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Justin Maller
Digital Freedom
"It was terrifying going out on my own. I have a degree in creative arts, which really qualifies you to do fuck all, but I could see I was getting to a point where there might be an application for my stuff in advertising and in a useful context." Justin Maller
You know those people that make it look easy? I hate those people. Justin Maller is one of those people. While I try not to hate Justin personally, I can’t help but be envious of the fact that at a young age, he’s not only carving out a successful career as a freelance designer, but he’s also been largely responsible for the creation and success of possibly the world's largest collective of digital artists.
When did you get involved in digital art?
I first started fucking around with it in 98, as a part time hobby. I got into web design around 2000, but I wasn't very good at either of those, then I found online communities around 2001, got more involved and then started depthCORE around 2002.
What made you realise the potential that computers had for art?
Right through school, it was mostly theatre and music for me, I didn't really draw. A friend and I started a website where our mates would put up scanned photos, then I'd take them into photoshop and mess around with them. Basically everything I work on now is photo manipulation stuff worked in with illustrations and abstract stuff.
What made you get into heightened realities?
It was a natural progression for me. The first stuff I did was abstract because I didn't know how to model anything and still don't. After a while, I got better and better at making cool abstract stuff and started to work it in with photos. I decided to run with it and use the 3D to accentuate what's already in the piece, rather than blend it so it's not there.
Take us through a fulfilling a brief.
An ideal job is just like the one I did for X & Hell, where they said alright, we want you to do what you want, so I met up with the photgrapher (Michael Danischewski) and we had a chat about what we wanted to do and what sort of images I like to work with, he took the shots, I did whatever I wanted to about 5 of them and they said "that's great, we'll use them". Normally when people are coming to me, it's a pretty specific style they've targeted, so generally I'll come up with a couple of concepts, they'll give me the suggestions of what they want and then we get the final product.
Was going freelance hard?
It was terrifying going out on my own. I have a degree in creative arts, which really qualifies you to do fuck all, but I could see I was getting to a point where there might be an application for my stuff in advertising and in a useful context.
Why did you start depthCORE?
At the time, what was around was dark art and photo manipulation, real grungy, I want to kill myself from listening to bad rock music sort of stuff. Me and a couple of friends were doing this digital stuff that we thought was awesome, but when you look back at it, was fucking awful. There wasn't a lot of room for us in the art groups around, but I really liked the idea of having something a little private that you could invest something of yourself into. We started with 12 guys and now have just under 200, with maybe 40 or 50 active at any given time.
What does the future hold?
Not this. Freelance is fun, but my basic idea pushing forward is to take depthCORE into a more commercial realm, rather than just as a non-profit collective. We've already got some of the biggest freelance names in the world in this collective, so it makes sense to take it into a professional capacity. That's the long term goal, but hopefully not too long term.
For more of Justin Maller's work check justinmaller.com and for more on the extended depthCore crew just check depthcore.com
Back
I first started fucking around with it in 98, as a part time hobby. I got into web design around 2000, but I wasn't very good at either of those, then I found online communities around 2001, got more involved and then started depthCORE around 2002.
What made you realise the potential that computers had for art?
Right through school, it was mostly theatre and music for me, I didn't really draw. A friend and I started a website where our mates would put up scanned photos, then I'd take them into photoshop and mess around with them. Basically everything I work on now is photo manipulation stuff worked in with illustrations and abstract stuff.
What made you get into heightened realities?
It was a natural progression for me. The first stuff I did was abstract because I didn't know how to model anything and still don't. After a while, I got better and better at making cool abstract stuff and started to work it in with photos. I decided to run with it and use the 3D to accentuate what's already in the piece, rather than blend it so it's not there.
Take us through a fulfilling a brief.
An ideal job is just like the one I did for X & Hell, where they said alright, we want you to do what you want, so I met up with the photgrapher (Michael Danischewski) and we had a chat about what we wanted to do and what sort of images I like to work with, he took the shots, I did whatever I wanted to about 5 of them and they said "that's great, we'll use them". Normally when people are coming to me, it's a pretty specific style they've targeted, so generally I'll come up with a couple of concepts, they'll give me the suggestions of what they want and then we get the final product.
Was going freelance hard?
It was terrifying going out on my own. I have a degree in creative arts, which really qualifies you to do fuck all, but I could see I was getting to a point where there might be an application for my stuff in advertising and in a useful context.
Why did you start depthCORE?
At the time, what was around was dark art and photo manipulation, real grungy, I want to kill myself from listening to bad rock music sort of stuff. Me and a couple of friends were doing this digital stuff that we thought was awesome, but when you look back at it, was fucking awful. There wasn't a lot of room for us in the art groups around, but I really liked the idea of having something a little private that you could invest something of yourself into. We started with 12 guys and now have just under 200, with maybe 40 or 50 active at any given time.
What does the future hold?
Not this. Freelance is fun, but my basic idea pushing forward is to take depthCORE into a more commercial realm, rather than just as a non-profit collective. We've already got some of the biggest freelance names in the world in this collective, so it makes sense to take it into a professional capacity. That's the long term goal, but hopefully not too long term.
For more of Justin Maller's work check justinmaller.com and for more on the extended depthCore crew just check depthcore.com
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