Whoowee! DavidJr.com has sure been busy since he won the Rik Cordero Creative Invite almost three months ago. He filmed the latest episode of Deranged Fan, an online musical series created by award winning producer Rik Cordero, titled “They Mostly Come Out At Night”, and was interviewed by KarmaloopTV.

We recently had the opportunity to ask David for some advice to give to the creative community on Talenthouse:

What do you do when you hit a creative road block?
If you hit a road block… can’t write, edit, shoot, etc…. just do something anyway, even if it “sucks” you can always edit it and it might get your adrenaline going to do something great.

If I’m stuck editing I sometimes listen to music WHILE I’m editing a video, even if the video has an audio track to it…. it’ll help push me to focus… kinda like a brain editing enema.

So if you’re stuck don’t just mope around, figure out creative ways to get yourself creating.

What advice can you give to actors?
I’m not an actor but if I were one I’d be doing a new monologue and putting it on the web daily. I know lot’s of actors who are great but they don’t show consistent work anywhere.

What advice can you give to aspiring directors?
If you wanna make films a budget or crew shouldn’t matter….. I’m glad I haven’t had to rely on anyone to make my videos. You just gotta be at the right place at the right time and have your work ready to ROCK.

What advice can you give to the creative community on Talenthouse?
Just put yourself out there and see where the velcro sticks.

DavidJr.com and Rick Codero on KarmaloopTV

What inspired DavidJr.com for this episode?
I figured out, “Well, what mostly comes out at night”? I was thinking maybe vampires and really utilized NYC at night, shooting in a way where it doesn’t look like there’s anyone on the street.

What inspires Rik Cordero?
I know a lot of directors, especially from NYC, like David who are constantly shooting whenever he’s inspired, and that’s what inspires me.

They Mostly Come Out At Night

Directed by DavidJr.com for the Deranged Fan series

Spiderman. Iron Man. The Fantastic Four. X-Men. Talenthouse. What do those five titles have in common? The legendary comic-book writer and producer himself, Stan Lee!

Stan Lee and The Stan Lee Foundation invite Talenthouse designers to submit their designs for the official logo for the newly formed charity. The logo should clearly represent the Stan Lee Foundation as well as Stan’s dedication to the literary arts. Please keep in mind that your design must NOT include any Marvel characters – please create a design that is original and unique! Now, on to the good stuff:

Fashion photographer Gavin Bond is a respected, in-demand fashion and portrait photographer who has worked with celebrities such as Gwen Stefani, Janet Jackson, John Stamos, Katy Perry, Steven Tyler, and Victoria’s Secret super models (Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, Ana Beatriz Barros, Gisele Bündchen). He also recently finished touring with Green Day as their personal behind-the-scenes photographer. How awesome is that?!

He is inviting Talenthouse and JPGmag.com photographers to submit a photo that best evokes the theme of his upcoming shoot – passion. His goal is to find a budding photographer who can assist him with lighting and preparation while learning valuable tips from an industry professional.

What will you receive as the chosen photographer?!

• √ travel and accommodations to either Los Angeles or New York
• √ the opportunity to learn the tricks of the trade from one of today’s most sought-after photographers
• √ your winning submission will appear on jpgmag.com!

This is so tempting I am thinking about participating, even though I prefer the other side of the lens!  All joking aside, you have until September 9th to submit and we’re looking forward to seeing your submissions – don’t waste any time!

One of the world’s most popular fashion wholesale and retail companies, Nine West, has partnered up with us to launch an international call for artists and designers.

They have identified 3 themes for their Spring fashion line: New Military, Living Color, and Under the Sea and are inviting Talenthouse artists and fashion designers to create artwork for this collection. This is open to all mediums of art/design including digital, painterly, illustration, and watercolor.

Three winners will be chosen and their artwork will be put into production by Nine West and featured on products such as rain boots, flip flops, handbag linings, and t-shirts. These products will be sold on www.ninewest.com and at select retail stores. The winning designs will also be showcased on Facebook! So exciting!

We know how difficult it can be to get your foot in the door, so we’re happy that we’re able open doors like this for artists around the world!

You have until October 4th to submit your designs – good luck!

Have you ever wanted to see your photograph on the cover a globally released CD?.. Well now is your chance.

Electric Violin prodigy, Caitlin Moe, has recently exploded on the music scene and has teamed up with us to provide a fantastic opportunity for all of our talented photographers out there in Talenthouse land. Caitlin is looking for a photographer to shoot the cover for her soon to be globally released album. She’s looking for a photo that is mysterious and dramatic like her songs as well as fun and loud like her personality. It should also push the boundaries, like her violin playing.

This Creative Invite is open to all photographers and we ask that you submit two of your best artistic shots that encompass the mysterious, dramatic and fun qualities that Caitlin is looking for.

You better hurry, there are only 10 days left to submit! Good luck!

It is always exciting to see your hard work pay off and your dreams turned into reality. And this is now the case for Ashley Maniw, winner of our “Write a short horror script for Fewdio” competition. Her horror script was recently made into a short film that will debut at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con! Check out a couple stills from the film below:

Fewdio be premiering ‘Firsts‘ at their Comic-Con booth (#4116) this week on July 22nd through July 25th. So if you’re attending, make sure to check it out! They will also share it on their Internet sites shortly afterward. You can check out some more stills and learn more about the script at DeadCentral.com!

Congratulations Ashley! We can’t wait to view the film!

After many, many weeks of anticipation around the Talenthouse offices, we are very happy to announce the launch of the Florence + the Machine Invite!

In this Creative Invite hosted by LuckyMag.com, Florence Welch, lead singer of Florence + the Machine, invites Talenthouse fashion designers to design a stage outfit for her. The winning design will be worn by Florence at a performance at Terminal 5 in New York!

Deadline for submissions is Oct. 4, 2010 with voting taking place Oct. 5-8, 2010. The selected designer will be announced Oct. 14, 2010. The submissions will be judged by Florence, her stylist Aldene Johnson, and Lucky Magazine’s Creative Director Andrea Linett. And there are plenty of rewards to go around:

- The winning designer will receive $500 in cash, transportation to New York, a 2-nights’ accommodation at Soho House NY and will also meet Florence and the band backstage.
- The People’s Choice winner (top vote-getter) will receive a special edition jewel box designed by Florence and Faye Sawyer. This jewel box will contain the band’s new album Lungs, and an envelope with hand-drawn artwork by Florence containing a personal handwritten letter.
- The top 10 runners-up will each receive a signed copy of Florence + the Machine’s new album, Lungs.
- The top 5 ‘judges choice’ designers, will be mentioned on Luckymag.com.

So exciting, right?! To learn more about Florence + the Machine and find inspiration for your design, please visit http://florenceandthemachine.net/

Good luck and happy designing!

Check out the newest episode of Rik Cordero’s Deranged Fan series directed by our very own David Bruce Bates Jr AKA “davidjr.com” – winner of the Rik Cordero Invite!! It is truly amazing to see our artists receiving such great honors.

“It was awesome working on an episode of Deranged Fan for Rik Cordero who gave me total creative freedom to do whatever I wanted,” says David about his experience working with Rik. “This was a super opportunity to get feedback on my directing, shooting and editing from Rick who is a leading talent in the field I’d like to break into.”

Now, this is what Talenthouse is all about! We couldn’t be more proud of you, David! Thanks again to Rik Cordero and Three/21 Media for all of your support!

Check out some behind the scenes footage from the making of this episode:

The Art Department partnered with Talenthouse earlier this year to offer select artists TAD scholarships for the July 2010 Semester! The artists were asked to submit up to 3 pieces of their artwork to be considered.

The winner of the full scholarship ($45,000) is Alexandra Maramite from Romania. Her heavy use of lines and shapes in her submission pieces “try to reveal the essence of humanity and simplify it all together”. Alexandra has yet to decide whether she will study from her home in Romania, or on-site in one of the The Art Department’s locations worldwide.

The following artists will also be receiving scholarships —

Half scholarships at $22,500 each are awarded to:
Miguel Cabrera from Costa Rica
Tibor Pogonyi from Germany
Mathias Kollros from Austria
Timothy Rodriguez from France

Partial scholarships at $11,500 each are awarded to:
Manuel Larino from Spain
Tiffany England from Los Angeles, CA
Elizaveta Reich from Germany
Daavid Mörtl from Germany
Ken Khoo from Canada
Amrei Fiedler from Germany
Irina Troitskaya from Russia
Winnie Wyrm from Germany
Ryan Landry from New Mexico
Aneta Kordala from Austria

Congratulations to all of the Artists that were selected by The Art Department to receive these various scholarship opportunities!!! As a scholarship winner, each of these artists are invited to attend TAD’s online instructional courses, to give them an opportunity to hone their skills and network with other creatives from all over the world!

Designed and taught by more award-winning faculty than any other art school, TAD develops artists into their greatest potential and prepares them for successful careers. Options are available to learn exclusively online, in-person or a hybrid of both. TAD has schools in Austin, Berkeley, Kansas City, Richmond, and San Francisco for those interested in on-site study. For more information on TAD, visit www.theartdepartment.org

Metal-core band, The Devil Wears Prada, teamed up with us and invited all designers, graphic artists, painters and fans to design a new band T-shirt to be sold exclusively on their online store. They asked these artists and fans to come up with a design that best interprets what the band means to them. And they chose André Trindade’s Three-Eyed Wolf as the winning design!

André is very excited to be the chosen winner for this Invite.  He currently works as a freelance illustrator in Portugal and mostly designs t-shirts, posters and album covers for bands and clothing brands.

Be sure to check out The Devil Wears Prada at some major festivals this year like, Warped Tour, Rockstar Taste of Chaos and their highly anticipated “Back to the Roots” tour!