers), Wizards of the Coast, Ubisoft, BBDO Dublin, Landor,to name a few…

Madison Caprara:

For those who may be unfamiliar, how would you go about describing your work (look/feel, thematics, etc.)? Do you find yourself gravitating to a specific subject matter or topic?

Samy Halim:

My work is mainly about people and I like to show the beauty and personality in every single person. I like to show the diversity, equity, equality, in a colorful and vibrant style, using expressions and postures that create some connection with the onlooker. This is very important for my work. Having a hook and a unique look is key to successful artwork. I’m mostly inspired from the Art Déco era in the 20s-30s and the Memphis design of the 80s-90s, from fashion, music, and other artists like Andy Warhol, Jean-Paul Goude, Peter Sato, Tamara de Lempicka, Ichiro Tsuruta, Ludwig Holhwein, Tom Purvis, J.C. Leyendecker, Alfons Mucha, and Coles Phillip.

Madison Caprara:

I see that you underwent training at the Fine Arts School of Algiers. Tell us a bit about that experience. How integral was it to your current success?

Samy Halim:

Unfortunately, I only trained for a year with the Fine Arts School of Algiers and had to leave Algeria because of the civil war. I was in the Graphic Design program where I learned academic drawing, sketching, how to use different tools and media like acrylic paint, felt pens, pencils, and technical pens.

But the biggest part of work was in my room. I was improving my skills all day and all night by creating imaginary logos and brands, making a lot of portraits as well with different approaches like colored pencils, stippling technique, felt pens, and more. I had to try and master different tools and techniques to end up with my pop style, but the journey was very long, it took me about 20 years. I was always seeking something special. Something unique and recognizable at first sight, and I think what makes it special is the balance between flat and edgy shapes and the shadings on the skin between cold and warm colors which are inspired from sunsets to provoke a certain mood.

Madison Caprara:

Are you currently freelancing? What did your professional path look like up until this point?

Samy Halim:

Currently I’m freelancing for different companies, agencies, studios, small and international brands, and after receiving lots of encouragement from my community of followers, I started working with some companies on NFTs. This is all new to me, and I have a lot to learn, but it’s so exciting!

H-Theoria - Effrontément Liqueur by Samy Halim

Madison Caprara:

How did the way you think about your work and creative processes change as it began to gain more attention?

Samy Halim:

Very interesting question!

My perspective changed when I started putting a hook in the center of the artwork. Like the overall construction combining organic and mechanical shapes and using a good balance of cold and warm colors. Putting details in strategic places makes it more interesting; kind of like Easter eggs.

Madison Caprara:

You are currently based in Bordeaux, correct? What is the industry like in that part of the world? How does it compare to others that you have found yourself in?

Samy Halim:

Most of the designers here in Bordeaux are web and UI-UX designers. Some are illustrators for different industries like books, press, and video games. We have Ubisoft based here, but I have no connection with them. Covid doesn’t help.

I never try to do the same thing as others, instead I try to find success based on my own distinctive work.

Rapunzel - Samy Halim

 Madison Caprara:

You operate under the entity of WAAW STUDIO. What was the impetus to starting the studio? When did it go from Samy Halim to WAAW?

Samy Halim:

Before creating that name it was “Almost Famous Studio”, but it was too hard for non English speakers to spell it. So, I ended up with that palindrome name, and you guessed it, I wanted it symmetrical : ) It looks graphical and is constructed well. I wanted to make a difference between my pop-art style and my Illusive and luxurious style (Illusive Studio). But I am gathering everything under my own name. By trying to separate both styles people get lost. My friends and those who know me and my work advised me to use only my name.

Madison Caprara:

Who has been your favorite client (or project) to with? Tell us a bit about that!

Samy Halim:

There are many! My project with Dior was a sweet collaboration, Wizards of the Coast a really cool one as well, and H-Theoria liqueurs gave me carte blanche on the creative.

Dior - Samy Halim

Madison Caprara:

Your current work explores popular culture figures using an ipad pro. What led you down this path? How does this medium/method help you to realize your vision in a way that a more hands-on approach cannot?

Samy Halim:

iPad Pro helped me unleash my creativity and to explore different tools and techniques in addition to classical ones. Symmetry feature in Procreate gave me the ability to realize what I always had in mind and the drawing assistant was a great feature too. I’m creating work much faster and to be able to take my device everywhere is fantastic; I can create whenever inspiration comes. I spend 95% of my time working on IPad Pro and it’s getting harder and harder to work on a computer.

Madison Caprara:

I’m curious, how do you determine which celebrities to feature in these portraits? Purely random? Personal appreciation?

Samy Halim:

I choose my celebrities based on if I think they can be integrated into a geometrical composition harmoniously or if they represent a pop-art and hip-hop style. Some of them are for an impactful reason.

Ye - Samy Halim

Madison Caprara:

What’re some of the strategies you have implemented when looking for inspiration without getting overwhelmed by the work of other artists you admire?

Samy Halim:

No strategy. Inspiration comes more from people in the street or from pictures on social media. The artists I admire are like a background, a base, I don’t necessarily think of a particular style when I create, I think it appears in some details unintentionally.

Madison Caprara:

If you had to choose one key point of advice to share for those wanting to become a successful digital illustrator, what would it be?

Samy Halim:

If I had one piece of advice to give, without hesitation, it would be to be yourself. Don’t be overwhelmed by all the styles you admire. Do your own thing, exactly how you want it, and don’t give up for any reason. Stay the course until you end up with something that reflects your vision.

Madison Caprara:

Is there anything exciting we should be looking out for from you in the near future?

Samy Halim:

Yes, definitely! I’m getting into the NFT universe, and I’d be happy to be an actor in the metaverse, as I am mainly a digital artist. I think I have my place out there, and hopefully doing some exhibitions in the US and the UK.

Madison Caprara:

Is there anything in particular you would like to end the interview on?

Samy Halim:

Dreams have a certain price, patience, and faith and anyone who wants to reach them has to invest the time.

Takeover Tuesday with Leo Franchi

An interview with Leo Franchi, a Designer and 2D Animator based in Patagonia, Argentina.

Q&A with Leo Franchi

Read time: 5min

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Madison Caprara:

Hey, Leo! Let’s start off with an introduction to yourself! What is it that you specialize in? How did you get started in design and animation?

Leo Franchi:

First of all, thank you for having me on this series! I really enjoy reading these interviews every Tuesday!

My name is Leo Franchi and I am a Designer and 2D Animator based in Argentina. I specialize in mixed media using collage, cutouts, and textures. I studied Visual Communication Design at UNLP’s Fine Arts College, one of the most important universities here in Argentina. Possibly many animators started in a similar way, but I began animating as s a kid; giving my drawings small movements frame by frame, making my characters blink or move their hands with two or three drawings. 

The third year of my degree was a game-changer. We analyzed a ton of different film title sequences. We also had assistant professors working in the industry showing us amazing animated pieces. I have to say that I didn’t study animation in depth at university, but the processes to resolve any visual communication problem that I learned there are key for me now in producing any motion graphics pieces. There were a few of us who decided to explore this field for our thesis during the fifth year of the degree. The first half of it was dedicated to the theoretical side, and the latter to the practical. Since I always enjoyed branding, I decided to work on a piece for a TV Channel called “Canal (a)”, which specializes in arts and culture. This first animation project was a great experience in which I experimented with animated inks and textures. I remember we had to learn to use After Effects from scratch because it’s not taught at university, you had to learn it by yourself.

Madison Caprara:

For those who may be unfamiliar, how would you describe your work and signature style?

Leo Franchi:

I think my work falls between digital and analog. I like to create cutouts with scissors and other tools, then scan and animate them on my computer. I use Photoshop and After Effects in a way that emphasizes this approach, so the final result is a digital piece with an analog/tangible feel. Also, during this process, I discovered the power of the negative space and counter form. If you cut out a circle from a piece of paper you end up with two shapes, the positive, being the circle itself, and the negative. On the other hand, if you do it on the computer, you end with just the circle.

Madison Caprara:

Now, you spoke a little about your university experience. After graduating, what was your first “official” job or client?

Leo Franchi:

My first job was in a branding studio. As I said before, I really enjoy designing logos and brand systems. Although it wasn’t an animation studio, I was able to introduce the concept of movement in some projects and in all presentations with clients. I believe there is a very close connection between cutting out something from a piece of paper and designing a logo. You have to create something simple and highlight features that immediately identify an element or concept.

Madison Caprara:

When looking back over the span of your entire career, who has been your favorite client to work with?

Leo Franchi:

I think it is better to work with a good team rather than a specific client. Betting on good teamwork has opened all the doors since I started in this field. In my opinion, team spirit is the all-important element. If you're working in a certain studio and someone stays to work a little longer to finish up a project task, if you can, stay with them and share the work.

If I had to name one, I would say the rebranding of the Cooking Channel I teamed up with Elevation for. It’s one of the few projects where I could add brand concepts into the movements. When something moves from A to B, it does it with the action we make when cooking: chopping, slicing, mixing, twisting the pepper mill, etc. I’ll always be grateful to Elevation and Cooking Channel for the freedom they gave me on this project.

Cooking Channel - Refresh, 2017. Leo Franchi.

Madison Caprara:

When you are accepting these projects are there any “red flags”, or even, “green flags” you look out for?

Leo Franchi:

I have worked on all kinds of projects, from 3D animation to compositions in Nuke. On my site, however, I only show work I enjoy doing. Clients and studios usually call me for the type of projects I put out there. It’s an important filter.

That being said, for me, a green flag would be the opportunity to work on both design and animation in the same project. I love doing collaborative projects every year, this is definitely a green flag as well. Red flag: 3D animation and projects with a lot of flares and lights interspersed.

Madison Caprara:

Moving on to your creative process, is there anything particularly unique about it? How do you go about kicking off a project? What materials do you use?

Leo Franchi:

If I’m designing the project, I make cutouts with scissors and other tools then scan and animate them on my computer. I use Photoshop and After Effects in a way that emphasizes this approach, so that the final result is a digital piece with an analog/tangible feel. When I’m cutting these paper shapes with the pen tool in Photoshop, I use tons of nodes to keep those irregularities that appear on paper or cardboard when cutting with scissors.

Frames For Future - United Nations Goal 16, 2020. Leo Franchi.

 Madison Caprara:

How do you initially choose a direction?

Leo Franchi:

As I said before, it’s easy for me now because I only show on my site what I like doing. So, if a studio is working with a direction similar to my style, they usually call me directly.

Madison Caprara:

You recently participated in a fun collaborative project with Coat of Arms. Tell us a bit about the cookbook! How many people were involved? What was your role?

Leo Franchi:

COA’s cookbook was an amazing collaborative project! It’s full of contributions by artists they have worked with since founding their studio more than 10 years ago. The recipes represent different cultures, countries, and family traditions from all over the world. Each collaborator provided a recipe and an illustration, a high-quality photo, or a collage of their recipe. There were around 33 artists who contributed. I collaborated with the ‘Alfajores de Maicena’ (Cornstarch Alfajor) recipe, a classic in Argentina and a journey back to my childhood.

Alfajores de Maicena: Cornstarch Alfajor, 2021. Leo Franchi in collaboration with Coat of Arms.

Madison Caprara:

I love to see these collaborative projects that bring artists from all over the globe together!

Moving on to some of your personal pieces, your short film, Supervielle, won quite a few awards. Tell us about it! How did the initial idea come to fruition?

Leo Franchi:

I will always be thankful for taking the time to make this abstract experimentation. The truth is that I had nothing planned. It came about while I was working and listening to instrumental music. This song from an Uruguayan musician, Luciano Supervielle, played, and suddenly my mind started to imagine shapes in motion. We have all the tools to make a short film, and that opens up a whole new world for us animators. A world different from our industry…the amazing world of film festivals. 

I have to say that it wasn’t easy. For most of the festivals in which I was competing, I was considered to belong in the ‘experimental’ category. Most of the others were character-driven short films. So, for an abstract piece, it was difficult. I hope there will be more festivals dedicated to abstract animation, as when you find and participate in one, everything you have worked for makes sense.

Madison Caprara:

Where do you find yourself going for inspiration when in a creative rut? Is there a particular site, creative, or even a singular piece?

Leo Franchi:

I think I get my inspiration from the outdoors and nature. I live in Patagonia, a beautiful natural environment surrounded by mountains and lakes. Just going out for a short hike turns all of my senses on. You’re looking at things, hearing things, smelling, touching rocks, and plants. Honestly, I have had many opportunities to go and work abroad, but this environment is the reason why I still remain here; who knows what the future holds!

Supervielle, 2018. Leo Franchi.

Madison Caprara:

What are some hobbies or activities you do that aren’t physically animation but help you be a better animator?

Leo Franchi:

Hiking! I always carry a small notebook and many solutions to different problems or new ideas have emerged while I’m out hiking.

Madison Caprara:

Should’ve guessed that!

Well, we’re reaching the tail end of our conversation, Leo. Before we say our goodbyes, is there anything in particular that you would like to end this interview on?

Leo Franchi:

Thank you again for the invitation! I want to end the interview by saying something positive about the pandemic; I was able to find the time to plan and organize my online shop which will see the light of day soon. It's something I've always wanted and have never had time to set up.