Flash Gurus (Pt II) Curtis & Da Silva

Alternative animation

Nicholas Da Silva shares in many ways this progression from web to dedicated motion work, while keeping Flash central to taking his chosen art form forward.
Obsessed with drawing and showing creative promise from an early age, the young Da Silva famously earned recognition from the Ford motor company after his dad encouraged him to send car sketches to the firm. “Ford thanked me for submitting my work but stated that it was against their policy to accept outside materials”, Da Silva recalls. “They encouraged me to continue my drawings and included a cheque for $1,500 to pursue a degree in car design.” It was advice he chose to ignore, although he did major in pre-engineering and architecture after a two-year stint at college. Still determined to go his own way and loaded with influences garnered from travelling the world with his parents, he joined the advertising agency Lewis and Partners as a graphic designer. Five years later, in 1999 Da Silva founded his own agency PaperMotion with business partner Ronny Fuad, a venture that lasted until 2001 and yielded work for clients like Grand Royal Records, Charles Schwab and ex-Fugee Wyclef Jean. It was during this time that he formed the ZOOLOOK.com site and brand, primarily as an outlet for animated projects such as Dread & Alive, TGSNT (The Greatest Story Never Told), Hitless and the Cavedudez. An FWA site award helped to stimulate millions of hits for the site in only the first few weeks of going live, showing enough promise to spawn accompanying graphic novels and comics. “First, I strive to be original in my design process – to be an innovator and not an imitator. I don’t find pleasure in creating something that has already been done. Instead, I push the boundaries of my imagination to create something that has never been seen before.” Part of this innovative spirit is also channelled into giving other Flash filmmakers the chance to showcase their efforts, culminating in Da Silva’s launch of FlashTV in 2000. These days, the project hosts animation shorts, comics, games and music from contributors all over the globe. “I see myself producing feature-length movies created entirely in Flash, and distributing them via the web through a pay-per-view model”, Da Silva told touchmove.com. “I believe that day is coming. I also see myself producing the next generation of digital comic books that can be viewed on digital devices like the Sony PSP and the iPod, but also offering a more engaging experience to the user.”

Places of worship // www.hillmancurtis.com // www.yahoo.com // http://paramountvantage.com // www.zoolook.com // www.iwantmyflashtv.com

“Wikipedia: ‘A guru is a person who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom and authority in a certain area, and uses it to guide others.’ When it comes to Flash, there’s one person that stands above the rest: Colin Moock. Without his books as a companion through the years, I’d still be back on square one. Also, Grant Skinner, Aral Balkan and Alessandro Crugnola, to name but a few, has been a great source of inspiration and help in the past.”
Magnus Askenback on Gurus

(This article originally appeared in Web Designer 150, written by Mark Billen)

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