Lyft Animated Short "June"

Happy New Year!

Cartoon Brew posted this delightful animated short back in December. I just had the chance to watch it and wanted to repost it here - it's directed by 'Paperman' director John Kahrs and a really beautiful example of branded content that achieves its purpose in promoting the product while still bursting at the seams with artistic merit.

Check out the full post, including an interview with the creators, on Cartoon Brew, and watch the making-of below.

I'm in full-steam-ahead mode with my portfolio and website, more updates to come soon!

© Gina Florio Sous 2017

More Advice for a Successful Portfolio

In my last post I provided a few links to podcasts and articles with advice for building your portfolio. Here are some more!

Blue Sky visual development artist Ty Carter has a really well-written, in-depth blog post about concept art portfolios. Read parts II - V here on his blog.

Dutch concept artist and illustrator Dick Grinwis, AKA Grinwise also has an insightful, point-by-point article on the subject. Read it here.

And I linked to this a long time ago, but Pascal Campion has a really good writeup on what makes a portfolio truly stand out to him. (Pssst... it's not technique!)

Feel free to leave a comment if you guys know of any other related articles!

© Gina Florio 2014

Heroes of Cosplay premiere / Pascal Campion - "My Two Cents on Portfolio Reviews"

Hi everyone,

First and foremost, my apologies for the lack of posts recently - as with all fun pursuits, real life keeps getting in the way. Work continues to grind nonstop, and landscape painting class and planning for a GIGANTIC Europe trip that le boyfriend & I have coming up is taking up the rest of my time. (And daily sketches, of course!) I haven't even been able to keep up with reading all my favorite art blogs as of late... actually, to be precise, my Feedly tells me that I am now exactly 515 posts behind. Le sigh.

While I continue the struggle to stay afloat on my own life, I'd like to inform you all of two things.

1. I've talked about my day job as a reality TV editor a number of times, and this past year, something glorious happened - I worked on a show I actually enjoyed and cared about. That show was called Heroes of Cosplay, and after many months of hard work and long hours, it is premiering tomorrow, August 13th, on SyFy at 10:30 pm / 9:30 central (right after Face-Off). I am not a cosplayer (at least not regularly, although I DID wear a costume to this year's SDCC), but I have nothing but respect for the cast of the show, whose creative talents and endeavors far eclipse anything I have even attempted with my own art. I had the pleasure of meeting many of them at SDCC (meeting the cast is not something an editor usually gets to do) and was blown away by their costumes even more in person than I was while editing footage of them in it. I can't really speak for the quality of the show itself, because it definitely did fall prey to many of the reality TV tropes at the behest of the producers (fake drama, hyped up stakes etc.), but I hope that it will at least be a great exploration of the cosplay world, which is fascinating, inspiring, and endlessly creative. Creatives of any type can benefit from watching other creatives work at their craft!

2. I found this blog post on portfolio reviews by the great Pascal Campion (of daily sketch fame) to be a great read: My Two Cents on Portfolio Reviews. I have yet to put together a professional portfolio (a goal of mine for 2014), but you can bet when I do, I'll be paying close attention to this advice. It makes sense, because to me, the goal of any kind of art is basically to tell a story. A portfolio should be your proof that you have the ability to tell a story, nothing more... and nothing less.

© Gina Florio 2013