tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8053034244697723693.post3951241778447980073..comments2024-03-17T02:25:29.157-07:00Comments on Storyboard Central: The End of the World As We Know It?leifpenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07232334860061949895noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8053034244697723693.post-92227712188287135892010-12-22T16:51:43.061-08:002010-12-22T16:51:43.061-08:00It is tough out there. I agree, stay flexible, kee...It is tough out there. I agree, stay flexible, keep your skills up to date and stay connected to your buds in the different areas of illustration. After years of advertising I stumbled into theme park concept art that has worked out well, but this industry has pretty dramatic peaks and valleys too.I try to keep up my "freelance attitude" and try to watch the trends, looking for areas where I could market myself doing the quick type of sketch art that I've worked so long at.Chris Turnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06479227661138356908noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8053034244697723693.post-69950809896765187192010-11-24T18:47:08.955-08:002010-11-24T18:47:08.955-08:00Right on, Esteban - your positive outlook will hel...Right on, Esteban - your positive outlook will help you to adapt to change. As Harry Borgman commented, change is inevitable in this business - and he would know - he's been in it since 1947! :^) I'm planning on writing a follow-up post to this one. I hope others will share their stories of adaptation and innovation so we can all benefit from the examples of those who are transitioning - or have transitioned - to adapting to the new market conditions.leifpenghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07232334860061949895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8053034244697723693.post-78764691826545287252010-11-24T18:30:31.729-08:002010-11-24T18:30:31.729-08:00I think adapting to this new era is of the essence...I think adapting to this new era is of the essence. Perhaps there won't be a lot of TV ads in the future, but I don't they'll dissapear, as they still have an impact on viewers. And even if they end up in Youtube, there's still gonna be a need for details and crafted ads, at least for that platform (you don't have to buy that time and there's an HD option).And there's films, video games, web animations, all of those require talented people. <br />Maybe part of my thoughts are wishful thinking, but I believe that no matter how much things change in an industry, talent and professionalism always stand.Esteban Rattihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03142969543891908325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8053034244697723693.post-23715391090181803552010-11-22T16:11:33.575-08:002010-11-22T16:11:33.575-08:00Greg; thank you! I love the energy of a pencil sk...Greg; thank you! I love the energy of a pencil sketch, too - often more than the finished illustration. I always get a kick out of seeing process stuff - this seemed like a nice opportunity to share something that showed how the concept for this piece was developed and revised. Yes, it is a scary article. I think it needs to be taken seriously and I hope this will be a starting point for some dialogue on the subject. Harry Borgman's first sentence says it all: "I used to reinvent myself through the years as the business changed, and it's always changing."leifpenghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07232334860061949895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8053034244697723693.post-28361080314985932512010-11-22T16:05:46.238-08:002010-11-22T16:05:46.238-08:00Glenn; I'm not surprised by your reaction - i...Glenn; I'm not surprised by your reaction - its exactly how I/ we all feel, but you gotta remember, we are exactly what you define us as: the boomer/gen x straddlers. In other words, dinosaurs. ;^)<br /><br />My kid is 16, reads a TON every day - none of it on paper. He watches hours of tv every day - commercial free on Netflix and Youtube. When he has to endure me in the room watching 'actual' tv - that is, with commercials - he grabs the remote and mutes the sound at every commercial break. Tradititional tv commercial marketing isn't reaching him. He IS the future. Advertisers have realized this.<br /><br />You have, relatively speaking, almost no disposable income. Your money's tied up in taxes, mortgage, utility bills, etc. What's left to spend on the goods and services advertisers want you to buy is a fraction of the total money you make.<br /><br />My son has to put half his money away for college... but the other half is his to spend as he pleases. He has 50% disposable income. Even though that's only a few grand a year from his part-time job, his buying power is awesome. And study after study shows that this generation of parents listens to their kids when making decisions about major household purchases. KIDS decide what kind of car the family will buy.<br /><br />Add all that up and you can see that while print advertising probably will never completely go away, and television advertising probably also won't, the growing percentage of any advertisers budget is going to be repurposed toward the next generations' media of choice. We need to be ready for that if we want to remain relevant.leifpenghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07232334860061949895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8053034244697723693.post-6637713716994383722010-11-22T15:55:02.308-08:002010-11-22T15:55:02.308-08:00Mark; The youtube scenario is referring to that O...Mark; The youtube scenario is referring to that Old Spice campaign. You may have read that they put the actor in front of a webcam one weekend and had a team of five copywriters standing by. as questions streamed in from viewers the writers came up with funny answers and typed them onto a teleprompter so it would seem like the actor was ad-libbing them. It was wildly successful and I guess they just used a bunch of that material edited together and Voilà - instant commercials. (That's just my guess, though)<br /><br />The detail obsessed thing is, I think, self-serving agency ass-covering and is probably a desperate visceral reaction to what this article describes as happening: clients slipping through the agencies' fingers like sand.leifpenghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07232334860061949895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8053034244697723693.post-84582562708753148132010-11-22T15:37:18.207-08:002010-11-22T15:37:18.207-08:00I really like your sketches and finished illustrat...I really like your sketches and finished illustration for this post Leif .After 16 years of drawing in Photoshop I've come to really appreciate the humble pencil sketch .(Even when it's done in Painter:)<br />Very interesting (and scary) article.Greg Pascoshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01031140842945572044noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8053034244697723693.post-68840205638309083702010-11-22T13:54:07.716-08:002010-11-22T13:54:07.716-08:00Sounds like 'musical chairs' of another dy...Sounds like 'musical chairs' of another dying industry. Is advertising streamlining it's resources by taking advantage of the digital revolution? It's probably necessary, since it has become increasingly difficult to justify everyone's hand in the client's pocket. Are storyboards and other preliminary visuals included in these unnecessary expenditures? This is where I'm confused. I understand how the digital medium can "crowdsource" to create a ton of ready to air spots and ads, but to suggest the only medium left to to place this digital neo-advertising is the internet? C'mon!! Believe it or not, my inspiration for a continued career in boards is radio. Video couldn't kill the radio star (neither could XM Satellite and the like). Therefore, I can't see the traditional television media drowning in the wake of the monster internet. Here's how I see it breaking down: Broadcast media is free to the public (which is why you don't have to buy tickets to see a taping of say, Letterman). Good entertainment on this medium costs money, lots of it! Advertisers pay these entertainers in exchange to place their products in commercials which will be exposed to the public enjoying the program of interest. From what limited understanding I have of Ms. Sacks' article is that ALL traditional media is going the way of the dinosaur due entirely to the internet. I'm sorry, but there's nothing to watch on the damn thing! Not for me anyway and I'm 45; on the cusp between boomers and Xgens. I don't want to interact, add my input to a commercial or look at mindless YouTube videos. I just want to sit on my ass and be entertained. Also, she's telling us that a place like GeniusRocket only needs $40,000 to produce 7 finished spots? Sounds like sight unseen to me as I can't imagine any product brand manager not wanting to see preliminaries before signing off on 7 concepts, no matter how cheap they're made. And that's why storyboard artists will always be in demand. So, have faith my friends; though it's been slow, the sky isn't falling...YET! <br /> As a point of interest, print publishing might also be on death's door, but I much prefer a newspaper or magazine whilst on the shitter, as opposed to an iPad or laptop...they just feel too cold sitting on my lap! That's my 2 (long) cents!Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05985144759301381001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8053034244697723693.post-34982979221403507212010-11-22T12:35:43.771-08:002010-11-22T12:35:43.771-08:00(Ok, I'll try this again. Somehow my post died...(Ok, I'll try this again. Somehow my post died on arrival.)<br />I confess I didn't read the article, but how does an agency pump out a bunch of YouTube ads overnight? I've found that clients have become much more detail obsessed over the years and can't imagine they'd let the creatives off the leash without at least approving a script, let alone taking frames or an animatic to testing.Mark Harrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07898299574797827415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8053034244697723693.post-27356633038787418492010-11-22T08:53:38.458-08:002010-11-22T08:53:38.458-08:00Mark; you're right on. Remember how much of ...Mark; you're right on. Remember how much of our work used to be print ad comps? Then, while I was 'away' for a decade doing finished art, the work became predominantly storyboard frames and animatics. Now, if major clients like Kraft are dumping their agencies and going with these boutique operations that can crank out 20 ads for youtube over a weekend, I think we must prepare ourselves for another major shift. <br /><br />Regarding the video game and movie industry, I think there will actually be an increase in demand for concept artists in the years ahead -- but the dynamic will be very different.<br /><br />It would be great if those currently working in those markets gave us the benefit of their experience and predictions. :^)leifpenghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07232334860061949895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8053034244697723693.post-8834700434215957922010-11-22T08:45:07.443-08:002010-11-22T08:45:07.443-08:00Harry, you are absolutely the best example of what...Harry, you are absolutely the best example of what I mean by "flexible and innovative." Your career is a testament to how versatility and optimism can lead to success, no matter what happens. For those of you who have never visited Harry's blog, do yourself a favour and spend a good long time there perusing Harry's work - and his words. As he says, he survived constant change and spent 63 years in the business - and continues to experiment and make new art every day! My hero! <br /><br />Go to http://harryborgmanart.blogspot.com/leifpenghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07232334860061949895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8053034244697723693.post-28712489173374414062010-11-22T07:55:39.682-08:002010-11-22T07:55:39.682-08:00I've been fairly steady, but having said that,...I've been fairly steady, but having said that, it is a different market than it was in the '80's & '90's, and it's not just the recent recession. There is not the volume of work (remember the huge pitches?) but I also don't handle the same volume of work I used to, with it's all-nighters and wrecked weekends. It's not just that I'm older and don't have the energy, I now have a family with young kids and although I far from the perfect parent, I find that they now have priority over everything - whether I like it or not. :) <br />I had a short conversation with AdBase the other day about their limited data resources for illustrators for industries outside of the traditional print & TV medium ie- game & movie companies. Their response was that anybody they contact say they don't hire freelance illustration, which I found odd.Mark Harrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07898299574797827415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8053034244697723693.post-29048825372903079342010-11-21T08:33:08.933-08:002010-11-21T08:33:08.933-08:00I used to reinvent myself through the years as the...I used to reinvent myself through the years as the business changed, and it's always changing. I began as a graphic designer in Detroit art studios, but soon found illustration to be more lucrative. When automotive related art started going photographic I hooked up with a sharp New York rep who kept me quite busy, also had a rep in Chicago. For years I specialized in ink line art. I even became a partner in a studio before becoming an art director at Campbell Ewald in Detroit. Then came my freelance period before leaving for Paris, France where I did illustrations and many storyboards for several years. Next came ten years in New York City, mostly doing storyboards as the illustration field was drying up. In 1993 I moved back to a small town in Michigan, but still had reps in New York and Chicago, I even managed to get work out of LA, SF, Boston and Detroit. I finally decided to quit the business as the deadlines on storyboards were getting brutal, the last year that I worked, every job had an overnight deadline. I had a fun career that began when I was 15 and went right through to age 78, that's 63 years in the ad biz. I actually still do a few graphic design jobs and once in a while an illustration.Harry Borgmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08442891906124199120noreply@blogger.com