Jesse Michael Newman – visual artist

I am a visual artist

In the old days, if I'd wanted to create a visual of a person's head on fire, I'd have to do it the hard way... cover my hair in rubber cement and light it on fire.

Years ago, to conceptualize peace within a fury, I envisioned a person shaking their head back and forth, tiny shadows dancing across their face.

But it was 1997...

I hadn't yet discovered visual effects, AI was decades away, and I didn't realize how flammable rubber cement was.

Decades later, I repurposed the footage for a scene in SOULSCAPES. In that short film, fire represents one's ego and this visual represented ego death.

Creating for any canvas

How we experience visuals depends context and immersion.

I recently contributed to the concert visuals for Beyonce's Renaissance World Tour. It was powerful to experience the visuals at that scale, the energy of the stadium beaming.

I've had the fortune of working on many different canvases -- from Batman's smartphone interface in Justice League to next-generation holographic displays for the US Navy to the Super Bowl LV's augmented-reality graphics.

Each canvas offers new possibilities to redefine creative boundaries.

Dreaming up worlds

Many moons ago, I started a project for my daughter depicting her as the Greek goddess of Earth. She was fascinated with mythology and I wanted to empower her.

As I started learning more about Greek mythology, I was captivated by all the powerful imagery. Over time, the project evolved into REBIRTH of GAEA.

It has been a rewarding creative challenge to interweave the worldview of the Ancient Greeks with personal thoughts on religion, the parent-child relationship + cosmic consciousness.

Directing creative

With many projects, I do everything involved to create the visual -- motion design, particles, compositing, etc. With other projects, I focus more on the concept and less on the visual's final execution.

For Super Bowl LV, I was the creative director for the augmented-reality graphics. The theme was "Sea, Sand, Siege" and as luck would have it, the stadium in Tampa Bay was home to a permanent, full-scale pirate ship.

And so Super Bowl LV begins with augmented-reality cannons firing from the real-world pirate ship. Scalding hot cannonballs hit the ground and explode outward into embers coalescing into a man made of sand and light.

Swirling embers fuse sand into steel, providing a unifying visual metaphor of transformation.

Visualizing concepts

The projects I enjoy most tend to require diving deep into complex concepts and distilling them into visuals.

One of my favorite explorations was highlighting parts of the Golden Record for a project for TENCENT.

The Golden Record contains sounds and images showcasing the diversity of life on our planet, as well as graphics that indicate the Earth's location within the galaxy. It was launched in 1977 as part of the Voyager 2 spacecraft. The hope is that one day, it will be intercepted by an extraterrestrial civilization.

I decided to approach this from the perspective of this distant civilization (showing them scanning and deciphering the record, extrapolating our location in the galaxy etc) in a way that seems both other-worldly and familiar.

Expansive Career in Visual Effects

My career in visual effects has been an incredible blessing, continually pushing me in new directions creatively, technically, and aesthetically.

I've worked on a wide range of projects, including feature films, commercials, and music visuals. My demo reel is a compilation of much of this work.

The WORK section of my website is a comprehensive collection of projects organized by discipline (compositing, motion design, particles, etc).

As AI ushers in new abilities to manifest visuals, it’s interesting to realize that the era of VFX will amount to a short blip on humanity's timeline.

Exploring via Personal Projects

Personal projects allow for creative freedom and exploration.

From visualizing my brain as tentacles of energy affected by Bob Marley to creating a landscape of rock swirls with hidden messages to using particle systems to convey shifting perspectives.

I owe my career to my personal projects -- many tools + techniques I've used professionally I learned first through them.

Aligning with spirit

I feel most aligned when creating art that fosters spiritual growth.

SOULSCAPES is a series of short films exploring the journey of the human soul as it shifts toward awakening and higher consciousness. SYMPHONY of the SOUL is a site-specific breathwork experience I'm co-creating with Vivian Rosenthal, who provides a powerful therapeutic modality for self-discovery, healing, and inner peace. REBIRTH of GAEA explores a range of spiritual ideas, both modern and ancient.

Amplifying with AI

Central to any visual are the techniques available to best express the concept.

Until age 19, colored pencils had been my preferred tool. Transitioning from analog to digital tools allowed me to focus less on the process and more on the underlying intention. It was much easier to take a photo and manipulate it than to draw something from scratch.

In a similar way, AI allows me to shift my focus even further toward the concept.

GAIA is a series of AI-generated imagery inspired by REBIRTH of GAEA. For SYMPHONY of the SOUL I used AI to transform a metallic logo animation from a previous personal project into ever-expanding flowers. Many more coming...

+01 201 707 9630
jessenewman@mac.com
@RebirthofGaea