I find inspiration for my work and ideas from many places. Sometimes it has nothing to do with art and design like nature and people and other times it’s found in art history and museums. But the thing that really gets me going is seeing the work of current day geniuses creating new and beautiful things by experimenting with the tools and data of available today.
I’ve been following the work of these guys for well over five years and, with the exception of JD, I’ve seen them all present live at least once at Flash conferences. I’ve noticed hey all share three traits: 1) they have a strong sense of good design and 2) they experiment extensively in Flash or similar technology 3) they are genuinely great guys.
- JD Hooge Currently the founder of an amazing studio called Gridplane creating the beautiful and useful data visualizations and navigation systems for a variety of platforms including the XBOX. I’ve been a huge fan of his work since before he was cranking out the goods at Second Story Interactive.
- Marcos Weskamp Marcos is always thinking of new and better ways to visualize and consume data. His experimental Flash projects include Flickr Graph and Newsmap among many others. Currently working for Adobe in the XD group.
- Erik Natzke Back in the day Erik had a site where he would post his Flash experiment called “toys” and soon figured out ways to use his creations to build navigation systems and amazing websites. He’s always had a drive for creating art with code. In his latest work he’s created tools and virtual paintbrushes in Flash that allow him to experiment and discover new and interesting art. I find his work to be jaw dropping beautiful (viewable on his Flickr page) and it’s even more impressive printed out (and framed). (sample)
- Yugop Probably the smartest person in the whole world. The experiments he was creating in Flash 5 years ago are still amazing. He has a beautiful style that includes rich Flash interfaces and great sound design. Always taking things to a new level.
- Jared Tarbell Jared has used his knowledge of code to assist him in creating beautiful textures and art generated in Flash and Processing. He has created so many ground breaking experiments in Flash and he’s so generous by making many of them available as open source for others to learn and expand upon.
- Nando Costa Nando has created some of the most beautiful animations I’ve ever seen. He now runs his studio called Nervo doing motion and print design you must check out. (sample)
- Robert Hodgin A Flash experimenter and designer who switched over to Processing to allow him the freedom to create larger and faster animations with code. You know that amazing default 3D iTunes Visualizer, yeah he built that. And it’s nothing compared to some of his installation work and audio analysist engine. (sample)
While talking about Perlin noise at FITC last year he said:“random is boring / semi-random is sublime”
- Joshua Davis Since Flash Forward in 2002 when taught us all about easing by running around on stage (and tried to sell us a copy of his hard drive), Joshua has continually followed his passion for creating art with code. A solid eye for design and the drive to make things happen by programming his own tools in Flash to make it happen. He has a style that’s all his own and it’s so beautiful. Which by the way can now be found on a pillow case. (sample)
I could go on forever with details and projects and talks all these guys have done that give me great motivation to learn and explore my own interests. They all share a similar philosophy of giving back and helping others. They are what makes the Flash community what it is today.