Coffeeshops and Libraries
I wanted to thank everyone who has taken the time to write to me over the past two weeks. Your kind words and support have been overwhelming to read through. Again, although it says "dave werner" at the top of the portfolio, there should really be hundreds of names preceding it. I owe everything to my family, teachers, and friends. To Mom and Dad, for buying me all those Lego sets, Transformers, Nintendo games and Choose Your Own Adventure books as a kid. To Mrs. Clark in 2nd grade, for allowing me to bring a construction paper microphone into class and pretend I was on TV all day. To everyone at Portfolio Center, who consistently challenged me to work harder and turn abstract ideas into reality. To anyone who has ever given me advice, criticism, or means of inspiration. I still have a lot to learn...and can't wait to see what's next.
I'm heading up to New York this morning and will return to Atlanta next Wednesday evening. I apologize if it takes me a while to get back to your emails; it's probably going to take a few days of coffeeshops and libraries to get caught back up. In announcements, all the portfolio films are now up on Google Video in case you wanted to direct-link or download any of them. And Okaydave also received the Favorite Website Awards' Site of the Month for February today, which is just freakin' insane. Thank you again for all the continued feedback (and birthday wishes)! Take care.
Tuesday, February 28 at 9:00 PM
These Little Town Blues Are Melting Away
I'm leaving for DC on Monday for birthday celebrations with my family, and then heading up to New York for a few days. I've been keeping an open mind with the job search, and will be exploring several opportunities over the next couple of weeks before making an educated decision about what's next. This past week has been great; I saw Why We Fight with Jen (definitely worth checking out), went to Athens with Hank for a panel discussion and career fair at the University of Georgia, and unlocked the gorilla mask in SSX On Tour. I'll let you know how things go in NYC, stay tuned...
Friday, February 24 at 5:43 AM
Thank You
The initial response to okaydave, both professional and casual, has been great. Thanks to everyone for the continued feedback, including Sunday's Site of the Day honor from the Favorite Website Awards, mentions on Core77 and Speak Up, and the feature article "The New Digital Portfolio" on the Portfolio Center website. Have you found all 15 of the secrets yet? Here's the full list: sketchbook, nyc movies, cre824, kanye promo, like a prayer, straight up, nintendo power, design matters, hank cartoon, pella / snowman animations, you belong at pc, yeah acoustic, you can come to david's food right now, yellow dress and comedy central.
Saturday, February 18 at 2:32 PM
Okaydave
I'm happy to announce that my portfolio went online this morning at okaydave.com. Thank you to everyone for your continued support and feedback, especially my family, Hank Richardson, Tania Rochelle, Chris Doherty, Peter Hobbs, Melissa Jun and everyone at theroot42. I hope you enjoy exploring the projects and stories in the portfolio, and maybe even find a few secrets along the way...
Wednesday, February 15 at 2:00 AM
Fish
Louise, a close friend since Mr. McCall's 8th grade Civics class, came to visit this weekend. It was a welcome break from work, and great to hang out and catch up (Eugene, hope you enjoyed the midnight call on Friday - Brian at Houston's was a little generous with the champagne). Saturday included a trip to the new Georgia Aquarium, and it's so cool I don't even know where to begin. People were cheering for the fish. We went early to beat the crowds, and had the Ocean Voyager viewing room (the 6 million gallon tank with the two whale sharks) pretty much to ourselves for a while. We also saw penguins, japanese spider crabs (that can grow to the size of a car), an octopus, beluga whales, pirhanas, sawfish, hammerhead sharks, flocks of stingrays, jellyfish, otters, sea lions, electric eels, and Dory and Nemo (and this was all before 11AM!). It was a great weekend.
Something cool is coming on Wednesday...
Sunday, February 12 at 8:04 AM
Don't Wake The Dragon
On Sunday I set up a desk in front of the TV, worked during the game, and watched during the ads...and by far my favorite commercial was the United Airlines spot "Dragon". It's so rare to see awesome hand-drawn animation nowadays since pretty much everything is 3D now. It was actually done using paper cut-out puppets with stop-motion animation, using After Effects for post production. The music was perfect too with its integration of the United theme. Compare it to the over-hyped, underwhelming Diet Pepsi "Brown and Bubbly" spot, and the distinct visual style stands out even more. Very original, inspiring work. You can watch the commercial and making-of video here.
Tuesday, February 7 at 11:32 AM
For Speak Up's February Word It, with the theme what.
Saturday, February 4 at 12:37 PM
Okay Samurai Multimedia is Dave Werner's personal site. I'm currently working at Minor Studios in San Francisco. Thanks for visiting! (more...)
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Lars Amhoff: Kinkyform Design
Colin Anawaty: Cubed Companies
Chuck Anderson: NoPattern
Haik Avanian: HaikAvanian.com
James Bailey: The Kingdom of Sad Machines
Ben Barry: CarbonFour / Forced Connections
Dimitry Bentsionov: Arthero
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Casey Britt: CaseyBritt.com
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Todd Hammell: Solid Colors
Leon Henderson: LHJ Photo
Howard Hill: Fascination Streak
Peter Hobbs: Peter Hobbs Photography
Matt Ipcar: Ipcar Design
Michael Johnson: Michael J Rox
Melissa Jun: MelissaJun.com
Jiae Kim: Theme magazine
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Katie Kosma: Flying Conundrum
Peter Lada: Proxima Labs
Josh Levin: Nothing Learned
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Mike Mates: Urban Influence
Alison Matheny: Life of a Harpy
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Alaa-Eddine Mendili: Furax
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Allen Orr: Anthem In
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Joe Peng: MacConcierge
Paavo Perkele: Astudios
Brian Perozo: Ephekto
Jason Puckett: Everyday Puck
Kate Ranson-Walsh: Thinkradical
Tania Rochelle: Stone's Colossal Dream
Angela Sailo: Peanut Butter Toast
Mohit SantRam: Santram.net
Dan Savage: Something Savage
Kevin Scarbrough: Thin Black Glasses
Scott Schiller: Schillmania
Jason Severs: JasonSevers.com
Anthony Sheret: Work By Lunch
Nick Skyles: Boats and Stars
Sujay Thomas: iSujay
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Armin Vit: Under Consideration
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Roger Wong: One Great Monkey
Clay Yount: Rob and Elliot Comics
Jack Zerby: Jack Zerby Music