Working in a creative industry with creative people is simply the greatest privilege any working person could hope to enjoy. Even during the rougher moments when, as the Gipper might say–“…the team is up against it, when things are wrong and the breaks are beating the boys…”–even then, the sudden appearance of an idea, the spontaneous flash of a headline or a one liner, a caricature or karaoke can suddenly brighten any environment with possibility, with joy, with belief.  At Element 79, I’ve worked with many people, from many different departments, all of whom had their moments of sparking an idea and quickly changing the emotion of a room, the tone of a day, the fortunes of a brand.

One of those people is the prodigiously talented Dave Straus.  If you haven’t been to his Vimeo page, go there now and see the greatness that a creative mind can achieve by reinventing cel animation via Adobe Illustrator. Among his other remarkable labors of love, he just posted this farewell to me.

To be commemorated with this sort of art is an honor for me–and with the mellow, precursor to Soul harmonies of the Mills Brothers no less. Thanks Dave. I’ll miss you. Hell, I’ll miss all of you.

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By Dennis Ryan, CCO for one last workday at Element 79

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