Unauffindbar Wallpaper

Do people still do these nowadays? Anyhow, if you are not easily distracted and liked the one video I made for Lina Liko, download this sucker and slap it on your desktop.

Der Freitag Adler Animation

As I wrote here and here, I've been working on a little project for Der Freitag - das Meinungsmedium. Now they released the spot upon the interwebs and I guess that is the time to come out of the closet myself. As for the process. I did the animatic in flash but then instead of doing the animation in flash as well, I painted the frames, trying to achieve a rougher, more painterly style. It was a five days assignment, so of course there were going to be parts that could have been better with more time but I am satisfied with the results.

Here are some stills I liked.

Markgrafendamm Study

Just a study from 07, when they tore up the old streets. Now its all nice and shiny.

Michael Jackson R.I.P.

Michael Jackson is dead.



My girlfriend and I are staring at the screen, holding hands, somewhat in shock. I don't know why, I never liked the guy but I feel like a family member has passed away. He really was the first superstar of my youth, the one name everybody knew when I was growing up. I remember practicing the moonwalk in kindergarten, listening to Smooth Criminal on my walkman after I was excluded from a school swimming trip in preschool. Yeah, he was important to me and many others. There will be many people writing stuff about him in the next days so all I gotta say to farewell the King of Pop is:

Michael, say hi to Elvis, Biggi, Pac and the rest, enjoy your Jesus Juice and leave them little angels alone.

Working and working out (Mistery Project 2)

After a week of hard work and little sleep, I finished an animated commercial for the awesome Agency Design Air Communications. They asked me to animate a commericial for der Freitag, a german weekly newspaper that sustains a lively internet community. The project was a real rush, which is not unusual for these kind of assignments, but never the less exhausting. Thursday we pitched the animatic and key visuals to the client, which were finished the night before. After the clients consent, I animated, composed and corrected the whole thing until Wednesday morning, then presenting it 5 hours later again and sending the data to the cinema people. The commercial wil be shown in the Dresden Freiluftkino tonight and other cinemas and hopefully on the interwebs later so I can show it to you guys.

On monday we recorded sound effects and the speaker, who was a real professional. Those kind of people make insane amount of money if you look at their hourly rate, but I think they are worth every dime. A good speaker often makes the difference between a mediocre and a superbe impression for the whole film. That's why a highly skilled speaker takes a relatively high share of the production costs measured by the time he actually works on the project. I really enjoyed working with the agency, very bright and motivated people there.

Yesterday I took half the day off, planning to get some sleep but instead I had some icecream with my girlfriend, read some journals and newspapers and went out to play some basketball. I am already working on the next project but I feel like going to gym and working out for four hours. I love my work and really don't mind the long hours - what I grew to hate though - is not being to take the time to work out, run, do some boxing and kicking, play soccer or basketball for a week or so. That really gets me these days. Like many of my peers, being a young designer, I spent so much energy to make a living doing what I do, that I sometimes neglected what I need beside my work. In my case, doing any kind of physical exercise will lift my spirit and keep me balanced. Others go the pub, movies, play video games or hunt crocodiles.

Mystery Project

About halfway through a new film. But what can it be? And what purpose does it serve? Will it bring harm or jelly beans? Above pic is a still of the ongoing production.

KLEE Weil es Liebe ist

The above picture shows the final artwork for the single.

Last year, I developed a music video for the German Pop Band KLEE. The project was turned down at a later state of the process but the cover artwork I did based on the MuVi came into being. As I take it, developing ideas and stories that are going to go to the bin later is the daily bread and butter of freelance designers. I got to develop a fairly thick skin over the last couple of years to cope with those disappointments. Nobody wants to work for the bin but when you try to look at every project as a part of your developement, no matter if it comes to life in the end, you can get something out of it almost every time.

This project was really cool, and I was more disappointed than usually about the halt. That shows that I made the project quite personal. The story was cool, the characters and the places were already living in my heart and mind and the song was the perfect soundtrack to my little story. I wasn't fulfilling a contract work anymore, I was telling my own piece.

I guess It is like being in love. If something is dear to you, you can easily be hurt. On the other side, if you like what you are doing, you are bound to do it good. To me, ballancing professionality and passion is a key necessity to a healthy artist's life.

Two more sketches

Unauffindbar Superstar

Unauffindbar from Gellnerism on Vimeo.

Das Video für Lina Liko ist jetzt draußen und geht ganz gut ab. Einzig, dass das Teil auf MyVideo aussieht wie Hund und der Audiotrack auch noch gute 2 Sekunden nachhängt, nervt. Außerdem hat der Kunde, wie man das so gerne formuliert, sich für die Version ohne SoundFX entschieden, was mich dazu bewogen hat, meine Version nochmal auf Vimeo zu hosten. Das SoundFX machen hat mir einfach soeinen Spaß gemacht, dass ich euch die Version nicht vorenthalten wollte.

Popcorn Movie

Popcorn Movie from Gellnerism on Vimeo.

Dany und ich haben den perfekten Popcornfilm gedreht. Wir lieben unser Popcorn gesalzen und mit etwas zerlaufener Butter. Abends machen wir uns oft eine Portion und genießen sie zum abendlichen Film oder Videospiel. Die Technik wurde von Generation zu Generation weitergegeben und wurde von Frau Doktor Dany perfektioniert. So haben wir meistens nur vier bis achteinhalb nicht aufgegangene Maiskörner pro 100g. Diese Quote wäre selbst für professionelle Popcornmaschinen beachtlich.

Jazam 4 Monster

Das neue Jazam (ich erwähnte es bereits) ist draußen und darf vorbestellt werden. Ich habe das Fanprojekt aus dem Comicforum seit Stunde Null begleitet und beobachte, dass die Qualität der Arbeiten, der Buchgestaltung und der Organisation von Jahr zu Jahr besser geworden ist. Auch Jazam ist eine dieser Wundertüten, voll mit unbekannten und jungen Comicmachern, zeigt die Entwicklung vieler Zeichner seit vier Jahren und wird immer mehr auch ein Forum für erfahrene und etablierte Künstlern. Diese Mischung macht das Projekt sehr spannend - ich bin sehr gespannt. Rund 60 Künstler, 356 Seiten für 15 €. Kaufbefehl.