I’m a Graphic Designer from Guerrero Negro, México. I graduated from Design School about two years ago, and now I’m taking a course of Art Direction in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I like to play Basketball, Ping Pong and video games (specially the Zelda ones) although I haven’t do it for a while. I like to work from home, mostly because I work faster in nights, and recently discovered that I can work faster drinking a beer (I’m doing it right now). Besides Motion Graphics I like Illustration and I’m starting to learn Web Programation. If I weren’t a Graphic Designer I think I would be an Engineer or something related to Physics.

What is Motion Design for you? (Is there a definition for you?)

It’s for Design what movies are for photos. Basically it’s “design on wheels”. Maybe it’s a little cliché but I think is like take a few poster designs and then animate from one to the next. By now I had the opportunity to work in many types of design projects (Logo, web, print, etc) but Motion Design it’s the one I like the most.

How did you become a motion design artist? Did you switch from an other design sector? Do you still do other things like Illustration and Webdesign?

I was in design school and in the 6th quarter in the audiovisual class i had to make a Documental. That was my first time using After Effects and doing something in video. From the moment I started the project that was it for me. All the next projects I tried to make it in motion. Now I watch the documental and well is crappy but I like it because it was my first one.

From where do you get your daily dose of inspiration for your work?

Mostly from design blogs and tv. I like to see every tv spot because the good ones inspire me and the crappy ones let me know where not to go. Video games are very inspiring to me too as you can se in some parts of my reel.

* Can you tell us your 5 most beloved design / motion design websites.

Motionographer.- I  assume everyone in Motion Design have visited by now.
Smashing Magazine.- is great for everything in design. Doesn’t matter the “side” of Design you are, there is something usefull in there.
Motionworks.- I like the Business of Design and the Unplugged section, beacuse it’s a litte different aproach of everything of Motion that is out there (wich are mostly Tutorials).
Greyscale Gorilla.- I love the 5 second projects in here and It’s fun to watch Nick Campbell.
Mograph.net.-  I think this is one of the best Motion graphics community out there.

* How do you organize your projects and which tools or software do you usually use?

My projects are like my room, I start to clean things up when I can’t move around easily. When I star to organize my projects I usually use the same structure : A folder for the Final Comps, one for the PreComps, one for Psd’s, one for Ai’s,one for Jpg’s or Tiff’s, another for video or Image Sequences and one for audio and Sfx. I do the same thing in my project folder as in my After Effects Project. In Cinema 4D I’m pretty unorganized.

I ussualy work with The Adobe Suite and Cinema 4D and if I need to do some 3D Tracking I use Boujou.

* Is there a style of Motion Design which you  prefere?

I really like a well composited 2D/3D project and the handmade looking ones. Stop motion it’s pretty cool, but I’m pretty bad doing stuff manually and every time I try to cut something I cut my fingers, but I love stopmotion stuff combined with some match moved graphic elements.

* Do you have a favourite Motion Design which you really like or admire and why?

I like Stardust stuff a lot, I like the style and rhythm of their designs, also they were the “main act” in the first Design Meeting I attend. There is alse the guys of Psyop and the Digital Kitchen ones among others.

* At last, can you tell us something about your worst client?

My worst client was ironically the one with I work the most (about a year). I had to make for them 2 to 3 tv spots per week but the deadlines where ridiculous, they called around 5:30pm to ask for a new spot and it has to be done for the next day at 8 am. Although that make me work a lot faster it’s not a good way to work.

* Thank you for the interview

* Check out his Showreel here

Reel ‘09 from Carlos Escárrega on Vimeo.

* Here are some works by Carlos

Toolkit:
After Effects.
Cinema 4D.

Música:
Does it Offend You? Yeah. – Attack Of The 60 ft Lesbian Octopus

Video para “5 Second Projects : Old Video Games” de Greyscale Gorilla.

Para hacerlo primero busqué imagenes de los personajes y elementos que iba a utilizar y los tracé en vectores en Illustrator (hice a Megaman y a Link pero no encajaban en la animación).
Luego esos vectores los pasé a Cinema 4D y con ellos hice los personajes y el escenario en 3D.
Después apliqué luces y renderié (no se si se diga asi) y lo pasé a After Effects donde arreglé los colores y agregué otros detalles como las chispas de la estrella y el audio.

Toolkit: Illustrator. Photoshop. Cinema 4D. After Effects.

Render: 3 hrs. aprox.

* Check out his Homepage here:

• Can you tell us something about yourself.

I’m originally from Caracas Venezuela, I moved to Miami in 2002 when a company hired me over there, and in 2008 I moved to New York where I worked at Click3x until I went freelance.  I have a diverse background that includes Motion Design, Editing and Compositing.

• What is Motion Design for you? (Is there a definition for you?)

Motion Design for me is the opportunity to be a like modern alchemist because as Motion designers we have the opportunity to transform almost anything to life.

• How did you become a motion design artist? Did you switch from an other design sector? Do you still do other things like Illustration and Webdesign?

Coming from a South America it is very common that you have to do everything from motion design to editing, compositing, producing and sometimes making coffee, so I guess all that mess of softwares and techniques and clients helped me to become a motion designer. What also helped me was the fact that at the same time I was working I was also going to a graphic design school.
No, I don’t work on any other design sectors, but I do paint and draw sometimes.

• From where do you get your daily dose of inspiration for your work?

Honestly, I get a lot of my inspiration from the New York city subway (and the rats too!) It’s amazing when you see the diversity of people and the amount of advertising that is on the subway cars and the stations. I like to see how people look at each other and how they interact in that little space without saying a word, while a great dubstep or drum&bass track plays on my ipod. It’s the combination of all of this that creates not only visual inspiration, but also emotional inspiration, which motivates me to keep working in this field, even after 1,000,000 rounds of client revisions.

• Can you tell us your 5 most beloved design / motion design websites.

Psyop, Design by Humans, Stardust, renascent.nl, Prologue.

• How do you organize your projects and which tools or software do you usually use?

I approach my projects the way I do puzzles; I like to have all my pieces laid out in front of me and then start putting things together one by one. Although I start messy, once I get into a project I am very organized in my folder structure and my desktop (I hate to see a cluttered desktop with a lot of icons and files). I use Final Cut, Shake, Photoshop, AfterEffects and Cinema 4D.

• Is there a style of Motion Design which you  prefere?

Yes I like very futuristic/avant garde work but at the same time I love it when I see rustic (handmade) pieces. So traditional process and the craft or skill of that process implemented into motion design is always nice.

• Do you have a favourite Motion Design which you really like or admire and why?

I guess one of my favorites is Joost Knorgold, I love his work because he seems to have passed the barrier from just being another Motion Designer to having a very well-defined style, which makes him a very unique artist. I personally dig how complex his work is while being clean and elegant at the same time.

The other one is Adam Gault–that guy has such a sense of timing and subtlety that one would say the Gods have truly blessed him.

• Do You have a hobby to compansate the “whole day infront of the screen” workflow.

I guess being in this industry is both my work and my biggest hobby. For the past 2 years I’ve been preparing myself to become a compositor (that is what is moving me right now), and as compositor there is a LOT of stuff that I need to learn so my hobby is studying and working. I always say that this career is not a job, it’s a lifestyle. And I love it.

• At last, can you tell us something about your worst client? ( He/she/it doesn’t need to be named )

More than my worst client, I can tell you about one of my worst experiences. When I was starting my career there was a project that was technically way above my level at the time, and I decided to take it (there was no other option anyway since I was the only Motion Designer in the company) and I tried day and night to solve it and I couldn’t figure it out. I was very limited in my experience at that time for the requirement of the job, but if I had to do it again I would use a lot of heavy expressions (and I don’t know who would have been using expressions with AfterEffects 4.1). Even today that stupid project is still following me around, and every time that I have a new project I hope that I won’t have to go through that experience again (I guess everyone worries about the next project being “the one they can’t solve”).

Thank you very much for taking the time to tell us something about yourself und your looks on motion design.

Check out his site here: http://www.jdvisual.com/

And his entry here:

JD Yepes Reels 2009…

Freelancer: JD YepesAbout:JD worked in Miami for six years before coming to New York to join Click3x. He is now freelancing as an Editor, Animator,Junior Flame Artist and Desktop Compositor.(Final Cut, After Effects, Shake, Flame)Year:  2009Music: Block Party – Helicopter  http://www.blocparty.com/ Clients:  Scion, MTV, Toyota, hasbro,…