Monday, November 13, 2006
We first heard about design battles or Photoshop Wars or Graphic Tennis in 2000. As novice designers, we entered our first one-on-one in 2001 and lost to a Canadian kid back then known as "The Divine Line". Today, these battles have moved from underground forums to live public audiences with some designers being repped by agents and big name sponsors. Cut&Paste's Los Angeles tournament hit RecCenter on Saturday and of course we had to be there to support.
Contestants included some artists we knew such as Dennis Gomez, Jim Darling, Elvis Segarich, and PJ Richardson and others we didn't like April Carter Grant, Manhi Park, Michael Coleman, and Sasha Welland. The great thing about battles is the ability to watch a designer's technique, workflow, and ingenuity, all of which these designers showed off with great style. Each round, contestants were given a theme and in a 15-minute timespan had to design something based on it with the help of a G5, Adobewarez, and a Wacom pen. Even if you're good designer, it's harder than you think with the time crunch, a panel of judges, and a roomful of spectators criticizing your every move. Still, it's all in good fun. And fun we had.
Congrats to Jim Darling who we've admired from afar for awhile -- fantastic Illustrator skills and fast as hell. We bow to you.
Blockhead provided the beats behind the decks for the most of the night before Sir Chris Holmes took over to finish it off.
