INTERspectacular Creative Directors Luis Blanco and Michael Uman have been selected to serve as judges for the prestigious “American Illustration: American Photography” (“AI-AP“) inaugural Motion Art Awards 1 competition. After serving as advisors and consultants for the premiere competition, the duo was asked to return as judges this fall. Joining Blanco and Uman as judges for the first year of the competition are other industry luminaries including J.J. Sedelmaier, Mirko Ilic, Gail Mooney and Scott Thode.
"I first met Michael and Luis of INTERspectacular when I asked them to judge a series of still images for our ‘American Illustration’ Annual a few years ago,’" explains Mark Heflin, "AI-AP" Director/Editor. "At the end of that weekend of judging, they mentioned to me that we should consider putting together a Motion Art Competition. They were both very enthusiastic when we agreed, and offered us a lot of guidance for an area of design that they believed had been to date under-served. They came on as advisors, and we really appreciated their input. Everyone agreed that the competition should be focused on the individual artist, rather than collaborative efforts which had been done in the past."
For INTERspectacular‘s CD Michael Uman, this endeavor showcases the studio’s ongoing relationship with the Illustration community, and its commitment to cultivating and nurturing emerging talent. "The ‘AI-AP‘ curatorial eye has always been unique," he notes. "I have been following them since I was in college, and will be interested to see it applied to Motion; something that we told the publishers was really needed in our industry. We are honored to participate in the first Motion Art competition for ‘AI-AP,’ and are additionally honored to have been a consultant in the early stages; and to see that they have followed quite a bit of our guidance in shaping the competition."
One of the key contributions INTERspectacular CD Luis Blanco believe they gave to the "AI-AP" team was that this would be an online initiative. "Mark was already thinking along these lines, but this is an aspect to the competition that we really emphasized: that this would need to be done online," outlines Blanco. "As the print world continues to shrink, and more and more publications are going online, we saw this as a great opportunity for ‘American Illustrator’ to find new territory for itself. We are, in fact, judging the new Motion competition virtually."
The winners will be unveiled at the organization’s two large fall special events, the "Big Talk" symposium on Thursday, November 8th (Blanco and Uman will serve as panelists) and the launch of the 2012 "AI-AP" Annuals at "The Party" on Friday, November 9th.
Uman and Blanco both agree that participation in this Motion Art competition is INTERspectacular‘s way of giving back to the design community. "It’s important to nurture and mentor new generations of creative talent," adds Uman." "This also helps us in that we are meeting and being exposed to new and upcoming talent, which has always been important to us as a studio," concludes Blanco.
INTERspectacular is currently developing several animated series — two adult comedies and a series for children. The studio’s current titles include: "Pirate Tears," "Department 13" and "Hammer." Uman has also been asked to be part of a "Scary Girl" themed art exhibit taking place on Halloween, celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the "Scary Girl" series at Toy Tokyo, one of the premiere Vinyl and collectible vendors. The show has been curated by Nathan Jervecious, the creator of Scary Girl and Illustrator with whom INTERspectacular collaborated during the studio’s award-winning re-design of Comedy Central. Uman, will be showcasing a series of paintings based on Scary Girl characters.
Last year, INTERspectacular completed the revolutionary Re-Design for BET, giving the cable network just what the boutique branding and design studio has become famous for in the industry – a big-picture, solutions-focused strategy – which returned the network in terms of brand, image and design to its "roots." Providing its audience with a look that viewers respond to, INTERspectacular created a BET Re-Design steeped in bright, primary colors; a bolder logo with its signature star filled in, giving it more weight; and original typography with its own name: "Phat Ass." INTERspectacular also completed a project for "The New York Times" via its in-house creative team found INTERspectacular collaborating with Italian Illustrator Emiliano Ponzi, who was a perfect fit for the project, since the newspaper is world-renowned for its history of editorial illustrations. With their combined focus firmly on the creative Zeitgeist of the moment, INTERspectacular‘s Blanco and Uman served once again as the conduit for their clients between fine artists and the advertising and TV promotion communities – translating Illustrator’s work or vision into motion, a key strength of the highly talented boutique.
About INTERspectacular
Creative Directors Luis Blanco and Michael Uman founded INTERspectacular in 2003. Both Blanco and Uman have created brand and image campaigns for a variety of broadcast and commercial clients. The re-branding of Viacom’s Comedy Central Network, in 2004, firmly established INTERspectacular as an illustration-driven media arts company. Under Blanco and Uman’s guidance, INTERspectacular operates as part concept and design studio and part creative workshop. Their work encompasses a diversity of projects including character animation and development, interactive media, and the development of original content. The company was profiled by "Crain’s New York Business" as an example of a 21st century company formed with a unique business model.
