One of my early heroes in the new media field was “Hillman Curtis”:http://hillmancurtis.com/ . Sadly he passed away last April 18 at the age of 51.
I remember buying “Flash Web Design: The Art of Motion Graphics”, one of Hillman’s early books. I never got good at Flash but I’ve always been fascinated by his work.
Hillman Curtis was multi-talented and I would say a master of reinvention. He wasn’t always a graphic designer and a filmmaker. He started out as a rock musician and got interested in graphic design because he made posters for their band. He got into motion design because video-editing software, computers that run it, and digital video cameras became more affordable.
I think one of the biggest mistakes we can make in life is being stagnant. We stick to what we know and become afraid to venture out into new things. At 34 I was thinking that I’m going to be too old to do something new. I was reminded by Hillman Curtis’ story when I found out about his death. While he is not considered old, I feel that in his life he’s done so many different things that it made his life very interesting. His depth of experience allowed him to be the creative genius that he is.
I think all of us should strive to reinvent ourselves several times over in our lifetime. That’s not to say we should change careers or what. Merely just forcing us to learn new things and look at the world differently. With new perspective we can then apply it to our lives and hopefully improve who we are.
I’m trying to look at new things to learn and hopefully as my 35th birthday approaches use that milestone as a marker to reinvent myself and do something new. Most of all I want to find and learn something new that I am extremely passionate about. I’ve always believed that that a person who found his or her passion and does it day in and day out of it is one of the luckiest people on earth.
Rest in peace Mr. Hillman Curtis. Thank you for the inspiration. The world has lost another creative genius. You will be missed.