12. April 2009 · Allgemein Im Fokus: Mauricio Alexis Estrella
Ein Interview der etwas anderen Art mit dem Grafikdesigner und CEO Mauricio Alexis Estrella über seine Person, seine Kunst und sein neuestes Projekt.
I had the honor to ask the Graphic Designer Mauricio Alexis Estrella some questions, which he answered great in his very own way.
1. First of all I would like to thank you for taking the time. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do?
Mauricio Alexis Estrella: Hello!
I'm Mauricio Alexis Estrella, known all over the internet as "Manicho". I born in the LOST* Island but live in Quito - Ecuador since I was 2. I have a major in Software Development and another one in Fine Arts. Mixing the two careers has been great and it’s giving me good results so far!
I’m a lonely person... I don’t really like the outside work as I’ve had personal experiences that developed some sort of a social disorder. I murdered 10 people and I usually drink a lot before writing an interview. OH SNAP. Erase that.
I'm the CEO/Director of Banicci™ Studios, the Advertising Agency I opened with a friend of mine from Argentina and also a part-time teacher at the Metropolitan Institute of Design & Fine Arts, at Ecuador. Since all my life has been surrounded by artsy people, most of my hobbies includes several forms of art through sculpture, traditional painting, music, dance, performances, etc.
Man. I sound boring. But I’m not!
2. Please tell us more about your art background and how did you get involved with design and digital art and what do you enjoy most about it?
Mauricio Alexis Estrella: I've been designing for several years, and right now it's pretty much what gives me money to survive: eat, party, drink, eat, sleep. I started doodling stuff when I was 13, mostly naked anime or Disney characters... Years after, my uncle invited me to work at his small business as a handyman... I stole a copy of Photoshop from there and started to mess around on my free time until he saw what I did... He helped me a bit with more resources and my first client! Now I'm proudly a recognized designer here in my country and the rest of the planet. :D
What I most enjoy about my work is the chance I have to express myself through art. I love the essence of things and their inherit concepts, which I try to catch and reproduce through my art. One of the things I hate the most about it is the lack of social life I have. I can count my friends with 10 fingers, 3 breasts and 5 balls.
My work eats most of my time, and handling your own time can be complicated.
3. Where do you get inspiration for new projects? What inspires you most?
Mauricio Alexis Estrella: Well... I've been trying a lot of different styles since the beginning. I've come across Illustration, Photography, Vector, Pixel-art, Icons Design, Web Design and even some 3D stuff. All those didn’t come out that good since I never found a good source of inspiration... but right now its completely different.
What inspires me more is music. I’m a musician myself, and I always enjoy the feelings I get from it, and I always tried to find a way to blend the groove and vibes I get from music with the designs I create. Sci-Fi is also a great source of inspiration for my personal projects. I’m an addict to scifi movies, tv shows, books, websites, etc... I think the possibility to unbound the limits that our reality crops on our minds is a cool add-on for the creative process.
My secondary source of inspiration comes from butts. But that’s another kind of groove.
3. Could you explain our readers your normal flow of work when you’re working on a new design project?
Mauricio Alexis Estrella: I always try to have single projects such as Identity, Web layouts or Print designs in less than 4 days. That gives me enough time to create sketches, concepts, develop final artwork, fine tuning and approval. If all goes good, all my projects are paid 4-5 days after I setup the contract with my client.
When a potential client contacts me, I start with a welcome email to introduce myself and give them a closer approach to what I am and what I do. On the same email I refer to the development process, deadline setups, request the brief of the project and then I give them my quote, depending of what they want. I work with a fixed rate per hour and sometimes a pricing for a package, if the project demands it.
For the Studio projects, I always handle a very professional language and corporative-themed conversations, trying to give the big clients the treat they expect from a serious brand. It works flawlessly, but many people still like the close contact and more friendly treatments language-wise.
Finally, I deliver the source files once the payment is clear and the client is 100% satisfied. Try it. Works like a charm. Although the global crisis is hard, there are still ways to get through it.
4. Tell us what do you consider to be the best piece of art you ever designed and how you came up with it.
Mauricio Alexis Estrella: I had to recognize that the works that most popularity gave me are my wallpapers, but I don’t like to be recognized for being “a wallpaper guy”. One of the projects I enjoyed the most was the first pack known as “The week project”, since I experimented a new way to work and the results were amazing. I’m proud of those and since that day my style has been going up and expanding to new generations of young designers and talented people. My 2nd most favourite pack was a 10-images series I did that were supposed to be launched as “The week project 3”, but Microsoft contacted me and bought all the rights for it, and I had a NDA signed that doesn’t allow me to even show thumbs of it. :P Trust me, it’s amazing. Too bad I can’t show it off. Hehe.
5. Your actual project is banicci. Tell us a bit about it and where does the interesting name come from?
Mauricio Alexis Estrella: Most of my work in the last years was pure freelance from home, but I decided to take the next step and open my own company and try to get a backbone support from other talented minds and supply my clients a better approach to their needing through our studio work.
I talked with Facundo Talepp, a talented designer from Argentina, since I always liked his style and the high quality on each piece from him. After a quick talk, we planned the launch of Banicci™ and now we have a strong teamwork of talented people from all across the planet. The current staff has around 30 people, although most of the projects are handled by the main agents (5 people in total) with their respective sub-teams and stuff.
We started with big projects and the team is happy so far. I’m still trying to get a more stable income for all of us, but the SEO work is more complicated than I thought, and I’m slowly learning how to start up a business like this. God help us!
The name BANICCI means nothing. It is an uncommon last name in Italy, but it doesn’t have any special meaning. I just wanted a one-word brand name that sounded “European”, that was easy to remember, catchy, and had a visual appealing through a simple logo. The easily recognizable circled shapes on the characters of the brand caught people’s attention and it is working as I expected, since I carefully picked the name and imagery after studying it for several weeks.
We offer all kind of services and we have really competitive prices that starts at $99 for certain packages. Check us out at http://banicci.com for more info.
6. Mauricio, thank you for this great interview and the final words are up to you.
Mauricio Alexis Estrella: Thanks a lot to you Johannes for the chance. Your site is really cool and I’m honoured to have the chance to appear there. Congratulations on it and keep it up!
My latest words would be:
- Don't copy styles.
- Don't be a "tribute-to-x-person" artist.
- Don't become a "fan-art god".
- Don't stay behind the line of creativity.
The most simple and useful advice would be: Be yourself. Do what you want, the way you want. If people like it, great! If people don't, great! It's still your art, your way to express yourself.
Also... Fuck existing trends. Go create them!
Cheers, -M.
Weiterführende Links:
Über den Autor
Johannes D.
Deutschland
Ist Chefredakteur bei styleAddicted und interessiert sich für grafische Gestaltung, Photographie und Musik.
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