I work from home doing color and digital post-production for medical publications. I color hand inked line-art with Photoshop using an airbrush style.
When I'm not coloring books I work on producing a huge website at atomicislandstudios.com and an internet/TV show that goes along with it called 'Atomic Island'.
About My Website:
There's nothing more fun than getting a bunch of artists of a wide spectrum together in a productive and lucrative environment.
This will be an online community for artists of all types to come together in a virtual building filled with different studios. Artists, Musicians, Writers, Actors, Technicians, can all collaborate on projects, share jobs, get inspiration, or just chat.
It also serves as a place for the public to ask an artist for their services without a sales person or secretary, or inflated overhead charges. Just a free place to come together on-line and be creative.
There will be plenty of entertainment from a wide variety of artists, yet all of the subject matter will be a part of the Atomic Island Canon.
So far I've set up a forum, FTP file sharing, and Website hosting services. I'm also adding Audio/Video/Text Chat, and e-Commerce functionality. If you have an internet-service or product and wish to rent a shop on the island, a link from your store on our homepage sends them to your store-front. All the storefront home-pages will look like the inside of a shop on the island. I will assist in the creation of your shop's interior as part of the many benefits of being a resident shopkeeper on the island.
About My Internet/TV Show:
It is called 'Atomic Island' and will be rated PG.
An operatic fantasy revolving around an island and it's host of colorful characters.
A completely original story & score produced as a mix of live action actors and models placed in animations & special effects. I believe music plays the most important part so the soundtrack will have an operatic structure. It will be played with fhat basses, hypnotic sounds, circuit-bending and digitally created effects blended with a vast array of acoustical instruments. The sound effects will also blend with the music just as the color and dialog will blend with the storytelling for a very cohesive and emotional effect.
Right now I am fabricating a motion control device for my Super 16mm motion picture camera that will film a miniature that I am crafting of the island.
On a more personal note, I've had both good and bad fortune. My mother has been a medical illustrator since the 70's. She started out not making much but is now the most prolific medical illustrator alive. She started at Emory University in the Art Dept and it was the greatest job in the world to me. She would take me to work most everyday were I would watch all these great people making medical books. The other artists were very fun to be with. One used to be Mickey Mouse's body guard at WDW. I also learned how to use all the equipment that was used in a professional art studio. Equipment that is no longer used today. Thus, on that note began my art career as I graduated from college in 1991, right before computers completely changed the art industry. Therefore most of my traditional training was considered obsolete as soon as I graduated. That with the fact Atlanta is loaded with art schools, yet has no real need for artists, made it a bad place to start out. So I joined the Army to pay back college and became a carpenter framing houses like I had done since I was 16. After about 5 years of that I entered the sign making business and then worked my way up in the Digital Art World that way. At least I can build my own house now.
So I began with a real airbrush then switched to a digital one. It took a while to learn the vast array of software and hardware applications needed to run an art studio from just books, but I wouldn't change a thing. I feel I know much more about art than artists that have had it easier.
I also believe the energy of the people you surround yourself with rubs off on you. That was a big problem in Atlanta in that cut-throat environment. Now out here in New Mexico things are much different. I have a famous artist next-door to me voted 'Most Notable New Mexican' and he likes me. :D I'm trying to surround myself with only happy, open-minded, intelligent, self-confident, respectful, and creative people that want to bring their light into the world, and doing well I must say.
My Favorite Sayings:
"Someone once complained to the philosopher Voltaire that life was hard. He replied, Compared to what?"
"If your going to do something, do it right"
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder"
"If you don't have something good to say, don't say anything"
"You can judge a tree by the fruit that it bears"
"Work smart, not hard"
"You've got to think big, to be big"
"Do what you think you can not do, and you will find out who you are."
My Favorite Quotes:
"Think of how stupid the average person is and realize half of them are stupider than that"- George Carlin
"There is no such thing as luck"- Obi Wan Kenobi
"You have to believe we are magic. Nothing can stand in our way"- Olivia Newton John
"With great power comes great responsibility"- Uncle Ben
"You can not escape your destiny"- Obi Wan Kenobi
"A heart is not judged by how much it loves,
but by how much it is loved by others"- Wizard of Oz
"Emotions are the nexus between mind and matter"- Dr. Candace Pert
"Don't center on your anxiety. Keep your concentration here and now where it belongs."- Qui Gon Gin
"Let your true colors shine, because that's why I love you"- Cyndi Lauper
"God dwells in the details"- Mies van der Rohe
"You got to roll with the punches and get what's real" - David Lee Roth
"I got the jump, I got the jive, I got the message I'm alive"- Jerry Lee Lewis
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits"- Albert Einstein
"We don't stop playing because we grow old,
we grow old because we stop playing"- George Bernard Shaw
"It's not that far to Never neverland, at least it's not for me"- Christopher Cross
"Drawing is just painting with your pencil,
and painting is just drawing with your paint brush"- Michelangelo
Michael North
Graphic Artist/Flash Animator/Web Developer
e-mail: [email protected]
website: atomicislandstudios.com
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Sorry, Atomic Island Studios is not ready yet. see how it's coming along HERE
Studio Upgrades:
Nov 10, 07 - Got a Super16mm Motion Picture Camera
Oct 23, 07 - Color jobs are still pouring in.
Oct 18, 07 - The Atomic Island Forum is up and running.
Sept 21, 07 - Moved in to a new studio with a great view and lots of space for filming & production.
July 10, 07 - Started coloring a new medical book packed full of illustrations so I now have a steady stream of work for the next few months, possibly up to a year. This plus other small jobs will slow down pre-production on the show & website until it's finished.
July 3, 07 - Got Adobe Creative Suite Premium 3, a Shure KSM27 Condenser microphone, pre-amp, and digital sampler.
June 21, 07 - Set-up a dedicated web-server in my studio using Linex and Apache. It also has FTP, Forum, and e-commerce capability.
May 20, 07 - Took a TV Producer class at the Albuquerque Community Cable Access Channel TV Studio.
Below are some samples of my work.
This is some tattoo style artwork I've done.
