You can read an interesting Interview with Justin about his history and the merger on the VideoHive blog. If you are an after effects user or motion graphics artist you may or may not know about stock after effects sites and you may or may not like them. Either way, you should take a second and just check out what they have been up to at VideoHive lately because it has grown a ton in the past few months. And in just the past week many of the Rerendered artists have joined the community and you can now find all of their work on VideoHive as well. Some of it is good, some is bad and some is just plain fun. So head on over and join the party.

During the past year I have been learning more and more about motion graphics as I have tirelessly worked to help a good friend of mine start a motion graphics studio here in Wichita, Kansas. The studio at JustinMcClure.tv has been humming with activity since it has opened its doors and we are always moving forward on as many fronts as possible. I have had some great opportunities along the way which I could have by no means been afforded in school and have been able to learn both the inner workings of programs like After Effects and a hint of Cinema 4D as well as gaining some real world knowledge about the practical applications of motion graphics. Why do I share this? Well, simply put, because I was completely unaware of the field of motion graphics as an undergrad design student. I knew that I had seen some along the way and I knew that at one point I had watched a presentation where some guys talked about creating some TV commercials, which I thought was awesome, but I had no idea about the world of motionographers, video production, animation, modeling, designing and everything in between.

The world is quite vast and I can not even know where I started to tap into it. There are many websites devoted to motion graphics, most get lumped into either displaying all of the bad ass work that is out there or providing a resource for tutorials on how to do cool things inside of programs associated with motion graphics. Then there is a world, one which I have had almost no actual exposure too, of people who work at huge motion studios doing creatively entertaining work for huge companies like Nike and Gatorade. This world seems either a little bit elitist or else just too damn busy to really broadcast the trade tips and behind the scenes looks at their process. I am not sure how much of this world that I would like to be exposed too. It seems like a tireless engine of production.

What I am trying to say is that I love being a designer. A graphic designer, a typographer, a photographer, a poster maker, a video taker and sometimes a motionographer. I pride myself on being a jack of all trades, an indispensable swiss army knife in the machinery that hides behind the front of the 'creative process'. I think that it is important that all motion graphics folks have an understanding of design principles and typography as well as a slough of other areas of knowledge. And in turn, I think it is important for graphic designers to be aware of the world of motion graphics folks. In my experience most designers know absolutely nothing of the world behind motion graphics and video related production. They're not quite sure what an animatic is, they just know that the one for Toy Story they saw in the bonus features of the DVD was kickass. When talking about RED Cameras they probably would wonder what shade of red that they were. If you asked them about After Effects they would probably just say, "Oh, I played with that in college a little". If there is anything that I have learned in the past few years it's that a designer needs to be in touch with the visual world around them, that includes everything from trees to people to typography to motion graphics. If you don't know who Psyop or Fulltank is, you're missing out. And if you don't think After Effects can be used as a layout tool, you should try it once or twice. A few lighting effects will bring whole new worlds of dimension and possibilities to your design.

All of this stumbles out of my mouth as part of my experiences over the past year, opinions about design in general and just a tip to all designers out there. Check out the world of motion graphics sometime, it's pretty fucking cool.

Places to Start:

Squeezeme.tv
Motionographer
MoGraph
Psyop
Trollback
MK12

First off, I will be re-structuring my networks of websites vastly over the rest of the summer and releasing a re-designed and updated portfolio and blog. 365 will live on in a sort of 'reference library' format so stay tuned to see what happens next.

Secondly, I am proud to announce that I have officially started working with Justin McClure of JustinMcClure.tv. Over the past year we have worked on various projects and are finally going to team up full time in kind of a co-freelancer partnership, not quite a studio, not quite two dudes in their basements. I would also like to take the opportunity to announce the release of his new website, which I was lucky enough to have helped with. Check it out here and become a fan on Facebook. A big thanks to Will Pracht for the WordPress help.

Stay tuned, much will be happening in the next few months.

Enjoy, and be Inspired!

Enjoy, and be Inspired!