DINZ Designers Speak - This & That - Wellington

DINZ Designers Speak - This & That - Wellington
(Auckland 26 May)

A bit of this and a bit of that is like picking through the chocolate box to find the delicious and different.

BESPOKE TYPOGRAPHY
Sarah Maxey Design - Sarah Maxey
Title: "Don't get me started: Bespoke handlettered typography"
Soundbite: Graphic artist Sarah Maxey will discuss her influences and preoccupations around handlettering, sharing samples from her collection of found handlettering, recent work, and will preview an upcoming project.

PACKAGING
Smoothfluid - Caspian Ievers
Title: Packaging an idea 
Soundbite: Caspian has a strategic plan – it’s called doing things

COSTUME
3foot7 - Kate Hawley
(The designer for Peter Jacksons 'The Lovely Bones' and the upcoming movie 'The Hobbit')

CULTURAL
Charlie Ward - Charlie Ward
Title: Blood
Soundbite:

CREATURE EFFECTS
Weta Digital - Gino Acevedo
Title: "Physical vs. Digital - A Happy Marriage"
Soundbite: Gino Acevedo from Weta Digital talks about how the film industry has evolved over the years with the advancement of digital technology. He will address the importance and need for the physical side of design along side increasingly used digital visual effects technology.  The ability of artists to be able to pick up a pencil and paper to illustrate an idea, and not rely solely on computers, remains paramount.

Presenters

Sarah Maxey Design - Sarah Maxey

Sarah Maxey is a graphic artist based in Wellington. Since 1991, she has designed for publishing companies in NZ and abroad, including 2 years designing and art directing for Bloomsbury Publishing in the UK. On her return to NZ in 1996, she established her own studio providing thoughtful design solutions for the arts publishing sector, winning many awards for her book design in the process. She was guest presenter at the Typeshed11 Typography Symposium in 2009 and her work was showcased in the 4th series of The Gravy, the TVNZ arts programme. Recent commissions include typographical drawings for clients as diverse as The New York Times and City Gallery Wellington and a large hand-lettered wall installation for a group show at the Hirschfeld Gallery. Her fourth solo show of typographical work will open in late May 2010 at Bowen Galleries, Wellington.

Smoothfluid - Caspian Ievers

At one point Caspian was heading towards a career as psychologist; however a wrong turn led him to a different path where he has designed invitations for royalty, battled with pop stars, created a flat pack chocolate easter egg and a millionaires club among other things. Setting up Smoothfluid in 2001 he strongly believes that there's no such thing as can't/doesn't exist/or budget doesn't stretch. If you can't: you learn. If it doesn't exist: you find a way. If the budget doesn't stretch: you win the client with a design they can't help but covet. And along the way don't forget to turn what you do into an adventure.

Charlie Ward 

International award winning print and interactive designer Charlie Ward has spent more than 20 years creating iconic brands here and in the UK. Since moving to New Zealand and joining DNA 10 years ago, Charlie has created some of our most powerful brand identities such as Icebreaker’s Horn Man, the All Blacks before the 2004 World Cup, Krafthaus, and the Hokotehi Moriori Trust. His work has been selected for International awards in D&AD UK, ID Magazine Awards USA, Graphis Publications and New Zealand Best Awards. Inspired by originality and new ideas, Charlie creates distinctive and impactful brands that deliver. 

Weta Digital - Gino Acevedo

In 1998, Makeup and Creature Effects Art Director Gino Acevedo was asked by Richard Taylor to join Weta Workshop to supervise the special makeup effects and colour designs of the creatures for Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Prior to this, Gino had been working in the Los Angeles film industry for more than 10 years.

During the filming of The Two Towers, Gino was approached by Weta Digital’s Visual Effects Supervisor, Joe Letteri, who was intrigued by the way Gino had made the skin colouration of a physical silicone puppet of the dead Boromir so believable. Joe then asked if Gino would be interested in texture painting on Gollum.

Although he saw himself as computer illiterate, Gino grasped the new digital challenges, becoming the Art Director for the digital creatures and the liaison between Weta Workshop and Weta Digital.  Thus, allowing for a continuous design vision from initial illustrative designs through to the final digital effects shots shown onscreen.

Gino's work at Weta Digital includes HOD of the textures department and creature art direction.

On King Kong and The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, Gino along with Richard Taylor supervised the sculpting of the maquettes for digital scanning, and making the physical silicone puppets used for environment and actor interaction. These were later replaced with the digital creature that is seen onscreen.

As Creature Art Director on Avatar, Gino oversaw 52 Weta Digital texture artists. They used innovative techniques of life casting, to achieve details such as minute skin pores which were cast in silicone and scanned.  They were then applied to the digital models, breathing life and colour in to the world of Pandora.

 Venue Partners

Posted on: April 15, 2010