hmacdo studio: artist blog

My Dream Wedding Series: Constructing Motion Graphics with Geobeats

2011-05-12T11:47:00.000-07:00

screen shot: Intro animation title plate

In their newest video series, Geobeats explores destination spots for happy honey-mooners and wedding planners alike. Through out this series, you will find information about rare and romantic locations plus tips on how to pull off your perfect wedding gown. Just in time for Spring/Summer wedding season 2011, the motion graphics package for Geobeat's My Dream Wedding Series came together using original illustrated elements, Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and AfterEffects. All motion design by hmacdo studio, Spring 2011.

screen shot: Lower-third treatment

screen shot: Lower-third treatment variation

screen shot: Credit endplate

Stir Your Soul

2011-05-06T10:37:00.001-07:00

Just because...

Inspirational Businesses Series: Constructing Motion Graphics for Geobeats

2011-05-03T04:34:00.000-07:00

Screenshot: intro graphics

Part of the new exciting Inspirational Businesses Series by Geobeats. Motion Design by hmacdostudio. All motion elements and content created using the Adobe Suite, especially Adobe AfterEffects! Designer Erica Lurie talks about her adorable clothing line and Garnish Apparelshop (also freaking out about her awesome web site!) in Portland, Oregon. For another awesome Geobeats Inspirational Business story, visit the Geobeats YouTube channel and learn all about Dave's Killer Breads. Do it!

Screenshot: intro graphics

Screenshot: intro title plate

screenshot: lower-third treatment

St. Patrick's Day Orchid

2011-03-15T04:53:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, I had the pleasure of visiting the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx for their annual Orchid show!

Out on a whim and creative quest, I searched for some thing to inspire my handmade St. Patrick's Day card this year. I was fascinated by a tiny creature called the Masdevallia Copper Angel 'Highland' Orchid. Simple, compared to all of the other-worldly flora I came across that day, this peculiar wispy Orchid's shape immediately reminded me of the Irish "triquetra" or Celtic knot and thus spurring the perfect image for this early celebration of Spring and St. Patrick's Day!

The original watercolor illustration was created in bright orange, reds and the minty greens in Illustrator to complete this unique design. The image was scanned and printed on my ever trusty epson inkjet on high-quality Arches watercolor paper and dusted with festive green glitter.

For the construction of the card and the original handmade envelopes each corner was filed into a hand-crafted rounded edge. High-quality colored art papers for the card come in cool light shades of green. The handmade envelope comes in olive or turquoise with a lucky four-leaf clover and Happy St. Patrick's Day message inside!

This card and other handmade cards like it can be found for sale in my Etsy shop: hmacdo paper craft

Women's Fitness: Constructing Motion Graphics for Geobeats

2011-03-04T18:39:00.000-08:00

Screen shot: Intro graphics for chosen branding concept

This week's motion graphics work for Geobeats surrounds the branding of the Women's Fitness series. After submitting 3 potential designs, the chosen concept for this graphics package makes use of many nested (pre-comped) layers and square-shaped masks in AfterEffect. Some use of stock photo images were also incorporated to help depict a mood of both femininity and strength.

Screen shot: Lower-third motion treatment

Creating the Women's Fitness lower-third motion began by using graphic elements from the intro but re-appropriated in AfterEffects using the alpha brush tool to create the effect of each outline animating on screen and off again to display the instructors name and affiliation.

Screen shot: Intro graphics Series Title Reveal

Screen shot: Transition graphic

Transition graphics are the last piece of the graphics package puzzle and often a critical asset in creating short-format videos. They act as a quick pause from one thought to the next, helping the audience quickly move along, strengthening the story and branding the overall look of the video series. It's the cherry on top of the sundae! Once again, for the Women's Fitness series I'm using my original rounded square graphics in AfterEffects and taking care to turn on motion blur in the AFX layers panel.

The YouTube video displayed here shows how the motion graphics are working with the video series. There are more videos from the Women's Fitness Series and other short-format videos with motion graphics designed by the hmacdo studio on the Geobeats YouTube Channel. Enjoy!

Exotic Cocktails: Constructing Motion Graphics for GeoBeats

2011-02-22T05:47:00.000-08:00

I was illustrating tropical drink ideas for Geobeats Exotic Cocktail Series a few weeks ago. Who knew there were so many varieties of glassware shapes for fruity drinks!

With Mardi Gras upon us and Spring right around the corner, Winter is slowly loosening it's grip on the North-eastern seaboard. And thank god for that! The slightest hint of a warm breeze would send anyone running to the nearby liquor store for fruity drink supplies! Just in time, Geobeats has created a fun video series called Exotic Cocktails detailing step-by-step instructions on how to mix, shake and pour up a variety of citrus infused adult beverages!

Screenshot: Graphical intro 2-3 seconds

Screenshot: Lower-third treatment

Watch host Samantha Mauro from Cinema Paradiso in Fort Lauderdale, FL shake up a delicious Flyin' Hawaiian for you. You can browse more Exotic Cocktail recipes such as how to make a Peach Bellini Martini, a Chi-Chi, Flamenco Sangria and many more. An extensive collection of other short-format video series can be seen on the GeoBeats YouTube channel.

The graphics for this series were designed by the hmacdo studio, original illustrations and concepts created using illustrator, photoshop and motion using Adobe AfterEffects.

Healing & Helping: Card Design for Tutoring & Massage Therapy

2011-02-17T04:56:00.000-08:00

Fresh off the press this winter! Business card design and logo for my dear Aunt Carol. In celebration of getting her Massage Therapy Certification from the Cortiva Institute in Boston, Carol hired me to design her first set of business cards and logo. Most graphic designers get to create a business card or two at some point in their creative careers. I love business cards. Simple pieces of information you can hold in your hand and give away! These cards are printed on my trusty Epson Inkjet, hand cut, on high quality Arches 90 lb watercolor paper giving them a wonderful organic texture. The ink absorbs wonderfully on this high quality paper

Coincidentally, around the same time I also put together business cards for my Mom's growing Tutoring business. Long since retired from her days as school teacher in Virginia, she still has many families hire her independently to help their children sharpen reading and math skills. This Entrepreneurial spirit must run in the family!

Expert Series: Constructing Motion Graphics with GeoBeats

2011-02-14T05:36:00.000-08:00

Screenshot: Graphics Intro (2-3 seconds)

Screenshot: Lower-thirds treatment

Screenshot: Interior graphics treatment. Learn to speak German!!!

This week's featured Motion Graphics work is for the Geobeat's Expert Series on every thing travel related including, tips on how to protect your home while traveling, energy conservation and the most fun of all tips on how to ask for the most basic things in German while traveling.

In this YouTube video host Justin Cave talks about preparing your home before you travel with energy saving tips.

The concept for this project was to create a series of graphical elements that helped to brand this Series of tips from a variety of expert hosts as one recognizable entity, but also to create graphics that help present the information in a concise and interesting way that can be absorbed easily in short format. You can browse their extensive collection of short-format video series on the GeoBeats YouTube channel

AfterEffects was the primary tool used for this Series with one of my favorite tools, the Trapcode 3D stroke plugin from Red Giant.

World's Most Unusual Hotels: Constructing Motion Graphics with GeoBeats

2011-02-07T05:54:00.001-08:00

Over these past few months, I've been working on design and motion graphics for a new travel and lifestyle client. I hope December and January are a good indication of the year to come but I need some time to post all the fun new projects I've been working on! That said, starting this February, I want to start anew with a series of blog posts based on my experience designing and animating motion graphics packages for GeoBeats. Each week, I will feature one new series on graphics and design topics ranging from Unusual Travel Spots, bizarre sightings, tackling foreign languages and Exotic Cocktails! You can also browse their extensive collection of short-format video series on the GeoBeats YouTube channel

This week's featured Series The World's Most Unusual..., showcases interesting places to visit and unique hotel concepts from around the world.

For all you book worm, romance novel lovers... A Library Hotel in New York City!

Merry Chirstmas from the H.MacDo Studio!!

2010-12-24T05:31:00.001-08:00

What a wonderful and creative year it has been here in the first official year of the H.MacDo Studio. I will be off and running in 2011, booming with great new projects ahead. But for now, it is time to settle down with family and loved ones to celebrate Christmas and welcome the New year in. Here's wishing every one a very Merry Christmas, good health and happiness for 2011!

Catch Him If You Can! He's the Gingerbread Man...

2010-12-16T04:55:00.000-08:00

What a better way to spend the chilly winter weekends here in New York this holiday season. We've already received our first snow! Just finished creating handmade holiday cards for all my family, friends and loved ones this year. BUT...there are a few left over and now available in my H.MacDo Paper Craft Etsy shop! Perhaps just in the nick of time? Catch him if you can!

Make Your Own Gingerbread Man: They Draw & Cook Holiday recipe series

2010-12-05T15:06:00.000-08:00

click to enlarge

They Draw and Cook has been cooking up some new holiday inspired recipes this month and here is some new artwork that I submitted to the site recently.

Each day in December, They Draw and Cook together with the Food Network is featuring 10 artists per day and their holiday inspired recipes on their web site: www.theydrawandcook.com

Hark the Herald

2010-12-01T11:19:00.001-08:00

Found myself with some delicious little free time on this rainy afternoon and looking at the date, officially cued Pandora with my favorite holiday musical selections (Billie Holiday "holiday" & Vince Guaraldi Trio) while collecting supplies for this year's Christmas crafty treats! Oh, what I have in store for my dearest friends and family! I'm very excited about some of the creative projects I've been working on this season and looking forward to sharing them in the weeks to come. Happy Holidays are here!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T11:53:00.000-08:00

Didn't realize that Lincoln was responsible for coining the day of Thanksgiving as a holiday during his Presidency. Happy Thanksgiving every one!!

They Draw and Cook

2010-10-30T09:03:00.000-07:00

Last night, I received an email from Nate Padavick who wrote to tell me that my Create Your Own S'Mores recipe illustrations have been posted to their popular web site: theydrawandcook.com! I am so pleased to be a part of this unique blog project and be included with all the other amazing illustration artists on their site. Also, thought to share a great little write up about the project and it's founders, Nate Padavick and Salli Swindell on TimesUnion.com

Fall Illustrations 2010

2010-10-21T18:48:00.000-07:00

www.verlainenyc.com

New works for Fall 2010 solo exhibition @ Verlaine, nyc

2010-10-04T14:05:00.000-07:00

h.macdo on: ArtSlant.com

Exciting news! Over the past few months, I have been working on a new body of large-scale illustrations that will be showing at Verlaine on the Lower East Side this coming month of November... I just ordered my postcards...more details and photos to follow!

Summer of Love: Love bird

2010-08-24T04:49:00.000-07:00

Summer of Love: Minne Ha ha

2010-08-17T17:09:00.001-07:00

Flora & Romantic Country

2010-08-06T15:28:00.000-07:00

The Summer of love continued this week as I got into the full swing of a lovely wedding illustration project. Beginning to lay down some paint to further define a few areas as I go. I have a 25inx35in piece of Archer's watercolor paper stretched out over a huge piece of wood so that I can paint in peace with out having to worry about buckling and warping. I also love to work with a set of water soluble colored-pencils.

Flowers and romantic country music have been the driving inspiration for me this week. Yes, country music. While I was home visiting my family in Virginia this past weekend, I grabbed a few of my Dad's albums and to my great surprise can not get enough of a Alison Krauss & Union Station album called, New Favorite. Just plain gorgeous blend of country, folk and bluegrass, putting me in the right mind-set for creating this whimsical out-doorsy lake scene. And then... hey, look the H. MacDo Studio finally got some strawberries this week too!

Summer of Love 2010: A Wedding Illustration

2010-08-03T16:48:00.001-07:00

The summer of love is in full effect! Preliminary sketches for a new illustration have begun.

This poster sized illustration is a personal commission for a good friend's wedding taking place in their favorite summer retreat of Lake George, NY, later this month.

Local animation for Chicago @ OpenChime.com

2010-07-19T06:13:00.000-07:00

Summer 2010 has been a creative and productive time for the H.MacDo Studio and I am proud to announce a brand new animated spot just completed for the launch of OpenChime.com.

Working directly with the client, the 45 second script was written and edited by the fine folks at OpenChime and then designed, illustrated and animated by me in the H.MacDo Studio using hand-drawn elements and frame-by-frame animation in Flash and AfterEffects.

OpenChime.com is a new local business directory for the Chicago area. If you live in Chicago, OpenChime connects you to local services such as wedding photographers, catering, moving services and the like. You simply tell them what you need and when you need it, OpenChime quickly collects provider's information and quotes based on your request and your appointment is just a click away! OpenChime is only available in Chicago at this time, but if it catches on, could be offered in more locations in the near future. Go to the site and let them know you want OpenChime in your city!!

Also, check out the link Chime for Charity, and learn about how OpenChime is also offering a way for local charitable organizations to run fundraisers through the OpenChime network.

Preliminary sketches for OpenChime

OpenChime rough storyboard thumbnails

For the love of WordPress!

2010-07-09T04:24:00.000-07:00

I'm probably a little late to the party on this one, but look out blogspot...I just fell in love with WordPress! A few months back Genevieve Gorder of the HGTV series Design Star and Dear Genevieve contacted me about creating a unique travel site for her own design firm GG Studio. Ever the progressive media talent, Genevieve was searching for a way to reach and interact with her audience through other mediums in addition to television. Along came WordPress. From a web design and developer prospective Wordpress gave us every thing we needed. A snap to install, it allows for the flexibility and full control over design and layout with all the ability to build a dynamic site that will let visitors share and interact with Gen in a way that she could not do through television alone. What I enjoy about Wordpress is that you can customize every little thing. You can choose a theme that some one else has already developed or if you're more comfortable with CSS and PHP (as I am) you can build your very own theme from scratch based on the whims of your client. Then, you create your pages and "widget ready" areas allowing dynamic buttons (widgets) and plugins, to further increase functionality to the site. Now my client has a brand new web site that not only looks exactly the way she wants but will never stay static as one pretty page. It is now a vehicle, a fully functional tool that she can use to express herself, hear from her audience and continue to build relationships with on a new level.

This month Genevieve and her awesome assistant designer Jessica are traveling to Norway to explore the roots of her family heritage and gather new design inspiration. To read more go to: www.genevievegorderhome.com

Set me freelance.com logo development continued...

2010-07-02T04:32:00.000-07:00

This is the final logo design on the Coming Soon page. We ultimately agreed that the characters should look a little more universal and office friendly. Right now the site is going to be developed for the New York City freelance network, but eventually will be used for other cities as well and we didn't want to pigeon-hole our look to New York alone. Coming soon setmefreelance.com is set to launch in the coming months!

click to enlarge images

While designing the initial logo for setmefreelance.com, there was a lot of fun to be had with the supporting creative elements during which the logo went through a couple phases. We all put our heads together to try and develop a group of characters that would best represent the freelance professional and it brought around a good conversation... How should these ruffian creative types look? The first visual that popped into my head was the image of every day young people I used to see on the NY subway system in the early mornings commuting from Brooklyn to Manhattan. The hipsters! Oh what fun I had drawing up this cast of characters and we laughed and laughed. Then they were like, no but seriously... how should they look?

click to enlarge images

Set me Free!

2010-06-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

This is the beginning launch of a brand new web development and creative branding project I have been working on for quite a few weeks and excited to share with you now. Coming soon setmefreelance.com, a concept created by Ali Mansfield and Brad Yankus will be a social networking site designed to help freelance artists and creative professionals stay in touch with employers and entertainment producers in the NYC area. Working closely with a great set of talented people, I wanted to start building some hype around their idea by designing a unique and young graphics package advertising setmefreelance.com as the go-to place "where creative professionals connect".

oooooo eeeeee... what's up with that?

2010-05-17T10:22:00.000-07:00

Working like crazy these past few weeks and haven't been posting much here as a result. Not to worry though, I've got some fun stuff coming up! Thought I'd post a sneak peek into one of the next projects about to launch this Spring. What the devil is this gonna be? It looks very mysterious indeed...

In other news, I've begun working on a new project with Interior Designer, Genevieve Gorder of the HGTV's series Dear Genevieve.

"Fresh Delivery" for Plumtv.com

2010-04-23T05:55:00.000-07:00

So this has been a really great week here at the H.macdo Studio. I've just completed a new spring promo for Plumtv.com in NYC. This was an incredibly fun project and client to work with. I'm happy to see it come into full fruition as Spring is certainly in full bloom this week! Stay tuned as I am excited to be working on several really cool new projects and commissions for later this Spring and Summer.

H.macdo Animation & Illustration Studio presents a brand new Spring 2010 motion graphics promo spot for client: Plumtv.com in New York City. All design elements, artwork, original concept development and animation created by H.macdo Animation & Illustration Studio for Plumtv.com. Original logo created by Plumtv.com

Tools used: Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, AfterEffects and Flash.

Music credit: audio track is "Fresh Delivery" off the Plumtv audiosocket library. The authors are Captain Planet off the Bastard Jazz Sync Disc 2.

Plumtv

2010-04-16T07:46:00.000-07:00

Here are some AfterEffect stills from the Plum spot I have been working on this week. Not going to post animation just yet as I am working with the client now to wrap final details and notes. I'm also trying to find the appropriate music today. I want some thing electronica with a world beat vibe and some thing that I won't have copyright issues with. It's a tough one. It's truly shaping up nicely. I can't wait to share!

Plumtv.com: Think of all the possibilities

2010-04-09T12:28:00.000-07:00

Oh Friday and I'm all over the place. I just had to post some thing that was NOT purple! I am wrapping up a week of creating artwork for the Plum spot. While scanning artwork, cleaning up images and silhouetting, I am beginning to experiment with my ideas for animation in AfterEffects. Also starting to think about what kind of music would best suit this piece. hmmmmmm. Suggestions?

Every thing is coming up purple!

2010-04-07T17:35:00.000-07:00

Quickly scanned in some watercolor washes I've been working on today.

There are six of these quick washes that represent the various blooms of fashion, culture and destinations for the Plum brand. I'll work on refining these more tomorrow, I want to bring these watercolor washes back into the commercial world. I don't want this piece to start looking too soft or washed out (ha ha ha). I'm already thinking about how to contrast these with some harder vector lines and tweak these a little bit for an edgier look, but for today I quite like these raw scans. Tomorrow, I also want to resolve the technique that I will use to animate these as part of a blooming flower on a tree.

Plumtv.com Tuesday April 6

2010-04-06T19:01:00.000-07:00

I started creating and inking the flower bloom for the very beginning of the storyboard. There are 18 of these drawings in all and I do love getting back to using India ink. I also like switching it up and being away from the computer for a while.

Just some testing in AE with the tree illustration to begin visualizing the shot that pans through the middle of the storyboard. Thinking about how many of the branches really need the detailed texture pattern.

I started to build up the tree illustration for the background. Now, I know I could have used the live trace option but it did not give me enough of the refined look I was going for. I would have spent more time cleaning it up to my liking. Also, I wanted to build the tree in specific sections for 3d layering in AfterEffects.

Plumtv.com 10 second animation spot

2010-04-05T15:35:00.000-07:00

The challenge is to "Create a mood that brands Plum as THE on-air and online destination for an “insider’s guide” to our markets, in some of the most extraordinary and beautiful locations in the country." -Plumtv.com creative brief

That said, I want to give the viewer the idea that while these beautiful plum blossoms are blooming and splattering in paint all over the tree, a few of the flowers begin to morph into a fashion figure, people playing sports, or the silhouette of exotic destinations.

The biggest challenge for me this week is going to be tackling the production side of this piece, creating the backgrounds, the illustrator artwork, hand-drawn art and watercolor washes. I need to be diligent each day to stay on track so I am going to do my best to post my progress here each day to keep me going!

Through out the week I will be creating all new artwork for the 10 second spot I am designing and animating. One of the things that stood out for me in the creative brief was a tie into the seasons, which right now is going to be spring. While pondering spring themes and upon further investigation, I learned a little bit about how the plum grows on small trees and actually has really beautiful blooms each season in the early spring. In keeping with ideas listed in the Plum creative, my concept quickly became all about "Blooming", "Spring" and "Spring renewal" and "living life to the fullest... bloom". In my storyboard everything is blooming: culture, the arts and out door sports.

click image to enlarge

The first frame starts with a close up of a plum flower bud blooming into a beautiful plum flower. The camera zooms back quickly to show other flowers blooming and the branches of a tree start to draw themselves onto the screen. Some of the flowers that bloom are represented by a quick splattering of paint onto the screen. The camera continues to pull back but then quickly starts to pan left to right. While the camera is panning and the flowers are blooming suddenly several of the flowers begin to morphing into different elements that represent the Plum brand, fashion, outdoor sports, and beautiful locations. As they pass by on the screen they go into full bloom showcasing each element of Plum and then morph back into smaller blooms on the tree. In the end, the blooms fly away from the tree leaving one plum that the camera quickly zooms into as it rotates to reveal the final Plumtv logo.

Spring projects are in the air!

2010-03-28T13:41:00.000-07:00

The art of becoming, being and continuing to work as a freelance artist is an endeavor that is never to be taken lightly. It is a 7AM-7PM affair and that's just on a good day. I am often tearing myself away from the computer at the pleas of a hungry cat and a hungrier boyfriend while asking myself the same question each time, "...but have I done enough for today?" The answer is always NO! To make it work, I must always muster as much energy and excitement for finding the business, planning the business, writing proposals, scheduling time-lines and invoices as I would for creating the actual artwork itself. It is a true full-time commitment... but you know what? ...I love it!

I have a bunch of new animation, graphic design and illustration projects that I'm really excited about for these up-coming spring months so I should be pretty busy here and I want to keep updating as much as possible. I'm working my way into the 6th full month of working as a completely independent artist and learning so much as I go along. Thus far, I've had as many bouts of bad days/weeks as I've had good days, but recently after securing work with a few newer clients, I'm starting to feel a sense of "this is really happening". I've got a lot of work ahead! Time for more coffee!

The Hello Project

2010-03-14T19:26:00.000-07:00

Well, hello to you! A unique on-line social collaboration www.thehelloproject.com makes it fun to say "Hello" and introduce your art to the world with 3x3 post-it note. I love it!

Bulldog Puppy Portrait

2010-03-12T07:33:00.001-08:00

I was thinking this afternoon about how I always enjoy painting and drawing my friend's pets. This painting, (watercolor and ink wash) was created quite a while ago when an english bulldog breeder friend of mine slipped me a picture of this puppy. I can't remember if I meant to give it to her or not and have since lost touch. It has traveled around with me every where and is now currently hanging in our living room. The original idea was to challenge myself to paint a subject that was white, "paint white" I told myself. Then the form of the dog revealed itself through a careful study of the shadows created by the folds in his flabby puppy skin. From there, the idea of the pet portrait just took on a life and personality of it's own ;)

New Ofleb Productions Logo Wink ;)

2010-03-03T06:50:00.000-08:00

More fun with Karen Belfo and Ofleb Productions in Montreal. Cartoonist Karim Terouz created this original logo design for Ofelb Productions and I had a great time giving it a little life with Flash and AfterEffects.

Ofleb Productions Montreal

2010-02-24T07:40:00.000-08:00

click to enlarge any image

I am excited to be working with the talented Ms. Karen Belfo of Ofleb Productions in Montreal again! Saladani's Enigma is a new feature length film Karen is working on for 2011. Ms. Ofleb explains about her new film,

"Saldani's imagination and perception on reality get tangled into a web of negativity and confusion. Her enigma reflects herself. Her characters are her obsession and the man next door becomes her ticket to freedom."

visit: www.saldanisenigma.com

Hmmm sounds interesting!
Karen hired me a few weeks back to start creating a unique animated intro for her new movie. So, on a rainy Tuesday afternoon, I rolled up my sleeves and put on my favorite Django Reinhardt tunes as I worked out these 4 concept illustrations for the new intro. I wanted to create a characiture for Saldani that channels the quirky character Amelie played by actress Audrey Tautou and Betty Boop! The next step will be to work this into a nice 30 second animated piece introducing the film (coming soon in April), much like "Frank's Letter" another short film I worked on with Karen Belfo a few years ago. I'm really excited about this because I look forward to an opportunity to animate in a very gritty ink and wash style again. Yeaaaah Montreal!!!

The Intuition eLearning Motion Graphics Promo

2010-02-10T18:22:00.000-08:00

Today I officially completed my first project with Intuition eLearning in Manhattan with global offices in... well just watch the promo below to find out! This one and half minute corporate motion graphics promotional piece was created entirely in AfterEffects with the Adobe Suite and completely designed and animated by yours truly.

I heart Reggie: The Mini Valentines are done!

2010-02-08T17:54:00.000-08:00

There she is!!! Look at that face! The "Reggie" Mini Valentines are finally done and available to buy on Etsy! Here's the link to my shop: www.etsy.com/shop/hmacdo

There are 4 different colors with custom handmade envelopes to go with each card and heart details on the inside. I made the envelopes from scratch, changed the design slightly on the card to include more hearts around Reggie and decided to print my logo with a little "love note" on the back. These cards would make an excellent addition to any valentine gift that you are giving to your sweet heart this year with that bouquet of flowers or a box of chocolates. The card and envelope are made with fine watercolor and handmade papers. Each one has a red satin ribbon accent and brushed with glitter. Happy Valentine's Day!

The Reggie Valentine continued

2010-02-01T11:16:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of pictures from the process that I've gone through thus far to make the actual cards. The cards are just shy of 3 square inches each and printed on fine watercolor paper in different colors from my Epson inkjet printer. With each card backing made from hand-made papers, (the left over scraps from my holiday cards) I hand printed "reggie" with my signature logo. For some reason, I really wanted the reggie illustration to have round edges so I very carefully cut around the edge and used a little nail filer to mold each round edge to perfection. I think that I will probably glue them together so that I can write a little note or message on the back of each one. Just like the tiny cards we use to get from our secret crush in Elementary school! I'm also thinking about adding a bit more of that shimmer I liked so much from the holiday cards and more red satin ribbon to accent. Photos to follow of the final product in the next week as I finish this project in time for Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day Reggie Card concept

2010-02-01T10:55:00.000-08:00

So a few months back I did a tiny inky sketch of Scott's dog Reggie in my sketchbook. Since then, I've gone back to that sketch again and again. I wanted to keep the integrity of the original ink drawing that I scanned from my sketchbook, but with a little watercolor here and there, I am currently working it into a new design for my Valentine's Day card.

From here, I decided that I wanted to make the concept for these cards "tiny" like the little conversation hearts that are so popular during the Valentine's Day season and present them in a variety of colors: pastel pink, blue, yellow and green, just like those little hearts. From all the die-cuts I created in my Christmas cards, I discovered that I have half a dozen of these square shaped scrap pieces lying around. The perfect size for my little Valentine cards.

Intuition Promotional Snap shots: phase 1

2010-01-23T11:26:00.000-08:00

Still working away on this project. We had to re-do the voice over audio track after edits were made to the script. Final animation to follow in the next week or so!

Intuition Promotional Storyboard Concept

2010-01-16T16:39:00.000-08:00

Here is the thumbnail storyboard development for a new motion graphics piece that I've been working on since December. It's a promotional piece for a global eLearning company called Intuition here in Manhattan with offices all over the world. It's been a great project for me because I was given free reign to design and develop. I've been working very closely with Intuition to create a unique 1.5 minute animated piece that educates folks on a brief background of the company and their services.

Happy Holidays!!!

2009-12-19T18:10:00.000-08:00

Limited edition handmade holiday cards inspired by my trip to Key West. We went to a restaurant called Blue Heaven and this man was walking around with this key lime pie made with meringue piled so high, it looked like some thing out of a Tim Burton film. Happy holidays every one! These cards were made from scraps of recycled paper I had around, resume paper, my trusty Epson InkJet Printer and MaryKay Velocity Powdered eyeshadow for that extra shimmer!

Motion Graphics Demo Reel 2009

2009-11-30T08:25:00.000-08:00

I just got around to posting my 2009 demo reel on YouTube. I need to do a little work on the Audio for this video on Youtube. So for the moment there is no audio for this post. I am working to change that! However, you can also see the demo reel with audio on my web site www.hmacdo.com

2009-11-13T06:22:00.001-08:00

I've been working on an illustration for an concept I got while visiting Key West this past fall on vacation. It was a gorgeous trip and the weather was warm and tropical for late October. Scott convinced me that renting a scooter would the best way to travel around the island. I was skeptical at first and freaked out a little bit, but soon learned to enjoy the ride. It was a great way to get around. Anyway, this illustration comes from a very rough sketch that I did in my sketch book and is part of a series I am working on, all surrounding that trip.

For Scott

2009-11-12T12:03:00.000-08:00

This is for Scott, it's a very quick ink drawing I found in my sketch book of his dog Reggie. I know that he (Scott) is having a hard time this week.

Creepy Movie Social Club

2009-11-11T16:09:00.000-08:00

Just playing around, but some friends of mine and I got sick of asking each other if they had seen this creepy movie or that creepy movie and hearing, "oh my god! That was soooo creepy!". We wanted to talk about these movies sooo bad, but didn't want to ruin it for the other one. Finally we decided that we should start a "movie club" so that we can decide on a scary movie to watch over the coming months and meet to discuss all the gory details over a hot meal. I made this little logo sketch for our club and to use on our FB group. Our first movie discussion will be "Shutter" the original Thai version. Soooo creepy!

Halloween fun

2009-11-09T06:56:00.000-08:00

Just getting into the spirit of the season a few weeks ago over Halloween weekend. I started to doodle this little pumpkin patch with acorns and rats. Then soon after, carved my very own little jack-o-lantern. What fun! I was able to make six loaves of pumpkin bread outta that little sucker! Art is what you make of your every day life...

...and a few more things I've been working on

2009-10-05T13:42:00.000-07:00

More Graphic Design projects for Bond

2009-10-05T13:27:00.000-07:00

Above is a design I worked on for a water bottle used as a promotional device for Bond Edit. Below was another design concept I was working on for a DVD menu using Photoshop, Illustrator and C4D.

Getting used to Blogging

2009-10-05T13:05:00.000-07:00

Ok let's try this again... Here is a smaller .mov of a motion graphics diddy I put together for their Motion Graphics Reel intro

2009-09-26T12:50:00.000-07:00

Better late than never...

2009-09-26T12:34:00.000-07:00

I started a blog today in an effort to record my creative ideas and as a sort of artistic dump where I can quickly collect and record my animation, illustration and design projects that I develop independently and professionally over time.