Posts

Retro Animation/Walk Cycle Test

/0 Comments/in /by

For no particular reason, I set out to practice making a walk cycle in After Effects a while back. I didn’t have any character to start with, so I threw together the retro looking farmer character you see here. He actually started off in an early sketch as an even more heavily stylized, ambiguous humanoid, but quickly evolved when I got into Illustrator. Once I had the character in place, I decided to take the whole thing further, and build the walk cycle in the context of a old-school animation. To achieve that, I brought in a film preroll (which, if you look closely, you may notice includes flashes of my website logo), film grain and scratches, film reel sound effects, and throwback, Ren and Stimpy inspired, music. I mixed eras up a bit with some 3D elements (which I built and rendered out in Cinema 4D), though rendered in a low polygon style, to make them fit with the 2D look of the central character.

Illustration: Kawaii/Barrio Crossover – ¡Lotería!

/0 Comments/in /by

So this happened. As I got to building out more of these kawaii/barrio infused characters and objects, I got to thinking of ways of tying them all together. The classic game, lotería (a cooler, more visual, and definitely more Mexican version of bingo, if you’re not familiar), soon came to mind. Yes, bad parodies (and some good ones) of it have been done to death. This pairing just seemed natural though. Plus it’s not cultural appropriation when you’re actually Mexican. You’ve got me there on the kawaii part though.

Illustration: Kawaii/Barrio Crossover – El Paletero

/0 Comments/in /by

Here’s the first in what will hopefully be a series where I merge the kawaii look (essentially, cute or adorable) with common scenes/characters from around the hood in Los Angeles. Particularly the areas you might refer to as the barrio – East LA and South East LA, where I grew up. I was partly interested in creating an ironic juxtaposition, but, I can also admit, the look has grown on me. The common anthropomorphization, giving inanimate objects faces and expressions, takes me back to Pee Wee’s Playhouse, which both inspired and traumatized me as a child. Chairy, anyone?

I start here with a paletero, or popsicle/icescream vendor.  If you don’t know about them, ask any Mexican.

Christmas in July – Event Branding and Promotions for State Senator Holly J. Mitchell

/0 Comments/in /by

Here is the initial print/e-flyer I designed for the upcoming community event, “Christmas in July,” brought to the people of Los Angeles by California State Senator Holly J. Mitchell. This will be the 4th year Senator Mitchell (formerly State Assemblywoman Mitchell) has put on the event, which helps promote fun, healthy living, education, and family unity, in the community, with the help of sponsors.  She and her team figured it was about time to brand it, and polish its visual presentation, and promotions. This is where I came in.

“Activity Zones” have been a part of the event since its inception. I decided to help communicate these through simple icons, which I will also be carrying over to an activity punchcard, or passport, that will be completed and printed in time for the event. The goal is to also have branded collateral/swag, including t-shirts and stickers. Stay tuned for updates!

Smart Data – AMA Event Flyer

/0 Comments/in /by

Here’s my latest e-flyer for the American Marketing Association. We’re back to Areal Restaurant, for what the AMA and The LA Marketing Analytics Group are hoping will become a monthly, or at least a semi-monthly speaker series. The focus again is on the role of data in marketing, and they have two speakers, Greg Durkin, VP of Research at Warner Bros. Pictures and Duane Bedard of eSage Group, who will be talking about their use of data and analytics in understanding consumers and predicting market behavior.

Storytelling to Engage – Event Flyer

/0 Comments/in /by

It’s not the new year yet, but I’ve already designed an e-flyer for the first AMA, Los Angeles event of 2014, shown above here (and, currently, on the official AMA LA site). The American Marketing Association, Los Angeles, together with eSage Group, will be welcoming Doug Barasch, Senior Director of Digital Marketing and Strategy at Universal Music Group, to share his experience as a marketer as it relates to everything storytelling. Marketers have long known about the importance and power of storytelling in gaining and keeping a captive audience. However, thanks to the tools and channels available today, marketers now have the opportunity to allow audiences to become more deeply immersed in stories, and become active participants in building them, through games, social media, contests, and various forms of crowdsourcing. As with any other marketing tool, measurement is also key in order to track effectiveness. Doug Barasch will be discussing it all at Areal Restaurant in Santa Monica on the evening of Tuesday, January 7th.

 

Holiday Mixer at The Golden Gopher

/0 Comments/in /by

Here’s my latest flyer for the American Marketing Association, this time for a Holiday Mixer that will bring together AMALA members with those of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) and the Hispanic Public Relations Association (HPRA). I made two slightly different versions, one for e-communications, one for print (shown above). You likely won’t be seeing snow in Los Angeles any time soon, barring some extreme climate change, but in honor of the holidays, and the event venue (Downtown LA’s Golden Gopher), I chose to bring the snow to Downtown LA. Happy Holidays!

AMA Sponsored Education Through Music Benefit Concert – Event Flyer

/0 Comments/in /by

Here’s another quick e-flyer I made recently for the Los Angeles chapter of the American Marketing Association – this time, for a benefit concert it will be sponsoring late in the month of November. Students from board member and music teacher Bobby Borg’s UCLA Extension DIY Music Marketing class will be performing, and proceeds will benefit Education Through Music Los Angeles.