Mike Ackerman

10 YEARS ago we completed Projecting West! To celebrate, we just relaunched the website, sharing a ton of new processes behind all 15 days: projectingwest.com For those who aren’t familiar, in 2015 @mikeackerman and I drove from Portland to Portland and for 15 days, created pop-up projection mapping installations every single night. Our narrative and locations were unplanned and unfolded live to our 125 backers on Kickstarter. It was an exciting, albeit foolishly ambitious, ode to rapid creation. What a dream. Looking back made me realize how many concepts from this project led exactly to where I am today. Day 6 in particular contained the root idea that became Light Capsules, which landed me an Adobe Creative Residency in 2016/2017, which led to Brilliant! at The Neon Museum in 2018 (now 7 years running!), to working personally with Tim Burton on a massive exhibition ‘Lost Vegas’ in 2019, which closed (unfortunately early) due to… 2020. And yet that one night, Day 6 in Omaha, we were so lost and distraught having no idea what we were going to do— until we saw an old painted ad and suddenly, everything clicked. I often used to think of my career as tumbling down rabbit holes, and it takes a bit of blind trust and bravery to throw myself down the next one. There’s only so much one can control, so I figured just putting in the most effort would lead to something. It’s fascinating to reflect 10 years later and see how many little things originate with Projecting West. Even today it rings true: trust in yourself, trust in the process, and stay open to those special ideas, wherever they may come from. Extra special thanks to our @kickstarter backers, who put their trust in us. Their encouragement helped us pull off something special. 🌲

Updates! Added a new LEGO themed project to my site, two new blog posts, and a newsletter. Starting the newsletter and blog back up is an experiment. My hope is to produce artwork to surprise and delight folks, then to share the process and useful resources I’ve found in my path building a fulfilling life as an artist. If you’re interested in checking out some of my process, following along as I build out some personal projects, or are into book suggestions on living well I invite you to swing by. Link to all of the above in bio!

Photomode icons done for Ghost of Tsushima. I'm often critical of my own work, but I've always been happy with this set of icons and how they represent the photo mode's options. - #icons #gamedev #ui #ghostoftsushima #artistsoninstagram #blackandwhite

Mask Icons - Ghost of Tsushima Ghost of Tsushima has a wonderfully diverse array of gear the player can find and earn during their time on the island. These icons represent the helmets, hats and headbands in menus and other UI elements. The icons were created referencing traditional Japanese Kamon for style; thick lines, an almost isometric perspective, and a graphic simplification nod to timeless Japanese Mon design. More info on my process can be found on the Ghost of Tsushima UI Project page in my updated portfolio. - #icons #gamedev #ui #ghostoftsushima #artistsoninstagram #blackandwhite

THUMBS UP 👍 - Here’s @mikeackerman ’s delicious thumbnails for his project ‘The Field’ whilst taking our @romainjouandeau taught course - Visual Storytelling. Hit the link in our bio to see what Mike has got cooking for lesson 1 👀 #learnsquared #visualstorytelling #thumbnails #thumbsup #conceptart #conceptdesign #thefield #astronaut

Helmet and Headband icons made for Ghost of Tsushima. You'll see these in the world after collecting one of them and in Jin's inventory. Styling Jin's look is one of my favorite things to do in the game. Everyone who touched the character art in the game did such an amazing job. Collect them all and save your people in style! These icons the simple, bold, and very readable style of Kamon is the main inspiration for these icons' aesthetic. You can read more about these in my portfolio. 🔗 in bio #icons #gamedev #ui #ghostoftsushima #artistsoninstagram #blackandwhite

Excited to share my latest work! After a much-needed break, I'm back with a new portfolio (link in bio) showcasing much of the work I've done over the last 4 years. Here are the Trophy Icons I designed for Ghost of Tsushima during my tenure at Sucker Punch. Check them out! #artistsoninstagram #ghostoftsushima #ui #art #playstation #icons

TOTORO! 🌰🌱🌳 One of my true pleasures is sharing the magic of Studio Ghibli with my family. When we were young my brothers and I used to watch Totoro together. We had no idea about the studio and that there were more films. It’s now a tradition that when I roll into town we all watch a Ghibli movie together. I sketched my completely immersed niece while we enjoyed the Ghibli masterpiece My Neighbor Totoro together 🌱💕 #ghibli #sketch #totoro

Figure drawing I never got around to posting last year. #figuredrawing #graphite #drawing #art

Been attending figure drawing about once week for the last year. This is one of my favorite figure drawings so far. Many thanks to @abigailplatter @naomiful and @mitchsketch for very helpful feedback ✍🏼

Stardoor illustration for Atlas - a VR project I worked on with The Soap Collective⁠ ⁠ -⁠ ⁠ Much of Atlas is about exploration and puzzle solving. The Stardoor is the first large puzzle encountered. The puzzles and how they function also speak to the worlds lore to anyone observant enough to notice. ⁠ ⁠ #vr #conceptart #drawing #illustration #scifi #atlas #art #digitalart #explore #puzzle #mooooood

Multiplayer illustration for Atlas - a VR project I worked on with The Soap Collective⁠ ⁠ -⁠ ⁠ Friends make everything better. We enjoy playing games together, so naturally sharing what one had discovered in Atlas with friends was always part of its DNA.⁠ ⁠ ⁠ #vr #conceptart #drawing #illustration #scifi #atlas #art #explore #coop #multiplayer #blackandwhite