Every gif image starts telling interesting and breathtaking stories when George RedHawk applies magical “RedHawk Effect.” Do not get surprised by the fact that the wonderful effects of moving digital art is not done by a traditional art scholar but rather by an everyday person whose true passion lied in the field of medicine. George’s contented world blurred eventually once he became legally blind and found himself in a dark abandoned place where expression, visualization were not permitted. He could have halted in a clueless phase and alas the world could have missed one of the best digital artists who can make any picture come alive with colorful emotions purely by his intelligence and extraordinary innovativeness. George’s hard work, determination, and intuitive skills bravely drove him to choose an undeclared path of an imaginative, creative world. Millions of eyes are now admiring ingenious artistic expressive art channelized through his creations. The support of original artists, social media and his skillful creativity have made him one of world’s most renowned artists.

What inspired you to start “The World Through My Eyes” project? You have always worked as a medical professional how did you get interested in motion graphicsG: I worked at many jobs but they were just jobs, but my career, my true passion was found in the field of medicine. my love for this led me in many directions and throughout my career, like many in medicine, i continued my education and advanced into various areas of medicine and areas of specialties which eventually led me to become an instructor of many of those areas. As you are probably aware, I was an instructor when my journey into blindness began and although I did manage to continue to teach for several years following my declaration of legal blindness, eventually it led to the end of my career and the life i had worked so hard to develop.
It goes without saying that this was devastating, financially, physically, and emotionally and i found myself in a very dark place which I still have not found a voice to express, nor a desire to do so. With my prognosis being poor, and the knowledge that my condition is progressive, using my remaining sight and magnification lenses, and enlargement features found in all computer systems, i began a frantic search across the internet to see all the beautiful things in life that I could possibly see while i still could. It was then I discovered how truly expressive art could be and I thought I could possibly express the emotions I was going through but could not express with words.

What kind of interpretation of world you want us to visualize from your digital animations? What kind of challenges do you face while working on motion graphics?G: I do not think my mind quite accepts the idea that my eyes are not sending enough data to see as most people do. My mind gathers as much data as it can from every source possible, from every memory, I have, from all my remaining senses, from my residual vision, and from somewhere deep inside me and with all this data, it "projects" it to what I have always known as "vision.” But as the data is continuously changing and altering, what I "see" also continuously changes as my mind tries to decide exactly what I am trying to see.
It was for this reason that I chose a "morphing software" as my art medium of choice to try to express the constant flow and morphing in my "vision" and my new way to perceive the world around me. I joined social media and found many people who loved to share art with their friends, and when I would find a particular artwork that inspired me to explore emotions within me, and I began experimenting with trying to recreate the morphing type movement I was experiencing as my mind made its determination of what I was seeing.
The most challenging part of all this was developing the technical skills to "master the morph", lol it’s not an easy process, but I had a lot of free time, and although it took a long time to fully understand the limitations and variants and to gain control through trial and error, it began to take shape. I shared with my friends on social media and everyone seemed to enjoy them, so I continued.
In the beginning, it was an effort to take control of this medium, but there came a time that I realized that to truly express my blindness, my "self", and to release my many emotions, I had to release the desire to control it. I am blind, cannot drive, cannot lead and to truly express this, I had to accept this in my art as well, and so I began to let go and simply permit my emotions to guide me through the process and to see where it would lead me. It was then that, to my surprise, the world began to take notice of my "art" and I am still following this path to see where it will lead me.

From where do you get all the original images?G: I am so blessed to have the love, support, and friendship with so many of the original artists of the static images! What began as just something to share with friends on social media had gained the attention of artists from all over the world who wanted to see their artwork "come to life" with my motion effects. These days, most of the work I do is done with their complete support and permission. Still I discover artists whose work inspires me and so I reach out to them to share my "vision" with them and introduce myself by sending them a copy of the work I did of their original, and my list of artist contacts continues to grow. So I literally have hundreds of favorite artists!
A short list of artists who have been supportive and inspirational to me would include: Antonio Mora, Gregoire A. Meyer, Adam Martinakis, Werner Hornung, Tomasz Alen Kopera, Bojan Jevtic, Glenn Marshall, Janusz Jurek, Nadia Wicker, Dariusz Klimczak, and so many more!!

What is your favorite creation so far and why? If you want to inspire world for peace what will be your gif animation?G:  I would not say I have a single favorite as every piece of literally thousands that I have created take me on a journey. But I will say that although all of them have special meaning and expression of my many emotions, the one artist whose work is so complex, and challenging would be the work of Werner Hornung. Animating his artwork takes me far away from myself and yet at the same time takes me deep within myself. I find a peace in the intricate chaos which my mind goes through when I explore his work, magnifying each small section which twists and turns and tells a separate story as I animate each section at a time and in the end. The final result is a magic experience. So to inspire world peace check "Blind Date" - Werner Hornung & George Redhawk animation.

What are your other hobbies?G: I can spend several hours on a single piece and get lost in it. When I spend too much time on the computer, my Malamute lets me know it is time to unplug. My wife and I found a perfect place to motivate me to get out the door and have fun with him. We live in the French Riviera (my wife is French) and it is a short walk to the beach and a river which leads to the sea. So twice every day, with his assistance, we explore up the river which leads to a park at the local village, or we explore and play at the local beaches. In the summer, we swim, and in the winter we get cold and wet but this is our daily routine. Summertime is the best because my wife and I love to bar-b-cue with family.

What is something that you wish for?G: Wishing for something would imply that there is something lacking in my life. Since no life is perfect, it is the nature of all people to wish for something more, My own personal experience of loss of my sight, career, life, etc, obviously could leave me wishing for more but in reality I try to focus on the good things I have in my life, and as I frequently say, "any day that I don't step off a cliff is a good day".
If I had a wish, then I would wish that the whole world would just slow down for minute and be nice to each other.

What is your favorite place to visit and why?G: we try to visit my favorite place every year: California. As I am an American, I miss many things in California, most of all, my family. Its fun to experience the French way of life, but it is also a lot of fun to share my culture with my wife also.

What advice would you give to our special children if someone is interested in becoming a motion graphics artist?G: Well, I never set out to be an "artist.” It was never my intention; it just rather grew on its own. I am still not quite sure why or how that happened. All the advice I could give would be to find the beauty in your own perception of the world, and share your view of it because beauty in the world exists even through the perspective of my damaged vision. Your vision of it is important, also.

Any special message for our community?G: I thought my vision loss destroyed my life, and it actually did a good job of destroying that life. But in my blindness I found love, I found a new life waiting for me halfway around the world in France, I became a world renowned artist, I became a message of hope. It hurts to have hope and be let down and I too have been in a dark place where I believed there was no hope. But God is a funny guy, and you never know what amazing things are waiting around the next challenge, but without hope, you may fail to see them.