If storytelling isn’t a large component
of your creative project, how exactly
are you communicating?
The beard builds trust… right?
Personal brand is as important as corporate brand and mine is one of competency, unbridled creativity, acceptance and eagerness to conquer the creative problems you have.
That’s the spark that I hunt for – what’s the puzzle I can help solve. It’s why I get hired. Its why people are happy with me when we’re through. I take the time to discover. To learn the product, the pain points, the goals. I dig for the story that’s inherent in everything, I draw it out and bring it to the surface so the rest of us can connect with it.
Illustration
Is one of my favourite past times. I’ve been illustrating since the early 90s. I’ll draw nearly everything and anything. I prefer to have one foot always in whimsy where possible – but barring that I’ll draw whatever I can.
I studied at College to fine-tune my skills, but the more I attended school the more they told me to just “look”, to use my eyes and see what others are doing. We got book list after book list of artists we needed to familiarize ourselves with. This made me why was I paying tuition to do this? Most of my skills were discovered over time by doing and through discussions with other artists. When you can, go talk with artists. We love to share with one another.
Voice Over Work
In the pandemic years I invested in a mic for work from home meetings. And meeting after meeting people kept asking who’s got the radio voice. And it turns out it was me. One meeting someone said that I had to start a podcast, that they could listen to me talk for hours. So, I did. In 2020, Wilhelm Presents: Frightening Tales was born. Drawing from my love of old time radio drama’s like the creaking door, and the whistler and adding to it what I picked up reading bedtime stories all those years to my boy I somehow invented Frighteningtales.com.
Listen… if you’re brave enough.
Writing
Over the years I somehow picked of a love of writing. Primarily horror, but anytime I can weave a story, create some context, and attach it to your life experiences I’ll do so. Through my podcasting I’ve enjoyed writing many of the stories I’ve shared and been overwhelmed by the responses that people have to the outcome. Hearing from fans that I scared them, or just distracted them from their lives for a little while means a lot.
If you haven’t noticed by now I’m really big on story. I believe it is the single most important creative thing that can connect people. Dating back to our days in caves sharing stories around a campfire to the tales we spin on social media. Stories are a part of the human condition. We create them, share them, collect them and treasure them.
“Vanquishing banality
with sharp imagination.
These are the
monsters I slay.”
Graphic Design
I’ve been a professional Graphic Designer since 1998. I started designing in ’94 and over time I became a Senior Graphic Designer. Originally I wasn’t drawn to graphic design. It was thrust upon me by a world that didn’t need illustrators or rather didn’t pay them all too much. However, design work was readily available at the time and in my area. Over the years I’d come to realize how versatile the art form was, how integral and influential it was. I’d recognize the importance of creating brands, and marketing pieces that created context and involved stories. I’d get excited over font faces and color swatches. Over creating interactive experiences and adore good, solid UX. I’d advocate for accessibility and build it into my web design regardless of the work that needed to be done. In time I came to love being a design and now I wear the moniker proudly.
