RECENT WORK

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Tales From the Loop Designs

I had the immense privilege and tall order to do justice to the incredible work of Simon Stalenhaag in the Amazon series, Tales From the Loop. I worked with Legacy Effects to help design the Jakob robot, George Willard’s mech arm, the Vagabond droid, and a few others.

For the Jakob robot, I used Simon’s painting of a scrappy little robot for reference. I only had the back view to work with, so I did a series of designs that tried to uncover what this character’s “face” and front side looked like. He needed to be curious, shy, and non-threatening, so I studied other robots that Simon painted and came up a number of characters.

Here’s a collection of designs I did during the exploration of these beautiful, and sometimes heart wrenching stories.

Here are some stills from the series:

 

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Bai Boatorcycle Commercial

I had fun designing the Boatorcycle for this funny Bia spot a while back. We went quite a few rounds on this one, but it was fun to explore just how cool and wacky this thing could be. Here’s a snapshot of the design process with the final and the WIPs.

Bai Boatorcycle final conceptBai Boatorcycle early concepts

Check out the spot:

 

 

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Soda Stream 2020 Super Bowl Commercial

I had the opportunity to help design the gadgets in the Soda Stream Water on Mars 2020 Super Bowl commercial. I created a variety of designs for the water scanner and the water collector. I sent the final design files to Legacy Effects, who then 3D printed the pieces to be made into the props you see in the commercial.

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Energizer Flossing Bots and Penguin Holiday Commercials

I worked on two Energizer commercials simultaneously, “Dancing Bots” and “Penguins Holiday”. Both commercials needed miniature dancing robots, that Legacy Effects would build and puppeteer. My final designs were shipped off to the talented Legacy crew to 3D print turn into the live-action characters you see on screen.

Here are the designs:

Energizer flossing robot final designEnergizer penguin final designEnergizer robot final preliminary designEnergizer robot final preliminary designEnergizer robot final preliminary design

 

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Generation Wild Colorado – Wilder

Every once in a blue moon I get to work on a job that helps make the world a better place. A while back I had a chance to help design “Wilder” for Generation Wild – Colorado, an organization in Colorado encouraging people to re-discover the magic of the great outdoors.

“Remember how much fun you used to have playing outside? Where puddles became oceans, sticks became boats, and trees loomed over it all like enchanted castles? You might not have known it, but Wilder was with you then. And now he’s back to show a whole new generation the magic of this great big, wonderfully wild world.”

Generation Wild Colorado - Wilder conceptGeneration Wild Colorado - Wilder conceptGeneration Wild Colorado - Wilder concept

 

Check out the short film, and then and get outside!

https://youtu.be/R5AnH6M0viI

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Surf @Water 2019

Surfrider Foundation Milwaukee Chapter’s 7th annual Surf @Water was a big success. With record numbers on the beach and the bluff, fun waves, and plenty of sunshine, it was Surfrider MKE’s best fundraiser yet. Once again I had the chance to design the event poster and the t-shirts. It has been a blast helping this event evolve over the years.

7th annual Surf @Water poster7th annual Surf @Water t-shirt design7th annual Surf @Water t-shirt

 

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The Adventures of Dr Pepper – Cooler From The Future

Here’s the “Cooler from the Future” robot I designed for the new Dr Pepper commercial series. This guy was pretty fun to work on. It definitely couldn’t be too sleek, so I gave it a touch of steam punk to make it feel more vintage.

Here’s the final design, as well as some preliminary passes.

Dr Pepper robot final designDr Pepper robot preliminary designDr Pepper robot preliminary designDr Pepper robot preliminary design

 

And here’ s the spot:

https://youtu.be/FAxgg2_VGkQ

 

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TurboTax “RoboChild” Super Bowl LIII commercial

I must admit that I am responsible for helping bring this “creepy” little fella into the world. In doing research for this guy, I came across some pretty disturbing A.I. humanoid robots. This guy couldn’t be too weird, but definitely not human- which is the pitch for the campaign: human CPA’s, not robots.

Here is “RoboChild”:

TurboTax "RoboChild" design for Super Bowl LIII spotTurboTax "RoboChild" design for Super Bowl LIII spot

And here’s the spot that aired during Super Bowl 2019:

https://youtu.be/JIRX3yWhgZI

 

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2.0 film character designs

A few years back I was asked to help design Pakshi, the villain in the film 2.0 directed by S. Shankar, starring Rajinikanth. Since the film’s release it has been heralded as the sixth highest grossing Indian film worldwide, and “the most technically advanced 3D film ever made in the history of Indian Cinema”.

Here are some of the preliminary designs I came up with for Pakshi:

2.0 Pakshi preliminary design2.0 Pakshi preliminary design2.0 Pakshi preliminary design2.0 Pakshi preliminary design
 
 
 
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Borderlands 2 VR- Maya designs

These are some preliminary designs I created for the PlayStation live action Borderlands 2 VR- Maya commercial. Initially the agency wanted to explore a more stylized approach, so I played with some versions that were similar to the look of the game. Although the final commercial ended up being more cinematic, it was fun to do some visual exploration on this one.

PlayStation "Borderlands 2 VR: Maya" prelim designPlayStation "Borderlands 2 VR: Maya" prelim designPlayStation "Borderlands 2 VR: Maya" prelim designPlayStation "Borderlands 2 VR: Maya" design

Here’s the commercial:

 

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Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween character designs

I had an opportunity to help design some characters for Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween, based not he R.L. Stein books. This was a super fun project to be involved in, as we got to develop some classic Halloween characters. It was a challenge making sure they weren’t too scary for the kids!

In the film the Halloween masks come to life, so below are the mask designs next to the character they turn into, as well as some pumpkins that come to life.

Goosebumps 2 vampire maskGoosebumps 2 final vampire designGoosebumps 2 ghoul mask designGoosebumps 2 ghoul designGoosebumps 2 pumpkin designs

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Tortoise and Hare for FedEx commercial

I had a chance to design the plush tortoise and hare for the FedEx: Tortoise & the Hare spot. I had fun with this one, and being a life-long Looney Tunes fan, I definitely drew some inspiration from Bugs Bunny for the Hare.

FedEx "Tortoise & the Hare" final hare designFedEx "Tortoise & the Hare" hare posesFedEx "Tortoise & the Hare" final tortoise designFedEx "Tortoise & the Hare" character designsFedEx "Tortoise & the Hare" prelim tortoise designFedEx "Tortoise & the Hare" prelim hare designs

Here’s the commercial:
https://youtu.be/I6DEUId6Fvw