I enjoy seeing good artwork. I love seeing great creativity in action. That's why I like Creative Chaos over at RagamuffinSoul.com. And as much as I'd like to produce something as creative as many of the participants over there, I generally don't. Truth be told, I often cheat at creativity...and in so doing I find that I am just one of the many on the road to producing decent work. Everyone has to start somewhere...

So, I just thought I would share with you all my top spots for creative exploration and learning. After all, being a hopeless creative is no fun! Check 'em out. I frequent each of these often.

I love PSD Tuts...and, if you are serious about learning some great design tips and techniques, go for the subscription. Having the Photoshop files to follow along and work with is key.

Lynda.com is the one-stop-shop for online training for many of the programs used in design, video editing, photo retouching/manipulation, animation and 3D modeling. If you really want to learn the in's and out's of a particular program. Go here... Truth be told, we pay our interns at times to sit at a computer and learn the programs that we often use at Olive Branch.

Andrew Kramer is an After Effects and mograph professional...who rocks! We've used many of his products, ideas and a tutorials when producing animations and videos for our Sunday morning services. The tutorials are free and are a must have in your RSS feed if you are interested in After Effects. The products and simple and great quality...they easily provide you the means necessary to spice up that AE or 3D Studio Max project. Check it out at VideoCopilot.net.

I'm not sure how I first stumbled across Abduzeedo.com, but I enjoy it. The author of the blog is a Brazillian graphic/web designer that has got it going on. I've learned a TON by his free tutorials. Every week he posts his picks for sites of the week and showcases different artists. These alone are enough to check it out. Inspiration abounds at this site.

 

If you are a cheapskate like I am (my wife makes me be) and are into filming and video work, check out IndyMogul.com. They take shoestring budgets and give you innovative ideas on how to produce normally complex scenes, angles and equipment...all on the cheap. Gotta love that!

Finally, if you love (erm....like or enjoy would also do) Photoshop, then you gotta check out the National Association of Photoshop Professionals... or NAPP for short. I've been a member for nearly two years and I have yet to find one place that truly provides a community of digital creativity like this does. I've been to their conferences, bought their books and spent hours on the forum learning from others. There is a yearly membership fee, but if you like equipment like I do, it will pay for itself. With nearly 17,000 members (I think) you get access to great discounts at many of the places we purchase our gear. For example, a special store with special pricing at Apple.com, free shipping from B&H Photo/Video, software discounts, Office Depot discounts, discounted hotel prices, etc... The membership price is $99/year.... But I just saved $150 on an iMac...so, they owe me! Seriously though, if you are looking for a great place to stretch your legs in Photoshop, check it out. Oh, and you also get a year subscription to Photoshop User magazine...which is the only magazine that I actually look forward to reading front-to-back when it comes. Also, if you are looking for a more well-rounded approach to the Adobe series of products, check out NAPP founder/president Scott Kelby's online training site, www.kelbytraining.com. The provide different online classes ranging in topic from Adobe InCopy to Adobe Illustrator to off-camera lighting setup to Adobe Acrobat. Good stuff, and in my opinion, well worth the money...

I realize that much of this may not have anything to do with you creative pursuits. But, for some of us, it will. These are just a few of the sites I frequent daily in hopes to continually grow in my lacking creativity. There are some great artists out there and many of them offer a ton to learn from.

So, are there any sites I've missed? What would you suggest?

 

I work at a church that has 4 full-time staff, inluding myself... which, for our area, is a large church. We don't often find ourselves with the blessing of time, man/woman power or fresh creativity to pull off consistently good video work from week-to-week. Don't get me wrong, we do our best...and we have produced some great stuff, but, we're no North Point, Cross Point or Granger Community Church. We're Olive Branch Church.

We've often gone to Sermonspice.com to help in our video production area. Their list is ever-growing with new media that a church can use to engage it's audience, lead into a sermon or set the tone for a Sunday morning. We wouldn't have gotten to where we are without it. I'm a Director of Family Ministries afterall...there is only so much set-up, tear-down, After Effects, editing, cutting and pasting that one can do...on top of helping families take their next step in Christ.

So, while this doesn't have much to do with and Chaos I've Created, it will hopefully help the one or two of you who come here and are looking for a creative way to engage your church through video without hiring 6 full-time Service Planning creatives...

Check it out... ...Let me know what you think...

 

 

Ok, so I've missed the last couple of Creative Chaos's over at Ragamuffin Soul. But, I actually worked on something creative this last Thursday and haven't had a chance to post it until now. This little nugget below is a new business logo that I worked up for my Step-father's yard care business. His old logo was a bit dated and he needed something new whipped up for the start of "the season". I think it is too simple...but, when pasted on the side of a truck door, it will get the point across...

Feedback is welcome...

This week's Creative Chaos entry has to do with a 3D model I built in 3D Studio Max. I "finished" the project about a month and a half ago (although I seldom see projects I start as "finished"...there is always something more I'd like to do on them).

As we were looking to ramp up a new children's/family ministry we realized that lot of changes would need to take place. Adult Sunday school would have to be restructured to allow our adults to serve and also to be a part of KidStuf with their children....trying to take away as many conflicts as possible. No excuses not to be there with your kids, Parents!

Anyways, with all these changes I wanted a way to portray what could come of a few classrooms, a bit of money, and a whole lot of love. So, I decided to whip a 3D model of the space to show people. The idea that "a picture is worth a thousand words" really stuck in my head. And, some 130 hours later I had a few images, an animated 3D walktrough, and packets to hand out to our leaders and volunteers as we worked through the details.

I'm pretty proud of the results; although, like I said early, there is more I'd like to do. Here are some images that I came up with...totally to scale and mostly accurate. Take the sound mixer for example...it's the model budgeted for... details, details....

Click images to see larger versions...