We recently connected with Phil Guthrie and have shared our conversation below.

Phil, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

Risk! Ok, well the biggest risk i took was jumping from a great career as a freelance visual artist to open my own studio. I opened a small space and just dug in. But the first few years were not very fruitful, I took a MASSIVE pay cut to reinvest all the finds into creating a brand that people can trust and associate with creativity and high end graphics.

In the first few years, we would take on any client we could find and we had a massive project that came in from abroad, and we took a risk to do the project, knowing the payment terms were a bit sketchy. We nailed the job and then the client ended up going under, and we didn’t get paid 50% of the job. It was a divesting blow to the company and myself personally, i was very upset for months, dealing with the possibility of closing the studio. But we took loans and kept the ship going, These loans were another risk I took, but i believed in the vision. And we are still around and stronger then ever!!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

A bit about myself here, I grew up outside of Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. I grew up loving web design and creation, but decided to go into economics. That didnt last long with my love for design just always biting at my heals. I moved to Savanah College of Art and Design and It all began from there.

I moved to LA in 2009 and began the journey from working on broadcast rebrands and graphics. Then moved into commercials and music videos. I won a 2013 MTV Music Award for best VFX for a Capital Cities music video I was a lead on. Also during this time worked on the film Pacific Rim, the prologue in the film. It was a great time, I met Guillermo del Toro and Stan lee on this job, which was just quite the experience.

After this I decided I wanted to do more Directing in the graphics space and took a Art Director position at a small growing studio, State Design. I learned alot here, how to work with tight groups, manage clients and the artists to keep the mood up and the creative high!

I then opened my studio office in downtown Los Angeles in 2016. We started with just me and have slowly grown to 8 staff and 20-30 freelance artists working with us on Sports/Entertainment for Broadcast/Commercial.

Its been since then that i have been invited to talk each year at SVG in NYC to talk about creating and innovating on Sports graphics.

It has been quite a ride!

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I always wanted to better myself as a human. I didn’t even realize when starting. a business that you learn how to work and communicate will all different kinds of people.

I did see this quickly and my mission and my goal has been since then to become the best communicator and social navigator i could be! If anything, I feel that this company has given me a masters in communication!

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

In the creative field its just so subjective to who is in charge of making decisions. Its art, so everyone has different tastes and ways of describing what they want.

The lesson i had to unlearn was to say “im sorry”. I learned that you just take the critique and move forward, There is nothing to be sorry for. It is just your interpretation, its not right or wrong and there is never right or wrong, there is just executing to the best you can translate the clients wishes.

Contact Info:

• Website: twofresh.tv
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