Another good one from Fox Sports.

This FSN spot was designed entirely in-house in a single mac with no budget. The first set of boards turned out a little too conservative and corporate looking, so we went nuts with the next ones. We designed a patchwork of visually dense and varied frames which became the style for the spot. Originally we wanted to use sets of animated stills exclusively, but ended up running out of time and had to throw some b-roll in the spot to keep the energy up and hopefully the viewer interested.

Credits

Creative Director – Rob Hoover
Design/Animation – Tom Neston
Edit – Kirk Smith
Sound Design – Jay Hayes

Bryan Matthews is moving from the Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks to the Buffalo Bills as their new Creative Director. Bryan worked for the United Center for 2 great seasons and leaves some big shoes to fill. Good luck in Buffalo Bryan.

Here’s a look at his current reel.

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Ben Sutter of the Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks recently updated his site.

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Sorry for the lack of updates, I was on vacation for a couple weeks. But I’m back now, and if you haven’t heard the ‘Making it look great 6‘ tutorial has just been released. Looks to be a great one, with the always helpful Tim Clapham.

Finally, the ultimate single workshop for Cinema 4D and After Effects. Work side–by–side with designer, Cinema 4D expert and Mograph master Tim Clapham as you create a stunning, multi-layered news opener from start to finish. This training is jam-packed with techniques, tips and shortcuts including real-world techniques for getting the most out of the Cinema 4D Mographmodule. Suitable for beginner and intermediate users or anyone serious about mastering Cinema 4D with After Effects at an industry level.

Here’s a short intro video.

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More great work from Jarratt Moody. I’m a huge fan of this piece.
Looks like trapcode form, sounds like Sigur Ros.

Wilson (Spec) from Jarratt Moody on Vimeo.

I’d have to say this is as close to “classic” as it gets for sports graphics. Drive did a fantastic job. Great camera moves, animation. Big glossy 3D. I think there is a lot to learn from here.

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After a lot of long days tweaking code the new graphicsmafia.com is live. Overall, I ditched the featured projects at the top. Those seemed to get a little stale and linger for too long, but the category is still here and you can view any previous “Featured” post here or navigate towards the top bar which has the top 9 categories. All you Internet Explorer users should have a better browsing experience as the site seems to work for IE7 and up. Let me know.

I’ve got the links to other great sports motion graphics related sites, tabbed into their respective categories. Should be easier to find what you want instead of an impossibly long list. As for tutorials, look for future posts to have more of a discussion and links to existing tutorials. If a tutorial doesn’t exist, maybe I’ll just make one

As always, thanks for visiting and I look forward to hearing what you have to say about the new look.

Came across some great work from New York-based designer Daniel Garcia for Nike.

Daniel Garcia is a New York-based designer/art-director specializing in developing content for today’s leading and emerging brands.He began his career at global agency DDB, where he worked on a number of international campaigns for Budweiser, Volkswagen, and McDonald’s. Daniel was drawn to the production side of advertising/communication and so opted to freelance with several NY, LA, and European production companies and design studios. His talent and unconventional artistic approach drew the attention of MTV, Nike, Sony and other image-based brands, with whom he maintains continuing relationships. In 2001, he co-founded a startup that has since ballooned into a full-scale, European-based visual communications agency, Super-Fi. Daniel continues to consult for Super-Fi as well as freelance for a handful of agencies, networks, and studios. His passion lies in giving shape to ideas and collaborating with top talent to create memorable works that are both visually stimulating and emotionally engaging.

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I’m a little late on this one. But National Television did a fantatic job with their ESPN MLB opening day animation.

Take a look at this article by George Johnson of ESPN, and in particular what he has to say about the Chicago Blackhawks pre-game jumbotron show. I should note that I’m good friends with everyone over there, and contribute to the graphics whenever possible, so its nice to read this.

13. Easily the best pregame JumboTron video package we’ve seen
Reverential yet modern, as current as Kane’s curls and as old-school as a Billy Reay fedora. The Golden Jet, Stan Mikita, Tony O, Mr. Goalie, Keith Magnusson, Pierre Pilote, J.R., Eddie the Eagle, Dipsy-Doodle Denis, Al Secord … what else could a slavish shinny devotee possibly ask for?

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs/2009/news?columnist=johnson_george&id=4114044