MEET THE ARTIST: ANDREW KNIVES - Quick questions with H+

We sat down with motion designer ANDREW KNIVES, one of the newest additions to our extended family. Here's a peek into his process!

H+: What software could you not live without? ANDREW: Right now its safe to say that I definitely could not live without Photoshop and After Effects. I primarily use these 2, and am on them pretty much all day, daily. Although, I'm always trying to teach myself new software, so I'm sure that list will change in time.

H+: What is the first step of your process? ANDREW: My work is all different layers, that move and work within one another. With that said, the first step of my process is to really try to envision the final version, and work backwards. I found that it helps to really lay everything out in my head before I start working. For example, If one layer takes 50 frames to seamlessly loop, and another layer takes 150 frames, I'll lay it out in my head and understand that it'll take 3 loops of the first layer to seamlessly match the second layer. It gets pretty heavy at times, especially dealing with projects that contain a few hundred layers

. . . . . H+: Where do you search for ideas / imagery? ANDREW: I draw heavily off of music; I'll hear a line of a song, or a few notes and instantly feel some sort of way. In some instances I'll hear a song, and immediately envision a scene or a feeling, and then I just try to recreate whats going on in my head. I've made a handful of loops based off of one single song, and the feelings I got from it. The hardest part is finding the visual aspects to the idea. I have a stack of old magazines that I thumb through, once I found what I'm looking for ( usually after a while) I'll scan it in and start slicing it up. Other than that, I'm always looking up old films, primarily from the 50s - late 70s. If I find a something that fits the vibe I'm trying to get across, I'll take parts of it, and slice it into what I'm working on

. . . . . H+: What are some of your favorite eras in the past or the future? ANDREW: Right now I'm really into working with imagery from the 40s - 70s, while trying to add some aspects of stonework / and imagery from the mid to late 1800s. The juxtaposition of the bright / psychedelic imagery of the 60s/70s with the semi-drab, muted colors of the mid - late 1800s is something I'm super into right now. I feel like they crate a surreal dreamlike visual experience

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VIEW MORE OF ANDREW KNIVES' WORK HERE