Show Others Your Tricks in the Creative Field

This may be an area where it may depend if my advice is good or bad.  I don't want to superimpose my ideology on this subject since it isn't always the case.  When it comes to what you know, I always am of the opinion that you should show others your tricks.  I am competitive guy, but I think being competitive should be beating someone working your ass off rather than being the weird, I'm not going to show you anything since you're my enemy.  Friendly competitive creative work is always best, especially since you have a more positive attitude on this subject.

a really bad & cheesy helping hand photo

You know some Photoshop tricks?  Show them to someone you either work with or that asks for it.  Someone who could do the work a bit faster in AfterEffects if they tried using the hotkeys, show them.  In group projects, this will always be beneficial since your co-workers will know more and do the work more effectively (and likely better), which means you all benefit.  They will also appreciate you more and the working environment is much better.  If they are decent human beings, they will help and show you their tricks so you can also improve yourself.

The only situation that I can think of where it would be a bad idea to show someone your tricks is to an asshole.  Someone who has a metaphorical knife that they constantly try to stab you in the back with and will use anything against you.  In that case, the obvious answer is not to be so forthcoming in regards to showing your tricks.  Again, this is my outlook on this but there's plenty of professionals that are more reluctant to help others, and I can't put their ideals down.  That's their outlook on this subject, and this is mine.  You have to choose yourself what type of person you'd like to be in the creative world.

Podcast Beyond

This one of the 3 podcasts that I listen to as I sit in my cubicle, for those that also need something to listen to.  This one is a bit different, it's about games, specifically PlayStation hosted by Greg Miller, Colin Moriarty and a third chair.  If you have any interest in gaming or PlayStation in general, I'd listen to this when you put your headphones in.

 Beyond!

The good thing about this Podcast is obviously that it's enjoyable.  They have charisma and don't always stick to games all the times like heartless, boring robots.  It goes off the rails most of the time, which is always good.  Ok, I can't really sell this anymore to you.  If you sit in a cubicle, you use headphones and want something to listen to while being a gamer or wanting to be one, this one is a solid shout.  It comes out on Tuesdays of every week.

http://feeds.ign.com/ignfeeds/podcasts/beyond/

Apple Rant: Updated Programs, Shittier Products

Lets hope no Art Directors ever read this post if I'm ever looking for a job in Toronto, otherwise I probably won't get it.  About 50% have some weird blind loyalty when it comes to Apple.

I bought the new iMac and it has the new OS.  Shortly before that, my Macbook broke down again and had to replace its hard drive.  The people at Best Buy upgraded my OS to the newest one, which made me quite happy at first.  Then I started to use Pages.  The UI must have been made by some high school students that don't know a thing about design.  Something as basic as changing the font, you have to use "command + T" just so the font options show up instead of.. I don't know, maybe having it at the top of the fucking program like it's always been?  I'm not one of those people who instantly hates change, but why do you make changes that make a program worse?  The UI is a mess and even the add/remove options for it are clunky, which is not typical of Apple's UI in their programs that is always about being as easy and fast to get to the point as possible.

I use Quicktime Player to record my screen for my youtube speed paintings.  I realized when using this that the only options are the ones they give you, one.  One option.  60fps, with the given HD settings that won't change.  The issue at the moment is that when I edit work using the HDV files on Adobe Premiere, they go as high up as 30fps, and the original videos along with the settings don't particularly match up.  This causes me issues during my editing stages.  Shouldn't the updated programs be better than its predecessors, not worse?  I've looked online and Apple apparently dropped the ball with many features missing, which includes more than the two programs I'm ranting about.

Then you get the inverse trackpad.  You move your mouse left, it moves right.  You move it up, it moves down.  Can someone.. anyone, explain to me why Apple does not give you the option to change it back to how I use my mouse?  It's fine if they give people the options to change it up if that's effective for them, but why do I have to go and download the Reverse Scrolling app just so my mouse works properly?  This is the typical douchebag hippie thing that Apple does to show everyone how different they are. 

Now that I've trashed them enough, it's good to know that I've likely burned a bridge to one of the best places I could have possibly worked at in the future.  There is however, always the possibility that I didn't look hard enough for some of the options, because I tend to make tons of mistakes so please don't take my comments as law.  Look it up and research it yourself if you must. 

gumroad, tutorial videos from the best artists by paying a bit of cash

I really didn't know how to make a title that was both very short and gave you an exact idea of what this blog post is about... well that's not true. I just didn't want to waste more than 20 seconds thinking of one. Ok? That's the absolute truth. Now, gumroad. It's a website that people can upload a video off which involves anything from 2D, 3D illustration in areas of concept art, creating environmental art, how to make fire, characters all the way into how to work using different programs. Only thing is that you pay a bit of cash for it, in some cases some videos are even being offered for free for the absolute cheap bastards. There's plenty of videos based on the 10-12 that I have seen so far ranging mostly anywhere between 1-7$. There's another video that's 35$ that's a 9 hour tutorial. My advice would be to stop being a cheap asshole and buy at least one video that relates to an area you know you need to work on. Why am I being so insulting and rude? Honestly, partly because I don't think anyone is reading this even though that's a bad excuse. Plus a bit of harsh love is sometimes needed to spring someone to action.

https://gumroad.com/l/TZTO

A lot of talented people are getting on this and you can learn a lot from them. I have seen one and will be buying two more from the same artist today. If you are afraid of spending so much money on the big files, just spend 2-3$ on one of the cheaper ones and see if they are worth it. This could be very helpful to young creative people that may be in school or just out of it. My ideal is that you should always look up to others regardless of time or experience to see what they can teach you to further improve yourself as an artist, developer and/or designer, but that's just me. We're in this world for a very short amount of time, so we might as well learn as much as possible in the time we've got. Some notable people uploading videos in the illustration/2D, motion graphics and 3D fields are Dan Luvisi, Maciej Kuciara, Ash Thorp, and.. I really didn't do any research for this to look up more names. I would apologize but I'm not getting paid for this blog, so I'd like to do as little work as possible while simultaneously updating people on some (hopefully) important news in the creative world. Enjoy it boyos & start learning.

work by Dan Luvisi, an example of what it looks like

Bill Burr Podcast - Monday Morning Podcast

As I stated in my last post, here is my other favorite podcast to listen as you work at home or at your cubicle.  While the Collective Podcast is all about knowledge that you can obtain as you work through it all, this is all about comedy.  In case you don't know, Bill Burr is a comedian, currently my favorite to listen to.

 It comes out every Monday.  Billy boy generally talks about news or what he's done during the week.  Then around the end of the podcast, people send him questions through his e-mail in regards to advice which is hilarious.  Basically if you need your mind to be at ease, this is the perfect podcast.  I like diversity, which is why I sometimes listen to music, listen to a podcast that will give me information on the fields that I want to work on, or a podcast like Bill's where I can laugh as I work.  Sometimes, I even take out my headphones out and talk to the awesome co-workers I've got so I don't remain as a social fucking hermit.

http://www.billburr.com/podcast

The Collective Podcast

I'm sure many of you are sitting in your cubicle, listening to music as you work until your 9-5 workday is over.  Well you're in luck, because I'm going to shove my preferences down your throat so you can enjoy exactly what I enjoy.  I initially started listening only to music when I worked through projects or during 9-5 jobs.  Then I began listening to podcasts to mix it up.  I'll be uploading a few of the podcasts I listen to hoping that it will help the only person who reads this blog post through their day.

The first to start it off is the best one for people that work in creative fields.  I say creative because it can range to too many mediums and I don't feel like listing them all.  My blog, my rules. The one you need to go listen to is The Collective Podcast, hosted by Ash Thorp.

https://soundcloud.com/the-collective-podcast

Ash works in the motion graphics industry but dabbles in illustration.  I know this not based on knowing him personally, but merely by listening to his podcast and following him on facebook.  He questions many people in the concept art, design, 3D/2D, video game/movie industry, film making and even a student trying to get into concept art/illustration.  He covers a lot of bases and asks some good question.  Thankfully he isn't a stiff robot that only sticks on the subject matter the entire time to bore us all to death, instead the podcast feels organic which makes it far more interesting in its set up.  He has interviewed some of best guys in the industry, so I don't see why you wouldn't listen to his podcast.  Go to the link, start at #1 and keep moving on up.  He and the people he interviews are more experienced and far more knowledgeable than any of things you will read here, unless it's a statement that's copy & pasted by the same people that know more than me.  Now that I've trashed myself enough for the day, here is a link to some of his great work:

http://www.ashthorp.com/

Your cubicle work sessions will be a lot more informative from now on.

Game of Thrones special, how good writting of one series is ruining my enjoyment of others

I am a massive fan of Game of Thrones. I haven't read the books yet, and I'd imagine that short statement is going to send alerts to the snobby GoT book readers who want to ruin the enjoyment of this series to everyone who hasn't read the books because they're assholes. Jesus, what a way to start, insulting the only follower of my blog and making them run away. Upon finishing season 4, I went to see the new X-men movie which many people were raving on about it being so amazing and the best one yet. It's not, First Class is by far the best X-men movie (I tend to forget my opinion isn't worth as much as I think it is).

very minor spoilers of X-Men: Days of Future Past 

After finishing the movie, I had a bit of an awkward reaction. I didn't know what to feel. It ended on a really good note, and by that I mean the typical everything is dandy and happy. Now having watched Game of Thrones where bad things happen to good guys and good things happen to bad guys, it felt weird. Maybe 2-3 years ago, I would have just said allright and moved on. But this felt so Hollywood-like that I ended up being very disappointed for the ending, overall movie was a 9/10. Now maybe I am turning into the people I dislike that are wannabe critics who didn't get much attention from their divorced parents and want to be the most cynical people on the internet to get attention .. who knows.

Can dead characters just fucking stay dead?

Not to mention comics have always been known for reviving and bringing up dead characters like it's a fucking game, something that bothers me overall. You can't kill a main character, to make us all feel and thing bring him 10 issues later. Or you can always go about the way shonen manga and just kill them only to show them 3 chapters later that they're not really dead. Great job everybody, you're really giving me a sense of danger, especially knowing at the back of my mind that they will come back eventually for marketing $. Can characters just stay dead?

Game of Thrones makes me feel for characters, the sense of danger is real and not fabricated nonsense. I like that the bad guys had good qualities and that the good guys have qualities you see in bad guys usually, because none of us are perfect. We're all extremely flawed starting from me and then moving on up to much better human beings. I think great, realistic storytelling may have influenced my preference and opinion on storytelling after becoming such a big fan of Game of Thrones. Cheesy good endings have always irked me a little bit, but it's now more apparent after watching a series like GoT that's brutal in too many ways to list. I hope writers and directors take a note from GRRM and others like him to write more realistic storytelling from now on.

Unforeseen Problems in the Creative World

Unforeseen problems happen in our lives constantly, so it makes sense that they also happen for work as well. I have been using an Macbook Pro for roughly 5 years now. For as good as it has been even upgraded with RAM, it still isn't anywhere where I needed it to be for Photoshop and AfterEffects, and Cinema 4D at times as well. Last month, I received a maxed out iMac that I bought which should hopefully do well enough for the next 5-6 years before buying something better in the future. I make a youtube speed painting and release it on the first of the every month (or 2nd, 3rd, 4th and so on when I have to re-upload it because Youtube flagged one of the niche songs I used by a company that is not connected to the publisher of the song at all). When I was rendering the video of my latest speed painting, I realized on Adobe Premiere that the quality of the files was not up to par. I even took the next day off work and worked until 9PM that night to eventually get a solid quality on the Premiere file with the issue being very few minor things. This caused the video to be released a day late which was frustrating. The entire process before took roughly 70 hours and the complications afterwards took an additional and grueling 20 hours.

The reaction we have to unforeseen errors.. well my reaction...

The point here is that if you do design, web design, illustration/concept art, motion graphics or 3D, unforseen issues will come even if you do everything beforehand to ensure that no future problems will happen. My best advice based on 2 years on the professional field is to do the work early. If you are working for a client, send them a timeline in the contract that is later then when you expect to finish it. This way when you finish it as quick as you expected, then you're ok and everything is dandy. You feel like a fucking superhero and can either relax or do your own personal work during the extra time you have on the contract. However if you get some random, unforeseen issue that no one could even predict, then the normal timeline gets pushed back by a day, 2, a week, 2 or even a month depending on what type of work and/or scenario. This is where the contract comes in because this way you finish it last minute and it ends up being the same quality as intended even with the issues you couldn't predict. However, your contract says 3 weeks because that's how long you believe it takes and an extra week gets added, you either send them a shitty product and lose a potential long term client, or ask for more time. Now if you have built a realationship and they aren't in a massive hurry, this won't be a major issue. If that's not the case, lots of complications where both the work doesn't end up being good and the relationship goes down the shitter. You are in a lose-lose situation since this is work you don't even want to put in your portfolio or your website at this point.

Youtube, the place for crap customer service

Ahh youtube, yet another niche song that I pick for one of my speed paintings.. yet another time I get an infringed mark from a company that has nothing to do with the music company that published it. Well done Youtube and Google, I can only hope that one day the monkeys that are running behind that lengthy programming can end up finding a better way how to not screw over the people that originally made them money. Google really needs to find a better middle point.. or rather to find a middle point. Do better testing in regards to what company calls for an infringement, and adding a human contact after contacting the 12 customer service robots and their answers after which you never hear from them again.

It's unfortunate the amount of suits making decisions for Google that have bit by bit, transformed Youtube into a soulless website. Hopefully in a few years, there will be a competitor because at this point, I don't see a company doing a cruder job than what Google is doing with Youtube. I would imagine this post will fall more in line of either people sympathizing with this ideology or calling me a whiny, entitled prick who should waste less time on things he doesn't like than the things he does enjoy.

Speed Painting 25: The World Cup 2014

If you have been living under a rock that's living under another rock, you may have missed that the World Cup has started in June. It's located in Brazil this year, Russia in 4 years, and the slaves of Qatar are ensuring that stadiums are ready 8 years from now. Before I start going on a rant that the entire population of two people that will ever read about this post on the Qatar bid, let me just try and get past the ADHD to get to the point. I love football (or sawker as the only two countries on the planet like to call it) and decided to make a speed painting about it. I created a bunch of characters and added a bit of flavor to the story to attempt to make it interesting to watch.

This is just a note after you watch the video. I had Suarez sketched up 1 day before a certain incident happened. If you would like to know what my thought process was in regards to the speed painting, head to either my youtube video and read the description, or go to the videos section of my website. I wanted to try something different as I sometimes do and instead of copying and pasting the entire description on my blog, I would instead talk a bit about the project from a different angle.

Football is my passion. You take the work I do professionally (illustration, design), and you get 1/2 things I'm most passionate about. Hopefully that passion translates in a fun 5+ minute youtube videos for the two people that watch the video! I don't want my massive following to be disappointed.