Tag: creative

Let Me Show You The Way

Who, or what, was one of your first inspirations for what you do and why?

For most people that do most kinds of jobs, inspiration probably looks a lot like money. Less commonly, perhaps one of the things unique to creative professions, is for inspiration to come from other people’s work. But also, like, money too…

I’m interested in the way that the work can be such a turn-on. Visual experiences have always fascinated me…since I was a kid. It took me years to find a direction to point that energy and interest, but eventually, I became a designer.

It’s also worth noting here that I think any profession can be inspired, and therefore creative. It’s perhaps an attitude more so than a style or type of job.

Below, I have designer Kurt Volk, curator Angelina Lippert, and chef Mike Dimmer, each explaining what sparked them to pursue what it is they do…

Kurt Volk,
Designer, Troublemaker Studios and El Rey Network

Kurt has headed design projects for director Robert Rodriguez’s Troublemaker Studios since 2003. He’s created posters and key art, graphic elements that appear in films, title sequences, books, digital and printed promotional pieces, and likely hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of other things that many of us don’t even realize.

Kurt has supervised my work for El Rey Network (a production of Troublemaker) since I began working with them early in 2017. In my experience, Kurt always seems up for a challenge, and likely gets just that while spending his days at Troublemaker…


Who, or what, was one of your first inspirations for what you do and why?

“So when I was growing up, my grandfather owned a clip art business based on the east coast called Volk Art. It was more or less a stock illustration business — he would hire illustrators, designers and typographers to create original artwork that he would print into these small booklets and sell. He hired the great Herb Lubalin to design his logo and he worked with many of the great commercial illustrators of the era. Commercial art was sort of the family business ever since I can remember, so pursuing an art career was this very normal thing to do. There was never a debate about whether I’d become an artist, but what kind of artist I’d become.

My grandfather (I called him Pop Pop) would talk to me about Saul Bass and Milton Glaser when I was way too young to understand why, but his words taught me that there is a set of human hands behind everything I experience in culture. I remember looking at my Raiders of the Lost Ark trading cards and wondering who wrote the blurbs on the back, or wondering why the photo in People magazine from E.T. was from an angle that wasn’t in the movie itself. My grandfather was the first person to teach me to read the credits and to be curious about how creative things are made. He was the catalyst that launched me into making creative decisions of my own.”

Angelina Lippert,
Curator, Poster House

Angelina is the curator at Poster House in New York City. Poster House, which will open in 2019, is the first New York museum which will be dedicated exclusively to the art and medium of posters.

Working with board president Val Crosswhite, and director Julia Knight, Angelina is working to build Poster House in to a home which maps and explores human and graphic history and communication simultaneously. I’m so excited to see what they’re building.

Art history and conservation seems well established in Angelina’s career, but I was interested to find out how it got that way…

Who, or what, was one of your first inspirations for what you do any why?

“My interest in posters actually came about as a happy accident. I needed an internship the summer before heading to graduate school, and in this city you basically need to know someone in order to get a great internship. A childhood friend of mine said his father could get me a spot with his poster dealer, which was decidedly not what I wanted to do – at the time, I viewed posters the way a lot of people view them, as reproductions. And if I had $5,000 I thought (at the time) that I’d rather buy a painting, a unique work, than a printed multiple. But, I took the internship and, thanks to a really wonderful manager, got a lot more hands on experience than I’d ever get at a contemporary gallery or auction house. With her guidance, I started to see posters as not just decorative works of art, but also as little glimpses into history. Everything from big political movements to mundane products appear in posters, so you really get a more complete view of how people from a certain time and place lived – and I find that fascinating.

I ended up going back to the same gallery after grad school, and only left when I heard that they were starting a poster museum called Poster House in NYC. If you asked me in college if I thought I’d be the Chief Curator of a poster museum one day, I don’t think that would have ever occurred to me as a possibility – I thought I’d be running Sotheby’s Modern Art department! And, honestly, I’m glad the whole Sotheby’s thing didn’t pan out because dealing in such a specialized, small world invites so many more discoveries (and challenges) than your standard art world job.”

Mike Dimmer,
Chef, Marble + Rye

Mike Dimmer runs the kitchen at Marble + Rye in my hometown of Buffalo, NY. Marble + Rye is the best restaurant in Buffalo. Yep, I say that with bias, he’s been a friend of mine since before he was cooking, but it’s also a wholehearted belief. His food is great.

Mike created Marble + Rye with his business partner Christian Wilmott, who runs the dining room and bar. Buffalo has pretty specific, home-spun tastes. While pleasing that traditional appetite, Mike has added all kinds of interesting new ideas and built on top of the established food culture of Western New York.

What, specifically, moved him towards a restaurant of his own is a conversation I’ve never had with him. So, let’s see…

Who, or what, was one of your first inspirations for what you do any why?

“Working in the restaurant industry, it’s relatively easy for me to think of a dozen people and places that inspired me to open up my own restaurant and bar.  As I now think about the actual reason I decided to go into this industry, I think the answer is sort of two-fold. First, I’ve worked in a lot of different areas in the hospitality industry. Most times, I would find myself saying “I could do this better”, but never wanted to have an attitude and arrogance towards someone else’s business, so I’d just put my head down and do things their way.

The real moment that I decided this is what I wanted to do with my life was when I was fired from a restaurant management position. As I left, I wasn’t angry or despondent. I felt relieved in the idea that I had learned so much. But what I learned is something that has carried through with me until this day. It wasn’t the recipes, techniques, front of house operation ideas that I was taking with me. I learned how NOT to run a business. I learned how NOT to treat employees. I learned how NOT to run your books and ‘pay’ your taxes. As I moved on from this place and into the next, that’s what I focused on. I never wanted to copy someone else’s style of business or food, but I wanted to make sure I learned from their mistakes. This was invaluable to me. To be able to see these mistakes with no real consequence to myself, and learn from them, was huge. I feel the restaurant industry is one of the few in this world that you can do that. There’s a million right choices to be made every day, but it’s that one wrong decision that can cripple and end you.

So, in all, the experience of being fired from a job I was really good at was the reason I stayed in this industry. Learning what not to do has become a big part of my life and my rental approach to business practices. And I have being rudely fired by an asshole to thank for that.”

Whether it’s the way a job is done, or the way it isn’t, it seems almost refreshing to find footprints already in the paths each of us are on. It’s not so terrifying, and it seems there’s good company along the way.

You can view Kurt’s work at kurtvolk.com.
More info on Poster House from Angelina at posterhouse.org.
More info on Mike and Marble + Rye is at marbleandrye.net.
Header image by me, Derek Gabryszak.

Thanks for reading Question Market 9!

Derek

Professional Practicer

Do you practice for the work you do, and if so, how?

I very rarely practice, in the traditional sense of exercising specific skills. I do a lot of studying…looking at the work of other designers and other creative people’s work, but practice is rare. Round 1 presentations to clients are the closest thing to practice that I do. It’s where I’m experimenting and working out a bunch of ideas and executions that will likely be killed. Is that unprofessional? Irresponsible? Likely, I think.

My working style may be closer to an improvisation…in that the work I’m doing for my clients is exploratory. It could have a dozen different interpretations. I aim for that more than executing a style that I’ve practiced and perfected and then plug their information in to that.

What’s unfortunate is that I’m certain I’d be a better designer if I practiced more. And perhaps my work would be more original…less derivitive. Or more technically successful. Less studying, more practicing…

Practice is safe ground for failure. They’re kind of one in the same. Failure and therefor practice, could be among the most obvious steps to successful work. The benefit is undeniable.

To dig further in to this, I asked Adam Lowitt, Adam Maida, and Steven Feinartz to describe the role practice plays in their work…

Adam Lowitt,
Comedian/Writer/Producer

Adam started working for The Daily Show as an intern in 2002 and has been there since. Not as an intern. He’s an executive producer, writer, and on-air correspondent. I think longevity is somewhat rare in creative jobs. So working with the same company for that long is certainly something I admire. In addition to what Adam contributes to the Daily show, he consistently performs stand up comedy as well.

Whether you enjoy The Daily Show or not, he goes to work every day for one of the most respected and prolific comedic and cultural platforms America has to offer. With that…

Do you practice for the work you do, and if so, how?

““Practice” in comedy is always an interesting concept because the term denotes that there’s a final product.  At least where I work, on The Daily Show, you could say the making of that day’s show is just practice for making tomorrow’s show.  I think “refining” is a better term, which is what we do all day, everyday.  Can this joke be funnier? Can this graphic be clearer? Can this take be stronger?  And once the episode airs, hopefully the staff doesn’t get too drunk after work, and we’re able to make an even better show the next day.

I treat my standup pretty much the same way.  Each set is practice for the next. The writing and rewriting of bits, figuring out how to perform a joke instead of simply saying it.  There are no comedy drills for that, it’s just logged hours onstage. That being said, I’ve often fantasized about some comedy version of Duke’s coach Mike Krzyzewski that i have to meet up with at six a.m. every morning to hone bits.  We’re both wearing tear away pants and he’s got a whistle that he blows every time I forget to enunciate the word “Jewish” in one of my punchlines.”

Adam Maida,
Designer

Working out of Rochester, New York, Adam is one of the best designers in the western New York area. He’s created some incredible work for the New York Times, and Criterion Collection, as well as for other entertainment venues and social causes.

I’ve gotten to collaborate with Adam on a handful of projects. He’s always had great ideas to contribute, and executes them in phenomenal ways. He’s got a great sense for how to use collaged and illustrated elements. He uses them in different ways than the rest of us.

His work is so interesting to me, and I regularly revisit (or study) it. So, I was curious to know more about what goes in to it…

Do you practice for the work you do, and if so, how?

“I find that simply experimenting with my own work, wether its for a client or just personal, is the best form of practice. Anything from simply combining two opposites in collage to animating something i’ve painted. I think the action of playing with our work is inherently the best kind of practice for any artist . It is one of the few methods one can partake in to simply find something internally or externally which ceased to exist beforehand. This I believe improves our abilities to not just draw or design better, but to think and communicate better through our work as well.”

Steven Feinartz,
Director

Steven is a director who is primarily in service to the comedy industry. I was introduced to him when I worked on posters for a documentary he directed about a stand up comedian (who I chatted with for QM2) named Eddie Pepitone.

In addition to that documentary, Steven has directed and produced comedy specials for Seeso, Netflix, Comedy Central, and Showtime. I know he keeps busy, so I was wondering how he stays sharp…

Do you practice for the work you do, and if so, how?

“I do try to practice as much as I can, but practicing can mean a lot of things as a Director. I try to absorb what other work inspires me and at the same time try my best to develop my own voice. I’ve also taken to become a little more hands-on with the camera than I used to be. Exploring what different lenses and lighting techniques do to the image is so crucial to being able to express what you are looking for visually to your collaborators.

Most of what I’m working with is in the comedy space. Whether its documentaries, specials, shorts or music videos, I always need to think what best serves the subject or story. For specials in particular, I practice in becoming accustomed to the comics’ style or tone, and plan on shooting as true to that as possible. As a Director, you have to be available to so many people and at the same time you are the one making the final decisions. There is still nothing better than on-the-job training. For me, it’s how I’ve learned from my mistakes and apply that to what I’m doing that has made me stronger.”

It seems that each of us have integrated practice in to the work itself in one way or another. I think that’s interesting. We probably all used to practice in a more traditional sense, and now we just do the work.

For professionals, it seems, practice is an ambiguous concept. I suspect Larry Bird would disagree.

More info on Adam Lowitt at adamlowitt.com.
More info on Adam Maida at adammaida.com.
More info on Steven at stevenfeinartz.com.
Header image by Derek Gabryszak.

Thanks for reading Question Market 7!

Derek

I’ve Always Been For Sale

How important is selling your self or your work?

We all need to sell our selves or our work in some capacity. Whether that’s in the traditional form of presenting products to customers, or on a smaller scale, say, defending a creative decision we’ve made to a colleague or potential employer.

As much as I can, I try to let my work do the talking (he says as he types a blog instead of designing something). Making good things feels like the easiest, perhaps purest way to approach success to me. I’m always a little uncomfortable when I’m actively trying to sell something, so a quality or honest product helps keep a clean conscience. I say this in spite of the fact that technically I’m a commercial artist. It’s kinda my job to sell shit…whatever it may be.

The following insight comes from people in commercial arts. People who sell, help sell, or make things intended to sell. With that in mind, the measure taken to present ourselves really interests me.

BRETT MIKOLL,
Designer

Brett does a bit of everything. And he should. He has the energy, imagination, curiosity, patience and dashing good looks for a bit of everything.

He’s not without focus though. Brett is the design half of Oxford Pennant, a pennant and flag company based in Buffalo, NY. With Oxford, Brett explores the history, function, and aesthetic of pennants. In Brett’s hands, the company and it’s products look great and actively participate the history of their medium.

Brett and I have been pals for over a decade. Occasionally he’s my house guest. Other times he’s my collaborator, savior, competition, confidant, cheerleader, and/or coach. I trust him creatively, so am wondering where this question sits in his head…

In what you do, how important is selling your self or your work?

“The term “personal brand” is thrown around a lot – but it’s useful when considering if, how, and when to promote myself in my work.

My successes in design have come from being consistent on social media. Rarely a personal photo, mostly relevant stuff that compliments my work – sketches, travel photos, good bullshit. A proper website is still necessary, but being mindful on social apps is so much more important in attracting the right people to see my tastes, and ultimately get in touch. “Don’t post pictures of your kids.”

That said, with Oxford Pennant my business partner and I have made a purposeful effort in remaining faceless. With the exception of attending trade shows and meetings, we try and let customers tell our story by reposting their product photos – which is now our main source of social content. The human element: include a hand written note with every order, it’s company policy.”

JESSICA HISCHE,
Designer/Author

As I’ve said before, Jessica is incredible. As a designer, she’s thinking, knowledgable, and her talent seems limitless. She’s also generous enough to give me another answer for this little project. She answered Question Market 4 a couple months ago about stress and anxiety.

She’s created fantastic work for projects large and small and I picture her putting the same amount of thought and care in to each project that comes across her desk. I was curious how she views presenting herself to clients and the world…

In what you do, how important is selling your self or your work?

““Selling yourself” isn’t quite the term I would use—I’d more call it “establishing trust or confidence”. When I’m working with a new client, my first job and the job I really need to accomplish at every presentation with them, is for them to feel like I’m really devoting myself to the work and that they made a good decision in trusting me with the project. As far as “selling myself” to others online, I just try to be real. I share things that I’m excited about, nervous about, angry about, etc. I don’t let clients bully me into sharing and hash tagging on their behalf. I have built up an audience that is interested in me and work, and it’s important to me to not betray them by being disingenuous.”

GRAHAM POLLACK,
Photographer

The majority of Graham’s professional work is photos of products and things that his clients hope people buy. He’s shot for Tiffany & Co., Barney’s New York, Nylon, Milk Makeup, and Martha Stewart. And, had work published in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, WWD, and Bloomberg Businessweek. He works for companies and brands that have a long, and distinguished history. His work has to live up to that.

Graham has an incredible sense of composition and color. He brings that to his clients and their products so seamlessly that I almost don’t notice his personal touches. Which is exactly the way it should be for a great commercial artist.

With that…

In what you do, how important is selling your self or your work?

“As a freelance photographer, selling myself is very important, but I don’t think about it in this way. I’ve never wanted to be a salesman and it’s my least favorite part of running a business.

I put that ‘selling’ energy into building and maintaining honest relationships with other creative people. My work is a natural extension of myself. Knowing me is understanding and hopefully appreciating my artistic vision and process.”

Seems like honesty really helps ease the burden of “the sell.” Mean what you say, and it’ll all sort of put itself together.

More info on Brett at dierichgettrying.com, and oxfordpennant.com.
More info on Jessica at jessicahische.is.
More info on Graham at grahampollack.com.
Header image by Derek Gabryszak.

Thanks for reading Question Market 6, I had the damnedest time trying to figure out if yourself, or your self was the correct usage in this scenario.

Derek

Stefan Sagmeister By Hand

By Hand is a new feature on Question Market. It’s something I’ve been doing privately for years. Writing a letter with some specific questions about creativity to someone I admire and hoping they write me back.

There’s an incredible site called Letters of Note that explores hand written correspondences throughout history. That’s what inspired me to start this. I love the layer of context that’s added by getting something in writing. You can tell if the person was in a hurry, or took their time enough to add drawings, or extra notes, or anything else. Maybe the envelope gets beaten up along the way. It’s added character. There’s intimacy to it.

STEFAN SAGMEISTER, designer

If you’re a designer, there’s not much new I can tell you about Stefan Sagmeister. He’s towards the top of our food chain in terms of success, knowledge, and talent and I assume you know that already.

For anyone else that stumbles across this…Stefan’s body of work as a designer is heady and pure. He runs the studio Sagmeister & Walsh with his partner Jessica Walsh and has landed some of the biggest gigs you can aspire to have as a designer. Album covers for the Rolling Stones, Lou Reed, Jay-Z, and others. Work for Levi’s, BMW, and the New York Times. He’s exhibited and discussed his work all over the world.

He’s fascinating and someone I think all creative people can look up to. In addition to his success as a designer, he’s also one of the deepest, most sincere, and intellectual creatives working. He’s active in the design community and always trying to put more meaning in to what we do as designers and humans.

When I was first learning and practicing graphic design, there were designers and artists that I admired, and imitated. But when I saw Stefan’s work…things like this, and this, and this…I realized design’s ability to be thought provoking and expressive.

I know this seems obvious, but how creative design can be. His work unlocked that for me. I was learning the basics…grids, letter forms, color theory. Laying out things like letterheads, stationary, websites, advertisements…in pretty standard formats. When I saw his work, my design brain took the next position on the evolutionary chart towards being upright. I’m still working on it…

In 2010, I wrote Stefan a short letter and asked him:

  1. What is something all creative people have in common?
  2. What was one creative habit you had as a child?
  3. What is one creative habit you have now?

He generously wrote back the following… (transcript below as well)

ByHand_Sagmeister

His insight is wonderful and I can’t read these answers without his voice in my head. And, I love that he plans for certain tasks to be completed in the morning. I have a feeling that is something that’ll be explored again here.

TRANSCRIPT

Hey Derek,

Here are some quick answers:

  1. A desire for the new. A certain amount of fearlessness & guts
  2. I don’t remember being particularly creative as a child
  3. a) Work on many projects simultaniously. Switch to another one when I get stuck.
    b) Start with the difficult parts first thing in the morning.

Good luck and many greetings,
Stefan Sagmeister

Thank you for reading, and thanks to Stefan for allowing me publish this.

Derek

My Ideas Are Great, I Think

What part of your creative process causes you the most stress or anxiety?

There’s a group of posters in the Museum of Modern Art by a graphic designer named James Victore. His work and general attitude are loud, and aggressive, and incredible. During a Q&A several years ago, I asked how stress affects his work. “Well shit, Doc…how much time do you have?” he said.

A lot of stress in creative jobs is self-generated. There’s very little right and wrong in what we do. A lot is left up to subjectivity. I’m right, you’re wrong…none of it matters really…you are right, I am wrong. And the other way around. It’s always this way.

That’s how I see stress in creativity. Constantly, I’m wondering and poring over the question…is this decision right?

Here’s a glimpse of that from a designer, comedian, and helicopter pilot.

 JESSICA HISCHE,
Designer/Author

Jessica is quite simply one of the best young designers America has to offer.

She’s created incredible work for some of the largest and most respected companies, people, and institutions there are to work for. So with that, I’m thrilled she’s as grounded as she is talented and gave this glimpse in to her creative process.

What part of your creative process causes you the most stress or anxiety?

“I’m probably the most stressed out right after I get off the first creative call with the client, before I have time to sit and think and scheme about what I want to do. Once I sit down to research and brain storm, I feel so much better about the project as a whole. Another time I generally feel stressed out is when pricing a job. It never gets easy for certain kinds of jobs.”

BRUCE HAFFNER,
Helicopter Pilot/Photographer

Bruce drives a helicopter around while photographing things for a living. What an insane combination of disciplines. Please read the following, but absolutely look at his incredible video reel to properly understand what exactly he captures while high up in the sky.

I discovered Bruce several weeks ago because Twitter is amazing. He’s a photographer, television broadcaster, and helicopter pilot and works primarily in service of the entertainment and news industries.

His work is amazing and that’s why I’m fascinated with what his working relationship with stress and anxiety is…

What part of your creative process causes you the most stress or anxiety?

“The anxiety comes as we broadcast live reports from our airborne production studio and since our reports are “Live” we only get one chance to get it right. Coordinating our “Live Shots” with the TV station’s control room producer via two-way radio, coordinating helicopter shot location with the pilot, the pilot coordinating with the air traffic controller, thinking of what I’m going to say live on TV during our report, cueing up recorded video to hot-roll live which helps tell the story, keeping our fingers crossed the live TV signal from the chopper to the viewers homes stays locked are some of the details behind the scenes of the live report you see on-air. When everything goes smoothly it’s a beautiful symphony, but with so many links in the chain anything can go wrong and it is common. Then I have to ad-lib while I quickly work out the problem live on TV while making it seem natural. We fly everyday and produce a bunch of aerial television so we get a lot of practice.

I was a television news photographer on the streets for 13 years winning 15 Emmy Awards before I learned to fly the helicopter. Those years of experience working on the ground really helps me in the air, I understand the big picture and where we fit in.

A highlight in my career was recently flying actor/comedian Will Ferrell and dropping him off in center field during a baseball game for the HBO special “Will Ferrell Takes the Field”. The final approach into the stadium could have been stressful but Will was so cool, he made the landing fun. The beauty of my job is that I’ve never had to work a day in my life, I’m fortunate to have chased my dreams… and caught them.”

JEN KIRKMAN,
Comedian/Author

Jen is the shit. She’s funny and smart and intellectual and a potty mouth and a bunch of other great things. I’ve worked for her in little bits and she’s always been friendly and attentive.

She’s a veteran comedian, a New York Times best selling author, actor, writer, and has a new special on Netflix. She’s a perfect example of a creative professional and because of all that I also assumed she’d have valuable insight on stress in the creative process.

What part of your creative process causes you the most stress or anxiety?

“The most terrifying part of the creative process is that I don’t schedule time to be creative. I don’t sit down from nine to five in a coffee shop to “write jokes.” My jokes just come to me. I write about my life so I should say that the way to talk about things in my life just comes to me. I’ll go through phases where I physically feel energized and my head feels full – like if somehow a head cold could feel good – I feel foggy and stuffy and full of ideas that have to come out. I’ll usually take walks or just be in my apartment with lots of coffee and wait. And when things start to shake out of my head I make notes. Wherever I am I make notes. I’ll write them on paper or I’ll put them in my notes section of my iPhone. Words and phrases like “Mom met Paula Deen” or “eggs assault small talk” that make no sense to me but are at least five minute stories that are very intricate.

So, when those moments of inspiration DO NOT COME for a while – I worry that I’ll never think of anything funny again. I beat myself up for not being the type of comic who sits and writes every day and I feel it’s too late to learn and I don’t want to learn and I then I start spinning out. No one would know I’m spinning out – this is all done in the privacy of my head.

And eventually the writer’s block is over and more thoughts come to me – and then I’m back to thinking I’m so divinely inspired totally forgetting that a few minutes earlier I thought I was a piece of shit who doesn’t know how to write. And this repeats forever basically.”

Was this decision right? The stress and anxiety that goes along with creative professions is complicated.

More info on Jessica at jessicahische.is.
More info on Bruce at chopperguy.com.
More info on Jen at jenkirkman.com.
Header image by Brett Mikoll, and Derek Gabryszak.

Thanks for reading Question Market 4,

Derek

I Definitely Look Like This

How important is style in what you do?

What the hell do you think Houdini saw when he stared at a straight jacket? For a lot of creative people, perfecting a style is the achievement…the goal. It’s what enables a career to unfold. Once you establish a creative identity (style), the more articulately you can express yourself, or interpret the world.

In context of my own experience, I see a designer’s job as one that transforms gig to gig. The look should be determined by the message you need to communicate. I think not being tied to a style is part of the fun of my job. I understand that for some, it’s exactly the opposite. And for others it’s even a dirty word. That’s why I think it’s such an interesting topic. Is having (or not having) a style a necessity, or result of what we do as creative people?

What I am sure of, is that working within a style can be one of two things…incredibly limiting, or profoundly freeing. With that in mind, I asked Jay Shaw, Tom Papa, and Keith Buckley about how important style is in what each of them do.

JAY SHAW, Designer

Jay’s work is incredible. His ability and aesthetic evolution seem to be in constant motion. As creative director for Mondo (the Alamo Drafthouse’s equivalent of an art department), he’s contributed to some of the most successful major studio and independent film releases (and re-releases) in recent years.

Jay is a pure, true designer. I think he has an interesting relationship with design history (key art specifically). His knowledge of design history is apparent in his work, but each new piece of work he does also takes a firm, deliberate step forward.

Admiration aside, Jay has been friendly to me whenever I’ve reached out, so he generously gave me a little closer look behind his curtain.

How important is style in what you do?

“I think if I were a more competent illustrator having a “style” would be important to me. As it stands I really don’t. I go through phases where one approach appeals to me but I tend to stay pretty versatile aesthetically. If I have any consistency in my work it would be that things tend to look like they were created 40 years ago. I’ve got such an affection for commercial art of the 60s and 70s I can’t help but ape the popular methods of the time. The only drawback to moulding your look to the needs of the project are that it gives you (and the client) a little too much wiggle room sometimes. I envy artists who commit to stylistic parameters.”

TOM PAPA, Comedian

Tom Papa is a classic. He’s a wonderful blend of new and old schools matched with an interesting depth. I think he makes interesting choices creatively. He’s got a relatively polished, clean style, but then he’ll have Rob Zombie direct his special, and dress the set like a game show from the 50’s. I love shit like that.

I worked on a tour poster for Tom a few years ago. As inspiration for the poster he explained to me that in the set (which became his “Freaked Out” special) he discusses fears such as aliens, our families, old age, and the possibility that there is no God. That description was as good as I could have asked for. It’s silly and profound, just as he is.

It could entirely be because I enjoy a drink in the same way he seems to in his bit about fitting in…but I get such a sense of comfort in my own skin after listening to him.

How important is style in what you do?

“It would be impossible to say that style isn’t a big part of being a comedian. However; I see style as almost a byproduct of what we do. Comedians often talk about their ‘voice’. Which is uncovering or discovering their true self that they bring to the stage and convey through the jokes they tell. Naturally when this happens you could say the comedian has a certain style.

Of course, one could manufacture a style without having anything to say but that is closer to a clown. Not that I’m knocking clowns. A guy who walks around with a red nose and worn floppy shoes certainly has style. But you may not want to hear his ‘voice’.”

KEITH BUCKLEY, Musician and Writer

Keith and I share the home town of Buffalo, NY. I assume it’s lost on most people how accurately the band he sings for (Every Time I Die) embodies Buffalo, NY. It’s a personal connection for me. They’ve successfully interpreted the attitude, tone, energy, and spirit of the city in to their music.

I’ve always admired his range creatively. On a dime it seems he can go from smart to funny to loud, quiet, aggressive, or weird. I move slower than that.

He’s a fascinating combination of intellect and instinct. Perhaps style is the result of those two things meeting… With that…

How important is style in what you do?

“”Style” is the signature you put on performance. our music can’t hang on a wall like other art forms, so our style -the way we do it- is how we let the world know who it was done by.”

A straight jacket…something literally restricting, and yet completely liberating creatively…

More info on Jay at kingdomofnonsense.com.
More info on Tom at tompapa.com.
More info on Keith at everytimeidie.net.

Thanks for reading Question Market 3,

Derek

To Stay Sharp

What is the most recent skill you’ve developed?

I’m trying to figure out if creative development is something I need to stay focused on, or if it’s something that’s inevitable. I suspect that if I keep designing…if I keep creating things, it’ll be inevitable that I learn new skills in one way or another.

By committing to my work, I’ll either be adding more of myself in to the work, or developing new design-specific skills like figuring out a better way it retouch hair, or use geometry to help tell a story. Perhaps those are two ever-evolving avenues of creativity; how articulate you can be personally and professionally.

If you’re committed, I really think those two things are impossible not to evolve.

With that in mind, I asked Eddie Pepitone, Michelle Poler, and Dustin Stanton about what skill each of them have developed most recently.

 

EDDIE PEPITONE, Comedian

I’ve worked with Eddie on a few things, and he’s always been incredible. He’s responsive, friendly, courteous, etc…everything you could want from someone you’re doing business with. More impressive than those great things though is his creative energy. He’s a stand-up, and as an actor, he’s appeared in some of the best comedies of the past two decades.

His stage sets are like an intense massage. There’s pain in it, aggression…but you leave feeling lighter, relieved, and seeing things brighter. He’s calculated, in control, and completely reckless at the same time. That contrast is incredible. This set is from a while ago, but is so interesting. He flexes every muscle a comedian has. Watch how far away he holds the mic at certain points, while still being completely effective.

I hear he’s even dabbling in politics and community organizing. I love that someone as versatile as Eddie continues to develop, but he does…

What is the most recent skill you’ve developed?

“I think the things I learn how to do are ongoing. Modulating my voice from the rage to soft-spoken guy is something I’ve been working on as I realize it’s very funny to go to extremes vocally with an audience. I have been more conscious of varying my tone and range and it’s all about just being more present and not panicking as a performer.

I used to think I had to get a laugh every second and I’ve finally realized that the silences or the spaces in between are just as important as the jokes. In fact it sets up the jokes!”

MICHELLE POLER, Speaker

Michelle created 100 Days Without Fear. She’s Venezuelan and after studying at SVA in New York, she worked as a designer and art director. Then, through the process of conquering a list of fears she began telling her own story in a way that connected with others.

Her curiosity is what impresses me most. She’s been able to translate an exploration of herself in to exploring and influencing people across the world. She’s an interesting example of that intersection of personal and technical skill. I’m so happy that she said she’d answer my question…

What is the most recent skill you’ve developed?

“I believe that as artists we are constantly developing and polishing the skills we already have trying to become every day the best version of ourselves. 5 years ago when I got married I decided to buy a GoPro to capture in video my honeymoon adventure. We were going to Hawaii so I wanted to put together a short video to share with family and friends and also to keep for ourselves. My little brother was in film school at the time and he kindly edited a nice little video about our wedding day. I quickly learned the things you need to put into a video to make it entertaining, creativity was the main component. Two weeks after we came back from our honeymoon I gave editing a shot. People started to go crazy about the cool video I made and started to ask me to edit videos for them about their personal experiences. Shortly after, I became the official video person of the family and in my circle of friends. I created videos about meaningful occasions as gifts for the people I care about the most, but I never thought about doing something serious with my video making and editing skills. I would only do it for fun.

 Last year I decided to become a braver person by facing one fear a day for 100 days. I wanted to share my progress through social media so I decided to record myself facing the different fears, editing and uploading one video a day. After editing 100 videos consecutively I can see how much I’ve grown and how my skills have improved enormously. The thing I used to do for fun became my full time job. Most recently, I started developing video blogs (vlogs) which is different than shooting an adventure. So I had to learn all about cameras, lights, audio, tripods. Just when I thought I had everything under control, I had to start from scratch. So, yeah, we actually never stop developing and polishing the skills we already have. I wonder what kind of videos I will do next.”

DUSTIN STANTON, Designer

Dustin is a graphic designer for the entertainment industry. He’s created lots of great key art, but his contributions to Paul Thomas Anderson’s films have always shook me up most. His interpretations of the stories are so nuanced and personal…exactly the thing those films need.

I worked with Dustin on a gig poster for Bill Burr. The poster was for a tour of California and Bill gave us the idea to interpret the drought that California was in. Dustin built a great narrative based on that concept which I followed through on.

What I learned from working on that project is that a designer should be able to think their way out of any problem. You’re given a creative problem, you figure out an answer to it, and then execute it. Having a purposeful answer is an underestimated tool. That seems obvious, but more often than I’d like to admit, I find myself trying to figure it out as I go. My point is that Dustin sharpened my creative problem solving skills. So, I’m curious what he’s been working on for himself…

What is the most recent skill you’ve developed?

“One of the recent skills I’ve been developing is self editing.

I once heard (or read) a quote somewhere: “He with fifty ideas has none”. I get it. I think I’ve been trying to work that philosophy into my work and provide my clients with more quality and less quantity – putting forward the ideas that I believe in and have good reasons to present to them. So far, it’s been working well with the people I work with.”

I’m glad that our relationships with creativity seem to keep evolving. It feels like there’s security in that. Something of comfort that can constantly shift from being personally rewarding, to professionally.

More info on Eddie at eddiepepitone.com.
More info on Michelle at michellepoler.com.
More info on Dustin at dustinstantoncreative.com.
Illustration by Brett Mikoll, dierichgettrying.com.

Thanks for reading Question Market 2,

Derek

Go. Ready. Set.

Art classes never felt creative to me. I was never lit up by the task of drawing a bowl of fruit accurately. It wasn’t until about half way through high school that the creative challenges within graphic design made me feel like I could pull a rabbit out of a hat.

Several years ended up passing before I was properly satisfied with a visual problem I had attempted to solve. There’s always that first one.

I asked Brandon Schaefer, Open Mike Eagle, and Al Madrigal what they considered to be among their first successes as creative people.

BRANDON SCHAEFER, Designer

Brandon is an incredible graphic designer who primarily designs movie posters. Brandon fascinates me because he so consistently remains a student of the movie poster and design game and that comes through in his work.

He’s created great images for some great projects and people. He is the creative director for Jump Cut, an entertainment advertising agency, and explores the world of his chosen profession on a podcast he co-hosts called The Poster Boys.

What do you consider one of your first successes as a creative person?

“This might sound silly, but it was something really small that felt quite big at the time. During my senior year of high school, I was asked by my design teacher if I wanted to design the program for my class’s graduation ceremony. The details are hazy – it’s been over a decade – but I remember how excited I felt to be given the chance to make something that would be seen by a lot of people.
For the next week or so, I spent a little bit each day after school teaching myself how to really use the pen tool in Illustrator. The first Spider-Man film was hitting theaters around the time, so I drew him web-slinging underneath “Class of 2002” with a graduation cap and a diploma in his hand. It was a pretty simple black and white illustration that was printed on a folded sheet of blue office paper…honestly, nothing incredible about it – but seeing it printed and in everyone’s hand felt like a tremendous accomplishment. I’ve been lucky to have worked on a lot of great things since, but I don’t think any of them have touched me in quite the same way as that first experience did.”

OPEN MIKE EAGLE, Rapper

Mike is a rapper from Chicago. I’m fascinated by the depth of Mike’s releases and output. He has a storyteller persona more than the persona or function that many rappers/MC’s traditionally take (to keep a party going, or defeat an opponent). I feel very few degrees of separation between him and his music, even when he’s not referring to himself at all.

I wasn’t able to connect with him properly for artwork on his latest album (“Hella Personal Film Festival”), but am thankful he gave us the following peak inside his brain and story. Thanks, Mike.

What do you consider one of your first successes as a creative person?

“i would say that my first success as a creative person came when i won my first rap battle in high school. I didnt really have much to hang my hat on socially before that point and becoming part of the skills based community of underground hip hop was really big for my self image. But actually progressing to the point where I can win a battle was a big turning point. I was like I had gone from ‘I can do this’ to ‘I can be great at this’ and I hadnt had anything like that in my life before. And realistically I havent looked back from there.”

AL MADRIGAL, Comedian

Al is a stand up comedian, actor, and entrepreneur. I’ve worked with him on and off for years and am reallllllly glad he said he’d answer my question. Al is interesting because he wears many different hats so effectively.

He’s been a contributor to The Daily Show since 2011, and co-created the All Things Comedy Network. His ability as a comedian is obvious and it’s where he’s dedicated, but I’ve always gotten the sense from him that he’s interested in the inner workings of all the other worlds he gets exposed to by doing comedy. Television, film, design, business, family, politics, technology…etc…

What do you consider one of your first successes as a creative person?

“After spending three years a mute in high school, I finally decided to run for study body treasurer my junior year. My first creative success came with my campaign posters and speech. The posters were all very detailed and fun – “Ask your mom” (Along with a variety of older mom ladies) I’ve always been relatively comfortable with public speaking but when I had to do the speech for study body treasurer at 16, my junior year of high school, that was instrumental at developing my comedy career. It was the first success I had at being funny in front of a crowd. I don’t know what possessed me, it was 1988, but I thought it would be funny to do a Jesse Jackson impersonation. It was Jesse Jackson’s second presidential campaign, so very topical.  Super hacky but my speech rhymed and the impersonation seemed to be on point. I talked about “fiduciary responsibility” and such.., it killed. I remember afterwards the vice principal pulled me aside to tell me that I won in an absolute landslide. I got 1200 votes out of 1300. The guy I beat out ended up transferring out of the school.

Because my speech for study body treasurer was so successful, Mario Prietto, S.J. then principal of SI, lobbied me to be the salutatorian for my senior year.  Back then, at my school, salutatorian was not given based on academic accomplishment. Huge honor, because salutatorian was chosen based on who was funniest and would give the best speech. I did a light roast of the entire 1989 class and did an impression of Mario Prietto. That’s when I got the bug, my first creative success.”

The confidence gained by those first experiences is so interesting to me. It’s a real world application of something that each of us have long suspected. It’s gaining access to a room we’ve always wanted to go in.

More info on Brandon at seekandspeak.com.
More info on Mike at mikeeagle.net.
More info on Al at almadrigal.com.

Thanks for reading Question Market 1. I’m working hard to bring another one soon.

Derek