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Putting the #MemberSpotlight on the NFT and metaverse expert with a lot to say

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Christopher Bicourt is a man with a lot to say and a lot of very progressive ideas about everything from how he approaches his work to the rise of the metaverse. On the latter point, in face, he considered himself something of an expert.

Working currently as Head of Art and a Digital Marketing Consultant at Sumo Creative, he has over 14 years of experience in helping businesses engage and grow their audience and is highly focused on brand building. He is also a man with his fingers in many varied pies.

A keen gamer that started coding at 6 years old because it was easier to create his own games than get his dad to buy them, Chris has worked for museums, AR and VR startups and even the Palace of Versailles. He even spent time working as a tour guide in South America.

Simply put, he’s been around and seen more than his fair share of what the creative industries and the world at large have to offer. So, it’s out honour to put the exhaustive Member Spotlight on Chris this week and learn all there is to know about… everything… including NFTs.

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How did you get into the industry?

When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut! Then, later, after I realised I’d never get there because I needed glasses at 16, I decided I wanted to make films. I was in love with the moving image, the medium of the screen for storytelling and immersing people in other worlds. Back in those days, video technology was still analogue, so it needed a lot of resourceful thinking to make it work the way I wanted it to. 

This helped me to become familiar with all sorts of video editing and design tools, and much later I built a bit of a reputation as someone who could design or edit something to spec.

I did a degree at Ravensbourne College of Art and Design, London, and after that, I worked in television for about a year, as a junior editor. I worked on all sorts of TV series down at the old Teddington Studios in Kingston. I even took my showreel around the Soho production houses. Nobody wanted to employ me though. I think I was too rough around the edges. 

But also, there were a lot of old stick-in-the-muds running those places and I even remember one telling me off for my editing style – he said it was too shaky, too many fast cuts. Now look at where we are – shaky, fast cutting, is the norm! Haha. Anyway, I did another degree at the University of Leeds, in English & Spanish. And that took me, after university, to Latin America to work as a tour guide, which I did for three years. 

That was incredible – I took groups of people to places like Cuba, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina. I was constantly being inspired by the colours, textures, sounds, visuals, and dynamic, visceral culture I discovered there, and I think you can see that to do in my design, which is always bold and brash, with little regard for subtlety.

Finally, I moved into a career in marketing. In addition to my own business, trading as Chris Bicourt Ltd., I worked for several start-ups and small corporate businesses before finally finding my feet at Antenna International, a company that made museum guides, but were moving into VR, AR, IR, and what would one day become Metaverse technologies. 

That’s where my sweet spot still sits today – the juncture of culture and technology, layered in storytelling. Throughout my time as a marketer, which is still my principal career, I have been doing a lot of hands-on work – especially design work and video/audio production for marketing. In the end, I built quite a portfolio. 

I wouldn’t say I’m a great designer, but I’m very good at knowing my audience (and clients) and understanding what it will take to give them that ‘wow’ moment. Having spent a lot of time contracting, managing and briefing designers and editors, I’m also fully aware of the chief challenge that a lot of creatives face which if they don’t overcome, will reduce their popularity and prevent them from getting work: the ability to compromise and let go of their work. 

Too many designers stick rigidly to the belief that they know best, and they get very protective of their work. From a client’s point of view, this makes it very hard to work with them. I’ve learned, in my career, to be a team player, and that means letting go of my ego as a creative.

Where are you based now and who do you work for?

I’m based in London. I do a lot of remote consulting work for my business, “Chris Bicourt: Excite, Engage, Inspire”. I work with businesses and individuals building companies to help them build their marketing strategies and help them plan how to implement their ideas. 

This often comes hand-in-hand with creative work, content creation in some form. So sometimes I will come on board as a content strategist and get stuck in creating as well as directing. My recent clients include various technology start-ups, and Aquare, a digital marketing agency that works with a lot of SMEs across Italy and Eastern Europe. 

I also took on a contract at Tera Virtua, a business that is building a metaverse, and … wait for it … yes, they do those controversial “NFTs” (shock horror). NFTs have been an interesting branch out for me. I’ve always been interested and fascinated by blockchain technology, and I’m an advocate. 

But my role at Terra Virtua was to market the concept of NFTs to the mass audience and that was hard. I had to find a way to resonate the idea with people that, until then, had perhaps only heard the phrase “NFT” and didn’t know anything about it. Or more frequently, had read about it in the press, and had the idea that it was a giant scam! 

I began working with big brands like Legendary Pictures, which produced the Godzilla V Kong movies and Pacific Rim. We had assets from those movies (giant dinosaurs, robots, and even a skyscraper-sized Kong) which existed in virtual space and you could buy as NFTs. They proved extremely popular. Legendary did a full official launch for it all – but then there was a backlash from their community. In many ways, people aren’t ready for NFTs yet. 

This is a shame, because, as a creator, I cannot wait for my revenue stream to be unbreakably locked to the asset itself, and my rights protected through 256-bit encryption! I think it will take a little more time. My familiarity with the concept of a metaverse and how I present my ideas around it is something I want to continue within future roles. 

If you weren’t in your current industry, what would you be doing?

I’d be a developer. No doubt about it. I was coding when I was 6 years old because my dad wouldn’t buy me any games and I had to get books and learn to program them myself – haha! That was on a BBC Microcomputer (Model B!) in basic and assembly language. 

By the time I was 9 I could count and do math in binary – you had to, to be able to design ‘sprites’ in 8-bit character squares, can you believe that! I don’t think anyone uses the word ‘sprite’ anymore! So to be more specific, I think I’d be a game developer. I love games – not mindless games, but games that immerse you, take you away to another world and you can get lost in the story, plot, and characters. 

I’m currently playing Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition. I also spent 5 years modding the Witcher 3 The Wild Hunt, the big hit from CD Projekt Red. By the end of it, I had a game far more immersive than the original – where Geralt must constantly eat, drink and sleep to survive – I even got it so he had to pull down his slacks and squat down to defecate whenever the need arose! I coded a whole mod that allowed you to cycle through capes and hoods, raise and lower the hood, and hide the weapons so Geralt could walk around looking like a sinister badass!

Can you explain your creative process? What makes it unique?

My creative process works like this (I’ve even patented it, it’s called “The Chris Bicourt slow fade-out” routine!):

1 – Get excited

2 – Browse the internet for inspiration

3 – Get distracted

4 – Return to step 1

Haha! I’m not going to lie, being distracted is part of my creative process! I usually find it hard to break out of that cycle, but once I do, once I’m ready, I’m super-productive. It often takes a few false starts but once I’ve hit upon a style or an idea, I don’t slow down. I build up momentum, work into it, iterate, iterate, iterate. 

And I can be like that, head down, for hours until I literally can’t focus anymore. Although I’ve produced my best work like that. But here’s the takeaway that made me a much better creative: it’s called “the law of diminishing returns”. 

Applied to design, the longer you work on something, the longer it takes you to progress. It took me many years to understand why I would get 90% of the work done in the first hour, then the last 10% would take me many hours and hours more. This is the same for everyone. 

Gamers call it “Tilt”. It’s a physiological phenomenon where you start to get less efficient because your brain is getting tired or frustrated. It makes concentrating harder and makes it more and more difficult to be objective about your work because you’re kind of, well, lost in it. When I learned to recognise when ‘tilt’ kicks in I became 500% more efficient with my time. 

As any creative knows, it’s extremely hard to pull away from a piece of work when you’re in mid-flow – but understanding that “mid-flow” in the first hour or so is not the same as mid-flow 5 hours later, is going to help with that. Apart from all that, I think another thing that makes my creative process unique is how willing I am to rub out and start again. Anyone who went to art school will identify with this. 

But anyone who went on to design college and worked in graphic design will see this as ‘giving up’ and poor practice. I agree! But it’s how I work, haha.

How would you describe your style?

Brazenly kitsch and unsubtle. It’s not for everybody. My work looks amateur to a lot of professional, especially corporate, designers. My attention to detail is poured into colour and texture, or shape and form, not polish. 

I try and send a message which will resonate with the audience. For example, in the SUSO Master kung-fu and acrobatics shots, where we got a professional stuntman and martial artist to dress up like a ninja in orange and yellow headband and ribbons, I knew I needed to tap into the gamer / young adult audience. 

I knew that slick, subtle design wasn’t going to (literally) kick it. So I brought in lens flares, and made the colour palette more cinematic. Added a bunch of effects and crushed the blacks. Any experienced designer would see this as a cheap trick. 

I consider myself more of an artist than a designer because I’m always looking for ways to hit nerves and create emotions. It comes from a background as a storyteller, someone who, throughout their entire life, has been excited by escaping – to distant worlds, civilisations, stories, myths, legends, landscapes… it’s all in there, deep inside my style, if you look closely enough!

Which individuals do you gain inspiration from? Do you have any heroes in the industry?

I get inspiration from some of the people I know personally. Specifically, anyone with the following traits: the ability to stay calm under pressure; the ability to be pragmatic about everything; the ability to not take things personally. That last trait is probably, surprisingly, what I think is most important for a creative. 

As creatives, we pour our heart and soul into our work. But if we want to work for other people, we need to be able to not take any criticism personally and remove the ego from the conversation. This took me many years to get right, and I think I’m almost there – but I’ll never be completely there, hah! In terms of famous people, I’m a big fan of ancient history and fascinated by the rise and fall of empires and civilisations. 

I’m intrigued by the desperation with which ancient leaders felt they needed to imprint their mark upon the world. Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan. I can categorically say that they are not my heroes but studying them and leaders like them gives me an insight into primal human nature which I find fascinating. In terms of the industry, I admire Philippe Starck, the product designer.

What tips would you give to aspiring creatives looking for work?

I know I’ve said it before, but it is the single most important skill – knowing when to stop working on something. Get that productive 90% done in the first hour or so, then set yourself a time limit. By the end, even if you’re not happy, walk away. 

Otherwise, three things will happen: 

  1. you’ll become too protective over the work, and receiving client feedback will be hard not to take personally.
  2. You’ll never be able to scale your business, or price yourself competitively because you’ll be spending far too long on pieces of work than you should be. 
  3. You’ll find it harder to switch between projects in a single day because you’ll spend the bulk of your time on one, and it will be mentally very draining.

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What tips would you give to other professionals to get more clients?

Join some networking groups. Meeting people face to face is the best way to get a working relationship started. Make sure you’ve got a place where they can see all your work (e.g. Creativepool, which is working great for me!) and tailor it to the specific type of job you’re after. 

Also, once you’ve completed a job, always get a testimonial and/or a review from your client, especially if the work was done through an online platform like Upwork or Fiverr. If freelance is something you do between longer-term contracts and even permanent roles, then get them to leave these on your LinkedIn. 

Also, get on social media, blog, review, write, connect with people – increase your web presence. This can be helpful when people want to see that you’ve got your finger on the pulse, as, inevitably, they’ll want to connect with you through some of these platforms, especially if they’ve already met you.

What kind of tools/kit/software could you not do without?

Ooooh, is there a designer in here that wouldn’t say the Adobe Creative Suite or some similar image / creative package? Funnily enough, though, the software I couldn’t do without is quite left field.

 I’m an obsessive organiser, so some kind of file bulk renaming or tagging application is essential for me. I use Adobe Bridge, but I’ve also used plenty of other packages especially when it comes to video. When you’re doing client work it’s important to keep everything organised so that if they come back to you at a later stage you don’t have to spend hours finding and rebuilding old assets.

What’s your secret to staying inspired and motivated?

Work in short bursts. That’s been scientifically proven to make you more productive. It’s called the ‘Pomodoro’ technique - after the Italian smashed tomatoes. It involves ‘smashing’ up your time into small chunks with 5-minute breaks, then taking a longer break every 3 or 4 sessions. 

It allows the brain to disengage and recharge to keep you focused through the working segments. But the important thing here is to do something called “deep work” when you’re in the working segments. 

“Deep work” is where you shut off all distractions and concentrate 100% on the work. 20 minutes of this, which is usually how long each segment lasts, will get more done than you being glued to your laptop for an hour switching between tabs, checking Instagram, googling your next amazon purchase, etc. 

The outcome is that work feels far less stressful, you feel far more productive, and by the end of the day, you’ll feel far more energised! This way of working has helped me since I went remote. Office environments can be draining and kill your motivation if you feel under pressure to be tap-tap-clicking away constantly for 8 hours!

What’s the work achievement you’re most proud of?

It was a long time ago, but I produced and directed a music video that went on MTV. Seeing the words, “Directed by Chris Bicourt” in the credits was extremely satisfying. Arguably the pinnacle of my career at that point. It was for a rap group from Birmingham, and we shot in locations all around the city. I remember it wasn’t easy because we were on a shoestring budget and I we didn’t have permission to film in a lot of places. 

One location we did get was inside Birmingham Sea Life aquatic centre after hours. A guy in the group had a friend who was a security guard there. We put the camera on the tripod inside the 360-degree glass tunnel, the only one of its kind at that time in the UK. 

We got some incredible shots – these rappers surrounded by sharks, swimming over, around and below them. But the real achievement came in post-production. I was working with a junior editor doing some stuff with a TV station in London. He was a good guy and we worked well together. 

After finishing the final edit, it was due to be colour graded, but I was away. So I left him and my co-producer to do it. When I got back, they’d ruined it. They’d taken this beautiful deep blue and green, richly coloured footage and applied a bunch of tints to it, making most of it monochrome. It was really cheesy.

 I’d worked on a daily basis with this grumpy old professional colour grader at Teddington Studios working with film footage, and he would’ve blown a gasket at this point haha. Also, they’d transferred the 16:9 anamorphic footage to 4:3 with top and bottom bars (16:9 was fairly new at that time, around 2000), and I almost cried when I saw what had been done. 

I ended up convincing them to give me the original footage, and today, now that everything is 16:9, even the ungraded original still impresses me. We did a good job. I did a good job pushing back on that tinted, 4:3 graded mess!

What is the one thing that you would change about the industry?

That’s a really good question. The creative industry is constantly evolving, constantly transitioning. Because of the rise of the gigging economy and platforms like Upwork, it has become easier to get work. But it has also become harder to retain clients. 

Everyone’s got two or three options when it comes to creatives and it really comes down to how well you get on with people and not about your “on paper” talent. I actually prefer the industry that way, as I consider myself someone who enjoys the people part. I like collaborating and working as part of a team but it has become harder to build a rapport when people are in different time zones. 

I think, if there was one thing I would change, it would be to stop the obsession with collaborative platforms like Slack. I’m just not a fan. It works for tech-minded dev people and designers who are meticulous about organising and planning, but I find it hampers passion and restricts the ability of an ‘artist’ to tap into their creative talent if they’re not ok with a huge amount of reading and information that’s not relevant to them. And the notifications, the notifications…JUST STOP!!! 

“But you can turn them off,” says every other designer out there. That’s not the point! As creatives, we’re OCD, we don’t like having unread notifications or messages, anywhere! They’re our ‘to do’ list! Haha.

Any websites, books, or resources you would recommend?

Haha, yes – go subscribe and read my “Chris Bicourt Lives blog. I write about all things to do with tech, design and culture. Apart from that, this is where I’m supposed to recommend “The 4-hour workweek” or “How to make friends and influence people” or something by Tony Robbins. Well, I can’t. 

I don’t read. I mean, I used to, but the Internet killed my attention span. I can’t read anything longer than this article, and even then, only if it’s online. But I would point people in the direction of Quora if they want an unadulterated, unfiltered opinion from a variety of sources.

Quora is one of the most underrated platforms, it’s the only ‘alternative to Google’ I’d recommend when asking questions. I have my own page on there too, where I talk about tech, gaming, science-fiction, and fantasy, if readers want to check it out.

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