“The Ghost” inspired by Pierre Michel

Ok, I’m just going to lead with it: in this piece, I leaned way too heavily on my inspiration from Pierre Michel (warning: some of his work contains artistic nudity). I was actually surprised (and embarrassed) by how much it looks like his “Fire Flower,” since certain ideas I thought were original were actually straight copies from my subconscious.  Give the credit to him on this one.

Having said all that, this is the promo for the LifeChurch.tv October message series. Our main goals were to capitalize on the feel of the fall season while capturing the power and awe of the Holy Spirit, all without getting too creepy.

Initially, we wanted to go with a stark white look (which, in hindsight, would have avoided the similarity issue), but it just didn’t feel “October.” The fire’s contrast with the black looked more powerful in the print art, so I changed direction.

All in all, thanks to an incredible script by Kevin Ely and casting by Beth Johnson, I think it succeeds in its objectives. I just wish I didn’t feel like a thief.

How about you? Have you ever created something, only to discover that it wasn’t nearly as original as you’d imagined?

5 of my favorite motion design houses

While working on a freelance project, I hit a bit of a block and started to search through my delicious bookmarks, when I realized how scattered all of my sources of inspiration were. I decided a collection of some of my favorites might be a good thing to have, so here it is. Not necessarily my top five, but five of my favorites, in no order.

1. NATIONAL TELEVISION – They definitely have their own style and I love it. It’s not the typical broadcast feel, and their use of color alone is inspiring. Of course, I love the illustration-based stuff as well. Don’t missed the Honda-Drive Every Drop piece.

2. HORNET, INC. – I don’t really know much about these guys except that they’re in NYC and they do great work. I really dig the Ronald McDonald House (where they mix an array of different styles in one piece and it somehow works) and British Gas campaigns.

3. NERVO – What do you expect from a Nando Costa motion design house? It’s incredible stuff. Some of my favorites are the FOX movies and Zune packages, but check them all out.

4. BELIEF – based in Los Angeles and one of my first faves. They’ve got some great insight into client relationships and creative control. They basically refuse to do anything they don’t think is a good idea, for their clients’ sake, as well as their own.

5. THE RONIN – While not actually a design house, this guy makes the cut for his use of graphics in video. He’s obviously more of a film guy than a flashy, 412-layers-in-After-Effects kind of guy, but that’s what makes him important to include: he blends the media incredibly well. Besides, on one project, he actually built his text, real world, and shot it (watch to the end). Very classy stuff.

Stop motion candles

More proof that the real currency in art is not your production budget, but time and imagination:

This was made by Famous, an agency in Brussels.

brilliant.

I really hate stealing stuff from my friends’ blogs, but Kevin Ely posted this one, and it’s way too good to keep to myself.

If you don’t figure it out right away, keep thinking about it. It will be worth it.

(I will say, sadly, that you might have to be at least a certain age to get it)
Here’s the source (and the answer).

Yukio Miyamoto – This guy is better than you at Illustrator

The title says it all. This kind of effect would be impressive enough in a 3D rendering program, but this Jedi Ninja Master Guru does it all in Adobe Illustrator. By hand. If you’ve ever used Illustrator, then you know how absolutely insane that is. If you’ve never used it, well, you should still be crazy impressed.

Check out his PORTFOLIO

inspiration in the summer rut

Does anyone else seem to hit a creative low around this time of year?

Part of it stems, I think, from the vacation season. I’ve been gone. Most of the creative team has been gone. We haven’t all been together cranking stuff out, making up games to play in the hallway, and just generally making each other laugh much lately.

So, I thought I’d pass along a few randomly selected sources that I visit time and time again to find inspiration:

ImaginaryForces – movie title sequences & trailers, commercials, etc
NationalTelevision – some crazy-cool animation/compositing
Scott Hansen (Iso50) – designer that nails “retro”
Nando Costa/Nervo.tv – design for print and motion
Gawker Artists – a collection of artists with various styles

and then there’s always designiskinky.net and fffound

What are some sources that you use?

14 creative ads

Here’s a pretty cool list of some creative methods of advertising. Some are better than others.
14 creative advertisements

I have to admit that the Samsung ad took me a minute, and I can’t say that I care much for the one at the pool.

“MUTO” wall-painted animation

This is really unbelievable. In fact, I’m still having a hard time convincing myself it’s real.

It’s an animation done with stop motion paintings on walls in the street.
I can’t even imagine the kind of patience & determination that it took.

Forget the film, watch the titles

Just thought I’d share this little gem:
WatchTheTitles

It’s a collection of some of the most creative title sequences for major films, found at submarinechannel.com. It’s worth a look, even if you’re not a motion graphic designer.

I was particularly happy to see “The Good, The Bad & The Ugly” showcased on the main page, especially considering the technology that was available when it was made.

movie scenes in type

Okay, so the whole kinematic typography thing (motion to type, basically) is hardly new, and yes it’s been done a lot, but there are still some pretty good examples of it out there. I stumbled upon this and liked it. Here’s the final scene of Psycho set entirely to type. Nothing groundbreaking, I just liked the way the mood was captured (I do wish the masks used on the type were a little more interesting, though, they seem a little too clean).

More examples (and some that I really liked but didn’t want to post here because of content) can be found here:
Movie & TV scenes in type