The first book I ever checked out of the school library was Ray Bradbury’s “The Illustrated Man”. I was fascinated by the cover; the eponymous character in the Lotus position facing away from the camera, every inch of his body covered in trippy tattoos. I think I was 10. What’s this got to do with anything? The same thing Edgar A. Poe and William S. Burroughs have to do with anything. Why is a raven like a writing desk?

I love old things and vintage techniques. In film, I love prime lenses, diopter filters, and teleconverters, Welles, Sturges, and Hitch. For illustration, I love the 20th-century masters – Milton Caniff, Will Eisner, Wallace Wood, Alex Toth, Alex Raymond, Windsor McKay. I love a number two brush and a hawk quill loaded with india ink. In animation, I chase after Ray Harryhausen. Chuck Jones and Jiri Trnka. In music, it’s everything from Jimmy Rogers train songs to Esquivel, Joni, and Squarepusher. This is no passing fancy; I’ve actively pursued creative projects that combine all these creators’ techniques.

One of my all-time favorite filmmakers is Preston Sturges. The man writes dialogue like no one else, so I had to figure out how he did it. I read a dozen of his screenplays and then read his semi-autobiography. I discovered a crazy amount of things about his jam-packed life, but the most significant thing was that he always used a secretary, sometimes called in very late at night for a dialogue session. His dialogue was dictated and then edited, much the same as what you’re reading now. Google docs doesn’t currently get my jokes however that will change soon. Preston would also spend weeks thinking about something before getting started, so I see parallels in our natural workflows.

More important than knowing how assets and software go together is knowing how people go together. I was born with a natural talent for casting and have developed it professionally over the years. I was Graphics Director at CTV News and creative lead at my own company, Chromacide, for seven years. I led a team at Yowza animation for two years developing lighting effects and recently spent a year exploring the possibilities of Pixar’s open USD framework heading a five person skunkworks initiative. I was one of three founders of “Exclaim!” magazine, art directing for one year and drawing the feature “Our William” for two years.

In the meantime, I’ve also had a string of low level success in music, producing and arranging a successful underground rock adaptation of Jesus Christ Superstar, fronting bands, writing songs and releasing a sporadic catalogue of cassettes, cd’s and Spotify. My music has been heard on “Sesame Street”, “Cavendish” as well as indie films and commercials. I’ve been fortunate to work with dozens of incredible musicians.

Knowing what to do when things aren’t going as well as you would like is more useful than knowing what to do when things are great; knowing how to synthesize two opposing ideas into one great idea is downright delicious. If you need someone to contribute some logical organization and reality-based estimates for a project, if you need someone to cast and lead your next team, give me a shout. I follow the same criteria that Bob Wills used in hiring his Texas Playboys: you have to be a good person and a spit-hot player, in that order.