With Google Buzz all the rage now, it’s hard to think that only a couple months ago Google Wave was blowing up the interwebs with people dying to get their invite and “get waving”. Google Wave launched with only 100,000 invites worldwide and began spreading with people dying to get their hands on the invites. I got my invites from Google and my first experience of the collaborative platform was an interview I did. It so happened that this interview was with the talented Richard Bolland.

The story of the interview is also one to share. It shows the magic and serendipity of the social web. I got to find out about Motion Graphics Artist and Filmmaker Richard initially through Twitter, where I stumbled across his profile and his blog and that’s where I saw some of his work including his Loerie Award-winning animated short “Sid Knobodi” and the video he co-directed for SA band Captain Stu. The rest was history, and the channel of information leading to this post is something to note: From Twitter to the blog to GMail and from GMail to Google Wave (a sign of things to come, maybe?) Anyway, enjoy the interesting life and times of Richard and where he is, how he got there and where he’s going.

African Digital Art: Give us a bit of a background to where you picked up art from.

Richard Bolland: So I grew up with my parents, who were potters, literally and figuratively. My dad made all types of pots, mainly selling them to tourists at the waterfront. My mother eventually moved onto mosaics and she is still doing that today. Both my grandmothers are artists. Marguriette Bolland was a resistance artist during apartheid and Gina Howard was a watercolour artist. My uncle is a glass maker and artist and specialises in stained glass windows. My other uncle is a carpenter. So it runs in the family. So i come from a pretty arty family.

So art runs in all the family?

Ironically my brother doesn’t possess a single ounce of art juice. He just plays and studies sports.

And at what point were you sure that this was the path you’d choose for your life?

When I was about 16 I was asked for the first time what I would like to become when I was older. It was one of those fill-out-a-form things. I wrote: Cartoonist, with Beavis and Butthead being my favourite cartoon. From then on I started doing cartoon/animations in FlashMX which was quite fun. I used to make cartoons that would rip off friends. I did art throughout junior and high school. And was always interested in the subject. During high school I would spend most breaks in the art room and paint throughout my free time. When high school came to an end I started looking for somewhere to study. All I wanted was to do FLASH and carry on with my cartoons. A friend of mine, Ryan McArthur, got a scholarship to Vega School of Brand Communication. They offered a Flash course as part of their Multi-Media degree. DEAL! I was sooo stoked.

So you applied…

Yeah, and I got accepted. From there I learnt how to do more Flash stuff and eventually learned how to work in After Effects and Final Cut Pro. Slowly but surely I realised that After Effects held a lot more animation techniques and wonders, so I eventually made a full swing into that programme. I began to really dig compositing and 2 and a half D animation within After Effects. I stayed up late every night at Vega and worked on my own projects as much as I could. In my final year I decided to do a risky mockumentary on my previous High School. I dubbed the high school: Chesterfield High – and began to gather a crew together and write a script. I decided to make the school into a off-the-wall high school education institute that believes in racism, sex with children and violence.

Interesting, so where did you start?

It was going to be a Investigative Journalism documentary into why this school is like this. I went into the school with the crew, shot about 10 hours of footage and interviews with various teachers and pupils. Then went into the editing suite and changed all my questions in the post into very provocative questions such as: Do you enjoy sleeping with your pupils? (in which they would answer: Yes, I enjoy it thoroughly) etc… After I finished the mockumentary I showed it to my lecturer who proceeded to think it was a joke that I had spent 3 weeks doing. He thought that I had hired actors and friends to act as the teachers and pupils. News slowly spread around and the head of Vega offically banned the documentary from going on any public forum. It was completely illegal: filming under false pretences, character defrauding and a couple other charges.

So was that the end of it?

Someone managed to get hold of this documentary and spread it around. Slowly I would get feedback from people on Facebook and at clubs/parties that they had seen this documentary. I began to become very scared as if the school ended up seeing this documentary I would be in huge trouble. I entitled the documentary “How media can manipulate footage” and began to use that as my excuse should it ever be discovered by the school. To this day I am not sure if my old school has seen the documentary and I have only ever been back once.

Did you start to pursue film from then?

I decided that filmmaking would be another path that I should follow. I was concerned that I hadn’t studied filmmaking so I pursued post-production and ended getting the Top Student Multi-Media award for 2008. That was a hugely humbling and amazing experience and I was very grateful that Vega has awarded me with that.

Speaking of awards, tell us where your Sid Knobodi animation came from.

I did the Flash animation Sid Knobodi in my 2nd year at Vega. My lecturer at the time didn’t really enjoy it, but I persisted with her and eventually she agreed to enter it into the Loerie Awards if I changed the music. So I changed the music, entered the animation and waited. Soon I was informed that it had received a nomination for Digital Media and I pretty much thought that would be the end of the road there. I didn’t bother attending the awards ceremony and instead went to play poker at a mates house. Late in the evening I received a call telling me that I had won! It was a good night! I won the poker game too!

So did that open any doors up as far as opportunities?

Yeah, I’m currently at Orijin doing Cinema 4D and lots of post-production and compositing stuff and it’s great here. But freelance I’ve still got some cool projects I’m up to. Last year we shot our first documentary at a Music Festival just outside of Cape Town called Rocking the Daisies – where we asked a bunch of people: if they could change one thing in the world, what would it be. We also documented some of the bands there and the general vibe. My colleague has already edited a short piece which he entitled: General Pass (mainly because we applied for a Media pass and weren’t granted one – all we got was a general pass).

The Plastics – Rocking the Daisies 2009 from Richard Bolland on Vimeo.

Another project I’m excited about is a new documentary about a young man called Dowayne who was part of the Hard Livings Gang in Manenberg, Cape Town. He was addicted to TIK (Crystal Meth) at the age of 14 and became involved in gangs at the age of 16. An intervention happened when he realised that his life was going nowhere and made a complete turn around through a organisation called The Warehouse where he gave his life to Jesus and has made a pretty good recovery.

I Dream Manenberg Trailer from Richard Bolland on Vimeo.

Impressive. When can we expect to see the documentary?

Hopefully by the end of February. Giving it the finishing touches now…

–

Interview by Mark Kaigwa.

Source: Bizcommunity
Author: Issa Sikiti da Silvia.

Despite its seemingly endless problems – diseases, crime, war, coup d’états, dictatorship and corruption – Africa has nevertheless become a destination choice for potential investors who seek to capitalise on its phenomenal growth and annual higher returns to expand their wings and grow their brands. But the continent is not for the faint-hearted!
Those who are willing to embark on an investment adventure and grow their brands in Africa in a sustainable manner must do their homework properly, warned Nomahlubi Simamane, CEO and founder of Zanusi Brand Solutions.

We are encouraged to see a growing community of African digital artists. This week an innovative site dedicated for Ugandan designers made by Ugandan designers was launched. Design Kingdom is an online community of artists, designers, animators and film editors based out of Uganda. With the mission to ‘ awaken and stir up the potential of artists’ from Uganda. We most certainly welcome Design Kingdom and we are looking forward to discover all the upcoming projects from East Africa.

Not too long ago we discovered the work of Nigerian, Kenneth Shofela Coker who is based in Memphis, Tennessee we immediately fell in love with his multi-faceted portfolio and we just had to find out more.

We want to get to know you. Introduce yourself. Where are you from? What is your area of expertise and how did you get started in the field?

Hi, my name’s Kenneth Shofela Coker, most people call me Shof. I’m a 22 year old illustrator/animator from Lagos, Nigeria. I moved to Memphis, Tennessee in 2005 to start college at the Memphis College of Art. I graduated at the top of my class in May 2009 as an illustration major and right now I’m trying to begin a career in the animation industry.

Animation has always been a love of mine, with early memories of old 80s action team cartoons (Thundercats, etc), Tom and Jerry and movies like the Jungle Book and Dumbo. Going into college, I wasn’t too thrilled by the standard visuals of 3d animated movies, so I thought it would be best to attain a solid foundation in traditional illustration. I believed that understanding illustration might inform more unique visuals to go along with the quality of whatever story was told. It was even more important to me because I knew I’d be telling African stories, which I felt and still feel need to visually stand out from the animated fair that flood the screens across the globe.

What are your design and artistic influences? Are there specific artists, movements, books, or online resources that have been pivotal in your development and daily work?

I like to believe I have quite a few that span many disciplines. I respect and admire many contemporary artists work like Sam Weber, James Jean, and Emmanuel Malin to name a few. Artists that blend the digital and traditional processes successfully tend to intrigue me most. I love old time illustrators like Edmund Dulac, Heinrich Kley, Ludwig Holwein, Eyvind Earle, etc and comic artists like Sergio Toppi whose work is breathtaking.

I also think its really important to be inspired by work outside your profession. For instance, I receive a lot of inspiration from architecture, and if I wasn’t an illustrator/ animator I’d probably be an architect. I enjoy the challenge of creating spaces and structures that tell stories with mood like Luis Barragan’s architectural masterpieces in Mexico. I visit websites such as Drawn.ca, Notcot.org and Abduzeedo occasionally, and I certainly scour the web for animated shorts that look interesting e.g shorts from Supinfocom and Gobelins schools in France. Everytime I see work like that, I feel revitalized in my opinion on the importance of unique visuals in cg animation. Finally, I like to read books on mythology, history, fantasy and Wole Soyinka novels for literal inspiration.

How has Africa influenced your work?

Well first and foremost I like to think that growing up in Lagos with my family  instilled a sense of what is valuable in life. Intermittent power cuts and water shortages in a bustling hectic city of over 15 million people will do that to you I guess. Lagos probably made me a more ambitious person and the strife and political/ economic contention the country endured in my youth tinged my perspective of the world and gave me some interesting subjects to utilize later in life. The food, music, humor, and sensibilities of African people are undeniably unique, as well as its mythology, of which I am an enthusiastic study of, particularly Yoruba cosmogony. Also my father is an art professor in Lagos so I grew up around him and his friends and colleagues like Olu Amoda whose work I occasionally got to see, as well as work from one of his teachers, Bruce Onobrakpeya.

Could you tell us about Visual Essay no. 1: Niger Pipeline Timeline? What is it? How did it get started? How has it evolved and where do you see it going?

In my final illustration class, we were asked to gather research on a topic of our choosing and create a series of illustrations exploring the issue. I thought it was high time I tried to interpret the crisis in the Niger Delta. So I narrowed down the subject matter to a vocabulary of a few graphic, iconic images that would demonstrate the escalation and cyclical nature of MEND’s recent history (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta), a militia group supposedly fighting for the rights of the downtrodden inhabitants of the Delta area. I used the Ijaw (local ethnic group of the Delta region) and Yoruba god of chaos and unpredictability to embody the spirit of MEND, whose actions and reputation have quickly become exceedingly violent, corrupt and exploitative. It is definitely a series I am going to return to fully explore and execute without the pressures and constraints of a college deadline. Hopefully by then I’ll be able to get it in to a gallery… somewhere.

You have a multimedia portfolio including character modeling, can you please walk us through the creation of a character, what is your process in developing each character?

Research is probably where I have the most fun surprisingly. Like I said, most of my characters and stories are African or related to Yoruba Mythology so gathering information on the subject matter is usually challenging, which is something about African culture that pains me. For instance, most African history is decently documented in the colonial era but is quite sketchy before that period, especially in terms of imagery. However, I sometimes believe it can be a boon, because I get to venture outside the strict realm of historical fact. My process usually starts off with a story for the character that aids the sketch with charcoal, ink or graphite, then scanned in to Photoshop to tweak and add color and certian details. I build a rough model in 3ds Max, unwrap the UVs and export to Zbrush. I usually add the majority of finessing and detail in Zbrush, then take the normal maps and textures back in to 3ds Max and to prep for animation.

What is your favorite tool/application and why?
I’m not sure. I can’t do my work without all my tools, but I guess specifically, for digital sculpting Z brush is the most fun and intuitve, and for ideation I can’t do without a trusty charcoal pencil or my Wacom tablet for that matter.

Your characters are interesting and unique ever thought of doing an African inspired comic book?
Thank you, I’m flattered. Actually, I have several in the works. Its just going to take time and effort to see them completed, seeing as how I plan to have a studio job while I work on them. Right now I’m working on a comic that features the life of the legendary Malian king, Sundiata.

What sort of advice would you give to anyone who would like to go in to your line of work?

Study the history of the medium of animation/ illustration and learn that ‘learning astutely’ is your best asset, you can always pick up the physical skills if you’re determined enough. Both my parents are teachers so I guess it figures that I’d say something like that.

What are some of your goals/aspirations? Do you have any particular projects  that you are excited about?
I’m trying to get a position working in an animation/ video game studio at the moment. Seeing the way a studio works will hopefully give me enough insight for when I open my own studio some day. I’ve also got a lot projects in the works with my older brother who is also an artist. A particular project we’re working on now is the reason Eniola was created, the little girl I recently sculpted, who’s obsessed with Bruce Lee. I’m trying to keep the project mum at the moment, but there are little tell tale clues on my site about the project. Anyway, with projects like this, combining my own unique illustrative visual style (at least I like to think so) with digital animation is an approach I employ to embellish my story telling methods. I suppose anticipating the response people will have to this style of animation is what gets me excited… and quite nervous sometimes…haha.

Do you have anything else to say to all those digital Africans out there?

Well, hopefully without sounding pretentious or elitist, let’s all strive to enrich society’s perception of an over stereotyped continent.

Jordan Metcalf from Cape Town, South Africa, is a digital artist who specializes in Graphic Design, Illustration and Typography. His portfolio includes unique characters that are unforgettable. Metcalf also worked on a micro-site that allows you to customize and save a pdf template of a paper toy. His illustrations and work can be found on his flickr photostream. His work pretty much speaks for itself. Enjoy.

On the streets Africa, from Cape Town to Kinshasa, from Lagos to Mombasa, the true measure of fame is having a haircut named after you on a barbershop sign.

The streets are full of ‘The Obama’, ‘The Oprah’ and ‘The Denzel.’  This ubiquitous barbershop signage is an African art form or African graphic art with its naïve renderings and pragmatic use of wood, metal and any material that is close at hand. To celebrate the Confederation’s Cup being played for the first time on African soil, adidas commissioned a series of ‘barbershop’ artworks that honour their galaxy of stars like Gerrard, Messi, Kaka and Pienaar.

A‘cut’ was created for each player according to their skill. So, ‘The Kaka’ is all about dribbling skills while ‘The Gerrard’ is about powerful strikes. Essentially, we Africanised international players.

The word Kopanya is a South African word for ‘together’, which effectively makes this artwork an African interpretation
of adidas’ global advertising position of “together I am strong.” Kopanya is also the name of the official adidas ball, that will be used at the Confederation Cup.

Credit: TBWA Hunt Lascaris, Johannesburg

In 2008, Tiger Aspect Production announced that it was going to produce an animated preschool series that would feature 52 episodes.

Tinga Tinga Tales hopes to tell animal tales that have been passed down from generation to generation from all over Africa. The series was the brain child of Claudia Lloyd, head of animation at Tiger Aspect.  The project is named after Tinga Tinga art from Tanzania. With the pledged support of Entertainment Rights, Cbeebies in the Uk, and Playhouse Disney in the US, the animated feature is being worked on in Kenya and is excepted to be released at the end of 2009.

With the collaboration of Homeboyz Studios Tiger Aspect has set up a animation studio in Kenya, with local designers, writers and musicians, like Kwame Nyong’o, who will work on the show. The project hopes to bring East African animators and digital artists to the forefront.

What this series offers is a mixture of African colors, textures and music, drawing from the beautiful work Tinga Tinga art of Tanzania. All of the images in the series are hand painted by local artistes and then computer animated to enhance the visual experience and offer something new to young audiences around the world. It is an exciting project and one you should definitely have your eye on.

We had the privilege to interview Anthony Dart  Founder and Creative Director of Ontwerp. Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, Dart has built his career on a range of digital media forms and techniques.

To begin tell us a little about what you do and your area of expertise.
I am essentially a Graphic Designer not very different from many others, I just do a whole lot of things instead of let’s say sticking to just Graphic design or illustration. Ontwerp is a small company so we all kind of have to wear many hats and have to serve up a diverse skill set. So i am involved in everything from Graphics creation (Still or Moving) Photography, Compositing, Animation, 3D and even sound design. This seems to be a very natural evolution for todays image makers who are embracing new technologies, positioning themselves to pretty much take on any job from Motion Graphics to Print Design.

How did you begin working with graphic design and motion graphics.
I am self taught and from the very beginning of my career as an art director for an agency i found myself always totally emerged in Photoshop and Illustrator. I just loved the possibility of the software and pushing the tools as far as i could. This philosophy got me into Flash and new media design where i got my stuff flying around in 2D and as soon as i discovered After Effects and 3D i was just crazy obsessed with it as a platform and medium.

Can you describe your creative process?

t’s pretty straight forward in how I will have a basic idea, you know – kind of doodle a typeface or logo or whatever. Once I got a feel for it I jump in and start working it in the computer – alot of times I will just randomly play around with Photoshop and Illustrator and an idea will emerge from that. Which ever way I do it though I want to try and have something multi layered and multi dimensional, something below the surface that will appeal to people on a deeper level.

What is your favorite tool/application and why?

I use what everybody else is using, my main applications are Adobe Creative Suite, Maya for 3D, & Logic Pro for my sound stuff. If i had to choose a favorite it would have to be Photoshop i just love how flexible it is.

What inspired you to startup Ontwerp? How did it come about?

I really just wanted the freedom of doing my own thing and invite like minded individuals along for the ride.

What do you love most about design? What are some of the challenges you face when it comes to design?
Design is my life, it really consumes me pretty much 24hrs a day, it’s a dream job to get payed for what you love doing. I love to solve problems. Therein lies the challenge – Tighter budgets, tighter deadlines and managing client expectations are obvious challenges.

Do you think coming from Africa influences your work/creativity?

-Oh for sure! Im certain all people are a product of their environment to some extent. Africans are unique, culturally diverse and I  think you can see it in our work.

Where do you find inspiration?

All around me  – everything inspires and compels the senses especially music -I am always listening to music when I work and when I am not working I am still listening to music or making it.

Do you have your eye on any particular African artists?

There is just so much talent! locally and abroad out there! It would really be difficult and unfair to just single out a phew.

Do you have any advice for upcoming digital artists?

Try to find the thing that your into – your voice and just stick with it through the good and the bad no matter what the haters say or how judgmental people get, stay hungry and inquisitive.

To view Anthony Dart’s extensive portfolio and work check him out on Behance.

Based in Johannesburg South Africa Ontwerp is a design and animation studio. This motion production studio was founded by Anthony Dart, an incredible graphic designer and director. Ontwerp’s philosophy is simple – Design.

Design is the emphasis. We perceive design as problem solving, we are obsessive with craft and detail, We believe in the formidable communication of images and type and their inherent narrative abilities.

This studio specializes in Art Direction, Motion Graphics, 2D & 3d Animation, Print & Screen design. With a well-known reputation this studio is definitely the one to watch.