Patrick Ball - Digital Artist

Unbelievable! Michael Lewis!

2010-03-22T10:59:00.000-05:00

I've just read the most amazing book. It creates emotions in me that words cannot describe. It's Michael Lewis' The Big Short. You can buy it here.
The Big Short

A Sketch at work

2010-03-12T15:45:00.003-06:00

Work can be fun. If you decide not to do work, and draw fun stuff.

15 VS. 30

2010-03-09T08:52:00.006-06:00

Here’s the easiest way I can explain why it’s important to have a 15 year mortgage rather than a 30 year mortgage.

On a $200,000 home, with a 30 year note at 6% you will pay $431K or 231K in interest. Basically the opposite of a 2 for the price of 1.
On a $200,000 home, with a 15 year note at 6% you will pay $303K or 103K in interest.

Are you willing to pay another 100K for the same house? As far as the math, it would be like paying another 10k for the same car your driving now. It seems stupid, but here’s why people do it – they want to be able to live in a nicer house. They think they can 'afford more'.

Here are the numbers:
The average home price in America is around $165K. I don’t have the numbers on how many people have 30yr Mortgages, but it’s a lot. Lets imagine If there was no such thing as a 30yr loan, and people had to do a 15yr loan. A 15yr note changes your payments because you have to pay sooner, so based on the same monthly payment, most people could only afford a house worth about $107K, BUT these people would be 137K richer at the end because of all the interest saved.

I never thought I'd say this, but I love Math. It makes you wealthy - and, it makes you free.

The new ADventure

2009-10-15T10:49:00.006-05:00

A few months ago, I decided to start looking into finding a job. I know it sounds horrible, and it's my opinion that most jobs are. Jobs are good for two things: to make the company profitable, and for you to keep making monthly payments (to whomever you pay bills to). The reality of a job is that the company hiring you has to make more money off you than they are paying you. It's pretty simple math. But this time around, I had my own math problems, We (my wife and I) needed to move, and decided rather than selling the 2nd house, we turned it into our second rental property. I needed some extra revenues to cover the extra risk. So I got a Job.
I had a list of everything I needed in a work experience.

1. Large Name Brand Company - Large and successful companies can negotiate better benefits, pay, and usually can encourage you to work a quality 40 hours and go home. And you don't have to worry about things not getting done while your taking a vacation.

2. A FOR-PROFIT company - Nothing wrong with working for a non-profit, but you'd think if the non-profit had something that people really wanted, they'd put up the cash to support it. (and the workers). Work for a Profit company - they usually produce stuff people want & pay for.

3. A flexible company close to where I live - Part of my criteria was to find a company that had flex-time and a short commute.

4. Decentralized Power & Influence - Nothing is worse than working for a small outfit where 1 person can fire you for not bowing down to worship them.

5. A Job where I can continue to grow and make business decisions on the side.

So I narrowed it down and found 3 companies that fit that, and I now I work for one. I think it's great! And hopefully good design can come of it, and my next great business idea.

New Illustrations of late

2009-09-17T09:40:00.003-05:00

I recently got the opportunity to do some illustration work for Universal Soil Solutions, they're doing some really cool things with improving peoples homes and landscape. I'm really starting to miss doing architecture and technical illustration. I wonder if I love it, or I just get to do it so little that I enjoy the once or twice a year I get that kind of project. It was great.

So close...

2009-08-25T10:55:00.004-05:00

Okay so, I know its Tuesday, but so much has already happened this week. Candace and I signed on a new loft in Dallas, so we're definitely leaving the woods for downtown, which happens on the first. Next up, we're probably a few days from leasing our existing house (which has been a much simpler process than selling, and I recommend it, at least until 2011.lol.) And lastly, I'm just days away from an offer. I want to wait and announce it on my first day at work. It just seems it's taking a little longer than I first thought, but if you really want something, well, you do what it takes, or in this case, you wait with what it takes.
So I've got my design boots on, your probably wondering about the picture, It's a design I did for a personal credit card, and guess what? It got rejected. Yeah, that's okay, I'll just design something better.

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

2009-06-21T10:56:00.002-05:00

I'm so thankful for everyone and every church that purchased 'The Story of Fathers day'. This was my best month at the helm of smirk as far as sales, and I really appreciate that! I was getting worried because last months sales were down. I've read a few hundred books on business and marketing, but You never really can tell what's going on with your business sometimes. But this month, the business rallied and almost 450,000 people saw The Story of Father's Day.

With other news, I'm trying to land a new job! I want to start working with other people, and get a bit closer to Dallas. Sometimes working alone can get to you, and make you crazy! So without going into details, I may have found something really amazing! I'd be working in a Marketing/Sales department with about 5-6 other designers, and I hope I really get it. I met everyone there and they seem pretty cool. So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

That's the news! Happy Summer!

Fathers Day

2009-05-16T10:17:00.001-05:00

I just want to tell my Dad, I made this for you. Love you!

Is college worth it? Part 2

2009-05-15T15:31:00.000-05:00

Part 2!

Here's the alternative to not going to college:
Imagine spending 4 years interning and developing your talents, you WONT be paid, you'll be a total SLAVE, doesn't that sound great? Probably not, but at least your not selling out your future. Your gaining big time.

I have 2 people I know, One spent $120k to become a doctor. It took her time and discipline and great sacrifice for 8 years. She makes $100k a year. I have another friend, who spent 4 years working and slaving learning web. He has no degree. He makes $105k a year. He sacrificed too. The bottom line is, You don't need college, but you do need to make sacrifices. I myself did both. I slaved away interning, and graduated with a 3.7 GPA, which is totally worthless. GPA's don't pay the bills. Cashflow pays the bills.

I think college is bogus, unless your on being a lifelong worker (doctor - lawyer -ect) If you're planning on going down that path good for you! The rest of you who want to succeed without the system, here's some tips on making it without a degree.

1. Almost anything worth learning can be attained for free. INTERNET. For starters, MIT offers open courses right on their website. Just go buy the old version of the Textbook on Amazon for $4. Your cost: $4. University equivalent $1500. Your still getting the same facts.

2. Your local bookstore. At least 2 days a week I can be found at a bookstore reading books for free. I read whatever interests me. I've read probably 280 books over the last 4 years since I graduated. I'd say it's my equivalent of an MBA. An MBA I paid a total of $0 for.

3. Run a business. Get someone to give you a $5,000. Hand them an IOU, and learn how to run a business. If you lose all of the money, it doesn't matter. It was cheaper than a semester hanging out with frat boys. I built a business in college on $50. Guess what it was? .... I sold College textbooks. I paid for 2 years of college education with it. 2 years! I made almost $30k on that business. It was awesome. College textbooks have money dripping right out of them.

4. Try to get your parents to give yo a downpayment to buy you a house. I know, this is the craziest of all. It's almost impossible to secure this, but it's doable. But if your young and you have #3 working for you, get a cheap house and get some people to live with you. Rent money is by far the easiest cash I ever made. And it comes to me every month.

Is college worth it? Part 1

2009-05-12T14:39:00.000-05:00

For years now, I've held the a belief that most people might shoot me for. I've never believed that college actually does what it promises. And by that I mean, College, at it's core, promises a better future, and college graduates earn more money than high school grads. It's all debatable.

Before entering college, I would ask, "How can something that has huge fixed costs between $45k and $80k be worth it? Especially, if 4 years after graduation, the information learned is obsolete? I can't shell out $60k every 4 years!!!

But yet college kids face this reality every May. As aspiring 20 somethings reach for that diploma, and get stuck with a bill that will last them longer than any car note, and some as long as a mortgage. Naysayers always tell me, 'but I need an education! I can't end up at Walmart!' Which I totally agree. You do need an education. You just need one that actually works.

I'm going to run a series of posts talking about what it would take to succeed without a college degree. It is possible.

They came for the paper

2009-05-03T08:35:00.002-05:00

The first modern technology I can remember to get hit hard by change was the ever loving cassette tape. I remember as a 10 year old I could take one tape and record a song right off the radio. I thought this was amazing technology. Of course, it had to be silent in the room because it would also pick up any other audio.
The replacement of the tape by the Compact Disk to me, was this era of magic! I was 13, and this new machine shot a laser to read a shiny disk! It was like you were a part of some buck rogers light show.
Before long, we had laser pointers, cell phones, and george foreman grills. But it wasn't all fun and games. Pretty soon entire industries were going under because they couldn't fit their square peg into a new round hole. "Someone save the music!" and not long after that they were yelping "Stop the Presses!"

As time passes, the newspaper kings and the titans of the music industry look like overpaid suits as artists slip by to build their own careers, and take with them the consumers who supported those massive structures. Granted, many of those artists may never be famous, but the reality now is, they don't need to be. Thousands of artists are out there, making a living, doing their craft because of the technology changes in the last 9 years.

The dark side...
Technology is fun until it takes your job away. It's always fun to be the consumer of technology, and painful at best to be the creator of it, and at the top of the hill, the people who benefit the most, those who own the technology.

If your an artist and you don't own what you do, you're pretty much missing the boat. On one side its freeing to create and have a job where you get to practice your passion, but at the end of the day, even if you work for Pixar, you own nothing. And when your career is over, they owe you nothing. It's a tragic tale being played out in America right now.

The technology is in place so that anyone who wants to command their own ship can, but the mindset of the worker, still has to play ketchup. It won't be long before brilliant minds see large corporations the same way we now see the music and newspaper business. Just outdated hierarchy. The future will be your mixed tape.

Tutortillas! Get your tutortillas!

2009-05-01T14:28:00.000-05:00

Okay, the title is a bit confusing, but I am seriously considering doing some extreme tutorials on After Effects, and posting them on this blog (and of course vimeo!) Anyways, I'm looking for some good topics and I wanted to ask my friends and followers, what topic would best help you in your personal video endevors? My email addy is somewhere over here ---->. Shoot me a line and in a week or two I'll get a tutorial going.

Choose light Finished!

2009-04-27T09:43:00.001-05:00

I just finished up the 'Choose Light' video. It was a Poem I wrote. The premise was to do something artistic with an abstract feel in regards to being the light of the world. I used After Effects and Trapcode Form along with a few hours of shooting lightbulbs in my garage. I laugh thinking about the project, sometimes when I finish the work, because the videos look amazing, but behind the scenes it's all smoke and mirrors. It's just a dude and a few friends trying to tell some stories. Fun. You can watch it in full HD here. You can purchase it for your church here.

Recent Work

2009-04-26T09:03:00.000-05:00

Recently, I had the opportunity to do some work with my good friend Brent Mccorkle. He finished up on a project for The Doorpost Film Festival. I did motion graphics and end credits. His short film has made the top 10, and if he can finish as a finalist, he will receive 30k to do another film. The link is (here). If you have time watch it see what you think, if you like it, be sure to vote, because I'd love to work on more films with Brent. He's great, and he would love our support.

Book Review

2009-04-24T14:16:00.000-05:00

I just read Fans Friends & Followers. It was a great book, mainly because its' focus on building a social community to help support your artistic habit and turn it from small time obsession to a full time gig. I haven't read the entire thing yet, I'm half way through. It's been fun, because I bought the kindle version for my iphone.

It's one of those really encouraging reads that inspires you as a person to go build your own place where you can generate income from having a direct line of communication with people.

This book will definitely benefit most people who have creative aspirations, who may not know the next step in generating money to keep the dream sustainable.

2009-04-22T14:12:00.000-05:00

You go best buy. You go. I saw a dude pull into this spot in his fat diesel earth killing truck only to back up and go find his spot somewhere else in the back. I think he was pretty confused.

Light

2009-04-21T08:55:00.003-05:00

Here's what's in the works! It should be a sweet video. I've decided to start doing videos that are incredibly different than what is out there, and other student pastors, and churches are helping me do some very unique things. My last video 'dream big' was a step in that direction, and below is a screen shot of another attempt. A poem was written about being the light of the world, and it inspired this new video. We're going to be filming some items for it this week, and it should be completed by the end of April.

CONTEST! What can Smirk do for you?

2009-04-21T08:32:00.003-05:00

Can I help you?
Something similar to that is always found on the back of a retail store worker's vest, and I started thinking about that, it's really true. The people working are there to help you in whatever you need. That question has become our new contest.

The WHATCANSMIRKDOFORU contest has begun, asking "What can smirk do to help you?".

So, I personally want to ask, is there a creative topic that your student ministry desperately wants? If yes, would you be kind enough to take some time out of your day and send me and email with that topic or idea? Whatever topic gets the most votes in the month of april/may I will make that video, and you the WINNER(s), will get that content free! I'm going to start creating videos people themselves have asked for. I want to start building a better tool for the people who support me.

Thanks so much!
Patrick from Smirk
My email is smirkcreative@gmail.com

I'm all Tangled

2009-04-10T09:19:00.002-05:00

Cool stuff has been happening. I've hit the top 10 again on Tangle. This time for the 'Easter Rocks' video. I'm really excited about it. I'm also trying to do some new marketing for smirk by giving away a free video, just by emailing me. Now of course, I will be using the email to gather a group of people together and email them every once in a while with a new video that I've made. Anyways! Things are good and I'm getting married in about a month.

Dream Big

2009-04-08T18:36:00.001-05:00

I finally finished 'Patricktown' and I renamed it 'Dream Big'. Watch it, like it, maybe not like it, either way that was 4 weeks of focus into 2 minutes of frames. lol.

upcoming Project

2009-03-20T13:42:00.004-05:00

So if you haven't seen the comcast comercials on TV, you're probably either working too much, or you have a DVR. They are so amazing and they have inspired my next video. If you want to get a glimpse of what I'm doing next head on over to comcasttown.com The video I'm doing talks about Failure and mixes in a bit of my personal story too. It's going to be AwSUM! Here's a screen shot of my town... PatrickTown.

don't drink the koolaid

2009-03-09T14:24:00.004-05:00

Someone tell me I'm not hallucinating. I could have sworn on sunday that my coffee was sending me the message to back off. Too bad I love coffee too much, I could have sold the cup o' joe on ebay for $500 bucks.

Get Some.

2009-03-05T11:18:00.002-06:00

A recent report shows a sky-rocketing rise in depression among Treehuggers. Finding them listless, and without purpose, one hugger was quoted as saying, 'since amazon released the kindle for iphone, theres no defending the forest. My life is over. It's only the whales now, and I heard they're releasing an app for them with GPS to avoid poaching. What's the world coming to?'

Sweetness is Future!

2009-03-03T10:53:00.006-06:00

Have you ever wanted do the things you love but something keeps blocking you? Of course you have! We ALL have. But, in that little statement, 'do the things you love but something keeps blocking you' is the statement of life. There will always be obstacles, things you don't know that you need to know, maybe not enough resources, time, energy, or money. But the lack of those things serve you. They serve you in the sense that these barriers are the building blocks of your life story. Every time I get down and think about how things might not work, I'm reminded that the walls that stand in my way are simply the bricks that will build my next bridge. Every unfortunate job I've had, built me into an entrepreneur. Every long hour I spent in the studio is in the next video. Each of the obstacles has made me stronger, dig deeper with my dream.

It all adds up, just as long as you don't give up.

There will always be news of hardships and struggle, of layoffs and hard times, of dreams lost, but those things are just temporary, it's simply the bricks of the next bridge. And for many of us this next bridge is the one that goes to the castle in the sky. :) There's never been a better time than right now.

Here's a vid link for student ministries that's along these lines.... here

Update on Easter Rocks!

2009-02-13T08:31:00.003-06:00

That Rock sat there taunting and intimidating.
it said the bad guys won,
and that the followers didn't know what they were talking about.
But the rock disappeared. The nails that told he was dead, changed their story.
From that moment on,
every single person could to peer into the shadows,
and find that you can put truth in a grave, but it wont stay there.
Easter is close. Is there someone in your life that needs to know the rock is gone?

(This is an image from the Easter Invite video)
Easter Rocks February 25th.
You can get it at WorshipHouse Media
and sermonspice.com

I'm going to throw you off a building!

2009-02-13T08:25:00.007-06:00

Take a close look at this hard drive. It's from iomega. It's portable. It's also a very very poor product. The portable loses power while i'm working and becomes a monster! I don't want to lose important videos and designs, videos and designs my clients love, so the other day I threw this $90 portable off the roof of a building. I almost jumped myself the hard drive was made so bad, but I have to finish the amazing easter video I'm working on.

Southern Regional SWAT

2009-02-09T10:50:00.002-06:00

I've been working with the Regional Swat Team here in Texas, and it's been great fun collaborating a brand with them. This image here was created as the detailed branding, and along with this detailed emblem I created a outlined logo of this emblem. I'm excited about doing good art! I'm glad I'm getting a chance to live part of my dreams. Sure beats oaky dokey land.

Easter Rocks

2009-02-06T08:45:00.003-06:00

Easter will be here before everyone has a chance to get ready for it. That's Why at smirk we're in the middle of one of our best pieces of work yet. It's going to be an Easter Service Promo that is so rockin' awesome. It should be a very good animation with some impressive results for churches! Should be for sale by Mid February.

Worky all Week!

2009-02-02T17:48:00.002-06:00

I've been bustin' my tail now for 13 days. Wheeww. Yesterday was my first day off in a long time, so I watched the super bowl and ate steak. It was great. Recently, I did some motion graphic work with cyclone films. We did the history of Glazers, a 4 billion dollar company here in Dallas. The funny thing is that the work we did will be some of the first footage ever played in the new Cowboys Stadium in August, when Glazers is renting it out. I'm pretty excited about that. My animation on the Jumbotron! Also I finished up branding work on the Southern Regional Swat Team. That was cool. And lastly, I'm finishing a motion graphics project on a Divinus Software called Spheric which will help out every Master's Comission in the U.S.

So cool stuff! I'm really glad I made the move to freelance. The projects keep getting more and more creative. And also they pay well. (lol.)

The best and the brightest

2009-01-08T09:24:00.001-06:00

When you think of the best animators in the church world... well, honestly, you've probably never thought about the best animators in the church world, because you don't think they're any good. Well, there are some guys I seriously look up to when it comes to doing great creative work. (The list isn't too long because I want to add my name some day! ha ha)

1. Barton Damler - If you are a media guy at your church you need to be familiar with him. He works for Igniter Media in Dallas. He's definitely worthy of the number 1 spot. Here's a taste.

2. Dan Stevers - This guys young and he's got a lot of talent. He should be the next big thing in creative church endevors. He's done a bunch of motion graphics and shot a few sweet music videos. Look at his AwSum!

I need to get better to make the list. Maybe a few more hours to 10,000.

I'm Glad for Gladwell!

2009-01-05T09:06:00.002-06:00

I read a book the other day, Malcom Gladwell's Outliers. It was a great book. He talks about discovering a pattern in regards to success. It's about a few factors, one being the opportunities created for you, and about a rule of thumb. That rule of thumb being, it takes 10,000 hours of practice to be an expert, or in my words 'be AwSum!'

The average worker works about 2000 hours a year, so to get to 10,000 hours means someone who is AwSum!, had to be doing it full-time for almost 5 years or part-time for almost 10. That is a bunkload of time. You HAVE to be totally committed and really love what you do to get to that 10,000 hour mark. Think about what most people spend a great deal of time doing, working 8-9 hours a day - doing something mundane just so they can pay the next round of bills.

Newsflash: This won't make you very valuable, and it certainly won't make you AwSum!

What I got from the book: If you aren't doing what you love - STOP. Do whatever it takes to get to 10,000.

Six great vids for your students

2009-01-02T08:55:00.000-06:00

I put together 6 of my best student verse videos as a bundle and they are available on spice. The verses in the bundle are:

Matthew 26 Don't worry
Luke 11 Knock and the door will be opened
Matthew 22 Love God
John 13 Love one another
Jeremiah 29 Plans of God
John 3:16* (I think you know this one)

*probably my best animation work

rocket booster on!

2009-01-01T08:47:00.001-06:00

I finished up on animating another verse (James 1). I like James 1, it talks about how to view trials, aka pain, disappointment, shortcomings. Anyways, this video is finished up and awaiting approval at spice. Should be a good transition video for students. I used Trapcode and created some good looking space particles.

The bottom line

2008-12-31T08:34:00.003-06:00

It's really fun not to have a job. It's really fun to run your own business. Whether you work in a job, or work for yourself, there's one thing to keep in mind - the bottom line. I'm not talking about the 'money' bottom line. Life is not about making your bottom line be profitable. I'm talking about the real bottom line, and that is this question 'how much value do you create?' It's a different way to look at things, especially if you work for someone else. If you come in to work, and do what your organization asks of you, in all of your job description, you may lose sight of this question about value.

Would you rather have 5 microsoft zunes or 1 ipod?
Would you rather have 10 cell phones or 1 iphone?
Would you rather watch 10 animated movies or 1 pixar film?

Value means a lot.

something is in the water!

2008-12-18T15:17:00.002-06:00

I've been hard at work, and I'm doing a lot of animation lately, but before I get to that, I want to thank everyone who purchased 'Christmas Eve Service Promo'. That was just a great experience. So far to date, almost 250 churches used it for their services. It's only been on the site about 3 weeks, and the video hit the #6 spot on sermonspice.com.

Okay! So here's what I have in the works coming up. Here is a shot from the project I'm currently working on. The main topic is fish who try not to be eaten, and figure out where all the fishermen have gone. It should be out before December 31st.

Thanks again for everyone out there who helps make this stuff possible.
-patrick

Christmas came early

2008-12-16T08:46:00.003-06:00

Christmas came early for me this year. I got engaged to the lovely soon to be Candace Ball. lol. I know you can't tell by the picture, but that's Roswell, NM., and there are aliens everywhere, so Candace had to keep a close eye on that ring!

New Videos!

2008-11-21T10:56:00.005-06:00

Oh I just love Christmas. It's starting to get cold. I mean, not Northern cold like a bitter I can't move my face cold, but more of a I'm a wimp turn on the heat cold. I guess that's what happens to you when you live in the south of the U.S. Anyways! that's not what I'm talking about... I've got 4 new videos on Sermonspice.com and they are all Christmas videos.

One is an old timey video about regifting. It's stupid. don't watch it. (Okay, if you insist, you can watch it here.)
The next one is a Christmas EVE service promo. I think that one works for just about everyone. you can get it here.

If your a student or a student pastor then forget those two you need some TEEN JESUS, that Christmas video can be downloaded here.
And If you love animation watch my new animated story about Jesus here.
I hope everyone has a great Christmas! Go getcha some Turducken! ha ha ah aaah.

I voted, so did you!

2008-11-05T06:46:00.003-06:00

So here it is, November 5, and we can all breathe fresh, non-election air. I don't know about you, but I don't think I've seen that much media coverage in my life. I'm kind of glad we can move forward now. Looks like there's going to be a new sheriff in this town.

Opportunity in the Land of Fear

2008-11-03T06:38:00.004-06:00

Have you ever heard the phrase, "The Economic outlook is bleak." It seems that more and more everyone keeps using the big "R" buzzword. Yep, RECESSION. Everyone tightens their wallets right? That may be the case for millions of Americans, but I'm pretty sure there's a small group of people that prepare for the bad times. They prepare for the bad times because they know winter is coming. Winter is not bad. Winter is a season, and recession, like winter has to happen for spring to come again. These people know that, and they prepare for it. They stock up. They 'save their pennies' and when winter comes these people know what to do.

Opportunity is everywhere when everyone else thinks its winter. These people are paralyzed because they haven't stocked up. They hold on to what they have, rather than use it to create new spring opportunities. But when the people who have stocked up for winter hear the word, RECESSION, they instantly think Opportunity. Opportunity to boldly create change, to make things more efficient, to make them greener, and with less waste. This reasoning keeps them doing incredible things and looking at the future as a beautiful spring rather than a bitter cold winter.

I felt strongly it was time to make the changes needed for a beautiful spring. I quit my job a few weeks back. It seems I see winter as the only path to spring.

Monster on the Wall

2008-10-25T11:12:00.004-05:00

"It seems more and more, that the riskiest thing you can do is play it safe. In order to overcome that, you have to be so radically different that the majority of people may not like what you do, or even worse, they may hate it. But someone, somewhere will love it."

That was from Seth Godin, Author of the recent hit book 'Tribes'. It reminded me of some art I saw for sale when I was in Denver. This Picture of a little Monster, as if a hunter had captured it, stuffed and mounted it. The designer was selling them at $250 a pop. And they were selling! I thought it was just fun! But it took being different and that usually means not everyone is going to like it.

Recently, I left my job. I knew it was risky. I knew not everyone would like me leaving. Staying at the job was safe. It was secure. Everyone liked having me there. But no one loved having me there.

Life means having to be radically different. Different enough that not everyone will like it, at all. The funny thing about my life, is that I'm trying to make films for churches. How funny is that? I'm trying to make things that are radically different, and I do them for churches, which usually are all about pleasing everyone. Not everyone will like the films I create. In fact, most people don't. They're just too different. At least so I've been told. But this monster reminds me I'm on the right track.

John 3:16

2008-10-09T11:17:00.003-05:00

I made a new video! oh, I am so happy for it! I feel like I'm finally getting to a place where I'm not just making videos, but they're actually compelling to people, have a lot of emotion, and really fun to watch. If you have time, click on the title of this post and head over to spice to watch my newest creation. Fun Fun!

Fun fun fun

2008-09-17T16:27:00.005-05:00

I'm a big fan of Volkswagen. The other day I walked by an Ol' VDuB, and I saw these plates at the movie theater, and I wanted to share the pic with you. That's fun, huh? :)

Oh Yeaah!

2008-09-17T16:04:00.003-05:00

Well, after almost 2 years of working on my little business called Smirk, I finally made a video that was worth buying! Man, and just think, I only had to make 58 videos to do it!
One of my videos, You, School, & God hit the top 10! and I also finished production on God's Wish, a short film about an artist who finds wonder in God. There's almost 10,000 videos on sermonspice.com, so I'm very fortunate to have a video in the top 10. MAN I'M EXCITED! YEAAAH!

I stand and wait in line

2008-09-11T14:28:00.003-05:00

If you can say yes to one of the following questions, you are in a special group: Are People willing to stand in line all night for what you offer? Are people willing to spend wallet-fulls on your product? Do people mark you on the calendar and say, "On that day, I'm doing this!"

If you can say yes, your organization is definitely remarkable. They have paid a price to create something remarkable for their customers. It's important to note that many other companies try to circumvent that notion, and try to get things cheaper. They cannot afford certain budgets and for that I understand. These businesses are neither remarkable nor notable. They never stand out, simply because their mindset can't afford it. To be remarkable, organizations must do things people will react to!

Apple's Iphone, Nike+, Nintendo's Wii, (yes I'm name dropping!) these things are remarkable! They didn't create those things because they have a lot of cash, or talented people, but because they decided to pay the price to be remarkable.

retro junk!

2008-09-10T16:44:00.000-05:00

OH MY GOSH! I just stumbled along a site that made me cry! If you were born in the late 70's to early 80's you should run over to www.retrojunk.com. I'm crying with tears of early childhood memories of Garfield, Transformers, Danger Mouse, and fraggle rock. All of these shows truly made me the creative blunder that I am today! Thank you M.A.S.K.!

Boy those times were good.

Hell House

2008-09-10T16:23:00.001-05:00

Each year, Trinity Church in Cedar Hill, TX hosts Hell House. It's one of the scarier haunted houses in South Dallas. I got the opportunity to do the branding and design for Hell House 18: DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND. I thought it turned out pretty good. Anyways if you have $10, and time to burn in October, this might be worth taking some friends to.

http://www.darkrailhellhouse.com/

the future of Celeb

2008-09-10T15:17:00.005-05:00

It's interesting to see how the Internet really effects everything. People run most of their hobbies, & social life through some form of online portal. It's really cool to see people that we love and adore become what is being called 'micro-celebrities'.

Take for instance my sister, who believe-it-or-not, actually is, in fact, a micro-celebrity. People in Denver are beginning to notice that her music is in fact awesome and exciting, all because of her online presence. What can I say? She has a degree in music marketing & PR. So the online presence works, and I realize after being in Denver last week, that it has less to do with the 'Celeb' status most of us know, and more and more to do with people who feel the same as her and get to share in her adventures. You should rss her blog at http://andreaballmusic.blogspot.com/

Latest Designs for Clients

2008-09-10T14:15:00.005-05:00

here's some pics of some designs that I've created recently. A brand for a film company, a logo for a Legal Firm, and artwork for a Coffee Shop. Now if only my clients had magic beans to give me.

Why the future of film is video

2008-09-10T14:08:00.003-05:00

it's not any surprise that I really want a Nikon D90. It looks just like a regular photo camera, but it's not. It's incredible and it shoots video. Crazy! Not just any video 24p in HD and a very narrow Depth of Field. Incredible!