When did you start getting into illustration and animation?

Dudes hey! I got into making funny things when I was more of a kid than I am now. So probably when I was about in mid-highschool. Walt Disney's old B-Roll tapes of Milt Kahl, Frank & Ollie & other crazy animators kick started it all. After seeing adults getting real jobs making things for kids all day, I knew it was what I had to do. I didn't want a boring office job. I always doodled things for fun, but never took it seriously until WB studios took me in as a super young intern when I was in highschool.

What do you draw inspiration from?

Life! Everything around me inspires me. Funny people on the street. Co-workers, friends, animals, people on tv, moustaches, bears, monocles, accents, music, smells, etc.

What's it about goofy characters that you enjoy so much?

They are so interesting! Regular is boring. Who really gives a hoot about a boring business man named bob with an average comb over and a 9-5? Goofballs and freaks are the coolest. They cause mayhem and riots. They shake things up and add life and buzz to anything they interact with. Flaws are the most interesting attributes to me because they are connected to back stories.

How has moving to the United States changed your work?

Best decision I've ever made. Even moving down here from Vancouver, BC was liberating. I'm currently hanging out in Portland, OR, where a bunch of my best friends (who are also creatives) work & live. Being able to collaborate on projects, share & soak up ideas is so valuable. I feel like this is a country where I can grow a lot and meet such a crazy bunch of amazingly talented people.

How would you describe your style?

Gosh, I don't even know. I know I am inspired by Walt Disney - more specifically classical design of Milt Kahl, the contemporary styles of Stephen Silver, Teddy Newton & the whacky work of John Kricfalusi. I love loose & crazy lines that flow forever. Experimenting with colour is always a kick. I also love anything to do with the North West, including bears, big trees, mountains, greens, browns, blues, & anything fresh.

What's in the future for you?

I hope for flying cars & robots that can chew my food for me. However, in the near future, I want to be working with fun people all day long. Directing and producing cool ideas as well as executing them. Making films, finishing films I've always wanted to. Just going with the flow and making the coolest things I can possibly make with my mind and hands makes me happy. Heck, I'd love to come and hang out with you guys in NY sometime and high-five each other in the future. Pencil me in.

Thanks for using Carbonmade! Has it been helpful?

No thank YOU! I love Carbonmade. I've been a fan of it for many years, and only just decided to share all of my work after I started exploding cool projects out of my fingers. I am excited to see all the sexy new features roll out, plagued by octopuses and other tentacled things. Carbonmade has built such a powerful community & platform for exposing artists. You are way better than the latest thing that has trumped 'the coolest thing since sliced bread'.

Thanks for chatting with us!

For more of Pasquale's work check out his Carbonmade portfolio: http://psql.carbonmade.com/

Four years ago, in December 2005, Carbonmade was born! There weren't many features back then — not even a sign-up form. You'd have to e-mail Dave and he'd manually create an account for you. There were only a handful of people using it, but there was a lot of love for what we were doing — both on the design side and for the idea. We were the very first online portfolio around.

It's strange to think back and remember that we started working on Carbonmade four years ago. It doesn't feel like four years. And in fact we've only been working on Carbonmade full-time the last year or so; that started when we closed our design studio and turned our full attention to Carbonmade in 2008. The last 18 months have been quite a journey for us (new office, new hire, etc.), and you'll begin to see the fruits of our labor over the next few months.

To celebrate our birthday, we want go give away one Whoo! account for each year we've been around. To enter, all you've got to do is leave a comment telling us what your artistic goals are for 2010. For example, "I hope to feature my paintings in a fine-arts gallery in New York City" or "Complete a photo series featuring close-up portraits of my kooky friends." Four random winners will receive an upgrade.

Happy holidays to all!

We got a neat little surprise today. Computer Arts magazine wrote up a little blurb on us in their latest issue. Here's the transcript: "At the time of writing, the Carbonmade website boasts 157,607 portfolios already. Across all the design disciplines, like Behance, is one of the main creative talent pools on the web. It’s a crowded space, but an exhilarating one." Rad.

Great news! As of the first of the year, we'll be assisted by the able skills of one of our favorite designers, Grant Blakeman (portfolio). Along with generally prettying up the joint, Grant will be helping us complete the next version of Carbonmade.

We've been following Grant's work for over a year, and are very much impressed. Besides his design projects, he publishes a really great blog, is an exceptional photographer, an avid reader, an active cyclist, and trail runner.

Grant will be working primarily from Boulder, but in mid-January he’ll be spending a week with us here in New York, to work out of our office. We’re looking forward to getting to know him outside of work as well – maybe taking a bike ride around the city, weather permitting, and putting away some tasty New York grub.

Please join us in welcoming Grant.

Photo Credit: Dustin Henderlong

We get a lot of tweets and e-mails about the Carbonmade name, what it means, and how we got it. Way back in the day, Carbonmade use to be the name of Dave's blog. He blogged about a lot of random things from music to design. When the idea of Carbonmade came about – in December, 2005 – Dave decided to use Carbonmade as the name for the online portfolio tool he built. The name breaks down to: We are "carbon" based life forms and we "make" things. Hence, Carbonmade. And that's the story of why we're called Carbonmade.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the early years of Carbonmade on my blog. It’s an interesting read if you want to know more about our company. It’s the history of Carbonmade from its start in early 2006 up to our reaching 100,000 registered users in March 2009 and how we got there. Fun tidbits include: we began as a design firm, Carbonmade was built for Dave to manage his portfolio, and lots more.

We're growing faster than ever, and as of last week are the largest online portfolio website in the world. To keep up with our astonishing growth, we're making huge upgrades to our web infrastructure. We've chosen to host with Rackspace, which runs a world-class data center hosting some of the largest websites on the Internet (LinkedIn, 37signals, Razorfish, etc.). We're stoked to host your portfolios with, arguably, the best data center in the world.

At 5PM EST this Sunday we’ll begin the upgrade by temporarily disabling portfolio administration and new sign-ups. Your portfolio will remain online. Once the final data synchronization is complete, we'll flip the switch and you'll be back in business. The migration should take no longer than an hour, and we'll be posting updates to Twitter throughout the process. If you have any questions, please e-mail us.

Update: Our move went flawlessly! All is well.

What is it about working with mixed media that interests you most?

I started doing collage at a young age -- I would cut up pieces of paper and use found objects to create collages that were sometimes sculptural. I remember coming across Dada and the photomontages of Hannah Hoch, and really feeling inspired by how Hoch placed juxtaposing images within the same space, often making commentary on industrialization, race or gender. Romare Bearden’s collages also inspire me, and his use of color and amazing cut outs, which create palatable atmospheres and moods. There’s something about the simultaneity of collage that turns me on; I like seeing different shapes and images living together that are at times, powerful, ironic, chaotic or just funny. As I explored collage, I started experimenting with different materials and how they could coexist within the same space. Mixed media appeals to me because I like the element of experimentation involved in working with and mixing different materials. I remember doing little experiments with ink, ground graphite, turpentine, rubbing alcohol and bleach, and observing the results; it was like being a creative scientist. Like humans, I like how materials have their own inner workings -- sometimes they flow together, create tension, coalesce or resist one another.

How has living in Brooklyn influenced you as an artist?

One of my favorite things to do in Brooklyn is to walk from neighborhood to neighborhood, let’s say from Fort Greene up Atlantic Ave. to Carroll Gardens and Gowanus and end up at Prospect Park or I may walk through Fort Greene Park over to Myrtle and end up in Clinton Hill where my community garden resides. Or walk through Brooklyn Heights end up by the water and DUMBO and find my way back to Flatbush Ave. I pay attention to the landscape, how spaces are structured, and intersected by different elements, such as the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges, old buildings, and the elevated G train with its flickering lights, that pierces the sky. I am inspired by how Brooklyn neighborhoods are connected and how we move through them. When living in London, I used to map my movements through the city and explore the shape of my movements. I am interested in doing similar projects here in Brooklyn because I am fascinated by how neighborhoods are connected or disconnected, and creating personal maps reflecting movement through the city.

How would you describe your style?

I feel like my textile designs are modern with an emphasis on color, texture, and movement, influenced by organic and geometric forms. I think that my drawings, paintings and even some of my screen prints also evoke movement, and are gestural, curvilinear and calligraphic, more immediate.

If you could pick only one, what medium would you work in and why?

Well, I love to draw and play with line quality, so I think that I would stick with pencil and paper, or an ink pen and paper. Sketching with pen/pencil on paper is a wonderful way to express ideas and work quickly without getting too precious, without my mind getting in the way. I appreciate instinctual, initial gestures because they work as a starting point, they help me develop and organize my thoughts and ideas.

What's in the future for you?

I would like to work on a series of map drawings using collage and mixed media. In regard to textiles, recently, I have thought about starting my own product line by digitally printing or screen printing my textile designs in yardage, and constructing accessories such as pillows and handbags. I am also collaborating with a graphic designer, and we are in the process of developing designs for graphic tees and apparel. I also have a few teaching gigs at LaGuardia Community College (LAGCC) and the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). At LAGCC, I teach Adult Literacy, and at FIT, I tutor a few art history and Photoshop students, and I T.A. a couple Photoshop courses. Human relationships, the learning process, dialogue, and the theater that unfolds in the classroom spark my curiosity. The same way that I’m interested in mapping movements in space, I am interested in mapping human relationships and our interactions. In this way, I feel like there is a correlation between my teaching practice and creating artwork.

What kind of role has Carbonmade played in your life?

I learned about Carbonmade while editing and organizing my portfolio, and it seemed as though Carbonmade would be a viable place to display my on-line portfolio. When I apply for design related jobs, or write cover letters seeking freelance gigs, I always refer studios to my site so that they can learn more about my aesthetic and design point of view. After seeing my site, I have received some positive feedback and e-mails from studios about potentially working together. It’s been a great way to disseminate my work! Also, through Google Analytics, I’ve learned about the kind of traffic my site has received, and how individuals find my site, whether through Carbonmade or through other search engines. In a few words, it has been really helpful to have a site where all my work is organized and displayed to which I can refer people. Thanks!

Thanks for chatting with us!

For more of Deema's work check out her Carbonmade portfolio: http://deemab.carbonmade.com/

Microsoft featured Carbonmade last week in a case study alongside Dell, Hardrock Café, and Elite Models. Hooray! It's a neat read for anyone who wants to know a little more about our history. For instance, did you know that Carbonmade was originally created as a simple tool for Dave to update his online portfolio? Another interesting tidbit is that before Carbonmade, we were a small web consulting company doing web development work for Scribd, MerchNOW, Epitaph Records, and others. Here's a snippet:

“Carbonmade provides creative people with the ability to showcase and manage their work. It uses a modern, lightweight user interface and works across all browsers. Carbonmade was built as a side project by Jason Nelson and Dave Gorum. The idea came about when Dave, frustrated by manually updating his portfolio, proposed building a simple tool to handle the drudgery. The app was so handy that friends and colleagues began asking to use it. Answering their call, Jason and Dave built the app into a standalone product, and in a year’s time Carbonmade was a thriving business.”

About six months ago we passed the 100,000 mark. Last week we reached 150,000 Carbonmade portfolios. It's been a busy past six months, to say the least, and things are moving at a fast pace around here. We moved into our new office with the boys (and girls) from Harvest and are hard at work on an update to Carbonmade. More on that coming soon.

Here are some photos of the new space we share:

And during our downtime:

Please follow us on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook, stay subscribed to our blog and e-mail us with any questions, suggestions, or comments. We love hearing from you guys. And thanks to Tim van Damme for taking these photographs for us.