Aaron Hewitt reached out and asked if I could help build up a action shot for ESPN which just went live. Had to do a lot of work on that BG to get it where the AD wanted it. All CGI trees.
New Work in the Wild: Nike Instagram
Did a couple rush background swaps and tonings last week that went live already it seems. Weee!
Before on the left and the afters on the right of course.
New work in the wild: Pedialyte
The lovely photographer Thomas Brummett asked us to help out on a project for Pedialyte that went live today. It's called, "See the Lyte"
Car Illustrations for BPM and K&N
The fine folks at BPN asked if I could help out with some car illustrations for K&N. As someone who struggles to change his wiper blades I figured I was a perfect match! Lots of composites here and just a smidge of CGI. They let me run a little wild with some of the toning which was enjoyable.
See the full portfolio on the Danklife Behance site.
New Work in the Wild: BdRm Album artwork
Some album artwork I did was just released out into the wild. Jeremy Wilkins recorded some lovely instrumental piano tracks he released under the name bdRm. I really enjoyed the music and came up with this atmospheric piece that I felt meshed with the music well. The subtle branding was a bit daring to do as it is reaaaaaaaaallly subtle but once again, I believe that it echoes the subtle nature of the music.
You can get it on:
bdRm on iTunes. bdRm on This World is Against Me. BdRm on Bandcamp.
Work: New / Old work in the Portfolio
Bunch of stuff came out of embargo and I have been slacking on updating the portfolio so I build up a few more examples and posted them this week. Some older some newer. Made some fun gifs as well. If you have a sec go take a gander.
Work: Danklife featured on Adweek Talent Gallery.
The Nike Flyknit project we worked on with Ryan Unruh has been featured on the Adwek Talent Gallery as of today. Yay!
New Work in the Wild: Hawks Do Not Share
Jeremy Wilkins of Predator Friendly Records asked me to do up the album artwork and layout for the debute release of Hawks Do Not Share and the site went live recently. Did some fun CGI for the album artwork as well. CD's, downloads and Vinyl available this September!
New Work in the Wild: Nike Swim Elite Performance.
New Work in the Wild: Nike Swim Elite Performance. Stefan Russell asked me if I wanted to help out with the post work on the sports imagery for Nike Swim Elite Performance and I was more then glad to help. Swimsuit work requires a delicate touch and can be a lot of fun even though when done right no one has any idea what was done. A project once again where I was able to dive into my film roots and work up files to look more film like. Sports photography by the one and only Patrik Giardino who is always fun to work with. Crazy Swede…. ;)
And here is a bonus image shot by Jeffrey Dey that was in the SAF Swim Show, Miami Convention Center. The image on the far left. Always stoked to see them at this scale!
New Work in the Wild: Nike Tech Pack Lookbook
New Work in the Wilds: Nike Tech Pack Lookbook. Nike reached out asking if I would help with the B&W imagery for Tech Pack and I was happy to help out. This was fun to come up with a interesting way to do what seems like simple B&W treatments while keeping a silvery look. I had the opportunity to go back to my old darkroom days and look at some old cold tone prints and various chemical toners. I can't believe I used to keep freaking Selenium around. I do not miss smelling like fixer….
Only did the B&W imagery here not the Hero's. Super fun stuff though! Here are three screen grabs, many more are at Nike for now. Get em while it's hot!
New Work in the Wild: NIKE AND SPANISH BASKETBALL FEDERATION
New Work in the Wilds: Nike Spanish Basketball Federation Kits. Nike reached out to see if I would help out with these and I had a ton of fun working them up. Toning done by another vendor. I did…. stuff. ;)
"Today, Pau and Marc Gasol, Juan Carlos Navarro, Sergio Llull, Rudy Fernández and Victor Claver proudly presented the new Spanish Basketball HyperElite team kit in Madrid, host city to one of basketball’s most important events this September.
The new kits feature design innovation with inspirational elements specific to Spain. They are the lightest Nike Basketball uniforms ever made, with each design detail maximizing player performance."
New Work in the Wild: Nike Baseball All Star
New Project out in the wilds: NIKE BASEBALL BRINGS SPEED TO MINNESOTA FOR MLB ALL-STAR GAME. Shot by Ryan Unruh with post effects by yours truly. Funs! Unneeded Plurals!
New Work in the Wild- SolidFire
Jamie Kripke asked if I would help with a project for SolidFire's rebranded website that required a good bit of CGI and I do love me some CGI. Tricky bit was most of the server did not exist so we discussed the best way to shoot it to incorporate it into the CGI. He did a great job shooting for the end goal of the project and it all snapped together fairly easy.
AD was Randy Rogers at Grenadier.
You can see the making of in the Danklife Portfolio and on Behance.
Zepp Featured on Behance Digital Art Served
Our project that we did for Zepp was just featured on Behance's Digital Art Served. Congrats to the team!
New Work posted to Behance: Nike Flynit
Ryan Unruh asked me if i wanted to make a 3d environment based upon the fabric on these shoes and I thought it would be a ton of fun to mess with. Here are the images we made with the Finals at the end. Once again, you can see where we started and where we ended up at after all the client feedback. I think it's more interesting to see the process then just the final imagery. Really enjoyed building up the materials on the landscape and figuring out the best way to provide layered delivery and the different colorways.
New Work in the wild: Zepp
New project for Zepp on the danklife Behance portfolio and here as well. Matt Davis and Kyle Wiley from NonBox came to me with a project for box illustrations for Zepp and I thought this would be a interesting project to show how the scope of the style can change and the problem solving that goes into it. The original concept was that since the Zepp reader would track data regarding your swing we would add data / numbers flying off the trails from the swings. It changed a bit from there. Athlete photography by Jelani Memory.
New Work in the Wild: Nike NCAA
Ryan Unruh had me do the post on these shots for Nike NCAA. It was refreshing how he took it past normal catalog "Lay down" styles. See more at Sole Collector.
Where the best designers go to find photos and graphics
I’ll let you in on a little secret: beautiful websites aren’t made, they’re found. Smart designers know where to find that perfect photo, subtle pattern or that unique icon.Here’s where the best designers go to find photos, graphics, icons, and more.
Some nice links here for free images and the like. Good resource.
Creativity is rejected: Teachers and bosses don’t value out-of-the-box thinking.
It’s all a lie. This is the thing about creativity that is rarely acknowledged: Most people don’t actually like it. Studies confirm what many creative people have suspected all along: People are biased against creative thinking, despite all of their insistence otherwise.
“We think of creative people in a heroic manner, and we celebrate them, but the thing we celebrate is the after-effect,” says Barry Staw, a researcher at the University of California–Berkeley business school who specializes in creativity.
Staw says most people are risk-averse. He refers to them as satisfiers. “As much as we celebrate independence in Western cultures, there is an awful lot of pressure to conform,” he says. Satisfiers avoid stirring things up, even if it means forsaking the truth or rejecting a good idea.
New Work In The Wild: MEGATRON RISES
New Project for Nike was recently released, "Megatron Rises." Nike Football and Hasbro honor Calvin Johnson, Jr. with special edition CJ81 Trainer and TRANSFORMERS action figure. Darien Birks from Nike Football reached out and asked if I would like to work up some illustrations for this limited launch. Megatron toys? How could I possibly say no?! Had just about a week to work these up from sketches to the final illustrations for wall murals and store front displays. Used Modo for most of it and post in Photoshop. Thanks Darien!
