Explore Posterous

I recently was able to have a chat with Nicholas Patten, a designer and video editor out of New York City, about the work that he does. The guy has a lot to say about the web, design, video and work in general, so I thought it would be of great value to the readers at GWP to get a first-hand look into his life and skills.

After you're done reading the interview, be sure to grab the twitter background that he made exclusively for us. It's 1900x1440 and looks fantastic - which is right in suite with everything else he has done.

Before we start, here are some links to where you can get in contact with Nicholas.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/nicholaspatten

Website: http://www.nicholaspatten.com/

Posterous Blog: http://blog.nicholaspatten.com/

1. Hi Nicholas. First off, I just want to thank you for taking the time to do this interview. I think this will be a great opportunity for people to get to know another creative professional.

Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. :)

There are 23 different layers in the image above. I changed opacity levels for about 10 of the layers, added 4 layers of images I've taken around the city, and used the Rectangular Marquee Tool to cut out different shapes from layers to allow different levels of opacity to shine through. I also used the Polygonal Lasso Tool to make the random zigzag shapes.

2. So Nicholas, tell us a little bit about what you do.

That's a hard question. I would say I'm an artist who doesn't really stick to previously set guidelines. 

Here is a back story of how I got into design:
Around the age of 14 my Grandparents bought me a custom PC. I began to teach myself HTML/CSS from looking at other websites and their page sources. I'm the type of person who can only learn by hands-on experience, reading books is not my thing. During that time there really weren't any websites for free learning, and if there were I couldn't find them.

Around the age of 17 I began hanging out with my friend Nick Seeley, who, recently, used to run The Lodge's Dallas office and now composes for Juniper Music. I watched him create/edit music in his studio for multiple artists/bands. I'm a visual learner, once you show me something a few times I tend to catch on pretty fast. So with the help of my friend showing me how to use the software "Cakewalk"  and hooking me up with a soundboard, drum machines, and mic's, I was then able to learn the art of editing audio. This has a tangent to it: When I was younger my Father and I used to setup the orchestra at our church. During that time I was the typical kid who didn't want to be inside on a weekend and wanted to be outside with friends. But by learning the soundboards, mic/wire setups, it has helped me with many things: video/audio recording and editing. So I'm glad I got to learn those things at an early age.

So after a few years of studying HTML/CSS and Cakewalk (recording random beats and songs with friends), I began to get more into Adobe Photoshop. I started teaching myself different design techniques and more online tutorials were starting to show up, mostly due to the creation of Google. So I began doing tutorials, designing random things, and continued to study in College. A few years later, August of 2007, no real plan of what I wanted to do, I decided to move from Indiana to New York City to become a video editor. Something I had never really done before. So I applied for well over 100 internships/jobs and eventually I got an internship/job. From there I was able to watch other editors, producers, directors, and animators do what they do. This goes back to how I'm a visual learner, show me something once and I usually won't ask again how to do it. This studio was more focused on music video production and audio recording than anything else.

So a year went by, I learned a lot in a hurry, and then got the chance to work at another studio that was more television based. Working with other editors in the same room is invaluable because there are so many different ways to edit (for example; different shortcuts for the same action). After a few months of learning as much about production and post-production as I could I began to freelance and study more Adobe After Effects on my own time. I still do tutorials every week on multiple subjects. I'm a firm believer that once you think you know something 100% is the moment you've been left behind.

In December of 2008 I got the opportunity to focus more attention to the programming side, at the moment I'm an IT Director at an IR/PR firm in Manhattan. I also still do freelance design/video editing for companies/individuals all over the world. I'm currently designing wakeboards, ski's, and snowboards for a company in Taiwan. 

In this image I used 6 different images that I recently took on my trip to visit my Mom and brother in Michigan. It was nice to get away from the city and see open land and trees. In total there are 27 layers to this image.

3. Everyone has something that they're passionate about, something that keeps them driven to do better work - what is that for you?

I didn't actually know the answer to this question until recently. Without sharing, we, as a whole, cannot move forward. I think my real passion behind everything I do is sharing. I believe in free education, as long as a person has a drive to learn then they can practically do anything they want. I feel that students can learn more online at a faster pace than in a classroom. But by being in the classroom it allows for students to make connections with friends who will later on help them get jobs. So there are many pro's and con's to learning online vs. the classroom. I will save that ramble for another day.

4. I've seen that you have a blog where you showcase all of your latest work, and also twitter, virb, tumblr, myspace and about a dozen other social media accounts, but which one do you like to use the most?

Since the end of January 2008 I've focused a lot of attention on Twitter because my friend Steve Melfi convinced me to try it out. I used to use Myspace and Facebook regularly, but Twitter fastly became my central hub of communication. I have my Google Profile so I can remember which accounts I've signed up for and to later on go back to if needed. I ran across Posterous back in June 2008 and ever since I've tried to keep it a blog about my projects. I try to post behind the scenes of each project (for example: videos and screenshots of each layer in Photoshop/After Effects) in order to give it some type of insight/learning for those who read it.

In this image I created 16 layers, a mixture of images I've taken, and different overlays for many of the layers.

5. Your designs are really unique and have caused a bit of buzz around the internet, where does your inspiration come from?

My inspiration comes from everyone else around me, online and off. I see some pretty interesting things during my daily travels through Manhattan and Queens. I recently moved to Astoria. I never realized how good the food is in Queens. In a way, the massive amount of culture mixed into one borough is inspirational to say the least. The best food from all over the world combined into one location is amazing. Not taking anything away from any of the other boroughs or any other great cities, but currently the things I see daily are my inspiration. That's an odd way to explain inspiration, but it's true.

I'm not really sure which "genre" my artwork/designs belong to. I think the best guess would be abstract. I take a lot of photos of random textures I come across in the city or wherever I go and then use them for multi-layered photoshop projects.

6. With all of the resources that you make available on your site for visitors, I can assume that you enjoy helping people. What is one thing that you would consider your best web practice, as a tip to those of us that are newbies.

I think my best web practice is sharing information with others, answering questions I get from people who are just getting into design, and giving my time to finding new, creative, and awesome stuff to send out to my followers on Twitter. I send out links to tutorials, architecture, other designer portfolios, creative videos, and anything else I find unique. If I want to do a tutorial later, I search for "nicholaspatten tutorial:" and the subject I want. I use twitter as a short-term database for me to later on go back to. And at the same time I'm able to share with everyone else.

Click to view and download the Free Twitter Background

If you would like to get in contact with Nicholas to ask him about creating a twitter background for you, or other work inquiries, you can do so at his website. Be sure to tell him that we sent you!

1 Comments

Michael Pokocky September 15, 2009 Votes: +0	See Nicholas Patten answers one best web practice at http://www.redroom.com/blog/mi...b-practice kindest, michael report abuse vote down vote up

Write comment

Avere un Twitter Background (semi) professionale è utile? Ecco come si comportano alcuni personaggi di spicco della Twittersfera italica.

[via http://www.juliusdesign.net/20-twitter-background-italian-design/#more-6064]