I Am Andrew Ward

Content Writer. Screenwriter. Graphic Design. Brooklyn-based creative looking for new endeavors whenever possible. Contact me for any project inquiries or questions. Twitter & Instagram: @IAmAndrewWard

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Andrew Rayel Talks USA, What it Takes and What’s Up in Trance

Andrew Rayel is a talented 21-year-old from Moldova. The humble but eager trance star was ready to play New York’s Pacha nightclub in support of his album Find Your Harmony. We caught up with…

Andrew Rayel is a true electronic musician. Though entirely humble throughout, Andrew wasn’t afraid to take pride in his technical prowess when composing music. If you’re really into what it takes to put a track together, Rayel is one of the dudes you want to talk to. His show at Pacha that night was awesome as well. Solid dude all around. 

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I’ve mentioned before how much of a horror fan I am. So when I came across the second photo on r/ITAP I immediately began to think up a horror image I could create. With a little curves and levels adjustments, I was ready to go. Some of the horror characters in here aren’t great looking but I’m ok with it. It’s hard finding hi-res images from some of these films. I’ll take what I can get. 

Can you spot which four movies I went with?

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I’ve mentioned before how much I enjoy surreal designs and this one was a lot of fun. I got to blend together a bunch of fun stuff, work with shadowing and reflections a bit. The bottom picture is from Death to Stock Photo. I can’t recommend their work enough.

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Robbie Rivera Talks the Future of House and… Too Much Music?

House legend Robbie Rivera sat down with DJOYbeat after his triumphant return to Electric Zoo. The house producer has seen the scene change in massive ways since he first started spinning as a teen…

Electronic veteran Robbie Rivera was awesome to interview at Electric Zoo. Not only did he put down a great set, he also was candid in his interview. Robbie’s views didn’t go along some of the other acts at the festival, but when you’ve been killing it for so long it doesn’t matter. Check it out. 

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I had a lot of fun working on another surreal composition project as I was getting back into graphic design. I ended up with a combination of this boy jumping and Oahu to turn into a boy jumping over Oahu. I had another version below that I liked but was called out for some lighting issues. They were right but I’m still a fan of both equally. They’re both my babies after all, right? 

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Like many on Tumblr, I’m a massive Game of Thrones/Song of Ice and Fire fan. One thing I’m not a fan of is the shows watering down of a classic group of people: The Tyroshi! 

While I’m no Daario Naharis (who is?) I had to take a stab at putting myself into their colored hair and sweet get up. The clothing options were slim, so I nabbed some of Daario’s clothes from last season.

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Dirtyphonics Talk Dirty Army Love and the Upcoming Techno Parade

Charly and Pitchin of Dirtyphonics stopped to talk to DJOYbeat after their genre-bending set at Electric Zoo’s Hilltop Stage. If you’re not familiar with the Parisians just yet, fix tha…

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I got to cover Electric Zoo a few years back. Dirtyphonics were great to interview and a ton of fun. The guys gushed about their fans and were two overall solid dudes. They also were part of a block of artists at the Hilltop stage playing DnB. 

I’ll be posting a few more of the older interviews and recap in coming days if you’re interested. 

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I firmly believe Donald Trump, if given the unchecked power he strives for, would easily become a Fascist dictator. So, that’s why I put him onto Benito Mussolini’s body and had some fun making his orange HD mug a little more grainy and old era disgusting.

I messed the neck up badly on this one and the head’s angle isn’t all that great. But yeah, I think Trump is atrocious so we should remind ourselves of that whenever possible.

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Holy shadowing problems, Batman! This is another Reddit Photoshop Battle Royale and, well, it wasn’t my best. Bill Nye is standing out in all sorts of bad ways here. But hey, I’m learning and this is a mistake I don’t make too often anymore. Gotta keep learning, right?

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Whether you're a professional writer or just building your online reputation, these free editing tools can help.

I wrote this while I was working for BrandYourself a little while back. As a content writer, grammar is integral. When I write on my own, I write in my own janky style. But when you work for companies you need to be on point. That’s why I put together a list of some free helpful tools you can use to make sure your grammar is crisp.

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This was another quick one I did for a Reddit photoshop battle royale. For this one, I got to play around with the content aware tool. It makes life so easy when you need to swap out certain pixels. Though it would be better if I took that shadow of the vanished astronaut away. I will when I put it up on my formal portfolio, but for now it’s a fun gaffe to look back on as I learn. 

I’m a fan of surrealist and minimal imagery. I think I sort of hit the mark on this one.

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This was a quick throw together for a Reddit photoshop battle royale to shake the Adobe rust off a bit. 

I was inspired because well, Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell are assholes. 

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The Newbie Freelancer’s Getting Started Checklist

So you’ve decided to embark on a career in freelance? Congrats! Here's your go-to checklist for getting started with a career in freelancing.

This is another one I did for the Grasshopper blog while I worked for the company And Co. It’s a pretty helpful list for new freelancers. Check it out.

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I had a lot of fun with this one but definitely struggled with the blending of the dinosaurs and the folks fleeing. That aside, anytime I get to stick a dinosaur into modern times is something I won’t pass up. 

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We Look Back At Some of the Worst Movies Based on Our Toys

By now, we're all used to, and possibly over, the

I got to write a few articles for MindHut a little while back. These were always fun to put together and the team was quite nice as well. I mainly still stand by this article. Though, the Ouija sequel wasn’t all that bad in the long-run. And to be fair, I do have an extreme love-hate relationship with Child’s Play 3. 

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I love horror movies and Sleepaway Camp ranks right near the top as one of my favorites. After taking a couple months off from pursuing Photoshop, I got back into it with a simple 80s inspire piece in honor of the hardest lady from NJ you’ll ever meet: M-E-G. She has my heart even after all these years. 

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This is one of my favorite things I’ve got to work on in Photoshop to date. After the long awaited rumors regarding the return of Frank Ocean, fans were left in limbo as several release dates came and went. July of 2016 was especially hard for fans of Frank. So, in a hip hop graphic design phase, I made Frank’s photo below into a cartoon then mapped it as best I could onto the famous Where’s Waldo cover. 

The text in the book could be fixed. Also, Frank’s skin is darker than it needs to be. But I’ll cut me some slack (because I’m gracious, of course) and it was an early project that I’m still a massive fan of. And as is common with my vanity for my own creations here, I want to make this into a t-shirt one day. 

Fun fact: I also pasted Frank’s face onto the small Waldo in the yellow circle down below. I did my best but at such a small resolution, and my novice skills, it pretty much is impossible to distinguish.