We are very excited to have the opportunity to interview Gary Gorzoch, Owner and Creative Director of 44M Design Studio. Gary, who has worked in consumer product and advertising promotional design for more than 25 years, recently utilized PixelSquid objects in his latest advertising campaign work created for the Dungeons & Dragons brand in collaboration with 80sTees.com. A man of many talents, Gary designed the featured products and the musical score, in addition to the 30-second commercial spot.
PixelSquid: When starting a new project like your commercial for Dungeons & Dragons and 80sTees.com, what kind of timelines are you typically working with, and how much information is usually provided by the client for you to start?
Gary Gorzoch: Our Licensing contact at Wizards of the Coast (owner of the D&D IP/brand with Hasbro) informed us on May 25th that they are having a D&D Live streaming event in support of the Red Nose Day charity and could we get them an approved, 30-second spot to run throughout by June 3rd. Of course, we are going to say YES to free promotion from one of the biggest, most memorable brands in history! Their media team didn’t give any information of what they wanted in detail, other than the technical video specs and file types requested. Kevin, the owner of 80sTees has always let me run with ideas. He told me, “It’s all you!” and that was awesome to hear! So, it was completely open to me what was in the advertisement. Since we just launched new products with the brand, it was great timing to show as many tees as possible in 30 seconds.
PS: That’s a lot of freedom for such a short timeline! As a Creative Director, what role does PixelSquid play in helping you channel your creativity quickly?
GG: PixelSquid for me has been great when I need to draw new elements and need some good reference to look at with different angles and perspectives. I also figured that working it into things like the promotional video for Dungeons & Dragons worked great, as I had a short time frame and a lack of physical Medieval references for a “live action” commercial.
PS: Sounds like this isn’t your first rodeo with 80sTees. Are there any other renowned companies you can share with us that you’ve done work for that you’ve also used PixelSquid to create?
GG: At 80sTees, we work with A LOT of official vintage brands and the list is pretty long. Hasbro alone has a ton, Dungeons & Dragons, G.I. Joe, Transformers, My Little Pony, Jem, Monopoly and too many more. That is just ONE of the companies we work with. If PixelSquid elements fit something we need, who knows where they’ll end up! A multi-brand promotional poster/cover I am working on used some rocks as references from PixelSquid.
PS: You have been in this line of work for a while. Do you have any advice for 2D artists looking to satisfy clients who are looking for that “live action” look?
GG: Use ALL the tools you can to help satisfy your clients faster. Speedy but with quality is the key! Using the right tools will speed up your production output in concept development and execution making everyone happy.
PS: So with this commercial wrapped up, are you working on anything new and exciting right now?
GG: Of course! Right now we are working on bringing out some vintage Hasbro brands like The Visionaries & Rom the Space Knight. Transformers and G.I. Joe have a huge brand re-launch right now with new toys selling out in minutes… 80sTees is always working hard to provide high quality nostalgia-driven products that REAL fans want. We even take requests as to what they’d want to see. After all, we ARE real fans too…
Gary Gorzoch is a 25+ year career-driven Creative Director that has developed a very broad range of consumer products and marketing and promotion visual media for some of the world’s most popular brands. His products, from brands like Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, Hasbro, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, can be found worldwide in all major retailers. He credits his childhood pastimes recreating iconic toy and skateboarding graphics, airbrushing clothing, and doing graffiti drawings, which later translated into scholarly studies in art, design, and architecture as the origins of his graphic design-like thinking.
Interested in seeing more of Gary’s work? Check out his Instagram page where he often posts in-progress images of new products and loves to interact with fellow fans to create new things inspired by what they love.
You can also find 80sTees on their website and on Instagram.
If you’re interested in being featured in our artist tutorials and spotlights, you can email our content team at marketing@pixelsquid.com.