It’s been a long time coming but I’ve finally got myself a full time job. I took a place as a Creative Artworker at Totem, where I’ve been freelancing for a month or 2 previously. It’s been great so far, I couldn’t ask for a nicer bunch to work with. The atmosphere is so relaxed and the people are great. It’s very much a hands-on role. I now have to do photography as well as all the other things I’ve had to do before. There’s ben aq lot of opportunity to do some retouching and hopefully I’ll get a chance to work on some web stuff. I’ve got a good mentor in all things web here, so if I want to get involved there is some really good people here to help.

Anyway, back to work

Sam

1 of 2 internal campaign posters for DHL

As you can see it contains an iPad as the hero shot with a comped together image of a holidaying sales rep. head body and legs all coming form different sources, with a selection of give aways placed  in his box. Notice the iPhone style call out boxes, they work really well.

I really enjoyed working on this when I finally got the concept that was most pleasing for us all. It’s still on the go so there may be changes before the final posters are printed. Lets see.

Sam

Sorry for the shakey camera work. Its not easy filming whilst shuffling backwards over a pile of toys on your knees

Click here to see Issy and her walker

Hopefully this will make you smile as much as it did her

Sam

Original Images

Here are the 2 starter points for the final image. Both stock shots, the owl shot actually came from http://www.lifeonwhite.com/ which. if you are after wildlife photos shot on a white background it’s worth a look.

Owl Man

This is the final comp. The client was really happy, and so was I. It turned out alright. The hardest thing was trying to give an owl a neck. By their nature they don’t really have necks so I had to create one for him.

More retouching and artwork  to follow

Sam

Any way, I’ve been working at a small agency down in Walsh Bay for the
last few days and having a really good time with it. They’ve trusted
me to just take on projects and just run with them, which is great.
Having a bit more freedom as a freelancer is always a good thing. I’m
back there next week comping an owls head onto a mans body. I’ll put
it up here when it’s finished so that you can see it. Hopefully it
will look good. Fingers crossed.

Sam

I’m at what you could call a small agency today. I’m at Totem down in Walsh bay. You know, I think that the smaller agencies should get more recognition. Mainly because they are in my opinion nicer places to work. The atmosphere always seems to be relaxed, you get to meet everybody as you walk in, and you don’t have to remember about 30 names in 10 seconds flat.

I’ve been to a couple of smaller agencies over the last few months and I like them. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not having a go at the bigger agencies, I’ve had some nice times with them to, but the intimacy of the smaller work place makes for a friendlier welcome, especially if you are freelancing and are in and out of these places within a few days.

communication

The way that you can communicate in a small agency is also good. You can just yell across the room if you have a question. Maybe yell is too much of a strong word, but you know what I’m saying. And people don’t mind having conversations across a few desks. You don’t have to get up walk around till you find a familiar face to ask a question just to find out that you are in fact talking to the wrong person, as has happened to me before.

hits from the 80’s

Music is another thing which smaller agencies do better, except for some radio players. There is only so many times you can here the current No.1 in 1 day!!! There is usually somebody in the studio with a varied music collection who puts on itunes and it sets the background ambiance up quite nicely. Bigger studios, mainly headphones only, such a shame. Not is it every day you can listen to hits from the 80’s next to punk, pop, new wave and even the odd newer song.

still looking for that perfect place/life’s tough

I’m not saying that all big studios are bad to work in, I’ve been in and seen some really nice ones. But, I’d rather work in a smaller more intimate one, where you get to interact with other members of the team, more than a huge production line of a studio, where its just about clearing your desk. Just because client demand is high and workloads getting bigger, the need for creative thinking and technical excellence shouldn’t take a back seat and should still take pride of place in any studio.

Well after all that I better wrap it up. I’m still looking for that perfect studio to work in or even better a studio to run. Freelance is good when the works in, but on the quiet times, with a mortgage to pay and a family to feed, its gets tough.

Sam

Anyway here are a few examples of the kind of work that I was working on with them.

1 of 2 Brut Code# Adshels

This Adshel nearly didn’t get released as the client got cold feet just before release, but a solution was reached without much creative change. As I left it should have been going out the door.

Optus Pre-Paid Vietnamese press ad

Working in another language is hard enough, especially if its Vietnamese. I’m going to have to get used to it. No more European Language work, and I thought German was a hard language to type set!!!

Thats just a few of the things that I’ve been working on. I’ll add more when I get more work

Sam

Anyway, I’m going to use this blog to showcase freelance work, self motivated creative and art, and generally anything I get into or like. hopefully I won’t break any copyright laws If I do contact me here and I’ll sort out any problems.

Sam