I recently read from Scott Belsky’s Making Ideas Happen and his book struck a chord. He highlights an important issue that the African creatives face today. Ideas gain new dimensions whenever they are shared, however we have seen a problematic habit to withhold ideas based on the premise that they shall be stolen. Belsky encourages us to break this pattern because…

” Having the idea is just one tiny step along the road to making that idea happen. During the journey, communal forces are instrumental in refining the very substance of the idea, holding us accountable for making it happen….. by sharing your idea, you take the first step in creating the community that will act as a catalyst to making it happen. (Belsky 2010, 121)“

Since its inception over two years ago, African Digital Art has continued to highlight and document unparalleled ideas, individual work by insightful designers and creative design solutions all by African creatives. ADA has become a platform that fosters innovation and seeks fresh inspiration from a sophisticated blend of fresh talent and successful designers and artists.

We are shifting direction, from being a mere reflection of the innovative projects on the cutting edge between technology and design and we are now starting to break ground with experiments on the axis of technology and design. We are driven by this one question, Can we use art and design to find alternative ways of thinking about contemporary African society? We believe the answer is YES: Design is inextricably linked with the modernization of society in the 20th century and we strongly believe that creative culture has a profound impact in the way we will understand Africa in the future.

With that said, the ADA team has drafted several initiatives that will become not only creative exercises but an anthology of African ingenuity. We invite you to take part in our exploration of the forces of the community in the belief that open source platforms are an essential source of ideas that enable us to develop and create outside the boundaries of our limitations.  We invite you to take part in our first creative initiative..

Originally from Zimbabwe,  Nathaniel Goto is  currently living and working as a designer in Cape Town, South Africa. Due to the situation in Zimbabwe, moving to South Africa was rather hurried, so he is still trying to find his  feet. Goto studied design in the UK and in Zimbabwe, so inspiration comes from all over the place and in many different forms. He has worked for ad agencies (Ogilvy, FCB, & Y&R) doing mostly above the line work, but have always wanted to get into Corporate Identity, packaging and music design. Here is his  full-time entry into Corporate identity for the moment.

ADA recently interviewed Elizabeth Janse van Rensburg, editor of Chew Magazine. Chew magazine is the new generation online publication. It is has an energetic spirit oozing a personal, edgy style and an experimental nature. It is a high quality publication with substance, which doesn’t conform to mediocrity or the traditional idea of what a magazine is. Photography, fashion, design, illustration and journalistic features on issues relating to our immediate society and culture, from sub cultures to global warming to creative migration, form part of Chew magazine’s content. The content is lead by what the readers want to read and see.

What is Chew magazine?

Chew magazine, the pioneering online magazine based in South Africa, is aimed at the new generation searching for a fresh, smart, funny, edgy, unusual, underground-graphic-online-culture magazine. Chew magazine does not restrict or limit contributors but rather promotes freedom of speech, creativity and opinion. We aim to challenge traditional perceptions of magazines and magazine design and so pushing the boundaries of creativity and expression. Talented individuals have the opportunity to explore with their creative ideas whether visual, verbal or interactive and have them published in a high quality, freely available, digital magazine, making it accessible to people from all walks of life. This allows for experimentation, exploration, collaboration and above all, the opportunity to having fun – making this a magazine for the people, by the people. Chew magazine is a platform to promote work locally and globally, an online networking space and voice, an online community experimenting and sharing inspiration for a new generation.

“The Bite Sized Guide for Creative Junkies”

So tell us how Chew magazine came about. When were you founded? Where does the name come from?

Working in the print publishing industry a few years ago, I was faced with the reality of retrenchments, publications closing down and creatives not having the opportunity to do conceptually creative work due to client limitations, so I looked towards other avenues that would keep creativity alive, share creativity globally but most importantly support the creative industry and community. I turned towards the booming online industry. This is what inspired the birth of Chew with the first issue going live 7 August 2008. ‘How did I come up with the name?’ is probably the question I get asked most often, so I guess the name definitely sticks! I wrote down thousands of names for about a week. Somehow the phrase ‘something to chew on’ popped into my head and I instantly knew that this was the right name for this creative, new magazine with Chewy content – we give you something to Chew on!

What is your definition of creativity? How does Chew Magazine encourage this form of creativity?

Defining creativity is really difficult as it’s not really measurable and it’s incredibly subjective. For me personally I would say that creativity is defying convention and pushing the boundaries of what has been done before. Creativity is the courage to create and do things differently even if people question it. Chew magazine celebrates those people who do things a little differently, who have the courage to do what they are passionate about and defying convention along the way. In the ‘Creative Junkies’ issue, Chew featured a young trio of filmmakers, ‘Fly on the Wall’, whose passion and dream was to do a documentary on South African punk-rock band ‘Fokofpolisiekar’ (f**k-off-police-car).

Even thought they were told that it would be a failure and that they are wasting their time, they pushed through and after 3 years produced their first full-length feature documentary Forgive them for they know not what they do. It has since made the official selection for the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam, the biggest documentary festival in the world including many other accolades. This is just one of the many examples of creativity we celebrate in Chew. Another way we encourage creativity is to produce a high quality, creative magazine each month – the design is of the highest standards and the content and structure of the magazine is always different, there is no set formula. We were also the first magazine to give users the opportunity to select their favorite cover (they have 3 options to choose from) for each issue.

Chew has a dedication to strong visual concepts, where do you find design inspiration for your issues?

The inspiration finds us! There are so many people out there who want to share their inspiration with Chew magazine and the world – it is such a blessing working with these wonderful people from around the world.

Although Chew has a focus on talent from across the globe, you are based in South Africa, how do you think you influence the African creative community?

I hope that we inspire and encourage not only people from our own continent to push the boundaries of creativity, but also to show the global community what we are capable of. We also hope to promote projects like fashion label Johari, a non-profit social enterprise which was set up by the Sumerian Foundation a few years ago and has now produced its first crop of graduates, in future issues. Since this article was featured in Chew, we have already received requests from people who want to order the clothing. Read the full story in Chew’s latest ‘Africa’ issue.

Briefly, could you run us through the creative process of producing an issue, from start to finish?

Each issue is based around a specific theme. In a nutshell: I start off researching creatives from around the world and either send them interview questions to answer or ask for a short bio on themselves to feature in our ‘Spotlight On’ section. Journalists will also contact me pitching feature ideas including interviews with bands. I receive pitches from creative photographers who wish to have their editorials featured in Chew. After I have received all the material by set deadline, I start designing and art directing the issue. Once the design is completed, we copy edit the layouts and export all pages as jpegs. These get uploaded to Chew’s online magazine editor, developed by Symfony Digital Solutions, where I upload and add music, video clips and links. After many long nights (and lots of tea and biscuits), we update the website with the latest covers and send out a Newsletter to let our readers know that the latest issue is available for download. Then we do a deadline detox, which normally involves chocolates.

Chew recently featured a project in partnership with PUMA creative? Could you please tell us a little about it? How did it come about?

Internationally acclaimed artist Kehinde Wiley exhibited four original artworks as part of a collaboration with PUMA during the world cup in Cape Town from 23 June to 4 July 2010. The portraits featured African soccer stars Samuel Eto’o of Cameroon, Emmanuel Eboue of Ivory Coast and John Mensah of Ghana. This traveling exhibition started in France and ended in South Africa in June 2010. PUMA asked Chew magazine if we would like to host an event during one of the evenings that the exhibition was on and we jumped at this great opportunity. Chew magazine, in collaboration with PUMA, hosted ‘Creative Unity’ in the Kehinde Wiley Cape Town exhibition space on 2 July 2010. Collaborating with various creatives and past contributors of Chew magazine – including fashion designers, illustrators, writers and musicians – Chew put on a creative extravaganza. Read the full story in Chew’s latest ‘Africa’ issue, which was also brought out in partnership with PUMA in celebration of Africa and South Africa hosting the FIFA Soccer World Cup™.

Are there any upcoming projects or issues we should know about?

There is something in the pipelines but it is still early days, so watch this space!

Finally, how can African digital artists get involved? How can we contribute to Chew?

Contribution to Chew is open to any talented creative. We have dedicated a special section on our site where potential contributors can find their Essential Chew Pack. The pack contains upcoming themes and deadlines as well as a document explaining, step by step, how you can contribute to Chew magazine. Find out more here: http://www.chewthemagazine.com/contribute-to-chew-magazine

In short, Darren Macpherson is one hell of a talented 3D animator and compositor. Living and working in Johannesburg, South Africa his work is pretty slick and richly detailed, showing great mastery of technique and aesthetics. He is able to mesh his skills and bring to life breathtaking commercials. Skills like this don’t go unnoticed and he has freelanced for well know studios in South Africa and even abroad. Catch some of his recent updates and be sure to soak in the rest of the bits on his site!

Anglo American Tree

Standard Bank

Albany

De Broglio

Cell C Positive Acts

Every week African Digital Art showcases digital projects made by African artists or projects influenced by Africa.  It is exciting to see African projects that displays and encourages creativity. Inspiration is a key component in the design process so we searched the web for the best projects from a variety of genres. We are here to promote your work so don’t forget to send us your recommendations. You can also find us on Twitter, Facebook and Flickr so post your projects and we’d be happy to share.

Soul Boy Trailer

SABS Six Billion Stories

The New Boy Trailer

Osse Sinare

Dimitra Tzanos

CURRENCY REDESIGN – South African Rand

Carly Hitchcock

PURE SOLID

Apartment Applied Visual Arts

ISTD-THIS TO THAT

Michelle Vilijoen

We continue our conversations in our series of interviews and catch up with the talented trio of brand new motion design studio The Kinetic based in Joburg, South Africa. Kinetic is the brain child of Neil van Vuuren, Estian Fourie and Stephen Galloway. They flex their muscles in three areas of specialisation for the Kinetic, respectively 3D, Visual Effects, Design and Animation. In our conversation, we ask them about the hoops they jumped to form a start-up design studio and how they are getting along with running a the new shop.

From garages or late night talks on stoops or endless hrs working for other studios? What’s the story of the inception of The Kinetic?

Stephen and Estian and myself met when we started work at my previous employer, a production house in Johannesburg. We got along immediately and found that we all worked really well together and that all our skills added up to be greater than any of us could accomplish solo. We also found that while the project briefs were above average we all wanted to do more, really push what we were capable of. But late hours and tight deadlines kept that idea on the backburner. We finally decided the only way we could see how far we could go would be to actually start a company of our own, part of the deal being that we devote a set amount of time to personal projects even if we had to make up a client and fund it ourselves.

As a young design studio, what are your aspirations and areas of interest?

In all honesty we’re simple creatures. We love the world of production, in all its incarnations. The simple act of creating is in itself liberating. To create content that is effective and considered is foremost when we start with an idea, all that follows is a bonus.

As for styles and interests, we’re crazy about live action. We’ve tried to use a shoot in some capacity for all the projects we’ve done so far, even if the end result is purely graphical, the subtlety of motion reference gained from actually shooting a scene before starting post-production is impossible to beat. Even if only a single frame of footage makes it into the final animation, we believe the difference to be self evident, it just works so much better.

What we are exploring at the moment is the integration of animation and visual effects into our shoots. We are at a point in the industry where we have the ability to tell a story that doesn’t need a million dollar budget, or prime location for that matter. In the end, if your idea is solid and you’re willing to spend the time working on it, it’ll be great.

You worked on  a couple of fun shoots. The Cancel Fashion Collective and an underwater shot. Please share about your process in both projects.

Both of these are great examples of giving in to our creative inklings. Both started with a “what if” over morning coffee, and then immediately sending invites and planning the shoots. Both were relatively unfamiliar territory, the underwater shoot especially. We had no idea how light would react under water or whether our simple set-up would cut it. We learned a lot and are planning another one later the year. Just waiting for summer to come back around, the biggest hurdle for the shoot was simply that it freezing that morning.

Cancel was another great learning experience and proof that a single vision trumps big budgets, we shot in the backyard of the studio, jumping on a trampoline and filming at night with a Nikon D90. Everything else we researched and applied in post, most eye-catching of these is without a doubt the slow motion courtesy of a motion estimation plug-in developed by the Foundry. For both of these the process was simple, make sure the idea is worth it, shoot without hesitation and spend the time on it. The cancel video we ended up choosing was around the 10th new edit. It came out wonderfully and has it’s received a lot of feedback. The music we used in the edit was so well integrated that the band gave us rights to use it and featured it on their website.

Cancel fashion collective from the Kinetic on Vimeo.

What do you feel is the most important problem facing designers and visual artists in Africa at the moment?

We feel that there is an expectation in Africa for animators and designers to adhere to an unspoken and undefined set of rules, to create content that is “African”. This in itself is a restriction that is meaningless and creates an environment that bounds creative growth. We believe that this country, and in fact the continent leaves its mark on you. It’s a undeniable and unique shift in the way you experience the world.  By always trying to stay within the bounds of this enigmatic sphere of  restrictions, the creative industry in Africa will always be bound to some idea of what Africa might be, instead of growing into what Africa is. There is a style waiting to be unearthed, so let loose we’ll know it when we see it.

See more of The Kinetic on Vimeo and Behance

Barely a day after we featured Anthony Dart’s recent project, he updates Ontwerp his / creative studio / personal site  with a spanking new reel and amazing work worth a gander! Check it out!

Wanuri Kahiu is a passionate woman; passionate about her craft, about storytelling and about this earth.

Pumzi, her most recent film explores futuristic Africa after World War III – ‘The Water War.’ The film has been warmly received at Sundance and already bagged a few awards including The Golden Dhow at the Zanzibar International Film Festival and

picking up Best Short Film at the Cannes Independent Film Festival. It continues to provoke discussion in film circles and everyday life on the future of the continent, given our planet’s challenges. African Digital Art met Wanuri to find out the process behind Pumzi & her perspective on the film.

What’s the most interesting response you’ve had to Pumzi since it premiered?

It premiered at the Kenya International Film Festival in October, but it’s official World Premiere took place at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2010. It must have been in Zanzibar, where we screened it to an audience of mainly children, with men and women. At the end a a young man came up to me and said “If you ask everyone what your film was about, not everyone would be able to
answer. But if you ask everyone what did you take away from the film then they would all be able to answer that.”

Of the whole process with the film, start to finish, what was your greatest challenge?

The budget. The film took 2 years to write, 6 days to film and 2 months in post-production. Working with a small budget can be incredibly stressful especially when you see how committed your cast and crew are to the project and they don’t get the financial compensation they deserve it became a labor of love and a labor for art.

Technically, when it came to the execution of your screenplay what stood out as the most difficult part of the film?

The museum scene was the most challenging because of all the elements involved. We had to keep in mind the things we would be doing in post production like where the hologram screens would fit, how to arrange props and set design so that they seem they were more than we had. We actually shot in one side of the room on a locked camera then moved all the props to the other side of the road and shot again.

And what did you shoot Pumzi on?

The SI-2K. Simon Hansen of Inspired Minority Pictures (Producer on Pumzi) was one of the people who helped create the prototype camera of the SI-2K. The SI-2K’s also been used by Danny Boyle to make Slumdog Millionaire.

How was it overcoming Budget vs. Idea vs. Time for you?

It would not have been possible to make the film on the budget we had without Inspired Minority Pictures. Simon and his team were amazing to work with.It was great to work with someone who is so honed in their craft. He is simply a genius. He has the ability to look at locations and see possibilities of other worlds. It was great that he understood the story and the themes in it as well. He was able to present ideas from a story point of view, keeping in mind the limitations of the budget.

How would you describe your directing style on Pumzi?

With Pumzi, we had the storyboard and the shots drawn up before hand to a large extent that allowed me to spend more time with the actors. And when it came to the more technical shots (with VFX) I would collaborate with Simon Hansen about how to best achieve the shot. I love being an actor’s director as I feel that the performance is everything.

And how was it working with your lead actress Kudzani as she took to the role of Asha even though she had no prior acting experience?

I was completely in awe of the raw talent that Kudzani had she became Asha. It was simple directing her because she was so curious and loving and giving. She has been one of the best actresses I have worked with so far. I think my style as a director may change depending on the genre of the film  I find however, that I am drawn to films with strong female characters in them.

Pumzi paints a picture about our planet and the challenges facing it. You’ve been vocal for a few causes in particular. Tell me about Lake Turkana and your passion for it.

Not only is it the only desert lake in the world but it’s also where some of the 1st human remains were ever found. but it also provides water to communities of people. Now it is under threat of being killed. I’m pushing for a petition to the governments to be signed to put them to task about it.

So, what can you tell us about a Pumzi feature film?

It’s early days yet. We are still trying to promote the short as is and then see if there is a feature to be made…

We caught up with Anthony Dart and check out what is latest on his portfolio. Dart is currently working on a downloadable pdf portfolio of his graphic works. Here is just a small taste of what he is up to.

Another weekly dose of African Digital Projects. Inspiration is a key component in the design process so we searched the web for the best projects from a variety of genres. We are here to promote your work so don’t forget to send us your recommendations. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook so post your projects and we’d be happy to share.

Power that’s Ours

Carmen Ziervogel

Camilla Dixon

Kwesi Abbensetts

Peter Gikandi