My Interview With Dan Robinson- Miller

Hi Everyone!!

On July 16, 2011 I took to Twitter and I came across DerwentPencils and I tweeted: "Maybe you can help me. I am looking for someone to draw a project for me. A character in fact. Let me know if you can help." Well, from this tweet I got quite a few responses and one person showed an immediate interest- Dan Miller at: Losttimedesign.com. The rest, as they say is history. Over the next couple of weeks Dan and I swapped emails that detailed my vision for the character from the colors, posture, facial features, clothes selection, eye and foot wear. I changed my mind a few times-OK a lot, but the character had to be right on the money! Dan nailed it and he exceeded my time line and my expectations. 

Well, It has been almost a year and Nygel's Nerd Nation is growing. Dan and I are still plugging away at ideas for the Nation. It's been a rather busy year, but I finally got to interview Dan. I hope you enjoy finding out a little bit about the man behind the character!!

• Shanna: How did you come in contact with Shanna and the Nerd Nation? 

Dan: I answered a call for help with the project she put out on Twitter

• Shanna: What need did she have? 

Dan: To create and bring to life a character to be the face of Nerd Nation

• Shanna: What motivated you to take on the project? 

Dan: I love to create characters and bring them to life, and this seemed like a really fun project to be involved with and from the brief and ideas Shanna had had, I knew what we created would be really cool.

• Shanna: Where did you get the inspiration to draw the character and was the description provided helpful? 

Dan: The descriptives were the main inspiration, but I did do a little bit of research to see how 'nerds' were portrayed previously, and then started to sketch out ideas.

• Shanna: How would you describe Nygel's overall look?

Dan: I think it is fair to say "Casual smart" - I think he is a pretty well dress little dude.

• Shanna: How did you manage to mesh the thoughts of Shanna's vision of this nerd and your artistic abilities? 

Dan: To start with I looked at Shanna's ideas and descriptions, and the very helpful examples she sent through. I then worked up a few sketches of different styles that I thought might work for this project - it was then very much a collaborative project, where I would work on him a bit, email it across and then work with Shanna's feedback to try and make Nygel as close to what was in her mind as possible.

• Shanna: How would you rate your overall experience in working with Shanna in creating the face to the Nerd Nation? 

Dan: She has been really great to work with, Shanna has had so many ideas, and even though the project is so close to her and she has a very good idea where she wanted it to go, she let me have the freedom to do what I do and create something we are both really proud of. My perfect type of client.

• Shanna: Were there any special challenges during the process? Any frustrations? 

Dan: Not really, I think it all ran pretty smoothly once we had the initial style and ideas in place. I think in the end we were both working from the same page so it worked well.

• Shanna: Dan, if a perspective client wanted to reach your studio, how would they do so? And are there any other forms of social media that they might find you?

Dan: The best way to contact me is by email studio@losttimedesign.com - or through my website www.losttimedesign.com where you can see more examples of my work.  As for social media I mostly use Twitter @losttimedesign I also have a Facebook page www.facebook.com/losttimedesign

• Shanna: Are you currently working with any other clients or any other projects with Shanna and the Nation? 

Dan: We are talking about a few more characters to add to Nerd Nation. As for other projects - I have been doing quite a bit of work for other agencies working on visualizations of ideas, as part of advertising campaigns. I have also been working on graphics for some 'promos' on tv programmes here in the UK. Plus the usual logo and graphic design work.

• Shanna: Do your friends know about Nygel?

Dan: I have mentioned the work, they will know a lot more when I get my official tee shirt!

• Shanna: Nygel's Nerd Nation is still a pretty much unknown, how do youfeel about it's perspective success and how do you feel that you had a major part in it?

Dan: I think it really could grow, it is still very early on in it's life but with the right care, right promotion and a strong understanding about what it is it offers, I think it could really have legs.

• Shanna: Describe your overall artistic style. 

Dan: Varied, I have had the opportunity to work on lots of different projects and in many different styles. I love to use colour and play around with ideas. I get bored as well so always experimenting. This has actually been really good for me, meaning I don't get put in to one box.

• Shanna: Did this project take you out of your comfort zone?

Dan: Not really, I had to get into a different comfortable position. I really love character/mascot design but I had not done it for a while, so I would not say out of my comfort zone, but back into a different one.

• Shanna: What confidence did you have that you could produce the character? 

Dan: I was really confident I could, it is something I have had experience with, and with all details and examples Shanna gave me on what she wanted - I was pretty sure we could do it.

• Shanna: You live in the UK, Shanna lives in the Unites Stated, was this your first international client?  Would you welcome more international clients or was this a special case? 

Dan:  This actually was my first international client. I would LOVE to work with more, especially from the US. I think there is such a huge exciting market to get in to.

• Shanna: Having never met, did you have any feelings of apprehension doing business internationally? 

Dan: No, I was really excited about it. In this day and age I don't think there are international barriers anymore. We both understood there was a time difference (which would really be the only issue in this case) and we worked round it. I can see that there could be difficulties if the cultures involved were totally different but I think  the UK/US relationship worked really well.

• Shanna: How long did this project take?

Dan: It is still going on - but for the first Nygel - I think in all it probably took about a week (spread out)

Well, that is a wrap for now! Dan, I appreciate all your hard work and dedication to this very special project. I could have never gotten it done without you! You are truly a gifted artist, and designer. I look forward to working with you on our other projects. If you ever need anything- recommendation-anything, drop a line! Thank you again!

I also have to thank Derwent Pencils for retweeting my request for help. You guys got the ball rolling! I hope you like the final Nygel!

Thanks Dan! Nygel