BlendFest - Part III
More BLEND Posts
Super Cute Animation About BLEND and Canada
Linn Fritz and Bee Grandinetti decided to make an animated travel journal. They took a 10 day trip from the UK to Canada, which of course included BLEND. You probably won't be able to get over how adorable this film is.
Veracity Colab's Blend Post
Peer Perspectives
See BLEND through the eyes of several other awesome motion design peeps...
David Stanfield
“Wow. What a community this is. As someone who switched from print/web design to motion design, I’ve never seen anything like it. From day one, I’ve found the online motion community to be nothing but kind, open, generous, and welcoming. At Blend, that online community became offline, and the coolest thing about it was, nothing changed. Everyone I met was friendly, nice, kind, and genuine. My only regret is that I didn’t meet everyone.
"I was feeling the desire to work with other people before BLEND. Hearing from all the speakers about working with others, their approach to collaboration, etc., was nothing but fuel to that fire. I really, really (really), want to get out of my solo office situation, and into a shared space with other people who are creating things… I don’t care if they’re making quilts. I just want to be around like-minded people more often.
"I got to meet several heroes of mine, many of which have most definitely changed the game and created new definitions for 'motion graphics.' Not to beat a dead horse, but they were all genuinely kind and nice people, and not one of them came off as arrogant or even as being aware of their status in our little world. There’s definitely a lesson there for the rest of us.”
Christoffer Morales
“So inspiring to see and talk to the faces behind the avatars. I’m so happy to be part of such an inspiring, friendly and genuine community. We’re all making things we love and are excited about!”
Daniel Ito
“Most of the speakers touched on the need to create personal work so they won’t get burnt out from their job. Albert Omoss talked about how he sometimes spends more time working on his personal projects at home than he works on his projects for Buck. We're making art for money and if we don't spend time on creating for ourselves it can become toxic.
"Another theme I picked up on was how to avoid your work from becoming stagnate. You can't get caught up with what’s hot on Motionographer or Vimeo because then you forget to forge your own path. Some advice from Jeff Hamada was to, “Look at things you don’t like and don’t understand.” I have to admit that I fall victim to this from time-to-time. Don’t lose your identity by copying someone else’s style, make something you’ve never seen before!
"I really enjoyed Joey Korenman’s story about getting Sriracha in his eye and using milk as a base to stop the burning. It was a great analogy for how the "Blend experience" was going to implant ideas that would resurface at the right moment. Clever way to start things off and let everyone know what they were in for.
"Tendril explained how they chart out their creative path and goals for the future. This allows them opportunity to explore themes, constantly change their style and develop a game plan on how they want to grow as artists. This is a smart practice for people like me who have trouble focusing on where to go on their creative journey.
"It was a real pleasure just chatting with other attendees over a cup of coffee or a pint. There were so many cool and talented people there, you felt like you fit in no matter where your skill level was at. Even people who work for companies outside of the agency industry shared mograph stories that were just as inspiring as some of the speakers. I saw a lot of new friendships created with a simple cheers or a high-five.”
Quotes that I loved:
“Resistance in your tools is bad, but you should have resistance in the medium, just not the tools.” - Justin Cone
“Choose the right medium for the concept” - Kirsten Lapore
“Look at things you don’t like and don’t understand” - Jeff Hamada
“Everything we create is a statement of our taste” - Giant Ant
David Urbinati
"So blend had a couple of different elements of awesome for me. One being that I was able to meet a lot of people whom I had known only through social media. I feel like I live in a rather isolated part of the world where the industry of motion design isn’t very popular. At blend though I met all my digital friends and made real ones!
"Second element of awesomeness was the speakers. I felt so motivated to come back home and do something amazing after literally everyone’s talk. Vancouver was beautiful and great but I was happy to get home and start pulling from the inspiration to better myself as a motion designer!
Zak Tietjen
"Blend was blendiful. Blenderific. No, uh.. Blendiferous. Well, I guess there isn’t really a single word to describe what made Blendfest so special.
"When you first walk in the door you’re given your nicely designed badge, complete with map of the area, places to eat etc. Then you’re given a kickass gift bag, and offered a fresh coffee to sip on, while you explore the installations in the lobby. The 9-Squares projection sculpture bookended the doorway, and it was awesome. Then there was the cintiq, where animators were drawing frame-by-frame animations to have it projected by a laser onto the wall. It was so cool.
"The theatre itself felt extremely small, and as the speakers took to the stage the whole festival became a close-knit group of friends, listening to each other and sharing ideas & processes. No matter where I sat, I had a great view of the presenters and heard them audibly. Everyone involved really knocked it outta the park with making everyone feel welcome, and on an even field. I never felt like I couldn’t approach one of the speakers during the breaks or at one of the after parties.
"All of the presentations were intriguing and insightful, and many offered an inside look to their process, budgets, and even failures. Each presentation felt brief, but packed with information. Some I even wanted to go on longer because I was so into their story.
"Overall, I will definitely be going to the next (please do another one… please) BlendFest. I met a lot of my idols, and even made some new ones. I’m still trying to process everything that happened, but after just the first presentation, I already had an itching feeling to leave and dive into creation."