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For those of you who are itching to know more about me, my skills, my thoughts, my ways, whatever, can dwell on this page and read my ramblings.

• Illustration
  • This is my most required skill. I have never thought of myself as and artist per se though. I have no desire in creating a "personal style" as such. Naturally my work has its own air but trying to market myself through some characterized style, has never been my desire. My job is to serve and if my clients need a certain style then I'll deliver that.
    
    
  • All of my recent work is done digital only, no paper or scanning. I wouldn't say the Wacom pen is as easy to control and precise as the pencil, not yet at least, but the pros surpass the cons by far. Especially during sketchwork, being able to move around, cut and paste, rotate and scale until I'm fully satisfied.
    
    
• Programming
  • I've been programming for over 20 years now. It has never been my profession but the skill has facilitated my professional work nevertheless. Most of my work as a programmer has been for in-house requirements – and fun. I like the challenge of programming, where everything has to fit perfectly together in order to work. Some people play chess for mental stimulation, if you like, I do programming for the same reason.
    
    
  • My greatest asset as a programmer, in my own humble opinion, is that I'm an extensive software user myself. I think like a user, not like a programmer. There's the world of difference. A programmer usually first makes the code that does the required job and then patches some user interface to it. A user-programmer thinks first of the user. What's the easiest, most intuitive and natural way for the user to accomplish his task? Are we asking the user to do the same thing over and over again? How can we simplify that? Why do click, click, click, click hold drag, release, click - when you can do only click? Why do type, click, type, click - when you can do only type? Why do ctrl-U (or cmd-U) when you can do only U? Why do fancy when the user is better of with simple?
    
    
  • My current programming enviroment of choise is RealBasic on the Mac platform. Other languages are Object Pascal, Modular 2, Z80 assembly (back in the day) plus various Basic Interpreters. I've been introduced to C and C++ and use that knowledge mostly to convert code I find and need to use. I'm not fond of the pointer gymnastics in C resulting in cryptic code and hard for somebody else to understand. Sure it's cool to be able to put four lines of code in just one, but unless you're gaining runtime speed for processor intesive tasks like games or graphics, there is no point in doing so. RealBasic provides cross platform compiling which is essential in my mixed platform environment. RealBasic is similar to VisualBasic on the PC where you don't have to spend any time on coding the GUI but instead concentrate on the code for the task.
    
    
  • Flash programming. I've written implemantation for user interface, web-intros and simple games and am able to take full advantage of the object oriented nature of Action Script. I've seen many horrible Action Scripts out there, even though I work indipendant I always keep in mind that somebody else might need to work on my code later on. I use frequent comments and make sure I put the code where it can be found again. All flow control is on one layer at the root and other tasks on a designated Action Script layer. Code that manipulates an object is put into the object itself or the object makes a call to a parent object or a global function residing on the root level. If I find myself writing the same code twice I create a super class or a global function and share it.
    
    
  • Projects I've done is primarly my astrology software which does celestial calculations and presents the result in various charts, graphs and tables. It also includes text handling for plantary positions and aspects which can be edited and printed out using what we can call a Smart Layout Machine. The text has stylesheets and can have embedded variables from the calculation. Another project an image manipulation batch utility where you can script graphic funtions to make text or logo on images with various styles, create web graphics/buttons on the fly and just about anything your mind desires. The scripting language is quite simple and its main power lies in a Push and Pop command where you have a stack of images simulating a layer system.
    
    
  • I'm fully trained in object oriented programming with inheritance, classes, methods etc.
    
    
  • I have experience in database programming, creating tables, entries, queries, links and such.
    
    
  • I have basic knowledge of XML and have done some programming tests in parsing XML.
    
    
  • Also some basic experience in socket programming, done an ftp client embedded in one of my tools.
    
    
• 3D
  • I've done some 3D modeling and animation on my Macintosh. I handled it quite well concerning what available software there is on the Mac platform. But there came a point in my 3D development where I said stop. High End 3D is getting more and more accessible and more extensive. There's no point in continuing in 3D unless doing nothing else and my current marked simply doesn't support me as a 3D-only-artist. I have no qualms studying 3D to its fullest. There's nothing there I don't think I can handle.
    
    
  • Software I've used are Strata Studio Pro, Poser and I'm dabbling with Maya now.
    
    
• Video
  • I've done extensive broadcast graphics and animation 2D and 3D using AfterEffects, Strata, Photoshop, Illustrator/Freehand, Flash and Premiere.
    
    
  • I have experience in all areas of production for commecials and instrutional videos. I know what it takes to make a video. From budgeting, hiring subcontractors, actors and models to directing set designers, camera and actors.
    
    
  • QuickTime is my environment of choise when working in digital video. I know all the pros and cons of each CODEC and have exprimented with QuickTime programming.
    
    
• Audio
  • As an ex-musician I have experience in music. Also experience in audio recording, mixing and directing readings/acting.
    
    
• Interactive
  • Macromedia Flash I know inside out, both graphics and programming. Flash is also an excellent tool for freehand vector drawing. Originally Future Splash, then Flash when Macromedia aquired it, was designed for the illustrator/animator in mind and therefore it has tools and ways of handling vectors that suit us, whereas Adobe Illustrator and Macromedia Freehand are more oriented for technical and layout purposes. When illlustrating using Flash I do all the sketchwork and cleanup within the software.
    
    
  • Macromedia Director I have left alone for the same reason as High End 3D. Not that Director is as complicated as Maya or anything, but simply cuz there aren't that many jobs here requiring that skill. And, permission to speak freely, I've never liked much what I've seen made with Director. Somehow I believe it's overgrown and outdated – so there.
    
    
• Concept & Writing
  • Since I was a kid I've always been writing along with my drawing. In Elementary School and throughout High School (or equivalent) I wrote articles and illustrated for school papers, decorated, wrote plays, managed events, wrote and played music and even acted. I have no burning urge to be in the lime light but I cannot be a silent bystander when I see people doing a bad job. Why are you making this dull when it can be interesting? Why make this ugly when it can be pretty? Here, let me show you...
    
    
  • When I worked at the advertising agency my main occupation was concept creation and copywriting. I did concepts for print, radio and television (commercials and instructional videos) and wrote texts and dialogs for each media. It's not like my graphic skills weren't adequate enough rather concept and text skills were rarer and in more demand.
    
    
  • At the ad agency I also discovered a new talent, the talent of assembly, if you like. You may be brainstorming with your coworkers and all sorts of crazy ideas come up without being coherent, like brainstorming should be. Then, often than not, it was I that took the various ideas and cooked up the final concept, subtracted a little here and added a little there so the idea would flow and serve its purpose.
    
    
  • Storytelling. Everybody loves a good story. Incorporating a good story into what you're doing is always a winner. A story is usually something with an intro, then climax and/or suspension and finally some conclusion, much like a rollercoster, where you're towed up, then dropped, have a ride and eventually stop. Even if the rollercoaster de-rails then you have a better story! Text and moving images are naturally the best media for a story but a single image can also tell a story.
    
    Remember the image from the Vietnam war of a Vietnamese girl running crying down the road with third degree burns all over her body? Though it depicts only a single moment in time you can easily imagine what happened before this image (napalm) and what will happen after the image (hospital, doctors, pain and possibly death) – thus a story is being told. Set/stage design most definetely tells a story. Enter a room and the room tells you a story. 3D textures can tell a story of an object. A person's posture and poise tells you a story.
    
    And then, for the art of storytelling you use these default perceptions, if you like, to lead your audience astray; have the bad guy dress and behave like a good guy, what looks like trash turns out to be precious, let nothing happen when something is expected to happen and let it happen when not expected (basic suspension) and so on.
    
    
  • I've supplied my current clients with writing and proofreading and taken on some jobs for scripts for instructional videos and documentaries.
    
    
• Print
  • Printwork I do it to keep my business going. Photoshop, Freehand, Illustrator and Quark are the tools I use.
    
    
• Web
  • There are far more capable web designer out there than I, but I've done a few designs for friends and colleagues. I mostly do the designing in Photoshop or FireWorks and then let more talented people do the actual weaving and scripting.
    
    
• Digital Asset Managing
  • To manage my digital media I use FotoStation Pro.
    
    
• Selling
  • All this is for nothing if you don't sell it. It's the bottom line. I have various sales experiences.
    
    
  • I've been a sales clerk in a hardware store (summer job with school) where I, on my own initiative, would scoop out certain items just by piling them up in a box by the cashier and do a poster above it where I would give the item a new name like "Magic Scissors!" and list all the magic you could do with it.
    
    A client may come in and ask for a liter of varnish and I would sell him also an expensive varnish brush, since using a normal brush would leave brush marks, and I would sell him a special thinner to clean that expensive brush, otherwise the brush would be ruined.
    
    Another client may ask for some linoleum and would walk out with a knife (to cut the linoleum), adhesive (to glue the linoleum), a tool (to apply the adhesive), a cleaner (to clean the tool) and of course his linoleum. "Is there anything else you would like to sell me?" I was frequently asked by my clients with a friendly grin and I would reply "I'm just saving you a trip back to me sir" – and this I learned from experience.
    
    I once sold this huge fellow some epoxy paint. This dude was over seven feet tall, buff, frizzy red hair that was like a ball of fire on his head, translucent skin and gleaming eyes. He looked liked an ogre from a Tolkien story. I myself is six and a half foot tall but this guy was huge and scary! Anyhow, he asks for some epoxy paint and that's exactly what I sold him. The next day, a quiet Saturday morning, I hear this screaming and roaring downstairs (paints department was on the second floor). Somebody is hurt! How can anybody be injured in a hardware store? Somebody testing a drill and drilled through his foot or something? Then the roaring gets louder and I hear rumbling in the stairs. What? The injured has freaked out and is heading up the stairs! The rumbling and roaring gets louder and, not any injured, but the red haired ogre rampages up the stairs and into the room.
    
    I shit you not, if he looked scary the day before, then he looked horrendous now. His hair had clusters of emerald green epoxy paint all over. His hands, arms, face, body, legs–everything–was splattered with emerald green epoxy paint. The troll grunted and cursed as he caught his breath and finally yelled "How the fuck do get this shit off me!?". I wanted to tell him he was supposed to paint his windowsills with the epoxy, not himself, but I let it be. And for those who don't know, once epoxy dries, you can't get it off. It's there to stay. This paint is for real. It's the stuff you put on floors where bulldosers drive.
    
    All the staff from all the floors was gathered around us and we told him the truth. He insisted in trying something and we tried to remove the paint with an epoxy thinner to no avail. Sorry dude, you'll have to cut your hair and wait for the paint to fall off your skin. The ogre collapsed. What was then a horrific monster now was a devastated little puppy. All we could do was to comfort him as he left the building in despair. That's when I learned to save people the trip back to me. Anyhow, I digressed, but for the sake of a good story, right?
    
    
  • In my work as a script and copy writer I've had to sell my ways of writing. I've had scientists, specialists and experts of all sorts with their knowledge which they needed to present to the public in one way or another. This is a special breed of humans who have their special ways of saying things – much like lawyers writing contracts, if you catch my drift. In such cases scientific fact has to yield for, what we can call Value of Attention. If you lose the attention of your audience then it doesn't matter what you say, scientific facts or not. "But, we can not simply say it like 'this', because it's not that simple" is a classic argument from a specialist. Well, we can say water is a liquid, but it's not that simple. It can be liquid, steam, ice and even liquid, steam and ice at the same time. I know it's not that simple, but you're not lying by saying it's liquid, just not telling the whole science of water when liquid is the only form serving a purpose in this context.
    
    
  • And I've had to sell my client's products and services. Here, the value of attention factor is important. Things don't have to be arty farty to sell. Simple things can sell as long as they get the attention of the audience and given that the product or service has a market need at all.
    
    In order to get the attention of the market you can go the extreme way and put up a billboard with an image sequence of genetals under the slogan "United Colors of Benetton" (they actually did that in France you know) or you can go the humble way and show an image sequence in TV of extraordinary people under the slogan "Think Different". Either way works and many other things work too – and not.
    
    Advertising is never a sure thing, no more than Wall Street or a casino. It's a risk and when doing advertising you and your client need to be aware of that fact and make mutual decissions based on your best knowledge and sense.
    
    Sometimes advertising is simply a matter of public service. There may be a soccer tournament in town and you need to put an ad in the paper to publish the dates and hours of the games. Or you need let people know you have a common product at low prices. No need for hours of brainstorming and a brilliant idea. Just make it look good.
    
    On other hand you may need to break into an established market with a new product. Then there's time for creative ideas. It's like having a crowd of people and you want the audience to notice only you in the crowd. Screaming is no use because everybody else is screaming too. Moving won't do it since everybody is jumping around and silent approach won't work either. Wearing red might work since everybody else is wearing black. Yeah, that will do it. And you go into the crowd in your custom made red tuxedo just to realise everybody else is wearing red too...
    
    I've made many very successful ads for my clients for print, radio, web and television. But I've also had failures. What failed? I have no idea. There are so many factors involved. You can have the perfect idea but terrible timing like the anology of the crowd above. Or people simply aren't interested in the product. Or you may have chosen the wrong media. Should have done print instead of TV. And vise versa, you may have success with a lousy idea, but the perfect timing and media. You never can tell for sure. A classic saying in this business is from an unnamed client: "I know half of the money I spend on advertising I could just as well throw out the window. I just can't tell which half".

Throughout all my work, be it image, code or text, I always ask myself this question: How can I make this more interesting? There's never a reason to make something uninteresting and everything can be made interesting... well, maybe not the book of ¸. Second question: How can I make this flow? Everything has a flow. A single image has its flow. Moving images certainly have it and so does text. User experience also has a flow, be it a software, game or interactive user.

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