Mike Winkelmann is currently a graphic designer from the US, I found this animation searching Vimeo. I like that it reflects current issues in the USA concerning the housing market. Also the influence from pixel art is very clear and the way it as been brought to like is very effective.
The music was created by a sound design company called Standing Wave
they are a sound company that specialises in creating digital based production music for a variety of applications.
I think they were chosen for this animation as the minimalistic digital music compliments the simple aesthetics of the animation.
subprime from beeple on Vimeo.
Tuesday 28 April 2009
Bart Hess
Bart Hess is a dutch artist who will be showing his exibition as part of the D'utch invertuals in the Milan Design Week 09. I find his work extreamly intreeming and I love the way the designs become part of the models rather than just a piece of art on its own.
Studio Liddel
See the Website Here
Studio Liddel are a animation company based in Manchester. I first heard of these guys through a friend who said I could have some work experience there. Unfortunately she is very ill at the moment so I going to wait till she gets better before I reminder her about it.
What attracts me to Liddel is the range of 3D work they under take. It goes from Children's TV's cartoons to hype realistic design work. Another big part of there work which I'm interested in as something I wouldn't mind doing in regards to freelance work is 3D visualisations of buildings, events, products etc.
They are also involved in various pieces of graphics work, which is usually related to the animation work they do.
Monday 27 April 2009
Big or Small jobs for all?
Big or Small jobs for all?
I have chosen to talk about this design issue as it relates very well to a company called Fresh who I have recently been in contact with.
Fresh is a design and event company based in Cheadle. They specialise in large corporate functions and events, and are in the process of opening a in house advertising agency as well as the six other existing departments Events, Design, Video, Interactive, Broadcast and Rewards.
Fresh's creative design team are a really good example of a large company who employees al large number specialist people who are particularity skilled in one area of the creative process.
For them this works very well as the creative team deal with a multitude of different requirements, that all differ from on another, therefore requiring specialist skills in lots of different areas. They employ Graphic designers, Web designers, Editors, Illustrators, 3D Designers, Art Directors, and Film-makers all with different areas of expertise within there field. This creates a highly talented and effective team of people that can deal with all manors of requirements.
Another plus point is that working around people with all sorts of skills and different jobs going on creates a buzzing environment of interest for everyone who works there.
I imagine it is not to dissimulator to the way that everyone in my class works on very different things and all have different skills, opening up ideas to you that you wouldn't of usually come across if you hadn't shared your thoughts with someone working in a completely different format to yourself.
In a company one of the downfalls of having lots of people only doing 'their thing' results in periods where there isn't any work for one person but too much for another, as he or she only has the skills to complete that given task. Fresh gets round some of this like a lot of companies, by hiring freelancers to come in for a few days. As a result this cuts down on paying people to wait around for the other person to finish there part of the job before for he or she can do theirs.
Working in a large office for a large company, with a vast variety of talent surrounding you must be very inspiring. However in the case of really big companies such as Double Negative which has in excess of 500 people working there, it is a slightly different state of affairs. They produce special effects for big budget Hollywood blockbusters. The jobs are so enormous that they to to employ teams of people specialised in one area to get through the work load. In this situation I think it maybe a little less inspiring sitting in an office where everybody does the same job, and you have to go next door to find another skill or stage of development with another 10 people in there doing that job.
In contrast to this, a small company in Altrincham called 'The Foundry Communications' (where I had some work experience a few years back) work in a completely different way. They are a Advertising Agency that does a small amount of web work. There clients include, John Smiths, Manchester United, and Scholl. Their way of working is to hire people who have a range of skills under there belt and have worked in various areas of design and web design.
The company employs around 20 people, and they all help out on everything all day. Watching the way they worked was really interesting and after a week there I began to realise why they could do these quick turnarounds and make ridiculous deadlines. It's because they were always helping each other and running round from one part of the office to another, they managed to turn the company in a fast passed machine where somebody always had something to do, or someone was always helping someone else. The environment was very close knit and the staff were more like family than colleges. However this can sometimes result in there not being the skills in house to complete a job, in this case they would hire freelancers. This is costly and in many cases can delay the progression of a job.
In regards to looking at what my preference would be between having a assigned task to do or being in a situation where you get to work on a variety of things, and think id have to opt for the later. I love a lot of different things, and enjoy working in different mediums to achieve different tasks. I'm not sure I like the idea of doing the same job day in day out, even though the brief might be different Id always feel like I have more to offer and more to learn that doing one allocated task very well.
I have chosen to talk about this design issue as it relates very well to a company called Fresh who I have recently been in contact with.
Fresh is a design and event company based in Cheadle. They specialise in large corporate functions and events, and are in the process of opening a in house advertising agency as well as the six other existing departments Events, Design, Video, Interactive, Broadcast and Rewards.
Fresh's creative design team are a really good example of a large company who employees al large number specialist people who are particularity skilled in one area of the creative process.
For them this works very well as the creative team deal with a multitude of different requirements, that all differ from on another, therefore requiring specialist skills in lots of different areas. They employ Graphic designers, Web designers, Editors, Illustrators, 3D Designers, Art Directors, and Film-makers all with different areas of expertise within there field. This creates a highly talented and effective team of people that can deal with all manors of requirements.
Another plus point is that working around people with all sorts of skills and different jobs going on creates a buzzing environment of interest for everyone who works there.
I imagine it is not to dissimulator to the way that everyone in my class works on very different things and all have different skills, opening up ideas to you that you wouldn't of usually come across if you hadn't shared your thoughts with someone working in a completely different format to yourself.
In a company one of the downfalls of having lots of people only doing 'their thing' results in periods where there isn't any work for one person but too much for another, as he or she only has the skills to complete that given task. Fresh gets round some of this like a lot of companies, by hiring freelancers to come in for a few days. As a result this cuts down on paying people to wait around for the other person to finish there part of the job before for he or she can do theirs.
Working in a large office for a large company, with a vast variety of talent surrounding you must be very inspiring. However in the case of really big companies such as Double Negative which has in excess of 500 people working there, it is a slightly different state of affairs. They produce special effects for big budget Hollywood blockbusters. The jobs are so enormous that they to to employ teams of people specialised in one area to get through the work load. In this situation I think it maybe a little less inspiring sitting in an office where everybody does the same job, and you have to go next door to find another skill or stage of development with another 10 people in there doing that job.
In contrast to this, a small company in Altrincham called 'The Foundry Communications' (where I had some work experience a few years back) work in a completely different way. They are a Advertising Agency that does a small amount of web work. There clients include, John Smiths, Manchester United, and Scholl. Their way of working is to hire people who have a range of skills under there belt and have worked in various areas of design and web design.
The company employs around 20 people, and they all help out on everything all day. Watching the way they worked was really interesting and after a week there I began to realise why they could do these quick turnarounds and make ridiculous deadlines. It's because they were always helping each other and running round from one part of the office to another, they managed to turn the company in a fast passed machine where somebody always had something to do, or someone was always helping someone else. The environment was very close knit and the staff were more like family than colleges. However this can sometimes result in there not being the skills in house to complete a job, in this case they would hire freelancers. This is costly and in many cases can delay the progression of a job.
In regards to looking at what my preference would be between having a assigned task to do or being in a situation where you get to work on a variety of things, and think id have to opt for the later. I love a lot of different things, and enjoy working in different mediums to achieve different tasks. I'm not sure I like the idea of doing the same job day in day out, even though the brief might be different Id always feel like I have more to offer and more to learn that doing one allocated task very well.
Big Yellow
Big Yellow
I was also puzzled by how they could done it and to my joy I found there was a making of it which is below.
I think it is a very interesting and exciting solution to some what mundane product/company.
I came across this on Youtube one evening. Its is an advert for Big Yellow Self Storage created by Blink Productions who are a team of directors and artist who specialise in off the wall ideas that some companies wouldn't embark on. What took me about it was the of coarse the stop-frame technique and how effective the sound effects were.
I was also puzzled by how they could done it and to my joy I found there was a making of it which is below.
I think it is a very interesting and exciting solution to some what mundane product/company.
Thursday 16 April 2009
Dvein
Dvien are a motion graphics and interactive company in Barcelona which upon my visit there in November I had the fortune to go and see.
They have a large client list and are highly regarded world wide as one of the best in there field, which is a an amazing thing considering there is only a couple of them working there.
On the visit I found the attitude was really relaxed and informal, taking into account the jobs that they do there this was surprising to me as I thought the amount of pressure on such a small company would be evident.
We were given a talk about the what they do, there company ethos and the reason they wanted to set up the company in first place.
I found this little piece of text in there 'about' section on the web site.
''We love animation, we love design, we love illustration, we love coding, photography, film making, modelling, drawing, painting, cooking, sewing, sleeping, gaming and lots more*ings*
I think this sums up the company very well as there influences come from all over yet the studio defiantly has its own 'in house' style.
We also got to see there show reel as well, which was stunning and one of the few show reels that I have seen which a piece of audio specificly designed for it. This resulted in the Show reel being a piece of work in it's self that captivates you with all these amazing visuals.
One of the things that I was surprised at was the method in which they storyboarded things and came up with ideas. We were show a first story board that contained frames that were used in the end product, resulting in the storyboards themselves being finished to a very high standard. This is in very stark contrast to the way I work or the way I have seen others work.
One of the things that caught my attention about Dvein's work was the fluid aspects. This was mentioned in the talk and we were told about how they experimented with melting plastic and wax to create there footage and effects. So when I got back I had a go my self with a heat gun and a collection of plastic bags.
Here is a couple of examples of what I came up with
Dvein's webpage can be found here
Pete Harrison
Pete Harrison is a freelance designer working in London, he creative identity is know as 'Aeiko' and has appeared in computer arts magazine a few times,s featuring tutorials. (this is where I found out about him). His clients include; Peugoet, Intel, D&G and Deviant art to name but a few.
I find his work, a source of influence and inspiration, not just visually but technically as well. The use of busy composition's and new age type, brings a look and feel that is very distinctive to his work.
His web Site can be found here
Since he made his first appearance in CM magazine, I have noticed his influence reaching poster and flyer design, promoting night clubs and DJ's
He has influenced some of my recent work, when I was asked to create some promo artwork for a Drum and Bass DJ called 'Raw Deal'
I have taken small elements of what I have seen in Pete's work and the techniques I have learnt by doing his tutorial and created this.
I find his work, a source of influence and inspiration, not just visually but technically as well. The use of busy composition's and new age type, brings a look and feel that is very distinctive to his work.
His web Site can be found here
Since he made his first appearance in CM magazine, I have noticed his influence reaching poster and flyer design, promoting night clubs and DJ's
He has influenced some of my recent work, when I was asked to create some promo artwork for a Drum and Bass DJ called 'Raw Deal'
I have taken small elements of what I have seen in Pete's work and the techniques I have learnt by doing his tutorial and created this.
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