as a professional creative, i often find myself looking to fellow motion designers for ideas and inspiration. you never know what might spark something: a color palette, a particular font or animation technique. could be anything. however, i’m always careful to maintain a substantial distance from whatever it is i’m drawing from. it’s called having integrity.

sadly there are “creatives” who do not share these values. see for yourself:

Wow…

the top image is from andrew serkin, a russia-based motion designer, and its obviously the original. its a beautiful design, and an amazing animation piece. the bottom image, is a screen grab from the motion reel of a post company who shall remain nameless. not only did they rip-off the color palette, textures, fonts and composition, they even went so far as to use the EXACT SAME numbers on the inner walls of the large number. pretty crazy. its one thing to copy something to figure out how it was done, or for practice or experimentation for yourself. but by putting it on your reel, you’re implying it’s an orignal piece.

if i didn’t know who was responsible for the theft, i’d probably be more pissed than i am. as it stands, i actually find it kinda funny and more than a little pathetic.

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after many months of work and countless pots of coffee, i’m pleased to share the biggest project we’ve done at photoelectric to date:

this marks the third iteration of this project that i have worked on, and the first (hopefully of many) not under anyone else’s banner.

you can check out the original design, as well as the ones that didn’t make it here.

enjoy folks!


new year, new work, check it out.


not for me, but for my good friend danny. he’s just launched a new website featuring his illustration work as well as his latest comic book submission, the radio god. great stuff. hes talented, this guy. it was cool to see this stuff again, too.

go check it out.


remember the post right below this one about the dog bed and how petco had priced the bed $30 cheaper on their own website than in their store? remember how strange and idiotic that seems? like how it seems they’re undercutting their own brick and mortar store? right? remember?

it just happened again.

this time, at northern tool and equipment. different product, same exact scenario, except this time i checked the price of the item in the parking lot on my phone. $20 cheaper online than in the store. i walked right back in and showed the cashier and she gave me a refund no problem.

what the fuck is going here, and why does it make me so upset? should i be bothered or just quit bitching? some one please tell me.

on a separate note, i don’t thing i’ve ever encountered anything in my life that makes me feel as stupid as ratchet straps.


so i was at petco yesterday buying a bed for coen to take to the studio. poor guy’s been using a yoga mat, although he doesn’t seem to mind. hell, he lays on the hardwood floors at the house most of the time. anyway, i find a bed i like. its a bit more than i think its worth, but i haven’t found a better option without spending a fortune, which i don’t wanna do since it won’t even get used every day. i get home and look it up online to show katie, and find that it costs $30 less. on petco’s own website. with free shipping.

this make no sense.

so i go back to the store this morning with a print out from the site showing the price difference and they refund me the $30 no problem. the manager tells me that this happens quite a bit. many items will show up for less on the petco website than they do in the store.

this makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

i’m not the least bit surprised i found the bed for less online. but i didn’t find it on amazon, or some huge online discount pet warehouse that can afford lower prices since they don’t have the overhead of a chain of brick and mortar stores. it was on petco’s own site. not a sale, not a special promotion, not a web exclusive.

can someone explain this to me? petco is undercutting its own stores? am i missing something? what’s the logic here?

when i get back from taking a dump, i expect answers people.


we’re also on a diet. its a 30 day cleansing thing. no dairy, wheat, grains, beans, sugars of any kind (except what occurs naturally in fruit), no alcohol (!). basically nothing but meat, except for bacon (!!), eggs, fruits, and vegetables.

we’re on day 6.

24 more to go.

its not been too bad, save for the massive hangover-like experience i had thursday night. detoxing i guess. whatever it was it was awful. worse than a real hangover. whats really disturbing about the whole experience is the realization that sugar is in EVERYTHING. like bread. really? bread? or bouillon cubes. its truly amazing, and very difficult to find foods without some form of sugar added.

anyway, i intend to see this through. hopefully i’ll lose some weight in the process. i do think, however, that i’ve discovered the most difficult part of dieting: manual labor. i cut the grass last night, which is no small task in our yard, and i don’t think i’ve ever wanted beer and pizza more in my life.


This is Penny.

we got a new dog. a puppy no less. 6 months old according to the shelter. yes, i know she’s not a greyhound, but she is sooooooo sweet, and very submissive. seems pretty smart too. got her friday, take her to the vet tomorrow. shes got a few problems, which is no surprise coming from the shelter, but we’re getting it sorted out.

*sigh*

yes, we’re crazy, but she’s adorable. only one accident so far, but that was coen not penny, and it was because of the thunderstorm last night. literally scared the shit out of him.


Puppy Snacks…

02Aug12

for the uninitiated, there are few better forms of cheap entertainment than watching a dog try and lick peanut butter off the roof of its mouth.

oh, and here’s coen enjoying some watermelon.

funny thing is that edie is the smart one, but she couldn’t figure out how to eat the melon off the rind.


Wow, really?

11Jul12

three months without a single post.  not sure but that might be a record.

lets see, some highlights:

things at photoelectric are going quite well.  we won the carolina panthers contract, so that’ll be keeping us busy for several months.  we’re moving into a new studio space around the first of september, assuming things stay on schedule, which they haven’t thus far (we were supposed to have been moved in by the first of june). and, we’ve just hired our first employee who will be starting the first week of august.  

on the home front, katie is trying to determine her next steps with tree parlor in terms of growth.  i really think shes on the verge of something big if she can figure out the best way to get there. her uncle died in the 4th of july from liver cancer.  we went up for the wake last friday. on another sad note, joey’s father-in-law passed away a few weeks ago, also after a hard-fought battle with liver cancer.  he was a good man, the little i knew him.  finally, our good friends (and veterinarian) are moving to northern virginia this week, so thats got us bummed as well.

*sigh*

what can i say, things have been crazy.  i’ve honestly found myself using facebook more and more, much to my dismay.  its just easier for sharing the type of things that i normally do.  i don’t have the cranial capacity for long, insightful observations or social commentary, and i got bored with the whole ’80s cartoon thing. which leaves me to ponder, what do i really do with this thing?  vicki shut down her blog recently. not sure i’m ready to that just yet.

guess i’ll have to wait and see. i know you’re all on the edge of your seats.