Personal

Yes, it’s been two months since my last blog. Although there has been plenty of work going on, there’s much that’s still in process and accordingly I’m not able to blog about those project, fun as they are. I did get to do some quick illustrations (one afternoon) for a tag associated with some t-shirts Omniture distributed at a BYU game. The plan was, of course, to get everyone to put them on with the reward of prizes, so for the tags the thought was aiming for the kind of drawings typically seen in airplane safety instructions. Originally I went with the parted plastic hair I usually associate with schematics from a few decades ago, but apparently that was a bit too nerdy.

At the beginning of the month, I was in the Victoria and visited the Royal British Columbia Musuem and particularly enjoyed the First Nations Gallery. Strong graphic quality to a lot of the masks, carvings, and drawings that I’d like to look into more. I like the sparing use of color and the play of organic shapes. Some items struck me as reminiscent of Mayan designs. There were also a couple interesting galleries in Seattle with current artists’ designs that I’m glad I saw. Last May when visiting the Met, I was glad to have made a point of spending more time in the African, American, and Pacific art sections.

Today I received a few emails notifying me of the approaching release of Adobe Creative Suite 4. Seems like all to recently I upgraded to 3. I have to wonder if new releases come around too often forcing everyone to upgrade to maintain compatibility with each other just for a version with a slightly new UI and minor buttons. There’s even been a couple times when some functions are more complicated in newer versions. Not that I’m making any particular total conclusion here, new stuff is always nice, but I have to ask if a minor upgrade every two years is more waste and hassle than progress.

I’ve been checking out the Communication Arts Illustration Annual and discussing it friends and associates. As I was relating to a friend this evening, I’m particularly noticing techniques involving stylized realism. My buddy Brad was pointing out Jim Salvati as a point between impressionism and photorealism that he likes, and I agreed by noting the work of Greg Manchess. Although I have always enjoyed Tim O’Brien whose work I’d say is fairly photorealistic. In contrast to those, there’s more distorted styles in the narrative vein such as Jack Unruh and Jody Hewgill that I’ll notice in so many issues. There’s always so much to take in and I’ll likely notice new things for different reasons on another read.

This issue struck me as having more weight on narratives and broadly realistic approaches than I’ve seen in issues in recent years. I could be wrong, but there appeared to be a bit of a broader spectrum rather than a heavy focus on highly political editorials and plethora of naive styles that I often see in design periodicals. Sometimes it seems that there’s a bit too much focus on anger and politics, and while those themes need to be communicated, they aren’t the only things to convey.

I was also discussing with Brad some of the artists I was looking at in New York this last month. The J.C. Leyendecker show at the Society of Illustrators was definitely worth the time. There were a couple pieces there that called to mind some sketches of Dean Cornwell. Thinking of the way I sketch the figure, I’m probably drawn to the the deco-style adaptations. I like the way that Leyendecker streamlines organic shapes and how, even with paint, there’s a certain kind of cross-hatching.

Fortunately, the past couple months have been fairly busy. From early August, I’ve had a continual stream of freelance work and other opportunities to investigate. Curtis Packer at Venafi has been a very good client to work with, (icon samples above), and I’m looking forward to working more with him in future.

I also received a call from Becton Loveless at NutraSanus, who I’ve done freelance for off and on over the past couple years, and there’s the possibility of some continuing projects there.

Another referral out of the blue came from Chip Haskell at Crowell Advertising. I anticipate some good business relationships there. They have some really great offices at the Gateway in Salt Lake. Chip also said he enjoys maps and astronomy– that’s a bonus. Always nice if you can work with someone with similar interests.

Brad Pamer also contacted me about potentially collaborating on projects that he has, some of which are former clients of the now defunct Indigo Creative. We even talked about the possibility (however fanciful) of a virtual studio (called Indigo Orange, of course) of our former collaborators at Indigo Creative. I was surprised that our website is still up, but, as Brad explained, he owns the URL and pays for the hosting– the owner of Excel and Indigo never reimbursed him for those expenses. I also saw Michael Hancock the other night and am pleased that he’s doing well. We talked about freelance work versus full-time work. He says he’s in a good place right now with the freelance. I have to admit, it’s nice when you have enough work to sustain you and can have your schedule to yourself.

Unfortunately, with many things occupying my time, I didn’t complete a piece to submit for the Society of Illustrators annual. I’m hoping that my dad, Richard Hull, enters some of his pieces that he did for a current exhibition at Brigham Young University. He mentored a group of students a year and a half ago in Ghana and this month they’re showing pieces inspired by their time there.

I’m off today to Asia for two weeks, and I’m already anticipating all there is to follow up on at the start of November.

Friday i quit my job at Indigo Creative to return to freelance and portfolio-building. Having been debating the timing for awhile, my quandary was answered when it was announced that Excel Graphics, our parent company, is finally collapsing with no money remaining for paychecks, having gone to fill the printing company’s increasing debt, and that the owner was requiring a designer to be laid off immediately. As I was planning on leaving in the near future anyway, I quit so that Indigo’s art director wouldn’t need to terminate our newest designer only to have me leave soon afterward. Sadly, after having lunch with my former co-workers today, it sounds as though they may shortly be joining me in life after Indigo.

After over three years working for the strange business association of Indigo and Excel, I’m happy to have worked with excellent designers and hope to maintain ties with them. Michael Hancock, our first art director, has already moved on to GoFish Creative. I’m interested to see the progress of Brad Palmer, the current art director; and my other associates, Kevin Sheehan; Scott Troxel; Jared Wright; and Kira Ludwig Shelton.

I had the opportunity lately of collaborating with my former boss at Indigo Creative, Michael Hancock. He now designs independently as GoFish Creative.

Michael needed a logo illustration for Orion Management Group, a business I really don’t know much about. All I needed to know is that they wanted an illustration of the constellation Orion with his bow and arrow. Being an astronomy junkie, I had to point out that Orion (though, a hunter) is never pictured with a bow and arrow (that constellation being Sagittarius, the archer), but is pictured instead with a club and either a shield or lionskin in the other arm upraised against Taurus.

I understand that the logo doesn’t require the strictest astronomical representation, and suggested that the primary traits that communicate ‘Orion’ are the belt of three stars, and any attributes of a hunter, usually his hunting dogs. The client suggested the concepts pictured below (they must really like the archer idea). The final version is being produced by Michael as he applies color and type, after which I’ll have another piece to add to my design portfolio.

It’s always good to have the opportunity to collaborate with someone you’ve worked with before. I first met Michael Hancock in the summer of 2003 when he worked at Focus Design, where I did some freelance for him before he became art director at Indigo Creative, where he hired me as a designer three years ago.

I recently set up plans for accomplishing more pieces this month, including working up some illustrations to enter for the Communication Arts Illustration Annual. (I’m never sure that there’s much chance of getting into the publication, but considerably more chance if I enter than if i don’t). Of course, as soon as that happens, I’m called back to full-time work at Indigo. Pushing freelance and portfolio projects into the crammed recesses of the evenings when one doesn’t often have the momentum and energy for it.

It’s always good to be appreciated, and to asked back to full-time work. Upon that, there’s a new challenge that comes with it– the request to work on-site for a client, Razor Data. It’s almost like starting a new job. I know these are not my employers, but new environment, new rhythms to establish, people to meet. All this is good and adds flavor to work, but can often be intimidating as I want to be sure I mesh well with the environment and produce what is expected of me.

In the meantime, there’s that balance to be found in returning to full-time work (which admittedly, most the world copes with just fine), and the freelance and portfolio projects, while not losing my mind to stress and finding time to live.

As noted in my first blog, I took time off from work beginning in September to work on portfolio projects, specifically, my final project to complete my BFA degree at Brigham Young University. During the past three and a half months, my status of full-time salaried designer was changed to part-time, so I could maintain my employment as well as have the time I needed for my projects.

Last summer, after over two years at Indigo Creative, I was started to get that itch for ‘what’s next’. While grateful for my employment, and happy with my co-workers, I felt the day-to-day work moving farther from the kind of work I enjoyed doing, so I took the risk of taking time off to do the kind of projects I wanted to for awhile, and to complete my degree. I was meant to return to full-time at the beginning of the new year.

Now, during that time, my boss, Michael Hancock, has moved on to pursue contract design work, and I find the studio continually moving away from the kind of work situation I’d like to be in. So I’ve decided to continue the risk. I’m grateful that the studio has opted to keep me on as a part-time employee, but I’ve decided that I won’t return as a full-time designer. Rather, there seems to come a time to look for the next move. Of course, there’s a certain giddy excitement to having most of my time to myself, but also the risk of not having a steady income. I have to hope to stay focused and structure my time to achieve visible accomplishments (i.e. a better portfolio).

Simply, it came down to the option of doing what’s traditionally safe and returning to a regular job, whatever the work; or continuing a risk a little longer to develop portfolio and hope to progress to ‘what’s next’.

Beginning in September, I opted to take some extra time off from the day job for my own projects. This website is one of many (checkmarks one project off the list). After getting over the fact that someone out there had to have my name, I took longer than needed to obsess on flash movies, sort through portfolio, and build me a site. Now begins the endless joy of tweaking, refining, completely scrapping, and rebuilding the website… oh yeah, and creating better illustration and design content to fill it. Welcome to the blog… (if you can handle it).