Go behind the minds of today's top creative pros.: Recent Episodes
Sean O'D
Creative Trek takes you on a journey behind the minds of today's top creative professionals and artists. Uncover the secrets of creativity, and discover true strategies you need to thrive in the marketplace. Creative Trek is the show designed to help you make your mark.
If you like the show and want to join me on this journey go to www.creativetrek.com and JOIN the TREK!
We are MOVING! This is the final episode for season 1 of Creative Trek. Season 2 will be on anchor.fm/creativetrek Be sure to subscribe to the new feed, drop us a message, or even support the show!
Thomas Fluharty is an editorial and storyboard artist who's work has appeared on the covers of Time, Mad, U.S. News & World Report, the Village Voice, ....just to name a few. When he isn't under tight dealines you can find him creating a body of work purely for the enjoyment of others, focusing on what he loves; pop icons, sharks or whatever else happens to move him. When he's not knocking out masterpieces, he enjoys time with his wife, five girls and little puppy Biddy.
Talking Points: Don't Do art for Art's sake. Real Art moves us. How closed doors can be blessings in disguise. Success is awesome. But succeeding at the wrong thing is not.
Personal Quote "Creating imagery is a gift, making it great is a sweaty endeavor."
Book: Purple Cow-Seth Godin
www.thomasfluharty.com
Eli began his art at an early age and it developed from a love of comics. Although losing his muse for several years in high school and throughout his time in the Marine Corps, several years later he got bit by the art bug again and tried his hand at oil painting. A good friend noticed his love for art and suggested that he try digital painting for video games; something Eli hadn't even realized was possible. He hasn't looked back since.
Talking Points: Don't be a derivative. Do You! We are not lone Geniuses. Turn intimidation into inspiration.
Book: The Way of Chuang Tzu
elimaffei.com
Howard Lyon has worked in the video game industry as a concept artist, art director, and illustrator painting for clients such as Wizards of the Coast and Electronic Arts. He studied illustration at Brigham Young University as well as at the Grand Central Academy (now Grand Central Atelier) in New York and has traveled to Italy and France for some focused art study. He recently moved to Utah and writes a bi-monthly post for the Muddy Colors blog.
Talking Points: Your voice is: HOW and WHO you serve. The importance of slowing down and focus. Book: "My adventures as an illustrator" - Norman Rockwell
www.howardlyon.com
Today I interview Veteran Creative Director and CEO of West Studio; Tyler West. West Studio is a visual development studio committed to producing inspirational and informative artwork for the entertainment industry. We cover alot of great lessons and insights that revolve around the importance of challenging ourselves as artists in business. Yes, we tackle the taboo behind art and business. If you don't want to grow or make a living as an artist, this episode isn't for you. ; )
Talking Points: How to challenge yourself as an artist. Importance in knowing how to SELL. "Likes" don't translate to dollars. Fans do. Book: " How to Become a Rain Maker" www.weststudio.com
David Chen is the Co-Founder & CEO of Strikingly, a company who's mission is to give everyone the power to turn their creative ideas into reality and build brands around them by allowing anyone to set up gorgeous, mobile optimized website in minutes. After dropping out from the University of Chicago he and two friends co-founded Strikingly in 2012. They moved to Silicon Valley with $100 in their pocket and ate ramen noodles in a 1 bedroom apartment for 5 months they were finally accepted into Y Combinator.
Talking Point: You should trust your own creative intuition, simplify and keep in mind what's important: what is the fundamental problem you want to solve? Who will your art serve?
Book: "The Hard thing about hard things"
How do you find your voice? I address this very common and highly stressful questions many Artists ask.
Jason Brubaker has worked professionally in the entertainment industry for almost two decades with credits on Blade, Pitch Black and the Kung Fu Panda. In 2009 he started his own publishing company called Coffee Table Comics where published his first graphic novel titled reMIND and was listed in the Great Graphic Novels for Teens List in 2012. After reMIND Volume 2 raised over $107,000 on Kickstarter he left his job at Dreamworks to pursue a new series called Sithrah. He is also the author of "Unnatural Talent" a book on Printing and Selling Your Comic in the Digital Age.
http://www.remindblog.com/ sithrah.com
Sung Jin is a young director who fell in love with animation at a very young age. Fortunate enough to have a mentor that guided him from the early age of sixteen, today he is a director at Titmouse Studios where he surrounds himself with compassionate peers and inspirational projects on a daily basis.
Talking Points:
The importance of letting go and allowing others to take the reign of creativity. Collaborating with numerous sources. The value in empathizing with other's perspectives. How to hold yourself to a higher standard and not get caught up in other's expectations.
sungjinahn.tumblr.com
Designer and illustrator Tom White, is owner of 9 Surf Studios out of Asbury Park New jersey, an award-winning boutique studio specializing in branding, marketing and visual story telling. One of the original pioneers of digitally-based image design, and classically trained. Today he and his wife run their own successful gallery Exhibit No.9.
http://exhibitnumber9.com www.9surf.com
Josh Viers is a freelance concept artist based out of San Francisco with 20+ years experience in games and film. From his small studio in the Mission District he creates alternate universes for popular film franchises and darkly fantastic scenes that describe new game environments. Drawing on his experiences as a matte painter, set/prop designer, and graphic designer Josh is always pushing his Industrial Design background deeper into strange territories of concept art and digital techniques.
Talking Points The Dangers in defining yourself by your JOB. How fan art can be a powerful marketing tool. How artists need to understand their value and negotiate with it. How a little bit of fear and higher pay can lead to better work. Find Josh's work at: www.conceptbyjosh.com
Wylie Beckert is a self taught, freelance illustrator with a love of all things fantasy. Her work is a combination of digital and traditional media, with emphasis on characters and storytelling. Wylie's illustration work can be found in numerous fantasy books, magazines and publications.
Talking points: There are no short cuts to success. But the path to failure often is. Often the better we get, the more critical we become. Failure is often a step that puts you on the right path.
www.wyliebeckert.com
From the moment that Justin Gerard first learned that the crayons were meant for coloring and not for eating, he has been drawing. He began painting later in life after he found a Step-by-Step Graphics guide on Peter de Sève. Armed with this guide and inspiration from the works of the Golden Age illustrators he began creating narrative-driven images to inspire himself and others. While Justin has always derived a great deal of inspiration from nature and history, his favorite source of inspiration is story. www.gallerygerard.com
Evan Palmer is an illustrator and cartoonist living in Minneapolis, MN. By day he is a web and animation producer at PUNY Entertainment, and by night he self publishes his own comics about robots, wizards, and cooking. He has worked on titles such as Yo Gabba Gabba!, Scott Pilgrim, Vertigo's Fables and for clients such as Cartoon Network and BOOM! Studios. We discuss the importance of "doing the work" and How our best ideas often happen when we don't worry about what others will think.
Born and raised in Upstate NY, Joe Sanabria ventured out from the east coast to become a artist and illustrator in entertainment industry. After working for various game studios; The Neverhood, Rockstar Games, THQ. Obsidian Entertainment he decided to strike out on his own to work with various clients around the globe; in print, television and film. Between freelance work you can find Joe painting around Laguna Beach or working on his soon to be released graphic novel.
Talking Points:
We discuss the real meaning of "selling out".
The similarities between science and art.
Combing your passion with your art is a recipe for success.
josephsanabria.com
Eddie got his start at a very young age in the special FX industry back in 1986. He designed and created various characters for Rick Baker on films such as The Grinch, Nutty Professor, and Men in Black. One of the earliest films he worked on was Predator where he met his current business partner Steve Wang. Making the transition to digital in the late 90's, he became involved in all aspects of digital film production at the Stan Winston Studios. After working on films such as Iron Man and Avatar, in 2007 he co-founded Alliance Studio which where he has worked on Tron, Man of Steel, and The Dark Knight Rises.
http://www.eddieyang.com/
Bill Plympton is considered the King of Indie Animation, and is the first person to hand draw an entire animated feature film. His latest award-winning film CHEATIN' is a surreal animated adult tale of love, jealousy, revenge, and murder. Inspired by the work of James M. Cain (“Double Indemnity”, “The Postman Always Rings Twice”), CHEATIN' marks Bill Plympton’s seventh Academy Award nominated animated feature film.
Bill moved to New York City in 1968 and began his career creating cartoons for publications such as New York Times, National Lampoon, Playboy and Screw. In 1987, he was nominated for an Oscar® for his animated short Your Face. In 2005, Bill received another Oscar® nomination, this time for his short Guard Dog. Push Comes to Shove won the prestigious Cannes 1991 Palme d'Or; and in 2001, another short film, Eat, won the Grand Prize for Short Films in Cannes Critics' Week. After producing many shorts that appeared on MTV and Spike and Mike's, he turned his talent to feature films. Since 1991, he's made ten feature films. Seven of them, The Tune, Mondo Plympton, I Married A Strange Person, Mutant Aliens, Hair High, Idiots and Angels, and Cheatin', are all animated features. Bill Plympton has also collaborated with Madonna, Kanye West and Weird Al Yankovic in a number of music videos and book projects. In 2006, he received the Winsor McCay Lifetime Achievement Award from The Annie Awards.
www.plymptoons.com
Born in the middle of nowhere in Champagne, France Loic stayed there long enough to develop his imagination and a talent in mixed media. Currently living in LA and working as a design-supervisor for Luma Pictures he is constantly developing his own body of work in everything from illustration to film-making. Last year Loic Published his first art book, “the art of Loic Zimmermann” and his first documentary film : Gamma Wray. A film based on the former Ren and Stimpy artist William Wray.
Talking Points: We discus everything from project management to the value in personal work. How our perceived limitations often are our biggest assets.
loiczimmermann.com
Casey Robin is a visual development artist and illustrator with an affinity for fairy tales. She has a strong taste for whimsy, but is equally intrigued by melancholy and monsters. Her clients include Walt Disney Animation Studios, Nick Jr., and Zondervan Publishing. Her fine art is represented by Art Insights Animation and Film Art Gallery. Currently, she is hard at work developing her first solo book and taking occasional breaks to converse with her fat cat, Oliver.
Talking Points:
The difference between goals and passions. How your job does not define you. The value in creating our own stories. The struggles in acknowledging our own limitations.
www.caseyrobin.com
Kieran Yanner is a self-taught artist born and raised in the Australian coastal city of Darwin. He relocated to the U.S. at the age of 20 to pursue his dreams as a game and publishing artist. With hard work and many a sleepless night he has amassed a broad client base from around the world and has produced creative works for a number of leading entertainment companies. Kieran currently works as a full time freelance artist and at his studio in Seattle, Washington.
Talking Points: The dangers in over working. How to take advantage when work is slow. The power of saying NO. www.kieranyanner.com
With a background in marketing and film production. Mark Horvath creates videos showcasing the unique stories of homeless Americans. After being unemployed for over a year and losing his house to foreclosure, Mark Horvath grabbed his camera to help tell the stories of people experiencing homelessness. With a $45 start-up budget and lots of tenacity, Mark has used social media as a canvas to change how people perceive a very serious social crisis that’s often ignored.
Today we discuss the how important it is to listen to your authentic creative voice, and how your thoughts can be our biggest obstacle. How Art is a journey, and perfection is a dead end. But most of all, how to always capitalize on on your failures.
http://invisiblepeople.tv/blog/ https://www.youtube.com/user/invisiblepeopletv
Christian Allen is an experienced game designer and creative director. Prior to founding his own game studio, he worked for companies such as Ubisoft, Red Storm Entertainment, Bungie, and Warner Bros. Games. Some of his titles include the award-winning Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and Halo: Reach. We dive into the positives and negatives in creating video games. The importance in tuning out the trolls and focusing on your true fans. We also dive into crowd funding and developing a product your audience truly wants. Enjoy!
Jon Schindehette is a industry veteran, with decades of experience as a professional creative. Currently he is the creative director at ThinkGeek Solutions, and is the founder of ArtOrder (http://theartorder.com) - a blog dedicated to the education, growth and mentoring of artists of all levels and mediums. Jon is a ardent believer in mentorship, and has a amazing group of mentees that are out to change the world, He can be found at many of the industry leading events and conventions that deal with the arts, and is often a guest educator with many art programs around the country. http://www.theartorder.com/
With over twenty-five years of story and game development experience at world-class entertainment companies such as Marvel, Activision, and Lucasfilm, Evan Skolnick brings a unique perspective to narrative experiences in games. An international speaker and educator, he has conducted workshops on storytelling techniques for well over a thousand game development professionals. Skolnick’s work includes projects such as Star Wars 1313, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, The Godfather: Five Families, Over the Hedge, Spider-Man 3, Spy Muppets, and many others. He is the author of the recently released book Video Game Storytelling: What Every Developer Needs to Know About Narrative Techniques.
Dan is a freelance storyboard and concept artist out of Toronto Canada. Whether he's contributing to the corruption of today's youth with his work in games, helping the film industry lowering social mores or shamelessly consorting with the ad industry — he is doing what he loves the most; drawing cool stuff! Talking Points: Build equity in what you make. Be realistic with yourself and where you are. Book: $100 start up http://www.danmilligan.com
George Zisiadis is an interactive artist and designer who wants to make you smile. His interactive projects playfully re-imagine the everyday and inspire new ways of seeing the world. Through his San Francisco based creative studio he consults and creates interactive experiences for brands and institutions across the globe. www.georgezisiadis.com
Nathan Fowkes is a veteran entertainment industry artist with credits on 11 feature films including: The Prince of Egypt, Spirit, several projects within the Shrek Universe, How to Train Your Dragon, The Legend of Puss in Boots, Rio2 and upcoming projects from Disney. Nathan is well known as a teacher of drawing, painting, color, light and design at The Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art and online at Schoolism.com. Additionally Nathan is a design consultant for game studios including Blizzard Entertainment, Infinity Ward, Disney Interactive, Riot Games, Ubisoft and Rovio. His work can be seen at nathanfowkes.blogspot.com
For 30 years Steve Simpson has been applying his multi-disciplinary skills to creative projects for a diverse range of clients right across the globe. Steve's innovative, award winning approach to graphic design, typography and illustration is built on fresh thinking, traditional skills and dose of fun. Original from Manchester, Steve now lives on the east coast of Ireland where a good sense of humor is essential.
www.stevesimpson.com
Gavin Aung Than is a freelance cartoonist based in Melbourne, Australia. After working in the corporate graphic design industry for 8 years he quit his unfulfilling job to focus on his true passion, drawing cartoons. Gavin launched Zen Pencils at the start of 2012, a cartoon blog which adapts inspirational quotes into comic stories, and hasn’t looked back since. Zen Pencils has been featured by many top media outlets including The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, Slate and Buzzfeed, and was also named one of the top 100 websites of 2013 by PC Mag.
Armand Baltazar has worked nearly twenty years in feature Animation with DreamWorks, Disney Feature Animation, Image Movers , and Pixar. Recently he took a break from Animation to work on and complete his illustrated novel series Timeless for Harper Collins and help with the upcoming feature film based on the first book in the series. http://www.armandbaltazar.com
Karla Ortiz is a Puerto Rican artist who loves diversity in her work. She works with game and film studios including, Kabam Industrial Light & Magic,Tell Tale Games,Wizards of the Coast, Tor Books and Marvel Studios. Her fine art work can be found in Spoke Art Gallery, Nucleus Gallery, Thinkspace Art Gallery and Hashimoto Contemporary.
Andrew “Drew” Leung is a concept designer living in Los Angeles. Having worked in the past as a matte painter, and in pre-viz animatics, his experience brings a well-rounded story- and driven insight into visual development. If he isn't behind a screen at his office, he’s probably out somewhere on two wheels.
Graduating from art school in 2011, Daniel Warren had to start from scratch and unlearn the bad habits school had enforced in order to re-learn how to be an illustrator. Working closely with the online group Crimson daggers, he began a year long series of streams and challenges that eventually got his name and portfolio out into the working world. He has since worked on a number of projects and IPs including Transformers, Darklands, and Pathfinder- as well as personal projects Skull and Shark and Steve Lichman with his creative partner Dave Rapoza."
Brett generally makes things up to stay out of trouble. He owns and operates Drawn To It Studios LLC, which is an outsource house for pre-production in film, TV, games, and toys.
Gino Whitehall is a concept artist in the video game industry. At the age 4 or 5, he became obsessed with drawing. This obsession eventually lead him to Art Center College of Design, Blizzard Entertainment and now mobile gaming. When he's not working on the latest game, you can find him rocking out to heavy metal or drawing in his sketchbooks around the city.
Matt Gaser is an award winning Art Director, illustrator and Concept Artist living in Northern California. Over the past decade and beyond Matt has created thousands of fantastical characters and landscapes for some of the top games and movies in the entertainment industry. Currently he is working on a children's book series called "The Numerical Adventures of Edmund and Hunter" with Chronicle books.
David Palumbo is a Fantasy - Sci Fi illustrator and Fine Artist. His works can be found in graphic novels and various editorial publications including Dark Horse Comics, The New Yorker and Scientific American. David's illustrations have won numerous awards and his personal art has been showing in fine art galleries from New York to Paris since 2003.
www.creativetrek.com
Pete is an independent illustrator and concept artist living in the Chicago area. Primarily self taught, he has been working in the game industry for around 7 years. These days he works primarily on self-owned projects in addition to an online mentoring program aimed at helping aspiring artists establish themselves. Originally, Pete was best known for his series of angel portraits but is now most often recognized for the illustrations he’s done for Magic: The Gathering. His work can be found in a number of art annuals including years 19, 20 and 21 of Spectrum.
Noah is an Art Director at PIXAR Animation Studios. Inheriting a passion for creating art from his parents at a young age, he has always been striving to find new way to tell stories. Noah's first illustrated picture book Cloud Country, a collaboration with Bonny Becker, will be published in Fall 2014. When he isn't working on the next big blockbuster, he spends his nights crafting picture books for his two kids while they sleep.
Chris is a character designer and concept artist working in the entertainment industry. In addition he is also the author and illustrator of The Daily Zoo, a series of books containing animal-of-the-day sketches, that were done in response to his battle with cancer.
“ Talent is earned. Not given."
Anthony has worked in the game and film industry as a concept artist since 2007 with clients including Blizzard, Sony, Fox, Paramount, Disney, and many more. Recently he quit his day job to start mentoring aspiring artists. He not only teaches how to paint, but makes sure they artists are prepared for the ever changing entertainment industry. When he isn't painting stylish monsters and mentoring future artists, he is working on his own game titled "the Lab".
Talking Points
The dangers of cognitive dissonance. How giving incredible value to your fans pays off. The dangers of success.
Lorne Lanning is a game designer, director, writer and creative entrepreneur. Mostly known for co-founding Oddworld Inhabitants in 1994 he has sold over 7 million games to date. Originally trained in illustration and traditional animation, Lorne has a passion for pursuing opportunities where artistic expression, technology, and modern myth making collide.
Stephan Martiniere is an acclaimed Director, Art Director and Concept artist in the entertainment industry. Some of his recent projects include; The Guardians of the Galaxy, 300 Rise of an Empire, Tron Legacy, I Robot, Star Wars Episodes 2 & 3, just to name a few.
James is the founder and co-owner of Savage Interactive, a developer who revolutionized digital painting on the iPad with the app Procreate. James has a unique blend of creative and commercial insight he is driven by the incessant need to create meaningful art and design.
Terryl Whitlatch is an artist who specializes in animal drawing and creature design. She has worked on numerous projects including Star Wars, Dragonheart, Jumanji, Men in Black, and Brave, just to name few...She is also the author of multiple books that revolve around Mythical Creatures and their designs.
John Mueller is an award winning author, illustrator, and game developer. He is the creator of OINK, a popular graphic novel that put him on the map in the 90's will be back again in 2015. John spent 5 years working on this new edition which he describes as 'The most Epic thing he's ever done." He is a pioneer in the field of digital art and has worked with some of the biggest studios and personalities in game development. He likes making cool stuff and plans to do that until his hands and his brain are no longer responsive.
Brian Singer is a San Francisco based artist and designer. He is the creator of The 1000 Journals Project, a global art experiment that has been covered in the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Wall Street Journal, and many others. It is the subject of a book, a feature length documentary, and was exhibited at both the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. His most recent project, TWIT Spotting, attracted international attention as an unconventional approach to curbing distracted driving.
Joby Otero is a 23yr veteran of the games industry. As both a studio head and publishing executive, he has experienced nearly every aspect of development. Since 2009 he's provided creative direction and strategy for the $2Billion IP – Skylanders – the 1st product to successfully combine toys and video games.After helping complete the toy designs for Skylanders: Swap Force, he left Activision to focus on a new adventure as an independent consultant.
Matt Bell is an Art Director at Amazon Games. A natural talent in keeping teams motivated and focused, he is also one of the nicest guys I've ever had the pleasure of working with. Today Matt shares his journey in game development, and the important role a creative lead plays.