March 18, 2009

Remaining Curious

Remaining Curious
An Interview with Hillman Curtis

Online video is everywhere. It’s quick and choppy and seldom compelling. YouTube has flattened the standards for video and film, making the “everyman” a veritable Spielberg. Pardon the hyperbole but the fact is most online filmmaking cares little for art and craft.. You might try linking to Hillman Curtis dot com. Hillman is a rare breed of short-filmmaker whose work is meant for web, but has the texture of a film. His online Artist Series and films are striking in their simplicity—drawing viewers in with fascinating compositions and beautiful scores.

Before you read the interview take a few moments to familiarize yourself with his Artist Series and short films. We’re confident you’ll see that Hillman is not “everyman”— he is a welcomed break from the vapid monotony of humdrum online video.

TDS: You are an interactive designer, filmmaker, writer, and (formerly) rock musician. What has been the common thread for you that runs through these various creative outlets?

CURTIS: Exploration I think. Exploring yourself and the world—working things out. I mean with graphic or interactive design there’s a real need for problem solving and it’s most often concerned with commerce, but everything else becomes a form of personal expression. Richard Avedon once said that his portraits had more to do with him than his subjects. The artist Jim Dine said to me during one of our shoots that all art was self-portraiture. I think that’s what the common thread is.

To read the complete interview go to: Trap Door Sun

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March 6, 2009

The Daily Monster

An Interview with Stefan Bucher

Growing up, monsters got a bad rap. They were always hiding under the bed, or behind the shower curtain, or around the corner. Just waiting there, to scare the bliggity-criggity out of you.

Stefan Bucher saw monsters too. But his were a bit friendlier and once he saw one he knew he had to draw it. He drew 100 different monsters in 100 days and fans started writing stories to accompany the monster drawings. The idea caught on and now the monsters are popping up everywhere: from his book 100 Days of Monsters, to LA Weekly, to Wired magazine, to, most recently, PBS’s Electric Company. Check out a video of Stefan making a monster then proceed (with caution) as Stefan talks to us about these furry little creatures.

TDS: Give us a little background into the project and how it came about?

BUCHER: The first Monster appeared to me while I was driving. Just popped up on my arm. This happens to me every now and again, but this was a clearer view than most, so I thought “Gotta put this little guy on paper.” I had so much fun with that drawing that I immediately made 49 more for a book called Upstairs Neighbors.

While I was shopping that book around I wanted to keep myself engaged with the Monsters. When you’re trying to find people to back your project it’s very easy to drift into becoming the executor of your creative estate; which is a dusty, joyless state of being. It was important to keep drawing new Monsters, and a series of events lead me to the idea of filming the process for my then new blog.

It never occurred to me that the Monsters would find the audience that they have. I didn’t even tell my friends about them, because I thought I might not stick with it, that it wouldn’t be fun. But then it very quickly grew into the brilliant online community of people with a need to tell stories and draw their own creatures.

Like most things, the Monsters came to be as an almost unconscious reaction to the circumstances of my life. The brain tries to balance itself when jostled. I had allowed myself to slide into a tense and intractable situation, so these happy little creatures came out to let me have some fun.

Read the rest of the interview here: Trap Door Sun

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