Ryan: Hello Erik, It’s a massive honor to have you as a guest on Mograph TV!

Erik: Thanks for having me Ryan!!

Ryan: What do you remember most about your childhood and how you got started with graphic / motion design?

Erik: Well, like most kids, I was brought up on movies. It made a huge impression on me and would lead to my future career. Movies like Indiana Jones, Star Wars and other cutting edge films. I was always intrigued by the great stories and how these movies were made.

It amazed me that the effects in those movies could be done and I thought it would be cool to get into that field. When I was a freshman in high school, a buddy of mine had a really basic webcam and we started making stop motion films using basic editing programs to create some simple effects. It was really fun, I enjoyed it a lot. That same friend happened to get a copy of 3D Studio Max V3. It changed everything and I was instantly immersed.

Ryan: You worked under the name Jensen-Edit for 5 years and then rebranded to 9 North. How did you come up with it?

Erik: Well, in all honesty it’s just a name I like. The alliteration and 9 happens to be my favorite number. Jensen-edit didn’t suit my current portfolio. When I bought the domain, most of my projects were actually editing projects. Over the years those projects got phased out as my interest grew for 3D.

Ryan: You spoke about films but, who, what, and where are your biggest inspirations in life and your work?

Erik: The term “photo real” gets thrown around a lot in the 3D community and it’s those projects that I find most interesting and challenging. There’s no better place for inspiration than observing the real world. This year I got into photography and I find it to be a very good sister hobby to 3D.

Ryan: What is your creative process in terms of storyboarding, art style, and execution?

Erik: My process usually involves diving right into 3D, I’m a terrible traditional artist. Some of the client projects I’ve had were laid out in storyboards. Other times, it has been up to me to come up with how things should look or animate. I find that 3D is very flexible and it’s easy to mock up different looks very quickly. For my personal projects, it usually begins with the seed of an idea, a glimmer, then maybe I’ll sketch something simple. Then I get right into 3D and build an animation.

Ryan: What do you feel is your strongest skill and what do you love building the most?

Erik: I consider myself to be a generalist not a specialist. I feel that I have a good eye for lighting. It’s one of the most important aspects of making 3D look believable. There’s a reason “lights” is mentioned before cameras and action! Building something fun to watch is always a goal of mine. If I can look back on a project and get excited about a certain section and watch it again and again, that’s always great! Many times people spend tens or hundreds of hours on projects and then it’s done and they never watch it again.

Ryan: Do you enjoy working with a team? What is the work-flow like with a larger group and how does it differ from working by yourself?

Erik: I really enjoy working with a team. It doesn’t happen as often as I’d like but when it does it’s great. Not only are there software considerations but there’s a great deal of collaboration between members that often elevates the project to a better place. It’s always good to get input on a project because one can easily develop tunnel vision into their singular goal. When I work on personal projects where I’m the sole artist, I always ask friends to comment about what works and what doesn’t.

Ryan: Do you ever open up programs and mess around? Do you feel this is a good way to learn or should people always have an idea before jumping into software?

Erik: It’s great to open up your preferred program and mess around, that’s the beauty of it. It costs absolutely nothing to mess around and see what crazy stuff you can come up with. It may be less productive than going in with an idea, but either way you’re learning something new and producing results.

Ryan: Do you have a favorite project that you’ve worked on and what about it made it your favorite?

Erik: I don’t have a favorite project but there have been projects that I’m more proud of than others. Namely the Motion Adrenaline Identity and the DynaTAC Comeback. The motion adrenaline piece was collaborative with the company and a huge challenge for me. It’s when you take on more than you can chew and succeed that makes it really rewarding. It took me two and a half weeks to render the 3D for that piece on one machine and just about killed my computer and me.

Motion Adrenaline Identity from 9North Blog on Vimeo.

The Dynatac piece was fun and it was one of those seeds I mentioned earlier. I was fascinated by the utter love of the iPhone and thought how funny it would be if they re-introduced the old school DynaTAC. It blossomed into a small personal project that would maybe last 10 seconds to a full on fake commercial where I hired the talented Casey Giessen to do custom music and sound effects. I got carried away and oddly enough now I own an iPhone.

Ryan: What are you currently working on and what’s your dream project?

Erik: I’m starting an animated short with my roommate/fellow animator. He works in Cinema 4D so there will be some additional technical challenges. We want to keep it under a minute but the premise is basically about a whale that has beached himself because there’s a big bad shark in the water that will eat him if he gets back in. Hopefully we can make it work with some good comedic timing. I’m not a character animator, so I’ll have some learning to do. As far as dream projects go, I’ve always had aspirations to get into feature films at a visual effects studio. It would be really awesome to be apart of something big that would take several months or years to build and watch it on the big screen. At the same time, I wouldn’t want to be animating Gollum’s left hand for 6 months. That’s why I like the commercials world, you have to be a generalist and the work moves quickly. As soon as you get sick of a project, it’s over. So in that vein, working for Psyop or a high-end commercial effects company would be bad ass.

Ryan: What are your goals for the future? (this can be outside of motion design as well)

Erik: The great thing about this industry is that you can never learn it all. I just want to keep getting better. In the short term, I wouldn’t mind learning a bit of MAX script. It’s so daunting but I’ve seen how powerful it can be and it will take me to that next level. I also wouldn’t mind getting better with my traditional art skills, which I severely lack. I caught the photography bug this year and I don’t imagine it will fade and I want to evolve it.

Ryan: What advice do you have for people that are producing demo reels and what was the work-flow on yours?

9 North 2010 Showreel from 9North Blog on Vimeo.

Erik: Keep it short and sweet. Only put in the work you are really proud of. If you need more work, do some short projects that will help buffer the weak spots in your reel. Take a glance at Nick Campbell’s 5-second projects to develop more work and get in the great community that he has built. I’ve made quite a few demo reels over the years. Usually I start with a song and edit it down to an appropriate length since so many songs are just beat loops. Start with your strongest work because attention spans are short. I always like seeing a little intro and/or outro in demo reels. Think about creating one to introduce the viewers to your style.

Ryan: Thank you so much for taking time out for this interview. You shared some really inspirational thoughts and I’m really excited about what you’ll build in the future!

Erik: Thanks Ryan!! I really appreciate it. You’ve got a great site going with Mograph TV.

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