Earlier this year, 120 of the world’s leading art directors, designers, illustrators and photographers converged on San Jose for a one-of-a-kind, three-day workshop hosted by Russell Brown, organized by The Van Heyst Group (VHG).
The Art Directors’ Invitational Master Class (ADIM), now in its 15th year (although known by different names), gave participants a chance to learn the latest advanced tips and techniques using Adobe products. The event also gave attendees the opportunity to transform themselves into nightmarish monsters, creating their very own classic 3D movie posters.
“The results were spectacular,” said Brown. “It’s amazing how you can give a simple spark to this group of creatives and it just explodes. That’s what makes ADIM so unique. It’s not a lecture. It’s a hands-on happening.”
Sometimes pulling all-nighters and working around the clock, participants used Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Acrobat to transform pictures of themselves into werewolves, vampires, mutants, aliens and other disturbing creatures.
They printed their images using a high-end HP Designjet Z6100 printer, and then laminated a special, Micro Lens plastic lens over them, creating lenticular 3D images.
“As you look at the movie posters, it seems like the monsters can reach out and grab you. In fact, we’re still looking for one or two of our attendees. The results were amazing,” said Brown.
Throughout the conference, attendees took part in special workshops and tutorials to advance their skills using Adobe applications. Before the event even began, participants had the option to take part in one of two special workshops, or to drift back and forth between them:
Flash for Visual Artists: Creating an Interactive Portfolio with Photoshop and Flash
Taught by Chris Orwig, a pro photographer, interactive designer and faculty member of Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara
Acrobat and Photoshop for the Creative Designer
Taught by Terry White, Adobe’s technical resources manager for creative professionals
On day one, Russell Brown taught an Advanced Photoshop session, showing how to capture and animate images to make lenticular stereo-grams that create the illusion of 3D.
On day two, InDesign product manager Michael Ninness taught attendees secrets, tips and techniques to create better typography and design results in less time.
On day three, Adobe’s Adam Pratt and Colin Fleming led participants in exploring how to export their portfolio of projects to Apple iPhones, Video iPods and iPod Touch devices. Also on day three, Brown introduced new Flash technology from Adobe.
Attendees were also treated each day to a presentation by a special guest speaker. On day one, for example, renowned makeup artist Rick Baker, who has been nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won six, showed ADIM attendees his portfolio of monster creations for films such as Star Wars, Men in Black, and the remake of Planet of the Apes, as well as the music video Thriller.
After showing highlights of his work, Baker, a Photoshop user for 20 years, transformed a photo of himself into a haunting werewolf, showing the audience some of his favorite tips and tricks. Coincidentally, he had arrived in San Jose for ADIM after being in London working on a remake of the classic Werewolf horror film.
At the end of the conference, the designers and creates attended a dinner celebration, dressed up as their favorite classic movie monsters. They also had a chance to view each other’s work, and took part in contests for the best poster design and more.
Attendees loved the event. Ina Salzt, principal of Saltz Design in New York said
“There is nothing like this conference. Every year, it gets better and better. It’s unique because it’s hands-on, and it’s hands-on with the product managers so they can answer your questions and hear your feedback. It’s a blast.”
Saltz continued, “Russell is the soul of ADIM, and it’s amazing how quickly he gets everybody into the right spirit and stirs up your deepest creative feelings. Even people who have never been here before find themselves drawn into his aura. He just makes you want to perform,
and he’s also very funny. He really should be a late night talk show host.
He missed his calling.”
Dean Markadakis, art director of Fast Company magazine, remarked, “The people at ADIM are so talented. You’re surrounded by all sorts of people with different backgrounds in different fields of design – people from ad agencies, print magazines, production houses, and so on.
“It’s so interesting to hear, just in your row, what people are focused on when they’re doing their projects. Some people are focused on the tracking between letters. Others on how their work will be produced when they send it to the printer.”
Markadakis especially loved that there is a competitive element to ADIM, and that participants can win prizes for their work, voted by their peers. In fact, he won the grand prize for his project two years ago at ADIM.
Brown was happy with this year’s ADIM, too. “My goal in life is to inspire graphic designers and art directors, and show them creative new ways to use our products,” he said. “ADIM gives us all a chance to get away from our day-to-day jobs and to get back into the playful spirit that drew us to design in the first place.”
Brown continued, “Every year, this event is like a fusion reaction. It may start off in cold fusion, with me putting out a little bit of energy by teaching them some tips and techniques, but by the end, they’re putting out ten-times the energy I put in, and we leave reinvigorated.”
– Written by Mike Lynberg
- The 2008 ADIM 11 web site.
- Photoshop class tutorials from Russell Preston Brown
- Information about the special guest speaker Bonny Lhotka
- Power Illusion lenticular software used in class
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