In Conversation with Digital Artist Shane Griffin
Shane Griffin is a digital artist who has collaborated with a variety of brands and labels to create campaigns distributed across the world. In the past, he has worked with companies like Givenchy, Adidas, Google and Apple, while developing his technique through his own artistic projects. This, of course, hasn’t gone unnoticed. In 2015, he was part of Print Magazine’s New Visual Artist ’15 under 30′, and his art film ‘Chromatic’ appeared at TED’s ‘Age of Amazement’. In this interview, you can hear more about his work and how he managed to be a part of some of the leading brands today…
1. How did you become interested in digital design?
As a kid growing up in my teenage years, I always had an interest in art and computers. I didn’t feel like I was the greatest painter in the world, or the greatest coder, but somehow those interests merged together into digital art, and I spent hours on photoshop mashing together images for my favorite bands. I knew then it was what I wanted to do.
2. How do you communicate the company’s message through your designs?
Communication is always key. I think if you start from a conceptual level, and think about the simplest way to communicate the brand’s message, then half the work is done. The rest is just making it look nice. My process always includes asking myself several times during the process, ‘is this saying what it needs to say?’
3. Do you feel you have a particular style?
My chromatic work for sure, yes. I came up with that ‘look at’ feel. In general my style is always very abstracted and somewhat futuristic.
4. Which other digital designers do you admire?
I have a lot of good friends in the industry who I really admire. Specifically Alex Trochut, Rik Oostenbrook, Jon Noorlander, and Ivan Girard.
5. Has the coronavirus affected your work or has it inspired you?
I recently just published a project of all my sketches and doodles from the coronavirus lockdown : https://www.behance.net/gallery/101107417/Instagram-Doodles
It’s affected my work for sure, everyone feels uncertain.
6. What advice would you give to others going into your field?
Invest in yourself and your tools. Your older-self will thank your younger-self for investing early and learning as much as possible.
7. What are your future plans?
Adapt to the new normal and keep learning, pushing the boundaries, keep moving into new territories and having as much fun as possible!
This interview was not paid.
All photos come directly from: http://www.shanegriffin.nyc/
