Back in November at Artistic Image, I was tasked with creating an animated book trailer for Thinking Small by Andrea Hiott about the history of the Volkswagen Beetle. Armed with photos from the book and a script… I tried to come up with a look that was remnant of the classic VW ad campaigns by DDB, while trying to take the viewer on a journey through some the history behind the car. I enjoyed utilizing some typographic muscle to try and pull all the moments together with a cohesive look by using various weights of the Volkswagen typeface.

This project was right up my alley in so many ways… and was a lot of fun to work on! I learned so much about Volkswagen’s history in the process, and can’t wait to read the book!

Back in September, I was part of the team at Artistic Image that got to work on the player introduction for the Falcons Jumbotron. This piece plays at each game before the players leave the locker room and run onto the field. The player footage at the beginning is mocked in for placement where they shoot a live feed from the locker room/tunnel area.

Ed Dye directed the piece, while Daniel Wiggins and Daniel Barnes handled the 3d animation. Lee Kordel and Jeff Ling did the texturing, shading, and lighting. Owen Chikazawa animated the mid-section with the rotoscoped player footage, while I was responsible for compositing/effects. I learned a TON putting these elements together and helping bring this piece to life. This was an awesome piece to work on, and it is definitely exciting to know that a stadium full of people see this every game!

In this age of digital media, it is always rad to see your work in printed form. Ryan Tuerck was recently featured in the August issue of Inked Magazine wearing the American Steel Tee that I did for Drift Alliance.

Just about every time I wear this shirt, someone says “great shirt… you ever seen them live?” I always reply “yeah, many times”… even though I’m talking about Drift Alliance, and they are talking about Judas Priest!

Over the summer I have had an insatiable urge to shoot video. Since my car has been out-of-order, I have been catching rides to out-of-town drift events every chance I get. While it is seemingly easy enough for me to go and shoot an event – life ramps up it’s speed, making it seemingly impossible to edit anything. This video sat nearly complete as a rough cut, sans a few effects and grading for two months. Well… over the holiday weekend I was able to put the finishing wrench-time in and complete my first drift video in two years.

I tried a lot of new things with this video, which is really my driving force behind making them. I want to learn something with each project. This edit is no exception. I tried a lot of new things both behind the lens, and behind the keyboard. This video was a ton of fun to create… and even though it took me forever to finish it – I think it was worth it.

Completion Time:		???			Software Used:		Adobe After Effects CS5.5

When life picks up speed, the momentum can be somewhat overwhelming. In wake of that momentum, I have totally neglected my own site. Typically I hate the “Oh, sorry I haven’t been posting much, but hey… I’M BACK” entries. Yet, here I am. So much has happened in the past 8 months that I don’t even know where to begin. Over the next several posts, I would like to get things back up to speed with what has been what in my neck of the woods.

The biggest change in my realm, is undoubtedly work-related. In late November, I was contacted by a local Atlanta studio to freelance on a showreel of animated print advertisements. The studio is Artistic Image, located in the King Plow Arts Center in west Atlanta.

The studio is really awesome, and does amazing work! After working on the showreel I got to work on some really fun spots for Cartoon Network LA. I was given all of the graphic elements to animate, and the concept was that ordinary back-to-school items would transform into giant aliens and battle it out. Really really fun spots to work on!

Then in January, the crew at Artistic Image asked me on full-time for a 6-month contract to work as a part of the team to revamp the historical Stone Mountain Lasershow.

The project would entail video-mapping technology to create the illusion that the mountain comes to life… giving the show an added element of dimension that the traditional lasers could not provide. It was an incredible project to work on, and took an immense amount of work to complete. Everyone on the team at Artistic Image did an amazing job. I had a chance to see the show’s opening July 4th weekend, and judging by the crowd’s reaction – this renovation was a HUGE success! I feel very honored that I was able to work on a project of this magnitude, and one that has such a historical significance to the state of Georgia.

This spot on 11alive.com gives a little more insight to what we did.

June marked the end of my contract, at which time, I was offered a full-time position as an animator. I graciously accepted the position, for I have been wanting to transition away from designing for web/print for well over 5 years. I was finally able to make the jump to motion design full-time, and I am incredibly happy about it. Everyone on the team at Artistic Image is super-talented, and most of all – really great to work with! I’m really excited that they gave me the opportunity to come on board and be part of the team!

Anyone remotely close to me knows that since childhood… E.T. leads the ranks as my all-time favorite movie. For Christmas this year, Lieze contacted Canadian artist, Caitlin Gallupe, and commissioned her to paint the best portrait EVER.

Lieze HATES this photo I snapped right before I shaved the crazy beard. She hated the crazy beard in general… and thought it would make for a funny portrait to have E.T. and I together, similar to the bathroom scene in the movie where Elliott and E.T. are looking in the mirror… only E.T. accidentally sets my beard on fire with his lit-up finger.

TOTALLY awesome. Who else has their portrait with E.T.? Michael Jackson… and now me. This gift was super-thoughtful and awfully sweet, considering how much I love the film. I can’t thank Lieze and Caitlin enough for this amazing portrait.

Be sure to check out Caitlin’s website to see more of her work… or even commission a painting of your own!

For Christmas this year I decided to make wood signs for the family lake house. The roads to get to the house are narrow enough to fit one car, and you have to make several turns down these roads to eventually get to the house. I think this is probably standard lake protocol… so that is essentially what I set out to do.

It had been a while since I had done anything artistic that didn’t involve a computer… and while a computer was used in the process… for the most part – it was pretty hands on, leaving me smelling like burnt wood and sawdust. These aren’t completely done… but I’m at a good stopping point so I thought I would share.

First thing… I set the type and set up some separations to cut some vinyl.

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I was unaware of the video game called Trackmania, but I happened to stumble upon an awesome replica of my car made for the game! Looks like the ‘Forza Painter’s Pack’ I made got put to use!

Special thanks to user ‘nickrod808′ for taking the time to make the replica! It looks awesome!