Rick Morris: Creative InspirationIntroduction| 00:00 | (Music playing.)
| | 00:18 | The form, the shape
and the color of things.
| | 00:20 | Just a line drawing moving across a screen.
| | 00:28 | They somewhat share the same properties.
| | 00:30 | I'll just sit and fill up a page and
then one page will turn into three pages.
| | 00:34 | I am still looking for the undiscovered.
| | 00:39 | (Music playing.)
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| Home Studio Tour| 00:00 | (Music playing.)
| | 00:08 | Ah! I was expecting UPS. Come on in as
long as you are here, make yourself at home.
| | 00:13 | This is where I dwell, this is where I think,
this is where I do, this is where I live.
| | 00:19 | I'll take you around
my collection of curios.
| | 00:26 | I am just in the middle of
a project. This is where I work
| | 00:29 | when I am here at the house and the fact
that technology is just getting more and
| | 00:34 | more condensed is an ideal
situation for me and most folks.
| | 00:38 | Now, let's go for a trip
around the rest of the crib.
| | 00:42 | This is like the graphic
designer's version of MTV Cribs. Yo.
| | 00:49 | This is what I am fortunate
enough to be surrounded by.
| | 00:54 | The reason being that both me and
my wife Lisa have been kind of mad
| | 01:00 | collectors, her even more so than me.
| | 01:06 | This is a permanent piece and this is a
piece that I'll never want to get rid of
| | 01:10 | and I am happy for the day that we
found it. Moving along, you can see
| | 01:17 | sculptural curios everywhere.
| | 01:21 | And what I really like is the fact
that we are just constantly dealing
| | 01:25 | with different surfaces.
| | 01:29 | Forged steel here, welded, ceramics
here, like all sorts of glazes and
| | 01:34 | patinas on them.
| | 01:37 | Oil paint, different applications,
things that, just subliminally are--
| | 01:44 | start to just kind seep in.
| | 01:45 | We bought this off an architect.
| | 01:47 | A guy -- we were the second people to
occupy this space. He built it for him
| | 01:52 | and his family.
| | 01:53 | So it's kind of got that spirit in
it already. There is this presence
| | 01:58 | that's has been occupied by this
creative person, who was like deeply
| | 02:03 | involved with this whole thing.
| | 02:05 | The place went up in 1966 and he
is not a guy of any major renown.
| | 02:11 | So I can't brag about this being
an Neutra or anything like that.
| | 02:15 | But he had the right ideas.
| | 02:17 | Here, it's just like more of what the world
has got to offer and what we see in the world.
| | 02:25 | And when I say we, I am
obviously referring to me and wife Lisa.
| | 02:29 | Again, she is a big part in my
inspirational flow. I don't know.
| | 02:33 | She just figures in profusely and consistently.
And these are lamps we found at a flea market
| | 02:43 | in the north of France,
Clignancourt, when we were over in Paris.
| | 02:48 | I don't know. To sum it all up, I'd
just say, I am here, I am comfortable here,
| | 02:53 | I have built this around me.
| | 02:54 | This is kind of what I
want to be surrounded with.
| | 02:59 | The reason I am at peace with this and
I find a source here is that every
| | 03:04 | fundamental discipline of design and
thinking is sort of represented one way or
| | 03:12 | another, and I just let it seep in.
| | 03:17 | It's like a flower being in a garden
and I am just sort of -- luckily, I am not
| | 03:22 | planted it in one spot.
| | 03:24 | I get the ability to move around.
| | 03:25 | But when I do I have always got
a great spot to find myself in.
| | 03:30 | So there you have it. We have pretty
much done the 360 of my little crib here,
| | 03:35 | and we are over here back at my gear, my
work station, which I am probably going to
| | 03:40 | have to get busy with in a
second, so I'll see you in a bit.
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| Artist Profile| 00:00 | (Music playing.)
| | 00:05 | I am just this collection of thoughts
and things that I try to just kind of--
| | 00:14 | acquire for the right reasons and
channel through for the right reasons and
| | 00:19 | hopefully that will give me a certain
amount of my legitimacy, my credibility
| | 00:24 | and my individuality, which will set
me apart from every other thing that's
| | 00:29 | happening on the scene right now.
| | 00:30 | I think the motion stuff
was just-- by anyone else's admission--
| | 00:35 | was just kind of
a natural progression of things.
| | 00:37 | I mean motion's always been implied
in print with these sort of blur effects or
| | 00:43 | these sort of tweening kind of things.
I mean when motion just like blew up on the scene,
| | 00:49 | it was so liberating.
| | 00:51 | It was just a chance for people who
already had those thoughts in their head,
| | 00:55 | who already had those elements
designed, to actually put things in a timeline
| | 01:00 | with keyframes to just sort of move
from place-to-place and place and create a
| | 01:05 | sort of linear path and a narrative.
| | 01:07 | So it only made sense for
me to go down that path.
| | 01:13 | But at the same time, I have noticed
that there is like a perpetual style
| | 01:19 | treadmill, the old dog
chasing its tail kind of thing.
| | 01:23 | We have so many people right now
| | 01:25 | and I am finding that at even
like the younger, more entry stages of the
| | 01:31 | business that are just kind of educated
strictly by other people's websites, and
| | 01:37 | strictly by what's kind of hot and
what's going to get them work, and then
| | 01:41 | it's almost like the cycle keeps
repeating itself, again and again and again.
| | 01:45 | I try to stay outside of that.
| | 01:47 | I think like my one source that I go
back to, the center of it all, is I think
| | 01:52 | you need to have passion and I need
you need to have at least one true love,
| | 01:57 | whether it's in your relationship or the
things you pursue or how you feel about
| | 02:01 | life and the people that you are involved with.
| | 02:05 | It really has to-- of course it has to
come from inside, but what's the biggest
| | 02:09 | part of your inside?
I think it's your heart.
| | 02:12 | It connects with your brain.
| | 02:13 | It connects with your hands and
everything else just kind of plays concert with
| | 02:19 | who you are and what you do.
| | 02:21 | I try for each experience to just sort
of take me to a new level of something,
| | 02:26 | just self-awareness, and
I am not going to deny that
| | 02:33 | I'm my own worst critic.
| | 02:36 | I mean, thank god I don't have somebody
else out there who is like saying the
| | 02:40 | things to me that I say to myself, because
I'd be having some of the worst days of my life.
| | 02:46 | There is not a whole lot of
separation between any kind of personal life
| | 02:49 | and professional life.
| | 02:50 | I think they kind of become one and the same.
| | 02:53 | The process is as the process always has
been. I continue seeing and hearing and
| | 03:02 | watching and listening and learning
and reading and you know, everything just
| | 03:07 | adds up to the next thing, any next
discovery that I hope to make and I want to
| | 03:14 | stay in there with the better people
because that's what keeps pushing me to just
| | 03:18 | be the best version of me I can possibly be.
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| Career Path| 00:00 | (Music playing.)
| | 00:05 | I got here and now to this place I'm at
right now in the industry by my past and
| | 00:12 | previous skill sets which was
illustration and print design.
| | 00:17 | I moved to Los Angeles from Detroit in 1990.
| | 00:21 | One thing led to another to another.
| | 00:23 | It was like L.A. was just like a lasagna,
with just like layers to go through.
| | 00:28 | There was nothing like extraordinary
or fancy about the stuff I was doing.
| | 00:34 | Work people, the average person could
care a less about, but through the magic
| | 00:40 | of editing and my kind of like
sensibilities and sitting in on the session,
| | 00:48 | I turned like the most mediocre work
into something like interesting.
| | 00:52 | You know what I mean? At that
point I realized I was a commodity.
| | 00:57 | I was viable, I was marketable.
| | 00:59 | I could move myself around.
| | 01:01 | I had ammo in my hand to make something of it.
| | 01:04 | It was totally up to me.
| | 01:06 | I started shopping that baby around
like for all it was worth. Got me a gig at Fox.
| | 01:14 | I did my time there, freelanced
during the day, freelanced at night, still
| | 01:19 | just moving, moving,
moving. Just realizing that
| | 01:22 | if I took my resources and I took my
sensibilities and I took my skills and
| | 01:26 | combined them, no matter what I was
challenged with, even material that could
| | 01:31 | ultimately defeat me, I could come out winning.
| | 01:33 | I put that stuff together to
where it all made sense to somebody and
| | 01:37 | that propelled me onto my very next thing.
| | 01:40 | I have never said no to a dare, which
is the reason that it's gotten me
| | 01:43 | into like, these conferences, these
speaking conventions, all these other
| | 01:47 | situations I have been in is because if you
say no once, you may never get asked again.
| | 01:53 | And so I tend not to pass up opportunities.
| | 01:57 | But one of my first big projects again,
as far as crossing over, was working on
| | 02:04 | a small independent movie here and just
being asked to do the title work for a
| | 02:08 | film they were shooting at
Echo Park called Mi Vida Loca.
| | 02:12 | The whole title sequence was a series
of still cards that were done like Chelo
| | 02:19 | prison style and she personally sent
me like all these different envelopes
| | 02:25 | with the crying clowns and the
elaborate flower borders and everything that
| | 02:30 | inmates wrote to their girlfriends,
you know what I mean, as reference for the
| | 02:34 | design in this thing.
| | 02:36 | Ultimately in the end, I turned out
like 13 -14 different cards for her.
| | 02:41 | At that point, I figured like this is it.
I am here, I am in L.A., I am doing the
| | 02:50 | L.A. thing, I am with the L.A. people.
I just felt like I was in the stream.
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| Art & Motion| 00:00 | (Music playing.)
| | 00:06 | So initially I started as an illustrator,
everybody starts from something at some point.
| | 00:11 | I was just a constant and persistent
nonstop scribbler. Cars were one of
| | 00:16 | my first fascinations.
| | 00:17 | I grew up in Detroit, so
there was no avoiding it.
| | 00:19 | Sit down lies, these were
just some sort of figures.
| | 00:23 | Okay, random scribbles.
| | 00:25 | I was just sort of, I was going
further like for these primitive shapes and
| | 00:31 | I don't start out figuring out
what the end result is going to be.
| | 00:34 | I hit on an image, I hit an idea or
something and then I decide where I am
| | 00:39 | going to take it, whether it's going to
become a motion piece, contribute to our
| | 00:42 | project I'm working on or just become
a static painted personal item for me.
| | 00:48 | Type-wise, there is just not
one way of working with type.
| | 00:55 | Type is as open and expansive and
expressive to me as anything else, any shape,
| | 01:01 | form, object or whatever.
| | 01:03 | I just like to be just as free and
uncalculated with that as possible.
| | 01:09 | I will just sit and fill up a page and
then one page will turn into three pages,
| | 01:15 | will turn into like pretty
much half a book by the time I am done.
| | 01:18 | This is kind of a demonstration of
the continuation of the line thing.
| | 01:22 | Once you develop a lyrical line flow,
it's like developing a lyrical rhyme flow
| | 01:28 | or any other kind of flow or ice
skating or whatever it takes. It's just this
| | 01:33 | one nonstop motion that just takes you
through and everything connects and you know every
| | 01:39 | curve and bend to make it, twist
and turn and just when it's needed.
| | 01:44 | Everything is a line drawing
before it becomes a flowed in, inked in
| | 01:48 | colored, finished deal.
| | 01:56 | People who don't draw basically just
go find images in different places, scan
| | 02:02 | things and then just paste them together.
| | 02:04 | Learning how to do draw gives you the
ability to where if you just have a head shot,
| | 02:09 | or like down to the mid
level shoulders or something.
| | 02:12 | If you have to finish something off,
you understand the rest of that physical form,
| | 02:16 | or whether it's a car or a building
or an animal or? You have a complete
| | 02:23 | understanding of what it takes to complete that.
| | 02:27 | So you are fine with the
starter pieces to get you going.
| | 02:37 | The illustration thing
figures in prominently here.
| | 02:40 | It always has for me.
| | 02:42 | These folks were calling for a "Sal Bassy"
approach and I know he is everybody's hero,
| | 02:50 | but that's because his specific
style just came from illustration and
| | 02:57 | somehow being born of that,
| | 02:59 | it just gave him a patent signature
look to everything he developed.
| | 03:06 | Created like all these
different variations on a theme.
| | 03:09 | Which in brief means if you took a
speedometer like this, which was like the
| | 03:17 | first frame and broke it down to the
fundamentals, it ultimately just becomes a
| | 03:21 | circle and then it's just design play with that.
| | 03:27 | The graphic becoming the
sort of like illustrated element.
| | 03:31 | To me what makes a
motion piece great, truly?
| | 03:36 | There's the technical school that
| | 03:39 | is always going to be alert and aware of what
people are doing with rabbit in a hat tricks,
| | 03:46 | and visual magic and special
effects flies. I think there is
| | 03:51 | some truly amazing things happening.
| | 03:54 | Then there is the other school is,
what kind of a story are you telling and
| | 04:01 | that can be done on the lowest of low-fi
kind of approaches and treatments.
| | 04:08 | It doesn't require big effects.
| | 04:11 | It doesn't require heavy gear.
| | 04:13 | I mean it can be as simple as just a
line drawing moving across the screen.
| | 04:19 | If I feel a sense of that I am being
taken somewhere, especially if I am being
| | 04:24 | taken somewhere unexpectedly, then that
makes for a great motion piece to me.
| | 04:30 | I love unexpected endings.
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| Rick’s Personal Project in Progress| 00:00 | (Music playing.)
| | 00:07 | This is just a short ways
off from being complete.
| | 00:11 | It's still a work in progress.
| | 00:12 | I think we all know that.
| | 00:14 | Concept wise, I don't think it's
been the first time it's ever been approached
| | 00:18 | but it meant a lot to me.
| | 00:19 | Because it breaks down the three
components I think that are essential to
| | 00:25 | design, even beyond design. Just life,
everything that makes up what I sort of
| | 00:31 | surround myself with and consume.
And those three components would be
| | 00:36 | the graphic, the physical, the architectural.
| | 00:38 | I think not only do they live
independently but they combine
| | 00:43 | so beautifully together.
| | 00:46 | But there is those moments, just like
those moments where you might look out of
| | 00:49 | the window and catch something flying
by that just makes beautiful sense, that
| | 00:55 | I'll catch a hook or a loop or
something that makes me think.
| | 01:01 | That inspires some sort of graphic thinking,
you know, maybe just brings a visual to mind.
| | 01:05 | There is always music at the beginning
with me, of everything I do, some way, somehow.
| | 01:13 | Basically, I started putting some
shapes together, different combinations of
| | 01:16 | randomness, just to see
where that would lead to.
| | 01:24 | And at this point we're already kind of
imagining what the physical relationship to
| | 01:29 | these buildings and the
potential for that might be.
| | 01:37 | It's about just kind of opening up a
vernacular that you can articulate and
| | 01:42 | somehow find a narrative in.
Those are three big words right there.
| | 01:51 | I had somebody at my disposal who was a
pal. He gave us a little green screen time.
| | 01:57 | And once we had sort of like gone on
some location scouting and whatnot,
| | 02:01 | things were all starting to make sense so we
kind of knew what direction to take her in.
| | 02:12 | The last component was just kind of
figuring out where and how the graphic
| | 02:18 | pieces were going to fit in.
| | 02:24 | This was one of many tests done in
After Effects just to kind of like get a sort
| | 02:30 | of organic algorithm flow.
| | 02:38 | This is where things were laid out
in a linear fashion, a little bit more
| | 02:43 | comprehensively, with a little bit more
insight, just putting all the focus and
| | 02:48 | attention on the actual elements themselves
and it really was an exercise in transitions.
| | 02:53 | The transitions of the metamorphosis of
graphical going into human, the human aspect
| | 03:00 | turning into architectural because
they so much share the same properties, as
| | 03:04 | far as I mean, runway models when
they strike poses they are so close to
| | 03:10 | architectural wonders, you know, how
those things were conceived and this was
| | 03:16 | really a nice opportunity to go and
start to like really put the graphic
| | 03:20 | attention on the aspect of the
architectural things vice-versa.
| | 03:23 | Now everything just kind of overlapped,
crisscrossed and related to one another.
| | 03:33 | The shape of the buildings once again
afforded the opportunity to just get into
| | 03:37 | this geometric kind of
choppiness with the graphics.
| | 03:44 | Finding some small slight little
detail that would just kind of like be
| | 03:49 | abstract in proportion in relationship
to the physical thing. Openness, just
| | 03:54 | opening this up to just negative space
again and getting into the beauty of just
| | 03:58 | the basic essential elements I surround
myself with, the form, the shape and the
| | 04:02 | color of things that all
seem to make sense together.
| | 04:18 | Basically, diminishing, diminishing,
diminishing and sort of ending where we
| | 04:23 | began so we've got one continuous loop.
| | 04:28 | So I've reached this point. Obviously, there is
shooting to be done, there is animation to be done.
| | 04:33 | Now I am going to start getting a
little bit more systematic about how I find
| | 04:37 | and see my way through this piece.
| | 04:39 | Ultimately, it's going to be a finished piece.
| | 04:42 | It's going to be a short film.
To what duration running time
| | 04:46 | I am certain just yet. I am going to
let the music kind of dictate that and
| | 04:51 | just, you know, let them move together.
| | 04:53 | And if it becomes a beautiful loop,
maybe an environmental installation.
| | 05:00 | If it becomes a nice narrative piece, who knows?
A short I can put out into the world or
| | 05:06 | enter into festivals, so
that's always a nice thing to do.
| | 05:09 | And if it's just a mood piece that just
kind of inspires people and makes people
| | 05:12 | kind of think and swing with it, I will
put it up on the internet and just let
| | 05:16 | it float it around and see
where it goes from there.
| | 05:18 | So those are my goals.
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| Sources of Inspiration| 00:00 | (Music playing.)
| | 00:05 | What stimulates my creativity in general?
It comes from a whole assortment of places.
| | 00:12 | It's not just one area. Things around,
when I rotate things as need be just to
| | 00:18 | kind of like change the
environment a little bit.
| | 00:21 | I mean that's the one nice thing about
having stuff is you can just kind of move
| | 00:27 | it around. You know, I'm not
into this like permanent setup.
| | 00:31 | But I just like the fact that all this
color and shape and form is around me.
| | 00:40 | I mean you can't get away from the
fundamentals, which is the graphic,
| | 00:45 | the physical and the architectural.
| | 00:50 | And then with that goes the tactile.
| | 00:53 | I love books because of the tactile sense.
| | 00:55 | I love ceramics because of the look and feel.
| | 00:59 | I mean there's things outside of the
computer and the internet that just need,
| | 01:05 | that I need to contact with.
| | 01:07 | And I don't think I am ever
at a loss for some kind of little curio
| | 01:17 | or item to just trigger off, yeah,
an inspirational kind of series of events.
| | 01:26 | This is kind of like a typical big eye
painting just sort of like done on a wood plank.
| | 01:35 | It's signed Duso. I am not at all that
familiar with the artist but I really was
| | 01:39 | attracted to the image itself. That
was just something that was just kind of
| | 01:43 | like precious even
though the eyes are vacant.
| | 01:47 | It still like speaks to me and I can
connect with this and it was all in the
| | 01:52 | innuendo and the nuance of this thing.
| | 01:54 | But at the same time stylistically
I try to avoid all the retro-trappings
| | 02:02 | as often as possible.
| | 02:04 | In this particular instance, I worked
with acrylics and just painted out the
| | 02:09 | whole thing. Since I come
from a collage background,
| | 02:12 | these parts was just painted independently.
| | 02:14 | I mean I'd actually literally
sketch this thing out by hand first.
| | 02:18 | Then I decided which pieces were going
to be independent and I painted those on
| | 02:22 | separate boards, cut the whole thing
apart, pasted it together and this thing
| | 02:28 | here that looks like wood is exactly
just acrylics, just being dragged across
| | 02:33 | the surface with a brush.
| | 02:37 | I started out painting.
| | 02:38 | I took a long break from it.
| | 02:40 | I am getting back into it again now and
it just feels good because it's almost
| | 02:44 | like I am rediscovering
what I kind of already knew.
| | 02:49 | I have music on constantly.
| | 02:50 | I think music is usually and always--
even if it isn't directly related to the piece
| | 02:56 | somehow I will just be casually
listening to stuff, have something on, and
| | 03:03 | one specific track or maybe one
passage in a track, one moment or one little
| | 03:08 | interlude or something will just ring
a bell and I will just go, "I like the
| | 03:14 | rhythm of that" and then
I'll make it into a loop.
| | 03:18 | If it really is that significant, and
I'll kind of listen to it for a while.
| | 03:22 | It puts me in a mindset where I can
just kind of create a flow from there.
| | 03:27 | I am inspired by lovers, people in love,
which somehow have always stirred an
| | 03:34 | interest in me, that whole interaction.
| | 03:36 | Watching them from just casually
observing from across the table at a restaurant
| | 03:41 | or being in a park, any other area.
| | 03:45 | I don't just readily turn to design manuals.
| | 03:49 | I mean they are there for a reason.
| | 03:51 | I think they serve a perfect
purpose, for collecting work and
| | 03:56 | gathering specimens of some of the best stuff.
| | 03:58 | We need to see it, even though most of
that stuff's happening online nowadays.
| | 04:04 | There's amazing work being done in the US.
| | 04:06 | I think most of the stuff that's
really been weighing in heavily lately
| | 04:10 | is coming from the UK.
| | 04:11 | I love it. And that's not to say that
Japan hasn't made its generous contribution
| | 04:18 | too and continuous to do so.
| | 04:20 | There is just something about the way
stuff that gets created here gets kind
| | 04:25 | of channeled and filtered and
digested through there and then just kind of
| | 04:29 | spit back out to us in an entirely
different fashion. That's something we
| | 04:32 | never expected.
| | 04:33 | So it's almost like
something back from another planet.
| | 04:35 | I love that.
| | 04:36 | There's a lot of other artists in the
industry I am inspired by, you know.
| | 04:41 | I have no hesitation about admitting to that.
| | 04:45 | And I think if you're doing your job,
we should all be inspiring each other.
| | 04:49 | I think that's what it's all about.
| | 04:51 | There is no telling what's going
to figure in at what given time.
| | 04:54 | It's just like whatever happens to
speak to me that day, what kind of mood I am in,
| | 04:58 | what kind of a day I am having.
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| Tools of Choice| 00:00 | (Music playing.)
| | 00:07 | This would be one of my first favorite,
first and foremost favorite tools, is
| | 00:13 | getting something down on
paper in whatever manner I can.
| | 00:17 | Even if they are thoughts, scribbles,
ideas, just kind of conjectures,
| | 00:23 | things off the top of my head, I want to
get those notes down as quickly as possible.
| | 00:27 | I am not one to jump straight
into Illustrator and Photoshop.
| | 00:30 | I sort of get there by matter of process.
| | 00:35 | I'll tend to do that once in a while,
but I find that if that's my first route,
| | 00:40 | unless I am just creating basic
shapes and elements that need to be clearly
| | 00:44 | defined or highly stylized.
| | 00:47 | I will go there, but that's usually my
second stage and then I'll go into like a
| | 00:55 | combination of Illustrator and Photoshop.
| | 00:57 | I usually have them open at the same time
so I can kind of like create elements and
| | 01:01 | move them back and forth.
| | 01:02 | Once I get enough elements created in
Illustrator that most likely most times
| | 01:08 | would be inspired by something that I
kind of like hand drew, just to get a
| | 01:11 | jump on things.
| | 01:12 | Image recording wise, I've
been through a series of cameras.
| | 01:16 | The larger format mini DVs to the
smaller format, hand-held like
| | 01:21 | consumer grade mini DVs.
| | 01:23 | I seem to be like progressively
downscaling because I like the sort of like
| | 01:29 | low fineness of just point-and-
shoot and the accessibility of it as well.
| | 01:36 | I'm constantly importing photos
from the iPhone, because everyday I've
| | 01:40 | got that thing.
| | 01:41 | I am shooting as many pictures as I am
making phone calls with that thing.
| | 01:45 | So I start to import
like different elements in.
| | 01:48 | And I know that they are just temporary
elements but they really help me start
| | 01:52 | to build kind of like what I am going
for. At the end of it all my most important
| | 01:57 | tools are my-- I like to think of my
brain as the factory and I like to think of
| | 02:04 | my eyes and my hands as the tools.
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| Dealing with Change| 00:00 | (Music playing.)
| | 00:06 | I keep up with emerging technology by staying
connected with the right three or four people.
| | 00:14 | We basically like share the same
information. We're pretty much
| | 00:19 | cross-platform. But saying that I've
got a pretty extensive roster of folks
| | 00:27 | that I toggle back and forth with as
far as like I was checking in with each other,
| | 00:31 | staying up on things, but
clients' needs are becoming more expensive and
| | 00:36 | demanding now.
| | 00:38 | So yeah, it's not enough to know After Effects.
| | 00:44 | There was a time when it was just
simple as just adopting a style.
| | 00:49 | There were the forefathers that
brought the whole print look into
| | 00:56 | motion graphics.
| | 00:58 | Got away from that whole light shiny thing.
| | 01:01 | I've realized the need to incorporate
3D. If I can't be a master of virtuoso of
| | 01:07 | Maya myself, I sort of build out my
alliances and my troops accordingly.
| | 01:15 | I have got my 3D people.
| | 01:16 | I have got my Flash people.
| | 01:19 | We work on-- we will all sort of
converge on a project and work out every aspect
| | 01:24 | of it depending on what we need.
| | 01:26 | As far as the crisscross
platforming thing goes, I worked any number
| | 01:31 | of variations.
| | 01:32 | I mean you know we have done Flash
animations that were brought in to
| | 01:35 | After Effects and we've done like
3D modeling and all kinds of stuff
| | 01:41 | depending on that.
| | 01:43 | I think about the most challenging
thing for me is not to let the business get
| | 01:49 | in the way of what I am trying to do.
| | 01:52 | I don't let the up times or the down
times make me feel like I am either ahead
| | 01:59 | or behind in the game.
| | 02:01 | There's times I am just banging
on three to four jobs at one time.
| | 02:06 | There's times when I have
nine people running around me.
| | 02:08 | There's times when I am just working
alone on my laptop because that's all the
| | 02:13 | job calls for. But even in between
jobs and if it's a little bit slow, I don't
| | 02:21 | take that as a negative.
| | 02:22 | I use that time enthusiastically to get
caught up on work that is on the back burner.
| | 02:28 | By other work I really do mean
personal work. I want I get more deeply involved
| | 02:33 | in that.
| | 02:34 | I think that is just going to add
another layer on to what I am already doing.
| | 02:40 | I don't worry too much about keeping up.
| | 02:43 | I think staying vital is just
saying something with your work.
| | 02:48 | Stylistically you can pretty much
like pull any rabbit out of a hat trick
| | 02:53 | you need to in order to please a
client with how they want it to look
| | 03:01 | cosmetically on the surface.
| | 03:03 | I mean there is a lot of
ways of going about that.
| | 03:05 | But you're telling a story.
| | 03:07 | I think you're telling a story.
| | 03:08 | I think you are trying--
| | 03:08 | Even if you are selling like garbage,
you're still like telling a story and
| | 03:13 | that's like your biggest challenge ever.
If you can like sell garbage and tell a story too,
| | 03:18 | then you've done your job right there.
| | 03:23 |
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| Life as a Freelancer| 00:00 | (Music playing.)
| | 00:05 | My life as a freelancer kind of came by
a combination of choice and fate I guess.
| | 00:16 | My dad was self-made guy.
| | 00:18 | I learned from him about making for
yourself and doing for yourself and building
| | 00:22 | things around yourself.
| | 00:23 | The best way I found satisfaction from
doing that was just going into business
| | 00:27 | for myself and just keeping myself
available to any and all opportunities.
| | 00:32 | So freelancing seems to
satisfy that requirement for me.
| | 00:37 | I've come close to having the full-
time job and in a collaborative way,
| | 00:43 | that suits me just fine.
| | 00:46 | And if I'm in the right environment
with the right people, I like that
| | 00:50 | whole like sharing thing.
| | 00:54 | I'm not a megalomaniac control freak
that needs to do everything myself.
| | 00:57 | God knows I can't and that's the benefit
of knowing people right now that I like to
| | 01:01 | spend my time with them
and share my thought with.
| | 01:04 | I think freelancing just keeps you
constantly on your toes, because there is the
| | 01:09 | up and the down side.
| | 01:10 | The upside obviously being when you're
working and making money and rolling.
| | 01:14 | The downside being when you are just
like waiting for the next job and making
| | 01:20 | excuses to your friends and you're
just kind of in between projects.
| | 01:23 | As far as next projects, upcoming
work as a freelancer, aside from my
| | 01:31 | established clientele, I never really
know what's lying around any next corner.
| | 01:38 | I know that there is a certain amount
of pursuing involved and I don't mind
| | 01:43 | doing that. A little of self
promotion never hurt anybody.
| | 01:46 | So I get active with that when the time comes.
| | 01:49 | I'm never one to just kind of like
sit back and wait for the phone to ring.
| | 01:53 | But there is a certain amount of
that happens too from just kind of having
| | 01:57 | clients, treating them well, and just
sort of being lucky enough to have them
| | 02:02 | in your back pocket.
| | 02:04 | Just kind of like maintain the flow.
| | 02:06 | I do like to do my personal endeavors
in order to inspire future prospective
| | 02:11 | clients to give them a little bit of
insight and hope into maybe expanding
| | 02:16 | their range or other reasons to use me.
| | 02:19 | Ultimately, the all important thing is
to get visible and getting visible means
| | 02:23 | just getting up online.
| | 02:25 | Getting up online means having a link.
| | 02:27 | Having a link means having something
that you can send out to people and boom,
| | 02:32 | that's your hillside fire right there.
| | 02:34 | I'm a big advocate of the freelance spirit.
| | 02:37 | If it suits you, and if you're that
individual who is cut out to be that, then
| | 02:42 | you know obviously there has to be
some kind of synchronicity there.
| | 02:46 | But you just got to
get over the fear factor.
| | 02:52 | Once I get over like any kind of fear
factor, which luckily I conquered early on,
| | 02:59 | I was brave enough to go out into
the world and make my way for myself.
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| Teaching| 00:00 | (Music playing.)
| | 00:07 | How this all began, this teaching thing?
| | 00:09 | This teaching thing that isn't a
teaching thing, because I was never looking
| | 00:13 | to be a teacher.
| | 00:15 | It just kind of happened.
| | 00:17 | I got into the room
finally one time to teach class.
| | 00:21 | 20 people there.
| | 00:23 | We went through this entire week of me
kind of teaching myself as I taught them.
| | 00:27 | But it was amazing the chemistry
that developed between me and them.
| | 00:32 | I went in petrified.
| | 00:34 | I came out just feeling
complete and accomplished.
| | 00:38 | I've now been at Otis for five solid years.
| | 00:43 | Somehow I'm stuck to this.
| | 00:45 | I have been maintaining a class.
| | 00:49 | I just do a once a week thing.
| | 00:51 | I do it because I want to stay involved.
| | 00:53 | I'm here to spend some time with
these folks and see stuff get done.
| | 00:57 | I share the same enthusiasm and
curiosity for the industry that they do.
| | 01:02 | Okay, because I'm still looking for
the undiscovered and I'm still trying
| | 01:05 | to make things happen.
| | 01:06 | And I'm still-- I'm not going to be the
master of all things, but at least I can
| | 01:10 | be the best version of me I can
think of, so that's what I strive for.
| | 01:17 | And I try to bring that out of
everybody and once again collectively, we just
| | 01:21 | seem to work together well,
because they feel my energy.
| | 01:25 | I feel theirs'.
| | 01:26 | I think if you put out the good stuff,
the good stuff comes back to you.
| | 01:31 | I really work hard.
| | 01:33 | I work hard and I don't because I
want to be loose and casually improvise
| | 01:39 | with these classes.
| | 01:40 | I want these people to feel spontaneous.
| | 01:42 | I don't want to go in there with a
prepared agenda that I'm just like sleepwalking
| | 01:45 | through, as told to
them by like Father Time.
| | 01:49 | It's like you've got to be working in
order to like be vital in this business
| | 01:53 | and that's all there is to it.
| | 01:54 | So I do my best.
| | 01:56 | I feel that they're probably like
catching that too and together we're
| | 02:02 | making stuff happen.
| | 02:03 | Tonight was to like re-envision a
company that, a very successful company,
| | 02:08 | American Apparel.
| | 02:10 | We go through all kinds of exercises,
typography exercises, graphic exercises,
| | 02:14 | live graphics with footage. I make
them shoot footage, collected projects
| | 02:18 | we'll cover that all.
| | 02:31 | I just put these guys up to the
mission of like producing commercials.
| | 02:34 | What we would see from American
Apparel, if they were to go like full-blown
| | 02:40 | live-action with graphics.
Concept, concept, that's the deal.
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| Interview with Lynda| 00:00 | (Music playing.)
| | 00:07 | Rick Morris: Hey Lynda!
| | 00:08 | Lynda Weinman: Hey Rick!
| | 00:09 | It's so great that you agreed to be
part of our Creative Inspiration series.
| | 00:12 | We are really happy to have you.
| | 00:13 | Rick: Well, I'm happy to do so.
| | 00:14 | It's an honor to be here, really.
| | 00:16 | Lynda: Well, I'm remembering
back to where we met originally.
| | 00:19 | Do you remember?
| | 00:20 | Rick: Yes, indeed I do. It was --
| | 00:23 | Lynda: American Film Institute.
| | 00:24 | Rick: American Film Institute, back
in the day and I was just starting to get
| | 00:30 | schooled on the whole business of
motion arts, and I needed to get some
| | 00:36 | training, quick, fast and in a hurry,
because I was starting to get work and
| | 00:39 | I needed to figure out what I was going
to be doing, and I came and attended
| | 00:43 | one of your classes.
| | 00:44 | Lynda: I remember being quite drawn to you
because you already were an artist and you
| | 00:51 | had a great portfolio and you really
seemed to know what you wanted to do with
| | 00:54 | the education you were getting.
| | 00:56 | So how was it that you decided
that you wanted to transition from being an
| | 01:00 | illustrator to get into motion graphics?
| | 01:01 | Rick: Well, that's
the way the current was going.
| | 01:05 | I could feel that and I really wanted
to move with that stream, and my moving
| | 01:12 | here to L.A. was a big turning point
as far as redirecting the compass of
| | 01:17 | things design-wise.
| | 01:18 | Lynda: Had you been looking at motion
graphics and analyzing it and thinking of motion?
| | 01:22 | Rick: No, I had no idea.
| | 01:24 | I mean I had a little bit more than a
clue, but I didn't know anything about
| | 01:30 | getting into the biz,
where it was going to take me.
| | 01:35 | I had just sort of a minimal knowledge
of the people that were working in that field,
| | 01:40 | but I knew that I was interested
because at that point I was looking
| | 01:46 | to get off the page and
get more into storytelling.
| | 01:48 | Lynda: So were you already comfortable
with the computer, was that a transition too?
| | 01:53 | Rick: Yeah, I didn't say much about
this at the time because I was already working
| | 01:57 | with folks, but it was trial by fire.
| | 01:59 | I was still kind of learning on the job.
| | 02:04 | Probably one of the best ways to learn,
looking back now in retrospect, because
| | 02:09 | it was do or die and I really wanted to make it.
| | 02:12 | I wanted to make the cut.
| | 02:14 | I had people that believed in me on
a design level and now I had to like
| | 02:19 | convince them on an entirely new level.
| | 02:21 | Lynda: Absolutely.
Rick: That I had the skills to make it.
| | 02:23 | Lynda: Did you find working with
the computer to come easily to you?
| | 02:28 | What was that like to go from drawing by hand?
| | 02:29 | Rick: Well there is a learning curve.
| | 02:30 | Lynda: There is a learning curve
and it's not for everybody.
| | 02:33 | There are so many artists
who can't make that transition.
| | 02:37 | So did you find that you had the aptitude
for it right out of the gate or how did
| | 02:41 | you maneuver yourself into that?
| | 02:43 | Rick: No, I wasn't one of those
gifted predisposed people that were already
| | 02:48 | like blessed with that.
| | 02:50 | I had to go through that
painfully agonizing learning curve.
| | 02:53 | But I put myself through it.
| | 02:56 | I mean as grueling as it was, I had an
old machine available to me that I would
| | 03:06 | run to at nights and scramble, just like
tear through manual, and teach myself
| | 03:13 | everything I needed to know for that
very next day and that went on for like
| | 03:18 | probably weeks in a row.
| | 03:19 | Lynda: Well, I'm in your home and I know
we were profiling it in the piece, but
| | 03:24 | we're surrounded by art and obviously,
you're very influenced by art.
| | 03:30 | I've even bumped into you at MOCHA
at an art exhibit one time, and I've seen
| | 03:36 | you on the outside.
| | 03:37 | So what role do you draw from with outside art?
| | 03:42 | How do you-- not only do your own art
but it seems like you're a connoisseur of
| | 03:46 | the other people's art as well?
| | 03:47 | Rick: Well yeah, I've acquired a lot of
tastes along the way and also I want to credit
| | 03:56 | my wife Lisa for schooling me on a lot
of stuff and bringing me along as far as
| | 04:03 | introducing new things.
| | 04:04 | Not just painters but all these
different like mediums that I'm surrounded by,
| | 04:14 | be it glass, be it ceramics, be
it forged steel, iron, welding, welded
| | 04:19 | sculptural pieces.
| | 04:21 | I mean, everything has a tactile
sense but in the end the dots all connect
| | 04:27 | because it really is part of a whole.
| | 04:32 | I may have a certain stylistic approach
to the way I've got things set up right now,
| | 04:37 | but that doesn't exclude the fact
that I have my share of like science
| | 04:42 | fiction posters and Japanese plushies
and all kinds of other craziness as well.
| | 04:46 | I just kind of keep that stored
away in my own special little back room.
| | 04:53 | I pull it out when necessary.
| | 04:54 | But yeah, I mean if I surround myself
with art, it's because that's what I'm
| | 05:02 | keen on, that's what I'm curious about,
that's what I'm forever interested in,
| | 05:07 | and it's the same way a singer
would themselves with music, I suppose.
| | 05:11 | Lynda: Are you still doing your
own drawings and your own artwork?
| | 05:16 | Rick: Oh yeah, well, absolutely.
| | 05:18 | I think that would happen no matter what.
| | 05:21 | That would happen if I was
just desperately unemployed.
| | 05:25 | I mean you know, I don't know,
and I would still find that as a release
| | 05:31 | and an outlet and some solace because to me
that's where I'm kind of at peace with myself.
| | 05:37 | If I really, really need to just kind
of like look for rescue in something,
| | 05:43 | it's always there for me.
| | 05:44 | Yeah, it helps to like draw things.
| | 05:47 | It's like my personal diary of life I
guess. That's how I keep track of things.
| | 05:52 | Lynda: It's you're calling. Would you say so?
| | 05:54 | Rick: I think so, yeah.
Lynda: I think so too.
| | 05:56 | Rick: It helped me find other avenues
and pursue a lot of different things.
| | 06:02 | I mean you need some point of origin to
hook on to, as an anchor point and then
| | 06:08 | from there you just kind of like spread out.
| | 06:10 | Lynda: So what keeps you going?
| | 06:13 | I mean where do you think you're
going to find the next bit of inspiration?
| | 06:18 | Do you ever struggle with
any kind of creative blocks?
| | 06:21 | Rick: No, I don't have the one year
plan, the five year plan, the ten year plan,
| | 06:25 | or anything like that.
| | 06:26 | I just know that there is always
something lurking around every next corner, so
| | 06:31 | it's either going to
find me or I'm going to find it.
| | 06:33 | Lynda: This has been a lot of work and I
really appreciate you taking the time and
| | 06:38 | the hope is that this is going to help
people but in a different way than lynda.com
| | 06:42 | normally helps them, which is to
learn a tool, but instead to understand in
| | 06:47 | addition to the tool what else goes
into making a body of work and what else
| | 06:51 | goes into finding your point of view and
being able to express. Just expression.
| | 06:58 | Rick: I think-- I look forward to like
advancing technology and where that's going to
| | 07:05 | take us. That is one of the biggest
exciting prospects that I have to look
| | 07:10 | forward to it and I think other people
will -- many other people feel exactly
| | 07:14 | the same way about it.
| | 07:17 | So I try to stay up on top of
things as much as possible.
| | 07:19 | I think you're doing a tremendous
job of keeping people current and also
| | 07:25 | keeping their skill sets in place as
far as like the learning goes and you are
| | 07:31 | right about the tools.
| | 07:32 | It's amazing that they're there.
| | 07:33 | It's amazing that they're
doing what they're doing.
| | 07:35 | But they are to facilitate your
ideas and your thoughts and turn those
| | 07:40 | thoughts into creations.
| | 07:41 | Lynda: I totally agree.
| | 07:43 | Well, thank you for sharing your insights.
| | 07:46 | We love having you.
Thank you very much.
| | 07:48 | Rick: Well, thank you so much Lynda.
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