What a year 2020 has been! So much chaos and craziness, yet amidst it all, I carved out space for moments of creativity…moments to notice and explore the beauty and magic that surrounds us all. I feel immense gratitude for the ability to create art that expresses ideas that miraculously take shape in […]
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Growing up, one of my favorite Johnson family traditions was making gingerbread houses every December. I loved creating stained glass windows from sliced gumdrops, ponds poured from blue icing, and a fresh dusting of snow from powdered sugar. Now that I’m a dad (in addition to making edible gingerbread houses), I cherish the […]
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I’m absolutely loving the KitBash 3D model kits! This moody Victorian scene was textured and lit using Redshift for Cinema 4D and finished in Photoshop where I color graded and added atmospheric effects.
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There are few things in life that bring me as much joy as the act of creating images that speak to my heart. I feel so grateful to have eyes that can experience the wonder and majesty of color, light, and texture.
At the end of each year, I enjoy sharing some of […]
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A Johnson family indoor skydiving adventure for my birthday back in March magically transformed into this year’s Christmas card photo composite. The three of us absolutely LOVED the experience.
Happy holidays to one and all. 2018 is going to be an amazing year. I can feel it!
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Inspired by imagination-fueling fantasy films like Harry Potter, I created this matte painting using a combination of Cinema 4D and Redshift for design and rendering, KitBash 3D and TurboSquid for models, Filter Forge and Substance Source for materials, and Photoshop for finishing touches.
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If the idea of creating millions of tiny flowing particles that can be shaped into smoke, clouds, fairy dust, or flames excites you, Trapcode Particular by Red Giant is the go-to After Effects plug-in. When Red Giant released their latest version of the Trapcode Suite last month, I fell in love with the promo […]
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During a recent visit to Crested Butte, Colorado, my family experienced homemade ice cream and donut bliss at the Third Bowl Homemade Ice Cream shop. Since Crested Butte is a mountain biker’s paradise, a wonderful painting of a bike with fat donut tires was on display. The whimsy and creativity of the painting inspired […]
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Inspiration has a way of peeking out from the most unlikely places. While flipping through the pages of a paper art book called Push Paper, I was struck by an image of a paper car made entirely from maps. The image set my wheels in motion and I came up with the idea of […]
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PixelSquid’s spinnable objects make compositing so much easier than it used to be. In this example, I found a free photo of the Golden Gate Bridge on the Unsplash site and combined it with 360-degree spinnable kraken tentacles available on the PixelSquid site. Inspiration for this composite came from exploring the compelling work […]
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As I embark on a journey to learn 3D and animation, I feel a sense of elation. I love the idea of creating beautiful scenes from scratch. Playing with reflections, lights, shadows, and shiny materials like the ones in this whimsical inflatable carrot scene makes my heart feel light.
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