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dream.build.create
"Logic will get you from A to Z,
Imagination will take you everwhere."
- Albert Einstein
Home
dream.build.create
"Logic will get you from A to Z,
Imagination will take you everwhere."
- Albert Einstein
I'm a Digital Creative based in Dubbo, Australia
I have extensive experience in and knowledge of the creative industry and have worked as a graphic designer, web designer, website administrator, photographer, videographer, digital artist and illustrator.
“To design is to communicate clearly by whatever means you can control or master.”
A PASSION FOR Digital Design
There’s no substitute for a beautifully crafted design. I have a passion for design in all its forms.
To be a designer, you’ve got to have passion for creating things. It's that passion that drives you and makes you thirsty for more.
Digital design is not just about pretty pictures or Photoshop gimmickry. Don't get me wrong, they are part of it, but first and foremost it’s about getting results. Digital design, at its core, is about expressing a message in visual form. Design is the very vehicle that has allowed me to live an enriched life.
Digital Publishing, Print and Layout
OneSchool print layout I developed
Be it a 4 page brochure or a 200 page manual or e-book, I have a wide experience in e-publishing, desktop publishing, and in converting long print documents into easily shared electronic documents. An experienced graphic designer, I excel in creating all types of graphic design, corporate identity and branding for digital and print including logos, posters, banners, flyers, signage, large technical and procedural manuals, publications, programs, guides and handbooks.
I'm adept with typesetting, typography, formatting and layout and have worked as a manuals and document developer/controller in various organisations. In these roles I wrote, edited, managed, and continuously improved a wide variety of programs, manuals, publications, guides and documentation to ensure the information was current, user centred and goal focused as well as meeting all certification needs and operational requirements.
Visit my design gallery for examples of my digital and print design.
WEB DESIGN
You need to build an experience that goes above and beyond the plain vanilla usable website in order to make a lasting impression on your site's visitors. As a designer I am focused on responsive and User Experience (UX) design in the development of any website to ensure its success and longevity. Attending to the user online experience when approaching design for both desktop and mobile web platforms entails thinking through who your end users will be and how they will use your site. Websites should be designed for reach using whatever device or platform they choose.
I create and manage web sites and have considerable experience in web content creation, branding, corporate identity, and marketing for digital media as well as print. I am experienced with database management and have been a website developer, designer, administrator and editor, having worked with static websites, enterprise Content Management Systems (CMS) and open source CMS like Wordpress, Joomla and Drupal.
All websites should be regularly reviewed for currency. Your website should be continually analysed and bench marked against its goals, then improved upon to ensure the continued engagement of your users and to ensure the information contained on your site is current, user-centric and goal focused. It should always meet or exceed the website's intended purpose and operational requirements.
I provide specialist advice relating to interactive and modular design to improve the quality and responsiveness of websites including:
- analysing the statistics for existing websites
- conducting user research, identifying target markets and developing user persona
- designing and developing page grids, UX wireframes and sitemaps
- creating style guides for brand consistency
- creating product and creative briefs and positioning statements
- producing .psd compositions and prototyping
- developing behaviour galleries and pattern libraries
- designing with accessibility
- constructing websites in coding with HTML, CSS, with skills in JavaScript, PHP, and ASP on multiple platforms
- producing unified responsive website global navigation
- retrofitting existing website, content migration, content styling, designing in text, typography and in browser design
- developing and populating web pages with content including interactive elements such as animations and sequences, landing pages, components and widgets, web banners, branded imagery, photography and other digital media
- applied metadata and search engine optimisation (SEO) to increase the website’s organic search engine ranking
- reviewing your new website’s analytical data after launch to identify its successes and areas for improvement
- designing and creating raster and vector imagery
- experience with designing animated raster and vector based graphics eg. GIF and SVG for use with responsive design
ANIMATION DESIGN
Life is not static, it has movement. Things that move catch the eye.
I enjoy creating animation in all forms. When I was a kid I used to enjoy making animation flip books. This has only grown with time. Nowadays I have a lot more tools at my disposal than just a pencil and a note pad. Nowadays I have tools like my cameras, a wide selection of lenses and professional production equipment like motorised motion time-lapse equipment, motorised sliders and dollies and jibs. I also use digital tools like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Aftereffects and Animate, not to mention 3D animation software like Cinema 4D Studio and 3D Studio Max. Really there is no limit to what can be created other than your imagination and time.
Animated dragon character I developed while learning my 3D skills
3D DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT
Developing 3D models and characters, textures, animation and light and environment rendering is a challenge that I relish. Seeing my designs come to life in such a life-like way is very rewarding. A dream job would be to work for a 3D animation studio like Weta in New Zealand. In the meantime, I enjoy developing my skills in this area.
Illustration
Illustrate LIFE
"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep."
- Douglas Adams
Illustration
Illustrate LIFE
"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep."
- Douglas Adams
A Passion for Drawing
As a child my most cherished activities (other than playing with my prized Lego) were drawing, colouring and creating images. I drove my mother mad by stealing her baking paper to trace my favourite pictures.
At school my favorite subjects were Art and Technical Drawing and I was never without a pencil and a sketch pad. I drew, sketched and illustrated for fun.
This continued through my early adult years as I experimented with new art ideas. Then I went to university where I continued refining these skills, but my eyes and world were also opened to new learning, techniques and technologies. I learned about art history and different art periods and stylistic contexts which developed my understanding of genre, design, format, and style.
At university I also studied both traditional and digital illustration techniques and began fusing them together. To my delight, my subsequent images leapfrogged over my previous work.
These days I still do use pencils, pastels, charcoals and paint but I tend to reach for my trusty Wacom tablet and Apple Pencil with my iPad Pro to develop work quickly, efficiently and with a lot less mess than using traditional art materials.
Painting and illustrating digitally allows me to mix media to create unique images that are not possible to produce using traditional media. It also allows me to produce content to be used in my other creative endeavors like for animations, stop-animations and videos and like in my light-painting photography.
“Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.”
Photography
Photography
Photography
Photography and image making have always been a part of my interaction with the world around me. Over the years as I have developed my photographic skills I have extended into new areas. These days I'm particularly enjoying exploring light-painting (capturing the movement of light while taking a long exposure photograph), astrophotography (photographing the night sky) and time-lapse photography. But I also enjoy photography as a whole in its many forms.
COMMERCIAL
Commercial photography is needed for print and digital advertisements, corporate brochures and leaflets, menus in cafes and restaurants, in fact anywhere a good photograph is used to enhance the promotional text. I enjoy working with both traditional and alternative commercial photographs.
PORTRAIT
Portraits can be the most challenging form of photography. A good portrait captures the expression, personality, and mood of the subject. I like the challenge of telling a story through my portraits.
TRAVEL
The world takes on a different aspect when you look through the lens of your camera. The trick with travel photography is to capture the unique flavour of your location. A good travel image will also direct your eye to something extraordinary, something not noticed by the average tourist.
Event/Wedding Photography Example - Tina & Phil's Wedding 2015-09
Event and Wedding
Weddings and other special events offer me a unique privilege - the opportunity to capture those special moments in time that we cherish. From capturing the love of the happy couple on their special day, to the fun of people attending a special activity, I aim to capture the little things that make each event memorable.
“You don’t take a photograph, you make it.”
About ME
Me “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”
– Albert Einstein
About ME
Me “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”
– Albert Einstein
ABOUT ME
I have had a close affinity with the creative arts since childhood. Over time this evolved from pen-and-paper based illustration to digital art and illustration when I got my first computer, an Apple IIC. Since then my art has been an integral part of my home, my play and all of the places I have worked.
EDUCATION
Bachelor of Communication Design, James Cook University, Townsville Qld, 2007 (GPA 6.4/7)
Honours and Awards
University Academic Medal, James Cook University ‐ Awarded 2008
Golden Key International Honour Society for Outstanding Scholastic Achievement and Excellence – Awarded 2005 and 2008
Design Software SKILL SETS
Design Software Proficiencies:
