Art Director & Designer
The talented crew of HoverCraft brought me on to design some motion designs to promote Nike’s new colorway release(s) of the Air Max 270s via social media.
Creative Director & Designer
These are of a series of animations to promote a consulting agency 'Local Industries'. Local specializes in aiding companies to not only market to their clients, but their employees to enhance growth. In each narrative, a group must work together to change their environment in order to progress.
Working with Local Industries was an absolute amazing experience. Thank you for thinking outside of the box and letting us do our thing. One of my favorite projects by far. Big thanks to the team. Brandon Jiaconia, Peter Berthold & David Hobizal.
Lead Illustrator & Concept Artist
Creative Director, Designer & Animator
Established in 1975, ICI is a non-profit organization that focuses on the role of the curator as a contextualizing force for contemporary art. They develop infrastructure for contemporary artists and art discourse in different contexts throughout the world. ICI connects emerging and established curators, artists, and art spaces, into collaborative networks that are relevant regionally and inscribed within an international framework.
ICI's 40th anniversary celebration needed a way to kick off the night and queue their guests to be seated. The creative minds of Can Misirlioglu & Michelle Snow tapped their resources, myself included, to create something curiously wild and whimsically austere for an audience deeply rooted in the art world. This was a collaboration of various people and I thank everyone of you for making this such an interesting piece. Also a big thank you to ICI who generously keep the openest of minds for all artistic endeavors... including this project.
Art Director & Lead Concept Artist
Dominos wanted to bring back their beloved 80's character.
The Noid was originally animated with claymation and was a bit too zany of a character to blend with a live action campaign.
I worked with the client to create some character sheets for the 3D artist to move forward on. Barney Fife & Gomer Pile were certainly an inspiration.
Illustrator & Designer
I created these designs to promote a Simpsons marathon for Thanksgiving of 2016. FXX recently obtained a whopping 600 Simpson episodes. They wanted demonstrate the magnitude of content and requested a graphical system to be implemented into the design for future promotional work.
The idea was to reduce these iconic characters to their most basic geometry and color palette while still keeping them recognizable. Within a minimal grid system these character reductions would snake in & out of portals revealing & concealing deep cut Simpson's imagery that any 'super-fan' could identify. That imagery could then be easily replaced; keeping the system evergreen and/or specific to future promo's (e.g. Valentine's, Halloween, Homer, etc.).
Creative Director & Designer
Turner Classic Movie wanted to throw down an epic anthem video for 2017. Juniper Jones has been working with the TCM brand for years and reached out to me to help orchestrate and design this anthem into fruition. The idea was to bring a modern vibe to a montage of movie classics.
This was a particularly rewarding project as we were given access to an extensive footage and photography library from some of the greatest films to date.
Art Director & Concept Artist
We wanted to bring a child’s imaginitive play to life.
Several characters were concepted and created for a talented 3D team to execute.
Creative Director, Designer & Animator
Feral & ArtJail teamed up to introduce Nike's newest cold weather training gear. Victor Cruz of the NY Giants was the first to test out Thermo-Sphere training suit.
The idea was to create a color story about temperature while boasting the garment's features. We wanted to create a 'Man vs. Nature' theme; a battle between hot and cold. Victor was shot preforming some of his training routines on a large set with orchestrated lighting to emphasize actions. He was simultaneously shot with a thermal camera to acquire practical temperature/colour readings.
In post we wanted emphasize the endless freezing void and find a device to seamlessly move in and out of the thermal world. These moments were inspired by imagery of military planes breaking the sound barrier and the aurora borealis. The infographics were designed to feel technical but sublte as possible.
Creative Director , Designer & Animator
Art Director & Lead Design
High Noon is not your typical sports debate show and wanted to make something stand out on ESPN. It's just two dudes talking it out with no fancy frills. They both had a reputation of getting off topic in the best ways. ESPN wanted to embrace their chemistry and create a show package that could handle their deep-cut and abrupt topic changes. We helped create the look and feel of the show, which screams "expect the unexpected" from the get-go. Let's just say, we had a blast making this show look cool.
Art Director & Concept Artist
These are a couple of characters I came up with when asked to draw some germs for a toilet bowl cleaner. The idea was there is an army of germs living in the inner-most rim of your toilet. Their King and his minions mock the idea of a rumored super weapon that will bring their demise.
Feel free to click on each image to give them a little color in their cheeks.
Art Director, Designer & Animator
Every year The Mill throws the wildest, most elaborate, themed party for AICP. And every year the party simply must surpass the year prior. 2014's theme transformed the entire NYC office into Studio 54 in the 70's. Director Rama Allen had hatched an idea to push the party's fun level over the edge by introducing HOTBOXX.
A single room set was constructed for partygoers to capture their most ridiculous moves on a green-screen. Once the images were captured, a randomized aftereffects file would import the sequence. After an automated keylight dropped the green, an animated .GIF would soon its way to your inbox to share or hide from friends.
In order to create awareness of the party's side project, I created this short instructional video inspired by the decade that conceived the first video game technology.
A huge 'thank you' to Alan McSeveney for making this all technologically possible.
Art Director & Designer
CONTAGIOUS - The hilarity and love of ‘It’s Always Sunny’ is spreading like a virus! Whatever you do don’t scratch it. We shoot live-action stop motion to animate DOT STICKERS taking over people’s bodies in a staccato fashion. They swarm, they multiply, and they are in constant motion. The infected are initially somber-faced but quickly elated by these communicable yellow dots. The copy will also be stickers and practically shot moving into place with the horde.
DISGUSTINGLY CUTE - Live action bunnies, duckies, and kitties, oh my! This ironic direction hosts adorable baby animals doing what they do best on camera… being cute. These visuals are such polar opposites from the show’s nature it creates a satirical contrast that demands attention. Each of the adorable creatures will be color treated consistently to the SUNNY's yellow color palette.
Creator, Designer and Animator
We are all small in the big picture.
These tiny adventures were created as video art installments on 9 large screens located in Havas' NYC office entrance. I wanted to create small stories on each screens as minimal and abstractly as possible.
Art Director & Designer
This Disney feature was looking to collaborate with The Mill to create a logo and title sequence. This musical's plot combines several of 'Grimm Fairy Tales'. I envisioned the birth of a single seed magically time-lapsed to a dense forest. My direction was entitled "Botanical Black Hole".
Peeking at the moon through the forest canopy we see a slow time lapse of botanical growth transpire. The treetops begin eerily bend to the moon.
Suddenly time ramps forward and the wind blows leaves into a vortex. While majestically breaking into orderly pieces, each tree and leaf unfurl a golden threaded core. Warping and writhing, the title is silhouetted against the moonlight, as the forest grows denser creating a living illumination.
We twist into this typographic nest as the forest growth closes the portal and the title thickens. The botanical black hole pulls in everything as we plummet into the sky.
Designer
I was hired to work with the brilliant minds of Imaginary Forces to conceptualize a title sequence for the show Manhattan. The job was awarded and despite my frames were not the favored direction, I still wanted to share them. I encourage you to see the gorgeous results that proceeded and read the interviews of those who made it happen. Click Here.
Moths to a Flame.
In the desert a displaced community is drawn to an engulfing light. Some of the people are drawn to the light while others go about their normal routines. The light slowly ramps like a time-lapsed sunrise from scenario to scenario, pulling long shadows from the people and the picket fences that labyrinth the invisible town.
Art Director & Concept Artist
Long Island Security Service 'Slomin Shield' was interested in creating two iconic characters for their newest campaign. Like most animation fans they had a love of Pixar’s style and we were happy to oblige.
Here is some of the concept art that I created for the pitch and development of these two spots. Huge 'shout out’ to all those involved on the CG team that literally brought these guys to life.
Art Director & Designer
The Legion television series is based on the Marvel Comic story of David Haller, a troubled young man who may be more than a diagnosed schizophrenic. He is a mutant of the X-MEN world and considered to be one of the most powerful mutants, however his mental instability makes it difficult to decipher delusion from reality. Little is known about the extent of his power however in David's most volatile moments we see explosive his telekinetic tantrums.
This approach is a nod to David’s inability to differentiate realities as well as his various powers unknown. In this nondescript world, we have the ability to create visual simplicity and order but we can also quickly turn to chaos...and back again.
Within a quiet nebulous void we see planetary scale geometry abstractly float, form, crumble; and form again. Though the behavior of these colossal shapes hint at the laws of physics, it is not constrained to them–time can warp forward and backward, objects can appear and disappear, and multiple gravitational pulls can coexist.
Art Director & Designer
A new Television series called Outlander follows the story of Claire Randall, a married combat nurse from 1945 who is mysteriously swept back in time to Scotland 1743. This science fiction romance had quite a bit of anticipation around its release. I was more than happy to conceptualize a title sequence for it.
This direction uses the mysterious fog of Scotland as a metaphor for the un- known. Incorporating the existing behaviors of Scotland’s highlands creates a sense of heritage, magnificence, vulnerability, and mystery.
The audio clip embedded gives a sense of the aesthetic I was going for.
Art Director & Lead Concept Artist
A heartfelt spot in which a child's toy train magically comes to life while he sleeps. The train breathes life into various other toys that collaborate to build a city in a single night. Norfolk Southern wanted to bring awareness to the American Rail Road's relevancy in present day.
Your childhood toy collection has significance. It shaped your imagination, activities, and inspirations. Every toy down to a slinky has a patent; so we had to invent our own toy chest. I wanted to create a toy collection that felt nostalgic to viewers of all ages but still felt current within the toy market. Each toy also needed to have a construction functionality and big personality to help build the small city.
Hats off to all the people that put their all into this spot. Be sure to watch the making of video that precedes the work I contributed.
Art Director, Designer & Concept Artist
The Wild Rabbit is a metaphor for a person's inner drive, ambition, & inability to settle for anything less than greatness. The campaign illustrated the stories of men and women of strength & achievement. Therefore the 'wild rabbit' needed to be a ground breaking creature to parallel their ground breaking accolades.
Despite we would only see this character in indistinguishable moments, I needed to invent the creature before it could be hidden in shadows. I wanted to combine the erratic speed of a jackrabbit with the brut perseverance of humans. After several rounds of playing frankenstein I came to this evil hybrid.
Despite this campaign surround a 'Wild Rabbit', one can only catch glimpses of the creature. I wanted to include the CG teams turnaround and run cycle so you get a better look at the interpretation from my concept art.
Art Director & Designer
"Twilite Speedball," the newest spot in the "Just the Right Amount of Wrong" campaign. Director Mike Figgis wanted to create a spot that inconspicuously exudes all things naughty, yet nice about Vegas.
My team and I experimented with unconventional color corrections, speed ramps, and quick flashes of RGB separation to hint at this duality and the unpredictability Las Vegas is know for. We all quickly decided that these experimental treatments should be quick and intentionally subtle as the footages subjects are wild enough. Attached below are some of my frames that started the conversation.
Art Director & Concept Artist
Historically, Jeff & Wayne had always been a combination of puppets and live action birds. Bringing them into CG allowed us to give them a wider range of expression and performance than had been possible in the past, which in turn really opens up the creative possibilities of the campaign.
Within this hyper-realism I wanted to create a magpie duo that stayed true to the species but had their own personalities on first glance. I started some quick sketches to see how gestural I could go before falling into a cartoonish realm. Once I felt comfortable with the anatomy I explored body size and patterns.
Always a BIG thanks to The Mill for bringing these sketches to life.
Art Director, Shoot Supervisor, Storyboards & Concept Artist
JCP wanted to sell some not very Christmassy things during the holidays... so we decided to help them out. Director Lacey was more than a delight to work with on and off set. We shot and animated all of these virtually simultaneously, having three hot sets at once. Of course every job can have its fire drills, but this project was a wonderful example of why it's best to measure twice and cut once.
Art Director, Designer & Animator
The human body is an amazing machine capable of incredible feats. GE’s MRI Technology gives us insight into the inner workings of the human form like never before as evidenced in its ‘Olympics 2012’ commercial.
Art Director & Concept Artist
Valspar's newest campaign introduced two talking chameleons. Did I mention that they are happily married and repainting their uptown apartment?
This job took on some interesting challenges as these chameleons needed to take on completely different genders while grounded in hyperrealism.
I have attached the pitch deck below for which this job was awarded. I wanted to show Valspar the full extent of which these new characters could be used across digital and print as well.
Designer
The infamous Brand New School brought me in to design a Sprint promotional spot. Despite the script hadn't been written, I knew that it was based on a new family data plan.
I had been watching a lot of 'Blue Planet' documentaries and have always been fascinated by the behavior of fish schools. I decided to create geometric reefs for my diamond fish family. Making sure that each of my compositions had space for copy, I wanted the environments to feel fun and techie at the same time.
I have removed the promotional copy as I like the narrative better without it.
The isometric direction that follows was inspired by a game I had been playing on the subway called "Monument Valley".
Concept Artist
“It may be doubted whether there are any other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world as have these lowly, organized creatures.”
-Charles Darwin on Earthworms.
An attempt to sell an unlikely character to Coca-Cola.
Designer
Some quick boards I put together for the re-release promo of Michael Jackson's 'Off the Wall' album.
This record was never was a wall for Michael, only a window. The 'Off The Wall' album was Michael Jackson's first step to become the timeless superstar that we know today. As we watch his career's highlights come together brick by brick, we rise higher to his place within the stars. The classic 'wall' imagery remains intact, however the bricks are updated to glass windows. These modern tessellations can amplify the iconic lighting of his music videos, and withhold the retro aesthetic of 1979.
Art Director & Concept Artist
A good offense is the best defense when it comes to weeds vs weedkiller. Director Andrew Proctor asked me what this army of weeds might look like based on the mission at hand.
The dandelion not only holds some magic in all our hearts but is also one of the world's most well known weeds. Officer Dandy is top of the rank. Then comes General Leo and, last but not least, Private Pile does the heavy lifting.
Designer & Illustrator
This is a series of illustrations of motion based off a circle. I scanned in some of Gustav Dore's etchings and created a photoshop brush set to make them.
Art Director, Designer, Animator & Compositor
Director Kris Merc approached a handful of designers for the new BST FRNDS music video. The goal was to create something that kicked off a psychedelic summer, and kept the high energy of the shoot.
This project was set up 'exquisite corpse' style intentionally, allowing several designers styles to mesh within a set color palette. Working individually to a rough edit, each of the team members delivered their goods. After reviewing all the seizure-educed graphics, I found homes for all of the clips within the edit, and managed to get a couple of my 8 bit designs in there too.
Designer & Matte Painter
Art Director & Illustrator
Yo-sicle is - surprise - a new Popsicle with Yogurt inside. Popsicle provided several loose scripts that surrounding a Popsicle character going about his casual routine before a cataclysmic event involving yogurt weirds it up.
Art Director & Designer
Samsung invited The Mill to pitch on the Galaxy keynote presentation. Rivaling the hype around Apple's Iphone release would prove difficult, but we had the element of surprise on our side. Previous Galaxy releases had been dark, techy, and impersonal. For this keynote we wanted the audience not only to know they were in the presence of technological superiority, but also introduce a colorful, and imaginative galaxy.
Here are some of the projection graphics and auditorium sketches I created for the keynote.
Concept Artist & Illustrator
Jolly Rancher wanted to relaunch a character driven campaign. The idea was to create a lovable character for each flavor.
I felt it necessary to create two symbiotic characters for each flavor. This way each flavor can easily have a narrative, companionship and personality that one character couldn't never project as well.
Designer & Animator.
ROARK was commissioned by SLV INC., one of the world’s premier entertainment creative powerhouses, to provide graphics for the 2014 Electric Zoo music festival.
Adrian Letechipia at ROARK invited Wes Ebelhar & myself to create animated content loops for the V.J.s to use during the multi-day event. As some of the screens reached over 200’ in width and spewed fire, I can easily say this was the largest canvas on which I’ve ever designed.
Art Director & Designer.
Oglvy & Mather wanted to bring back the original thirst quenching berserker but with an inter-dimensional twist. At some point you have to ask how the Kool-Aid man can be everywhere, immediately serving parched kids? He certainly doesn't take the bus. I lead a team of heavy hitting designers to conceptualize a flavorful origin and how it might bring the Man on the scene. These were my frames.
Director, Designer, & Animator
Here’s how it feels to pitch and deliver a spot in six days: Sears wanted to throw a sale on Dyson vacuums. They called The Mill. I envisioned a Sears-brand blue world being cleaned white through a ballet of vacuum cleaners. A set was built at The Mill’s New York office. We shot three vacuums to match my planned choreography. The footage was rotoscoped while I compiled the edit. Three animators composited the spot. We realized we needed a voiceover actor. I called a buddy. He was nice enough to do it. I slept for the next four days.
Designer & Animator
In a show of support for President Obama’s call for national service, Starbucks wanted to encourage everyone to pledge 5 hours to a cause of their choice. As part of the I’m In campaign, MC Yogi wrote and performed this song, “Grassroots Movement.”
Leading the Design and Direction Travis Spangler brought a handful of ‘Designamators’ into Life Long Friendship Society to put this animation together.
Art Director, Designer, & Animator
MTV’s Hip Hop show ‘Sucka Free’ needed a promo for their show sponsor Castrol Motor Oil.
Art Director & Designer
Various concept frames for car commercials.
Concept Artist
Blue Bunny Ice Cream asked The Mill to create a hyper realistic CG rabbit character for their new campaign. In the initial process it is important to demonstrate the advantages to creating a CG rabbit character versus shooting a practical rabbit.
The Mill's infamous Ben Smith asked me to jot down some of my thoughts on what/who this character would be and how we could get a range of personality from a realistic rabbit.
Rabbits being having fairly amorphic body types ranging all shapes and sizes allowed for a lot of freedom. The ears and whiskers make it easy for a rabbit to emote anything really. Add a cherry on top for some laughs during the meeting and you're done.
Conceptual Artist
Imaginary Forces wanted to create a sculpture of the world’s deadliest animals for a National Geographic promo. I was able to scratch down a couple of initial ideas before they worked their magic.
Art Director, Designer & Animator
WE network commissioned Mr. Wonderful to create show packaging for their number one show 'Bridezilla'. WE never anticipated a character driven intro but once the designs went out for approval they couldn't resist.
Designer & Animator
Liberty Mutual's 'Play Positive' campaign needed two spots to promote their pledge to good sportsmanship. The schedule was tight but I was able to design, animate and manage the agencies expectations in 6 days.
