CCS Fall 2022 Alumni Magazine

COVER TO COVER

Come full circle with a Transportation Design alum as he shares his advice. An Illustration alumna breaks down what it takes to maintain a thriving freelance career. A Photography alum shares his insight on navigating Hollywood and how he landed a job working on an Emmy Awardwinning show. Dive in, cell by cell, to the day-to-day of an Entertainment Arts alum’s career as a storyboard artist for Warner Bros. Feel closer to a culture through art with an Art Practice alumna. And from a dream to reality, these alums create an impact in their respective industries.

THESE ARE CCS ALUMNI. ONE DAY, YOU WILL BE ONE OF THEM.

COLLEGE FOR CREATIVE STUDIES offers 13 undergraduate majors and a Visual Arts Teacher Certification program, but as you’ll see, the possibilities are limitless.

Project Hope: the Creative Revolution mural was inspired by the impact that CCS and the City of Detroit had on two recent alums’ experiences. Influenced by Diego Rivera’s Industrial Revolution mural, which is located in the Detroit Institute of Arts, the mural, created by Salivahana Pattur (‘22, Advertising Design) and Vidit Singh Chhikara (‘22, Product Design), is a visual representation of hope for the CCS community and located in the Walter B. Ford II Building on the Walter and Josephine Ford campus.

PAYING IT

JUST FIVE YEARS POST CCS, ANDREW RUDD FOUND HIMSELF BACK IN DETROIT, RETURNING AS AN INDUSTRY PROFES -

SIONAL, AND READY TO PAY IT FORWARD IN THE VERY STUDIOS HE GOT HIS START IN.

In 2019, ANDREW RUDD (‘17, Transportation Design) found his place as an industrial designer at Zoox, an up-and-coming, LA-based startup founded to make personal transportation “safer, cleaner and more enjoyable — for everyone.” Zoox aims to provide mobility-as-a-service in dense urban environments, and in 2020, it proved itself in the autonomous market and was acquired by Amazon for $1.2 billion.

Zoox offered Rudd an opportunity to think beyond just the elements of design. “I love to tell stories, and if I couldn’t do that — I was going to leave car design,” Rudd said. “Zoox was the only company that drew me in that wasn’t just a car design studio, but a future storytelling company.”

Recently, Rudd found himself back in Detroit as an industry professional, introducing his colleagues to his alma mater and ready to pay it forward by providing students an incredible opportunity through a Zoox-sponsored studio course.

The course challenged undergraduate Transportation Design and graduate Color & Materials Design students to think of car design as a story, and not just a sketch or a drawing. This led to students being inspired by a wide array of things — from their childhood memories to the different elements of nature — and the end results were nothing short of revolutionary.

Check out the video featuring Rudd and the inspiring work of the CCS students he worked alongside.

F RWARD“Think of car design as a story, and not just a sketch or a drawing.”

The Zoox-sponsored studio course led to the students drawing inspiration from a wide array of things. While some students took inspiration from childhood memories, others were inspired by unlikely sources, like the anatomy of a pufferfish.

INDUSTRY

“Storytelling inspired me, and that’s what you need to take into the world. It’s going to make you a better designer.”

“To be a good designer, you don’t have to be an amazing artist. Find your strengths and your passions, and use that as an extension of your work.”

POW!

The first time you experience the work of South Korean alumna UIJUNG KIM (‘13, Illustration), you’re struck by how vibrant and joyful it is. Her playful figures and bold color schemes are inspired by Japanese characters, including “Kogepan” — literally “Burnt Bread” — and they’re pretty addictive. Here’s what she had to say about her style, what it takes to maintain a freelance illustration career, and why she wouldn’t want to do anything else.

How did you get started in illustration?

I tried many things before illustration. But what I wanted most was to tell stories that were personal to me. I recommend doing what you love, and

good things will happen as long as you don’t quit.

Faculty at CCS who were particularly helpful?

Don Kilpatrick, chair of Illustration, encouraged me to pursue illustration and taught me about fashion illustration as well. Lora Parlove prepared me for the real world. I still have her paper in front of my desk. She is great. Stephanie Henderson helped teach me basic oil painting. I learned about and fell in love with color. And Frank Zerilli (’12, Illustration), taught me Adobe Illustrator, showed me American culture and exposed me to many new things. He was my classmate, and now he’s my husband!

Influences? Inspiration?

I am influenced by many cute Japanese characters. I had a notebook when I was little, and it had an illustration of this burnt bread man character, Kogepan. I love how simple it is. Also watching Dragon Ball and playing the game Animal Crossing. I want to make art like that someday!

What’s it like to freelance?

It’s a really challenging job. You can’t predict the next project. Just have patience. It makes me happy that I can make illustrations that make other people happy.

Where can we find your illustrations?

I pitched an idea for a book to Cicada, and they liked my idea. I just finished! It’s about subway systems around the world — I even designed the book’s layout. It has been the best experience in my career so far. I had work selected for American Illustration 38 I also got to do the cover of PLANADVISER, a sticker set, Box Girl, for Facebook, and I’ve had work in The New York Times

Advice on becoming an illustrator?

Be patient, and do personal work when you don’t have a job. If your work is good, clients will connect with you. I always want my work to be better, and I am still learning every day. Also, save money and learn how to invest it. The more you can save, the more options you will have open to you.

Opposite, left to right: Illustrations for PLANADVISER and PLANSPONSOR, SooJin Buzelli, Art Director. This page, top to bottom: The New York Times online, Melody Newcomb, Art Director. Hello and Floating Market, Vietnam Box Girl illustration for Facebook, Liz Sparber, Art Director.

After EVAN BUTKA (‘10, Photography) graduated from CCS, he took a trip out to Los Angeles and, like so many others trying to break into Hollywood, picked up some low-level video work. Fast forward to a production assistant (PA) gig with Ellen DeGeneres and Sofia Vergara, which led to a job with HBO working on the popular drama series, “Euphoria.” The series follows a group of high school students as they navigate love, friendships, drugs, sex, trauma and social media.

How did Butka get there? It all started with a conversation with a Director of Photography on an Apple commercial shoot. Butka had never dreamt of living outside of Metro Detroit, but found himself saying,

ALUMNUS EVAN BUTKA TOOK A CHANCE, MOVED TO CALIFORNIA, AND AFTER A FEW YEARS WAS BOOKED TO WORK ON HBO’S “EUPHORIA.” HE TALKS ABOUT “EUPHORIA” AND HOW TO NAVIGATE THE RELENTLESS WORLD OF HOLLYWOOD.

“Hey, I want to move to LA. Would you help me out?” And the Director of Photography said, “Oh, absolutely. You just have to move out there first.” “I’d never been to LA in my life, and I was like, okay, well, sure. I’ll just book a vacation out there and see what happens.”

On his vacation to Los Angeles, Butka got a one-day job as a PA. The talent on that shoot was Ellen DeGeneres and Sofia Vergara. This led to a move to LA, more PA jobs, a position doing Technicolor, joining the union as a Digital Imaging Technician (DIT), primarily working in the commercial industry as a Director of Photography, and eventually, the position with the show “Euphoria.”

Initially skeptical about the email that he received in November 2018, because the work was behind-the-scenes (BTS) on “Euphoria,” he did a few phone interviews, and realized that the position wasn’t just BTS, but also stylized and promotional pieces. This worked out for Butka, but he ran into another problem — he was shooting a movie and HBO wanted to book him for the entire first season of “Euphoria” The spot was between Butka and two others, but HBO decided to go with Butka and work around his schedule, based on the content they saw on his Instagram and his personality.

Working your way up in Hollywood is said to be cutthroat. You either make it or you don’t. But Butka says that having a great personality and being an overall good person can get you further than expected.

He experienced a few people who took advantage of his naivety when he first moved to LA, because he was a “transplant,” which is someone who moves to LA in pursuit of fame or a career in film or music. Butka’s advice to others like him is, “Find a core group of people.” For him, those were other “transplants,” because they had also just moved there and didn’t know anyone, didn’t have anything but were willing to help others.

“All of a sudden, you have like three or four people that you can kind of all do jobs together, and then the nice thing is like, you know, one person moves up. Then they get to hire everybody else and bring them up a level.”

Opposite: Season 1, Episode 4, Rue Bennet (Zendaya) and Jules Vaughn (Hunter Schafer). Above: Season 1, Episode 7, Cassie Howard (Sydney Sweeney) and Lexi Howard (Maude Apatow), HBO’s “Euphoria” 2019.

“THERE’S NOTHING BETTER THAN BEING A NICE PERSON.”

ANYONE, DIDN’T HAVE ANYTHING, BUT WERE WILLING TO HELP OTHERS.”

A KNIGHT’S JOURNEY TO STORYBOARDING

THIS CONCEPT ARTIST AND ALUM SHOWS US WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE TO DO WHAT YOU LOVE AND LOVE WHAT YOU DO

Fated by the creative responsibility of Storyboarding, Jaylen Tate-LucAS (’19, Entertainment Arts), takes us through the hero’s journey of creating a storyboard.

My name is Jaylen, and I have been knighted in the art of storyboarding for Warner Bros. Animation.

The journey begins with our production staff providing us with the script and necessary referenceS for the new episode cycle to start the multi-week missiOn.

With the resources in hand, I meet with the director and we work together to develop the first ideas and notes about the script and the episode as a whole.

Thumbnails focus on telling a clear story, so I avoid important details.

My director then reviews my boards to fix mistakes and add more style and flare.

Using my knowledge and perspective of design, gesture, screen direction, character action and more, I begin to lay the visual foundation for the story I’ve been presented with.

After adjusting to the director and producer notes, I go through and give the drawings a clean makeover.

Then, the cycle begins anew …

My journey ends when the studio sends the episode to the holy animators who bring our drawings to life before they hit the screens everywhere.

Finally, we present our episode to the studio itself and await the final approval.

BESSIAKE

HABACUC SAMUEL BESSIAKE (’21, Illustration), Muralist and Teaching Artist, found CCS through after-school programs provided by Community Arts Partnerships (CAP). His first job was as a student muralist, painting schools and blighted houses. Coming full circle, he now works for CAP as a Muralist and Teaching Assistant. “Don’t be intimidated by the size of the wall. You would be surprised by what your little hands can do.”

RYAN DAVIS (’21, Product Design), Industrial Designer at PING, checked the career site every week for two years.

“Some say, you have to be at the right place at the right time,” Davis said. “But I say, you have to work hard and be prepared, so that you’re ready when that time comes.”

He encourages young professionals to get out of their comfort zone by showing portfolios to teachers, students, friends and job prospects for different perspectives.

RYAN PRODUCTDAVISDESIGN

oftointerviewandcheckoutthecampus.Myinterviewconsisted managers,presentingmyportfoliofortheproductteam,engineers, innovationteam,vicepresidentandpresident-all workseparately,itwasreallyanexhaustingday.(Beabletoexplainyour exceptinginsideandouttodifferentcrowds,notjustdesigners!!)After myoffer,ItradedinMichiganwintersforthedesertheat. Theworkenvironmenthasgonebeyondmyexpectations.Myfirst day,Iwasgivenmydesk,computer,wacom,productdeadlinesforthe upcomingyearandgottowork!Ihadtobeproactivenavigatingthe space,thereisn’tanyonetoholdyourhandandexplaineverydetail. There’slotoffreedominthataspect.Ineverhaveamanger/engineer lookingovermyshouldermakingsureI’mmeetingmydeadlinesor oncheckingmywork.Ihavetobeextremelyorganized.I’mcurrentlyworking engineers.fifteendifferentprojects,withfiveengineersandthreesenior It’saninterdisciplinaryweb,Iwillgettogetherwithan andengineer,leadengineer,innovationteamateandhashoutourobjectives Presidentgoalsforthatparticularlineandconductweeklymeetingswiththe andVicePresidentofPING.Beingfamilyowned,theyarevery handson.Theyliketomaketheirroundsintheofficefrequentlyand randomlycheckinonproductupdates,soit’simportanttoalwayshavea

have to experiment with ideas. Take risks early in the project.”

Togetthejobyou want, staydiligentandsetgoals!

checked

ALUMNI GO FROM STUDIOS ON CAMPUS TO CAREERS THEY HAVE ONLY DREAMT OF, MAKING THEIR DREAMS A REALITY. THESE ALUMS ARE MAKING AN IMPACT ACROSS INDUSTRIES.

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C E LM E E L

ANKIT UKIL (’21, Transportation Design), Jr. Vehicle Designer at Tesla contributed to the 2019 Cybertruck. Ukil has wanted to become a car designer ever since he was 12 years old when he realized that a career in car design existed. During his time at CCS, a recruiter from Tesla offered him two summer internships, which eventually led to a full-time position.

“Tesla isn’t just any car company — they’re focused on making a global impact toward sustainable energy, and so far, Tesla has been making impacts that go beyond the automotive industry.”

Ukil is inspired to work every day by the people who push him to design exciting products to shape the future of the industry. “This is a cliché, but work as hard as you can during your time in school,” he said. “Don’t forget to look around at all of the amazing talent you have access to, this will help you get better at your craft. Ask other students and upperclassmen to view your work before weekly critiques, so that you can learn from the talent you’re surrounded by.”

Ilana

ILANA PORTNEY-PRESTON (‘21, Advertising Design, minor in Film) is a Freelance Production Designer. Within a year of graduation, she worked on projects for A-list celebrities, including Bella Hadid, J. Cole, Ryan Reynolds, Charlie Puth, The Black Keys, Fetty Wap and Fivio Foreign, along with a host of companies, including StockX, MTV, SNIPES (an Adidas collab) and more.

For StockX, she did the production design for an entire campaign. She worked with the Art Director in terms of design and aesthetics and was sent concept ideas, details on the expected vibe, and how they wanted it interpreted.

“I’m incredibly grateful for the time I put in at CCS and the teachers who have helped set a precedent of work standards,” she said. “I had no idea that this would be the outcome, and I would do it all over again.”

MADIE GRAHAM (’22, Communication Design), is currently a Design Intern at Teal Media. One of her biggest dreams involved entering the social impact design space with a brand and writing focus — a sector of the industry, which emphasizes human-centered social justice practices through a critical lens. She also dreamt of working in a diverse and representative space that’s led by women, after realizing early on that who you work with matters more to her than what she does.

“Teal has everything I could have wanted. Its values, it’s a non-profit, the clients are progressive, and most importantly, the incredibly inspiring team I learn from every day,” she said. “It’s an inclusive environment where everyone’s voice matters.”

COVER ARTWORK