Computer Arts Projects

Continuing the series of freelance features that I’ve written for Computer Arts Projects magazine, “Beauty and the East” is an article that looks at some of Japan’s biggest (and oddest) design projects. It appears in issue 118.

It’s easy to have preconceived ideas about Japanese design. On the one hand, Japanese pop culture is infused with a cult of cuteness (‘kawaii’) that has its roots in the 1970s. Saucer-eyed cartoon characters abound – from international icons like Hello Kitty and Pokemon, to the hundreds of lesser-known toons designed to sell Japanese snacks and washing powder.

Yet this pervasive Japanese cuteness also collides head-on with a harder-edged techno-futurism. This ‘Neo-Japan’ is defined by its high-tech industrialism – its bullet-nosed Shinkansen trains, exotic robotics and advanced mobile phones.

Modern Japanese design is a heady mix of familiar 20th Century art and new millennial experimentation. While kawaii and manga remain wildly popular, it’s been suggested that Japanese art is reinventing itself.

If the recent ‘Wa: The Spirit of Harmony and Japanese Design Today’ exhibition in Paris was anything to go by, contemporary Japanese design is becoming more experimental, exploring texture, touch, minimalism and sensitivity. In short, it’s all about the “experience.”

And so on… The article covers design projects that range from videogames like Final Fantasy XIII to the latest in wearable robotics – the Nissan Pivo2 single-seat concept vehicle; Cyberdyne’s Robot HAL exoskeleton.

The picture here is of ‘Keitai Girl’, Noriko Yamaguchi’s futuristic vision of runaway technological advancement. “We are living in cyberspace connected to people around the world and losing physical communication and sensation,” Yamaguchi says. “Keitai Girl is in a way a caricature of today’s people.”

[There's no link to this article. But you can find issues of Computer Arts Projects at myfavouritemagazines.co.uk. Want to know more? Find Computer Arts online at www.computerarts.co.uk.]

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Luke-warm on the heels of my interview with Tokidoki artist Simone Legno, the new issue of Computer Arts Projects features a chat with Studio AKA.

Studio who? Studio AKA is a BAFTA-award winning production company with an enviable portfolio of animated work. You might not know the name, but you’ve probably seen the TV ads they’ve produced for the likes of Guinness, Orange, Vodafone, Elastoplast (see above) and Capital One.

Studio AKA is perhaps best-known for the current Lloyds TSB campaign – “For the journey”. Jog your memory by watching the video clip below:

And here’s an excerpt from the article:

The first spot for Lloyds TSB was a 60-second CG animation that aired in 2007. With a distinctive visual style and quirky animation, it’s a beautifully produced, time-lapsed journey through the lives of two characters as they meet on a Lloyds TSB train, fall in love, have kids and grow old. Add a hauntingly catchy or increasingly annoying (take your pick) theme tune by Elena Kats-Chernin, and Studio AKA had an instant hit on its hands.

With their signature big-nosed characterisation and stylised landscapes, the ads paste a charming, story-book gloss onto day-to-day subjects such as buying a house, home insurance and personal loans.

The interview itself is another four-pager. It not only showcases some of Studio AKA’s latest work but also examines what inspired directors Marc Craste and Mic Graves and how they view modern animation. It’s a fascinating business. I’m looking forward to doing something completely different again in a future issue.

[There's no link to this article. But you can find the latest issue of Computer Arts Projects at myfavouritemagazines.co.uk]

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While new technology remains my principal focus, it’s exciting to branch out and to try something completely different. So back in September, I interviewed Italian illustrator and designer Simone Legno, the man behind art/fashion brand Tokidoki.

The interview appeared in issue 116 of Computer Arts Projects magazine. It was a four-pager that showcases some of Simone Legno’s current work and delves into how he designs his characters.

Tokidoki – Simone Legno interview

Ask Italian artist and illustrator Simone Legno to describe his artwork and he’ll sum it up with one word – ‘Japanisme’.

Because while Legno originally hails from Rome, his soul is firmly rooted in the “happy face of Shibuya” and the “magic silence of Kyoto”.

A fascination for all things Japanese defines Legno’s work. With echoes of Anime, Manga and Hello Kitty, his style is a modern, European take on the cute character iconography that pervades Japanese culture.

Bastardino

Oddball characters like ‘Bastardino’ are a prime example. The little dog in a spiky cactus suit is one of Legno’s favourite creations and it’s become a flag-waver for his global art and lifestyle brand – tokidoki.

The tokidoki online store sells toys, skateboards, jewellery, watches, badges, knitwear, sportswear, shoes and stationery. Legno has also collaborated with big-hitter fashion brands such as LeSportsac, Fornarina, Fujitsu and Hello Kitty. He’s living the dream.

One of Simon Legno’s current ventures is designing trainers for ASICS/Onitsuka Tiger. The tiger graphic that anchors the branding is indicative of the sort of ‘cute but dangerous’ theme that’s evident in much of the tokidoki style.

The teddy bear shape suggests a cute and huggable friendliness, but the sabre-teeth, fierce eyes and lightning-bolts add a wild and aggressive edge. As Legno explains, this stylistic clash represents the “dualism of things: childish and mature, eastern and western, funny and serious, exaggerated and minimal, provocative and pure, good and bad…”

Artistic influences

As far as inspiration is concerned, Simone Legno cites contemporary Japanese artists like Takashi Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara as major influences.

His tokidoki style also draws upon uber-cute Japanese icons like Hello Kitty and Doraemon – a cartoon about a robotic cat who travels back in time from the 22nd century.

The Cactus Friends, Moofia, Sumo Baby, Adios and Ciao Ciao characters fit in so seamlessly alongside native Japanese artwork that tokidoki is often mistaken for being a Japanese brand. Not bad for an Italian who now lives in Los Angeles.

“Japan is so magic that some people fall totally in love with it,” Legno says. “What really awoke this feeling in me was the Japanese animation shown on Italian TV during the 1980s. It was not just about the characters and the stories, but through animation I could experience the lifestyle of Japanese people – the way they ate, their houses, neighbourhoods, trains, cherry blossoms, student uniforms, rice balls… everything that is iconic of Japan. As a little kid I got struck by all of this. I have sketches of when I was in kindergarten designing Japanese people and Japanese elements.”

Tokidoki – behind the scenes

When designing new characters, Legno typically starts with a pencil sketch in his notebook. He then scans the sketch into his Mac laptop using the built-in camera, before tracing over it in Adobe Illustrator and adding in the detail.

“For the cute characters,” he says, “it’s a process of starting from few simple ideas and then developing a perfected style, stories and the worlds they live in.”

One of the biggest lessons Simone Legno has learned is not to overcomplicate his designs.

“At the beginning you want to overdo it and put too many details that aren’t needed,” he says. “But I learned the importance of the thickness of the stroke and now I try to be as minimal as possible. I also learned that if you want to make a cute character it can’t be just a random cute dog or cat. It has to have some original concept or meaning behind it.”

Good character design

So what’s the meaning behind the Cactus Friends? According to Legno, these characters are dressed up like cactuses to protect themselves from a world that sometimes can be cold and dangerous.

The cute design mixed with the idea of safety/protection is the very essence of tokidoki. Mozzarella (from Legno’s ‘Moofia’ line) is another crowd favourite. It’s a cute little kid in a cow suit cradling a Thompson submachine gun.

Simone Legno believes that originality is crucial to good character design.

“I love very much the work of some toy designers like DevilRobots, Mad Barbarians and James Jarvis,” he says. “They always come out with original characters.”

But Legno also sees a lot of poor designs. “I think lots of characters are designed just for commercial reasons and to be saleable in the mass market. I hate those fake brands that want to be ’super-cute’ or ’super friends’ or ’super love’. They are just a cold knock off of other artists without any of the real soul or originality of the inventor.”

Traditional Japanese art

In contrast to the Cactus Friends, the beautiful female characters that Legno draws have a much more traditional feel to them.

Legno admits that they’re an attempt to reinterpret the classic Japanese wood prints of Katsushika Hokusai into something more modern and contemporary.

“My everyday world is coloured and decorated by Japanese objects – souvenirs, junk packages, toys, books, prints, t-shirts and food. I think Japan is the most inspiring place for anybody working in a creative field. They have always been extremely innovative in graphic design, art and street and couture fashion.”

“Characters are very expressive,” says Legno. “They can convey feelings way more than human facial expressions that are sometimes hard to read or somehow not sincere. I think that characters can awake in myself (and in the viewer) a sense of tenderness that is very pleasant to the eyes and soul. Characters can be very amusing as well. I think that designing characters requires study – there’s a skill in researching a character’s shape and style that’s similar to making a logo.”

The Tokidoki empire

Log onto the tokidoki store and you’ll see that Legno’s work now adorns everything from designer handbags to vinyl toys. You can shop at a real tokidoki store that’s opened in Milan, or bed down in one of the tokidoki-themed rooms at the Fox Hotel in Copenhagen.

Fujitsu has just started selling a tokidoki-branded laptop.

This year Legno also got the chance to extend tokidoki’s reach into football to celebrate the recent European Championship finals. “It was a little dream I was waiting to realise,” he says. “We decided to contact MIKASA, an historic Japanese brand, and they accepted to enter this venture with us and produced a limited edition, top quality ball.”

Hello Kitty

But in the four years since the tokidoki brand launched, Simone Legno is arguably most proud of his collaboration with Hello Kitty.

The interplay between the two brands is subtle, with tokidoki iconography added to a Hello Kitty chain or Hello Kitty dressed up in one of Legno’s cactus suits.

It’s an artistic mashup that doesn’t stray from the concept of ‘cute sophistication’ that both brands adhere to. But it’s a darker Hello Kitty line, a fact pointed out up by the appearance of Legno’s grim reaper character ‘Adios’ on the classic Hello Kitty bow.

“It was a huge honour for me,” Legno explains. “Kitty is the queen of the Japanese ‘kawaii’ ['cute'] world. We collaborated for a first season and sold out both in Japan and the U.S. Now we are extending the contract for one more year. We are very careful to limit distribution to the best department stores and stores that have a great quality of product. This keeps the collaboration cool and not too commercial.”

The future for Tokidoki

When we spoke to Simone Legno, he was preparing for the Pool Trade Show in Las Vegas, an annual get-together for the boutique fashion industry.

Once that finishes, Legno is working on developing new trainers – he has a two-year deal with Onitsuka Tiger and has recently collaborated with Fornarina for the second time. He’s also busy developing next season’s tokidoki clothing lines – everything from t-shirts, shorts and jackets to dresses, leggings and swimwear.

Legno isn’t stopping there. He’ll be featuring in a new ad campaign for Yahoo! (“I will be one of the testimonials for a huge campaign that aims to reach about a 100 million visitors”), designing new toys and “some headsets with a very cool brand called Skull Candy.”

He also promises that there’s a new Hello Kitty collaboration in the pipeline, some tokidoki stationery, jewellery, watches and a range of New Era baseball caps.

“There’s a lot to do and this is the beginning,” suggests the hard-working Legno. “As soon as the brand gets more stable I want to dedicate more future to painting and fine arts in general. But almost all of my weekends I work. And at this point 80% of my work is not designing characters. It’s working on product, making samples, concepts, checking materials, writing mails, doing interviews, business meetings, events, trade shows and signings. That’s what it takes to keep everything alive.”

The interview appeared in issue 116 of Computer Arts Projects magazine. You can find the latest issue of Computer Arts Projects at myfavouritemagazines.co.uk

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I interviewed a number of graphic designers and illustrators for this “10 Lessons every freelancer should learn” article. Each contributed his/her tips for being a better freelancer and the resulting four-page feature was published in the September issue of Computer Arts Projects magazine.

10 Lessons every freelancer should learn

There are many reasons that people choose to ditch a full-time job to go freelance. The opportunity to be your own boss, for example, and a desire to work on a variety of different projects. Then there’s the flexibility of working whenever and wherever you want (although it’s both a blessing and a curse). And, of course, there’s always the prospect of earning a bigger income.

There are thousands of freelancers working in the UK and the best advice a freelancer can get often comes from those designers and illustrators who’ve “been there, done that”. Because they’ve learnt valuable lessons along the way.

Lesson #1: The art of self promotion

“Pimp yourself out,” says freelance graphic designer Frosti Gnarr. “No one is just going to call you out of the blue. You need to tell people that you are out there.”

It doesn’t matter whether you’re an established freelancer or you’re building your business from scratch, marketing yourself is vital. Send emails, call people, go to shows, build your own website. Submit your work to commercial portfolios like www.aoiportfolios.com and www.viewcreatives.com; surf design networking sites like www.behance.net. Maximise your visibility.

Regular clients are worth their weight in gold. But don’t underestimate the time it takes to create and develop relationships.

“I wish I’d known the importance of self promotion when I first started freelancing,” says freelance illustrator and graphic designer Christopher Haines. “Know someone who owns a business? Give them a business card and let them know you are a graphic designer. It’s all about networking and getting your work seen.”

Which brings us neatly onto…

Lesson #2: Get a website!

If self-promotion is the key to successful freelancing then building a portfolio site is the most effective tool you can have.

“Your website is the first place most buyers and commissioners will look these days,” says Rod Hunt, an illustrator and deputy chairman of the Association of Illustrators (AOI).

“Back this up with a sample postcards with your contact details and website.” And what about the traditional, ‘physical’ portfolio? “It’s not as important these days,” adds Hunt. “But it’s still wise to have one available for face to face client meetings.”

It’s easier to build a website than you might think. Free web platforms such as Wordpress, Joomla and Drupal can be customised extensively to act as your point of contact, your blog, your digital portfolio, even an online store where you can sell your work directly.

Gavin Cambpell’s portfolio website, www.thewhitehawk.co.uk, ranks second in a Google UK search for the term ‘typography freelance UK’. “I used Joomla for this,” he explains. “It makes it a lot easier for artists, because there is no PHP code knowledge required. The site took three days to make.”

Lesson #3: Organise your workflow

“It’s important to maintain a work/life balance,” says Rod Hunt, “so good time management and discipline are essential. You can’t afford to miss deadlines in the commercial world.”

Consequently, your ability to prioritise is vital. It’s easy to stay motivated – if you don’t work, you don’t get paid. But you want to avoid working those desperate all-nighters. So many freelancers, myself included, find it helpful to allocate chunks of time to their freelance jobs in a calendar, checking off tasks on a daily ‘to-do’ list.

It’s the essence of David Allen’s Getting Things Done model. This core idea of working ’smarter’ has spawned a number of useful productivity-based sites such as Lifehacker and 43folders.

“Never underestimate the time it takes to come up with concept ideas,” says graphic designer Simon Saunders. “Be disciplined about booking jobs in, timekeeping, allocating given time-slots to jobs and sticking to them. Remember: if you are working to a fixed price, any time you spend that goes over the time allocated is costing you money. It’s very easy to be busy without earning a lot.”

Lesson #4: Pursue your own projects

The very nature of working freelance means that you’ll often be working on commissions that require very simple design or illustration. They might not fire you up, but they’ll pay the bills. To counterbalance this bread-and-butter work, consider working on your own ideas.

“I think that if you are a professional designer you should always have personal projects,” says Frosti Gnarr. Not only do such projects keep your mind fertile, but “they remind you of why you want to be a designer”.

Freelance illustrator Matthew Dent agrees. “Continue to generate your own ideas, whilst doing commissioned work. This helps to generate new ideas and keeps you motivated. I make sure I spend time working on personal pieces – it’s important for me to show new ideas while also pushing my work forward.

Also, don’t be afraid to move away from your computer. Go out and explore but just make sure you have a sketchbook with you at all times. You don’t know when you might get a flood of new ideas.”

Lesson #5: Happy clients are repeat clients

There are several elements to this. Firstly, always meet your client’s brief. But try to give them something they don’t expect. “Step back and look at your work objectively,” suggests Christopher Haines. “Something you might think is fantastic might be met with indifference by your client. In the end, you have to try and give them what they want, while still trying to push for the best possible idea.”

You also need to communicate with your client on a regular basis. “I wish I’d known when I started how important communication is,” says Frosti Gnarr.

“I started out thinking ‘I’m in the creative business, not customer service’, so I thought I would just do fine on the job if I just did the graphics and sent e-mails. This might get you through a single short poster job, but if you are on a large job you will sometimes need to act like you are still pitching.”

Finally, always deliver your work on time and on-budget. Be polite, professional, do a good job and, if possible, add in a little extra for free – think of it as customer service.

“If you miss a deadline,” warns Christopher Haines, “chances are that your client will not become a repeat client in the future. If you deliver quality work, on time, every time, that client will want to work with you again and might even recommend you to others.”

Lesson #6: Don’t get discouraged

Being a freelancer can be a lonely, uncertain business. “It took longer than I imagined to get really established,” remembers Rod Hunt.

“It takes perseverance to establish a creative career and it can take time to get really known. When I was starting out, getting my work seen by the right people and knowing how to find the contacts was tricky. Having belief in yourself and your work is important so you don’t get demotivated when things aren’t moving along so quickly.”

To remain motivated, you’ve got be persistent. And vice-versa.

“It might take a while for you to get your first major break,” says Christopher Haines, “and it can be discouraging to send your work out to lots of people and have no one reply to you. Unfortunately that is the nature of the business. A lot of people will just plain ignore you. But if you believe in your work, and you are willing to work hard at getting it seen, results will follow.”

Lesson #7: Never rely on one client

People move jobs and tastes change, so no job lasts forever. What if you lost your biggest client tomorrow? Would you cope?

“In an ideal world no one client should ever account for more than 10% of your work,” suggests Simon Saunders. “But in the real world this is very hard to manage. If you do get a big client on board then target to get at least four other clients of the same size. That way if one goes, whilst it will definitely hurt, it’s not quite such a devastating blow as losing 100% of your income.”

In short, everything you do needs to have an alternative. Don’t just have two or three clients, aim to have 10 or more who will keep coming back.

“You need more than one client because, after all, this is business,” says freelance visual effects designer Sean Farrow. “Clients will go somewhere else for a myriad of reasons and there’s often nothing you can do about it. So you should never rely on any single thing – not one client, not one computer, not one area of expertise and not one way of doing a project.”

Lesson #8: Don’t say YES to everything

If you’re new to freelancing, or you’re going through a lean patch, then you might be tempted to jump at every job that’s offered to you. But some work is just not worth having.

“You should never be afraid to turn work down if you are too busy,” says Rod Hunt. “It’s important not to compromise the quality of your work just to fit in something for the money. Also if the client is demanding all your rights, won’t negotiate and is offering a very low fee that doesn’t reflect what they’re asking you to do, you should say no.”

You should also turn work down if you don’t firmly believe you can do it justice. “Sometimes you just are not the right person for the job,” says Christopher Haines, “and you have to be honest with yourself. If the job requires you to perform outside your skill-set, chances are you won’t do a fantastic job and you’ll disappoint the client.”

Simon Saunders sums it up best. “There are a whole load of ‘clients’ who buy on price alone – in my experience it is the ones who want a cut-price job that end up demanding the most, take longest to pay and appreciate what you do for them the least.”

Lesson #9: Don’t undercharge/don’t overcharge

So how much should you charge? It’s a question that new freelancers often ask. As Christopher Haines points out, you don’t want to scare away a client by asking too much, but you don’t want to devalue your work by undercharging for it.

One thing that everybody agrees on – never work for free or a ‘reduced rate’. If you’re good enough to be commissioned, you’re good enough to be paid.

Rod Hunt is the deputy chairman of the AOI and says that “it’s important to get the full information about what the client needs, the usage of the work and the rights they require to give an accurate quote.”

“I talk over fees with other illustrators who are friends and the Association of Illustrators provides free pricing advice to its members. The membership fee can be saved just on one correct job quote. The Graphic Artists Guild Hand Book for Pricing & Ethical Guidelines is also useful to own for the American market.”

Lesson #10: Never forget you’re running a business

A small business to be exact. “Attention to detail in the way you approach clients is vital,” says Gavin Campbell, “not just in terms of design, but also in terms of paperwork, negotiation and chasing those dodgy clients who fail to deliver payments on time.”

And because you’re running a business, Rod Hunt suggests that you should always maintain control over your copyright. “There are very few occasions that clients need to own the copyright. Your body of work is your livelihood, and you should be entitled to the financial benefits of your talent and hard work.”

Our last tip? While the Government’s Business Link website can provide further information on accounts and tax, Sean Farrow recommends getting good financial advice from an accountant who is familiar with your area of work. “This will save you a small fortune in both the short and long term,” he says.

This article first appeared in the September issue of Computer Arts Projects magazine.

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