About This/Me

On January 1st of 2011, I decided to see if I could teach myself motion graphics.  There’s no question that there are a seemingly infinite number of tutorials for After Effects and Cinema 4D on the internet, but finding quality tutorials that helped me along my path was an entirely different story.  So often, I was learning HOW to click a button or check a box  but I wasn’t told WHY I was doing it.

BlackBoxTuts is simply a place to allow other motion graphics newbies like myself follow my learning process from my very first day.  People often seem to want to post their BEST work, but I just want to post ALL my work in the hope that a personal style will emerge, and to hopefully provide some helpful tips that might guide you along your path as well.  I don’t claim to be an expert by any stretch, but I have painstakingly documented all the moments I was tearing my hair out trying to figure out how to do something.

I give credit to any and all tutorials that inspired mine or helped me along my motion graphics path.  As often as I can, I include project files as well.  To me, I’m happy to share all of my files because it’s not the files that are the key to being a motion graphics artist; it’s the unique ideas that we’re able to come up with as artists.  Hopefully some of the projects here will, in some small way, help you discover that personal style within yourself as I’m hoping it will in me.

One of the greatest teachers I ever knew taught us the “Black Box” concept in my Sound Recording Technology program.  his name is David Moulton, and he was determined to teach us workflow and concepts that we could apply to any studio and any gear.  I hope to create the same with this website, even if it’s never anything more than to outline the steps I took to create each of my “Day to Day” projects on Vimeo.

We’ve all got to start somewhere, so join me on my journey of starting from the very beginning.  Not all of the projects will be works of art, but that’s really not the point.  I just hope that my ignorance combined with my sheer determination might  prove to be useful to others hoping to learn the incredible art of motion graphics.  For every video I’ve posted, I’ll have an accompanying tutorial for After Effects (AE) or Cinema 4D (C4D) to go with it.

These tutorials will ALWAYS BE FREE.  (If you ever come to this site and I’m trying to sell any tutorials, please contact me and ask me what the hell I’m doing.)  So, whether it’s a tutorial for After Effects or a tutorial for Cinema 4D (C4D), I’ll include as many files and images as I can for use as examples and inspirations in your own work.  Best of luck to you and thanks for all the personal emails already as I continue my journey into the world of motion graphics.

 
 

My Other Lives

My world is wide and varied, and this is just one of many amazing things I've had the privilege of experiencing. My internet shops are at the core what allows me to experience more than I thought possible:

Cleversley.com
Entheology.com
IAmShaman Shop
Kona Kava Farm
Playground Studio
Shaman's Garden

Recent Photos

My Commerce Sites