ADAM HUGHES

Adam Hughes for DESK SPACE

DESK SPACE Who (a one-liner or a bio)?

ADAM HUGHES My name is Adam, and I’m from Peterborough, Ontario. I moved to Ottawa in 1998, but then left for about a year and a half to live in Dubai and England where I worked as a bartender. I caught chlamydia in one of those countries, but I don’t know which one. In the summer of 2000 I moved back to Ottawa, where I successfully cured the dose, and I’ve been here ever since (minus a few vacations). I work as a graphic designer, flash designer, and more recently, a motion graphics/visual effects artist, under the moniker Mad Anvil.


DS When did you start becoming interested in art, produce your first work (or when are you displaying work/commissioned to produce work)?

AH I had always been interested in various forms of art. Be it audio, visual or movement. As a child in the 80’s and 90’s I was into hip hop, breakdancing, and graffiti, which has lasted until this day. Although finding good hip hop has been hard for the past 10 years or so, I don’t’ dance anymore, and the only graffiti I ever really did was on paper. I could never get the hang of using spray-paint. I’m into many different kinds of music these days, but I digress. I first started to think I could make a living as a graphic designer around 2003, after somehow being appointed “the guy who makes posters and flyers” for a bar I was working at. I had already learned the ins and outs of the Flash platform, which along with getting better in Photoshop made for a pretty good set of skills. As for the first website I ever made, it’s no longer online (thank fuck). So after 4-5 years of doing flash micro-sites and making loads of posters and flyers, my portfolio ended up getting me work with an agency. I now work with them full-time, and do freelance work on the side. I also live with my beautiful girlfriend Laura, who is a talented painter.

DS Where do you work (at your desk/outside/in a studio)?

AH Most of the work I do is at a desk with a retardedly fast PC (sorry mac cultists users). At my day job I share a studio with 3 other people, and I have an office at home. The video production stuff requires shooting on-location.


DS Why do you work where you do (at your desk because it is a quiet space/outside b/c it helps you think/in the park b/c you can smoke, etc)?

AH Well, I can’t really explain why I work at a desk. There’s no other choice really. Although I will say that my day job is pretty lax about how to dress. I’m glad that I don’t have to get all dolled-up just to sit in front of monitors for 8 hours a day. I also like working in my office at home because I can do so in my underwear, while getting slightly inebriated, chain smoking and taking extended Call of Duty breaks. Soon I’ll have another desk, in another location, which will be dedicated strictly to motion graphics and video post production. My buddy Luke and I are starting a small hobby studio called Projecto. It’s located about a block from where I live. Keep an eye out for it. I’ll probably have to wear clothes there.

DS What are you working on now?

AH At the day job, I’m just starting a motion graphics piece for a rather large corporate entity, using mainly After Effects. On the freelance side, I’m working on a music video titled Kontrol for a friend (Lady Precise) in BC, a tricked-out Wordpress site, my Show Reel

and a handful of flyers and posters for various shows. I’m always fucking busy, but that’s the way I like it.