profile

sweating it out

2008-10-07T21:15:11+00:00

Here is a quirky piece for Santa Fe Reporter. I love working with Angela there because she likes the strange imagery and rarely has to get in the way.

One of my extremely detailed sketches is attached too.

I forgot to say the topic. It was for an article about inventors residing in NM. One of the inventions was a machine that perspires like a human head. there you have it.

Carbon Illos

2008-09-17T21:14:13+00:00

Here are some sketches and final art for an article about carbon, carbon tax and trading carbon for points. The AD (Jandos Rothstein, Governing Magazine) had the nice idea of using charcoal in the execution of the work to further get across the idea of carbon.

AVID animation

2008-06-19T18:01:17+00:00

This is the background on an animation created for AVID's "New Thinking" campaign. It is an offshoot of the print work that I had worked on for them. I was working with Jim Ball (producer), White Rhino (agency), and Dave Allen (Boston National) on this project. Jack Dangers from Meat Beat Manifesto created the original audio track, which was tweaked later to fit the visuals. It was a tight deadline (2.5 weeks) and needed to be animated in HD, which increases the crunching for the computer.

All the imaging was done in Photoshop and After Effects. Below show the final storyboards, some screen grabs, and some detail screen grabs. Lastly are some shots of the animation and print work being shown at one of their events at the old Supper Club in NYC. They showed the animation as an introduction to the new CEO. Thats me (sitting) feeling like a rock star (one of those rare times) in front of the blown up images.

Avid and the others mentioned above were so great to work with. They kept pushing me to make it darker and I was always saying "are you sure?"... I'm used to it going the other way, especially on the ad jobs.

The whole animation can be seen on my site (http://richardborge.com), under "animation", as well as by going to:
http://www.avid.com/newthinking/index.htm click on "thinking".

thanks for looking.

AVID print/animation campaign

2008-05-12T23:46:25+00:00

I was contacted by White Rhino (agency in MASS.) to work on an AVID (editing systems) print campaign early in the year. The thrust of this first ad is to show that AVID is listening to their customers and that the customer feedback is having an effect. Below is the final, along with some detail shots and sketches. One of the really cool things about this project is that I was also commissioned to do a 60 second HD animation (will post later), in the same style as the print work. I also worked with with White Rhino to create the look and feel of the microsite, which was further showing the idea of "new thinking". The flash team did a smashing good job on it. White Rhino and the higher-ups at AVID have been really great to work with, and have provided me a whole lot of creative freedom and support. It has been a fantastic experience so far, with hopefully more coming soon.

While I was working on the print ad, I was also creating the elements for White Rhino to work with for the microsite. If you click "THINKING" on the microsite, the animation plays. We basically decided to tell the story of the first print ad with the animation, further elaborating on "new thinking". I will post articles about the 2nd print ad and the animation later. link to micorsite and animation: http://www.avid.com/newthinking/?cmpid=newthinkingad02

Blackbook cover + insides

2008-03-11T03:34:00+00:00

I don't know that I'd call it illustration so much as mechanical tomfoolery, but here goes. This is a cover and interior pages I did for the current Blackbook. The first one is the front/back cover, the following two are inside front and inside back cover. The idea was to make something that looked a bit like a time machine (future) that was all beat up and weathered. Mike Longo (Blackbook) was really easy to work with. No sketches, hammered 'em out in a couple days....

good idea Brian. here are a few grabs... for anyone that can find the spider in the detail shots I will give them a shiny new nickel.

utne reader illo

2008-02-18T17:22:03+00:00

Here is a piece I recently did for the UTNE READER. It was a great article on how the online gaming community is being studied by scientists to see how people behave in a real world pandemic outbreak. They sited a recent "outbreak" in a popular online "dungeons and dragons type" game. Within the game, once the outbreak started, some people tried to help others, some fled (spreading the plague rapidly), and some sat back to watch what happened. The scientists say that this is a more accurate way to predict human behavior in a real outbreak, rather than relying too heavily on mathematical predictions. If the players actually have something to lose, their behavior becomes more authentic. The article kept referring to a more accurate portrait of the gamer.

strangest contract to date

2008-01-17T03:33:33+00:00

So, this was one of those calls where they tell you exactly what the concept is and the budget isn't great. I agreed to take it on, asking if there was anything unusual in the contract... the AD didn't think so. Page 1 was pretty standard stuff, and page 2 is where it got interesting. This first clip isn't TOO bad, but still one to make me cringe and think about dropping it, except that I just closed on an apartment and, well... uh, you know...vowing to myself never to mention it to an online group of illustrators.

Here is where it gets interesting, stating that the image can never be sold for a cover image anywhere, ever. Then they go on to say that the CONCEPT (that they provided me) was exclusive to the COMPANY... lets just say it was something including a doctor and a balance scale, pretty original idea.

Here is where I had to laugh. If I ever break any part of this agreement (doctor/scale illo), I agree to pay 3 times the fee paid to me along with court costs. Well...at least I would know how much I would be liable for, and agree to this in advance, depending on their attorney and his/her lawschool loans to pay back.... I wondered if it would be the same attorney that drafted this contract up? ...could be fun

I tried to talk to the AD and editor, and explain the insanity of this document. The AD was cool and just wanted me to do the illo, but the editor wouldn't back down on the more problematic bits... so I dropped it. Any other crazy contracts floating around out there, other than the obvious ones we all know?

jesca hoop music video

2008-01-12T02:48:38+00:00

This video is a project that I have been working on since November. I did an earlier posting on it and can now post the final bits, as the video is now live and officially released. I will start with the same pieces I had up before, so if you've seen that just scroll through the first part. This is an animated/live action video for Jesca Hoop. It's a very cool track called "MONEY". The images/text to follow show some of my working process. Here is the rundown on a music video: First my agent sends me the track, then I have to come up with an idea/proposal, usually in a couple of days at the most. This is all done "on spec", which is normal in the animation world I'm told, so I usually can't spend days and days on one. It really isn't that much different from sitting down to do sketches for an editorial project, except that you are working with a timeline rather than still images. This proposal is written out in a one page document called a treatment. I also include a style sheet, which is screen grabs of other animations/illustrations I've done, and maybe some loose sketches. Most times I don't get the gig, but when it does come through there is usually a conference call with the record label, the musician, agents and me. We then talk about the treatment and put together a production schedule.

Here's the sketchbook ideas from writing the treatment.

A simple storyboard. This is pretty much just for me to know what I'm doing.

I break down the song into segments and find some type of organization. Here I have printed that out (after effects timeline) on a large sheet and started writing / drawing on that sheet, which I used as a guide to go further. You can see that I have color coded the chorus in yellow, which helps me start to get a feeling of pattern/pace in the timeline.

First we shoot on blue or green background, then key out the background color so the image can go into any environment, just like a photoshop layer.

This is the blue keyed out.

Once the background is keyed out, I build 3D environments to put the characters into. In this scene I used pyramids as a primary element, playing off the pyramid/eye on a dollar bill.

I also take layered psd files and import them into after effects. Here is a gorilla in pieces.

This is the gorilla put together in after effects and animated as a single gorilla. Then I brought him into another scene and stacked them on top of eachother in a 3D world.

Here they are in a scene, with 3D space, lights and camera. There is also a plane buzzing around him, which had to be built and animated separately.

Here are a couple of different objects being put together in after effects 3D space. You can see the camera highlighted. I usually work with 3 windows: TOP, LEFT, and ACTIVE CAMERA.

cat tin toys with no background

cats with background and lights

another angle on the cats

eyes in 3D space

eyes full scene with lights

dog scene 3D

ships 3D

tiny guitar. The background was keyed out, then I played with a bunch of textural layers.

I shot all the street scenes with a little cheap pocket digital camera. These clips were then treated and sometimes I put my original sketches on top.

A combination of a bunch of still images of Jesca. One of her outfits was a Mary Poppins theme, because she was the nanny for Tom Waits and many people know her as that.

Here she is on a star (cardboard).

This is what the Poppins / star scene looked like in the studio. We shot at DUCK STUDIO (agent) in LA, and they were very kind to let us shoot in their space. We needed to keep it simple as the budget was limited.

Thats it. It was tons of work, but very rewarding. I love working on these animation projects because it is still very new to me and I feel like I'm really just scratching the surface. The technology is amazing and not really so hard, all you have to do is put consistent hours into it, which isn't hard when you're having a ball. I had a lot of great people helping with the video shoot in LA, and SONY and Jesca were very cool to work with. There were absolutely no bumps in the road, which is a testament to a great crew and my agents/producers really cheerleading and making it happen. Thanks for looking. The video just went live on my site, check it out when you can. http://www.richardborge.com (click on animation)

music video (in progress)

2007-11-22T08:04:58+00:00

I'm working on an animated/live action video for Jesca Hoop. It's a very cool track called "MONEY". The images below show a little bit of my working process, although I'm still in the very early stages. I have got a decent start in after effects, but should probably not show too much yet. Here is the rundown on a music video: First my agent sends me the track, then I have to come up with an idea/proposal, usually in a couple of days at the most. This is all done "on spec", which is normal in the animation world I'm told, so I usually can't spend days and days on one. This is written out in a one page typed document called a "treatment". I also include a "style sheet", which is screen grabs of other animations I've done, and maybe some loose sketches. Most times I don't get the gig, but when it does come through there is usually a conference call with the record label, the musician, agents and me. We then talk about the treatment and put together a production schedule.

Once I listen to the track and get the lyrics, I approach the project very much like I do with illustration... doing very rough sketches and doodles, which eventually become a storyline. The sketches (chicken scratchings) here are just for me to use as a storyboard and start to put it together in after effects to create an "animatic" (animated storyboard, like a simple slide show).

I then start to break down the song into segments and find some type of organization. Here I have printed that out (after effects timeline) on a large sheet and started writing / drawing on that sheet, which I will use as a guide to go further. You can see that I have color coded the chorus in yellow, which helps me start to get a feeling of pattern/pace in the timeline. There is probably a better way to do this but this is what I've figured out on my own. The final project is due in mid December... in the meantime check out some of the animations on my site (http://www.richardborge.com) and you will start to get the idea. Also keep an eye out for Jesca Hoop (http://www.myspace.com/jescahoop). You can hear the track "MONEY" on her myspace page. She was the nanny for Tom Waits' kids, which is ironic as I did a Tom Waits video for my promo reel and always wondered if he ever saw it. These projects are tons of work (as I post this at 3:00am the night before Thanksgiving) but are really fun and I'm thrilled to have the opportunity. For me it is a logical offshoot from illustration..... More to come later.

to see more go to the animation section: http://www.richardborge.com/ OR here are a couple of the same on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tw-u2X5EaGY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIPV_1ZCoDU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR6HXaWN8Vg

good to be here

2007-11-19T19:29:19+00:00

Hey, I'm happy to be here and thanks for helping it happen. Here are a handful of recent projects, some personal and some for hire. This first one is an image made for a group show that I was recently in on the west coast of Norway... this chicken will be sneaking into animations soon.

A recent piece for Business Week about online gated communities.

another from the Breathe series

I've been doing a series of simple drawings for a post prodution company's web site (Breathe), which will launch later this year. I'm working with Tanka Design and the drawings I'm doing will be part of an animated game on the back end of the site.

a picture of my studio on an average day, pre clean-up

For an article about the dreaded NC-17 rating. These guys at the Hartford Courant are great to work with.

For a article about dealing with health insurance, and how you need to go to the top to get things done.

another from the Breathe series

Here is another from the Norway series.