PIXEL HUSTLER @ Unfold
Having had some trouble finding good clicks and wooshing sound effects for interfaces and animations… I put together a small collection of 66 sound effects created with various software and my old school Oxygen8 midi keyboard.
I love what has become known in graffiti culture as ‘Bits and Doodads’ in reference to the arrows and little blocks, circles and stuff that linger and fly off of a graffiti piece. This term was coined by the legendary New York city graffiti artist “Seen” from the infamous “UA” crew (United Artists) in the movie “Style Wars”. Style Wars was the first raw look into graffiti and rap (“street culture”) as it emerged from the 70s into the 80s. You can watch it here. These paintings where an exploration into focusing on the ‘Bits and Doodads’ and beautiful abstract nature beyond the form of letters in graffiti.
I did this piece at the legendary Belmont Tunnel in Los Angeles back in the 90s. The mile long tunnel was used by the city’s first subway system in the 1920s till the mid 1950s when it was closed down. Eventually it went through another phase of rebirth in the 1980s when it became known as the birth place of graffiti arts innovation and evolution in Los Angeles. Its a historical place where along side a dirty ghetto, close to some of the filthiest parts of the city… creativity flourished. Several movie scenes have been shot there including the final scene in the first Predator movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger where the predators spaceship comes flying out of the tunnel. Sunny days would bring out barbecues, kids playing soccer, mariachi bands and graffiti artists. Welcome to down town L.A. homes! Last I heard they cleaned it all up and built some condos there. I don’t feel bad… such is art and life… it comes and it goes. What you leave behind is just as important as what you cant take with you.
This is a bit of a tribute post for a wonderfully spontaneous community that inadvertently arose from a project known as pimpmysite.com. It was the true epitome of an unhindered creative process that caught a little fire and spread through the inspired hearts and minds of a few eclectic weirdos from across the united states and a handful of countries across the ocean. This article is an accumulation of broken copies of the site, what images I could find, and all sorts of random bits and pieces of the story stitched back together to offer a detailed, but relatively pale resemblance of the spirit of this project I never intended to happen.
Lets face it… all this multimedia, rich media, social media, not really sure if its working media… is often something companies do, simply because its the latest hip and hyped up thing their marketing directors have been told they should do. Heck, sometimes its just a matter of cronyism and some manager giving their friends new social media marketing start up some love. Whatever the case, it all inadvertently perpetuates the hyped up myth of the effectiveness of these products and services as some sort of Holy Grail marketing solutions in and of themselves. What I mean to suggest is that although there certainly can be advantages to properly executing a rich ‘new media’ campaign… Without the foundation of a pro to conceptualize and implement an intelligent cohesive strategy to leverage all the bits, you might as well just throw your money at the wind. At least then you can be sure at least some of it will come back to you.
A “Black Book” is just a basic artists sketch pad. Graffiti artists trade their black books to allow other artists and writers to contribute to their book. There are thousands of these out there. Some with art from all over the world. These are some scans of my work from a few of my black books.
EZ-AS3 Buttons automatically converts your selected movieclips, bitmaps, vectors and text into a button with keyframes and actionscript ready to publish. EZ-AS3 creates an “over” and “out” keyframe in your new movieclip so you can easily add a ROLL OVER / ROLL OUT effect or animation to your button. You can create a custom button and add your own functionality, or you can create a goto, link, loader or sound button.
TUTORIAL VIDEOS:
Part 1 (Creating a goto and link button)
Part 2 (Creating a button to load a file or play/stop an mp3 file)
Part 3 (Creating custom buttons and advanced)
The most realistic click, drag and throw effect out there. dragFx (as2) adds an organic drag and throw effect to a movieclip. It slides, shifts and rotates as you click and drag the symbol around. You can throw it and watch it slide and ease. Easily customizable single & double click functionality. Use it for draggable photo slides in a gallery, an interactive deck of cards, some game functionality or just have fun and experiment with new possibilities.
Click, drag and release to throw the photos in the demo below.
Create professional Flash scripted animations (AS2) with out writing a single line of code through an easy to use graphical interface integrated into Flash. Easy install with MXP file.
Check out the preview page to see tweenFx in action.
Watch the tutorial video http://www.screenr.com/Vxrs
Watch the additional features video http://www.screenr.com/Uhrs
This image was created using Flash, Photoshop and Swift 3d. I used Flash to create the initial vector graphic of the letters. Exported it as an AI file and imported it into Swift 3D. Used Swift 3D to extrude the individual letters into 3D, then adjusted there rotation, colored it up and adjusted the lighting. Exported that as a png with transparent background into Photoshop and polished it up. Video tutorial coming soon.
tuneIn is a simple Flash tool (as2 mxp) to simplify creating a text field with a message that changes on a specified date. Useful for flash projects where copy needs to change on the release date of a record, movie, book etc… Especially useful for Flash ads as you wont need to create a Flash file for each copy/date.
Ive been working on some paintings using software, spray paint, silk screening, markers and stencils. I inadvertently fell into a theme of iconic images of influential peace activists mixed in with some abstract techno-psychedelia. Here is a peak at some of the Dali Lama and John Lennon pieces I’ve been working on… as well as the progression of this style into “Pistols and Daisy’s” and other abstract evolutions of the initial concept.
The Slime was designed in Flash in order to easily translate the vector graphics into animation or hi-res graphics for print. This character was created for an experimental mock website and some stickers for entertainments sake. “The Slime” was inspired by an evil character in the Frank Zappa song “I’m the slime”. The character was designed with a blob of oil in mind. Oil being symbolism for greed and the notion that absolute power corrupts.
I love this band. The Carolina Chocolate Drops. They play old school jug band music with modern themed lyrics. Words really dont do it justice though… you have to listen. Its not just some novelty gimmick either… they are incredible musicians.
“Rich Media” online advertising is still a new kid on the block. Most people have still not wrapped their head around the conceptual basics of what it is and how to properly execute it. The principals of traditional marketing born out of a need to grab consumers with the limited tool of a print ad simply do not apply in any way to “Rich Media”. Dollars get wasted and results are not up to par. There has to be an understanding that those old school approaches (although they have their place) need to be put aside for a moment to allow a completely new way of thinking. This article is an overview of some of the pertinent components of a “Rich Media” campaign and closes with an unavoidable truth… Its about knowing what data to collect, how to collect it and what to do with it.
Flaming Lips
The ad for the new Flaming Lips album “Embryonic” got nominated for the 2009 Eyeblaster awards! (Great freakin’ party in NYC). A proud achievement and A real testament to creatives ability to over-ride all preconceived notions of best practices with the power of pure creativity. Produce a labor of love and let the art speak for itself.
This is 3D model of an an experimental space ship concept modeled and rendered in Truespace 3D.
You have to check out this great site. “Intructables“. Its part of a larger community of makeshift scientists, inventors, thinkers and creative types that care to share some of their MacGyver inventions, experiments and even some handy solutions to life’s challenges. I posted an “instructable” on an old school way of making a marker from items you can find in your environment. There are many techniques that have evolved and continue to do so till this day. The knowledge of how to make guerrilla art (as with anything else) has been handed down from individuals and groups within the sub-culture to the next generation of aspiring artists. Its a tradition thats been going on since “cave men” doodled on walls. Street arts underlying raw approach is not just reflected in the art work itself, but the means to create it. Like any tradition, theres a sense that core intrinsic values must be preserved. When it comes to street art… the handing down of guerrilla methods is a lesson in independence from the way the world teaches you to look at things. How art is everywhere if you know how to see it and are willing to create it. Its the point where paper becomes an origami dragon… a broken down vacant building becomes a canvas… A waterfall a source of energy. Its a preliminary zen lesson on how to get “Out of the box” of your limited way of looking at things.
Check out the tutorial at intructables.com