((PKG))  BEER CAN ART 
((Banner:  Cans))
((Reporter:  Anna Rice))
((Camera:  Sergei Moskalev))
((Adapted by:  Aisha Henderson))
((Map:  Alexandria, Virginia)) 
((MIKE VAN HALL, ARTIST AND DESIGNER)) 
I’m Mike Van Hall.  I’m an artist and graphic designer and I focus most of my work on the world of food and beverages, beer in particular. 
((NATS)) 
((MIKE VAN HALL, ARTIST AND DESIGNER)) 
This silver can, when you turn it certain angles, it turns black.
I have an order to how I start my day.  I don’t check email until I’m done going through my creative review, which I will research a furniture thing or try and find a design article that teaches me something, because that way I’m not immediately in a rush, “oh, there’s a deadline” or “that email came in overnight.”  I wait to get to that.
((NATS))
((MIKE VAN HALL, ARTIST AND DESIGNER)) 
For this character, I started out sketching just to get the rough shape.  It’s, a lot of other guys do this really well.  They’ll draw it in pencil, bring it in to Illustrator, trace it out there, and then fix all the little bumps and things.
((NATS))
((MIKE VAN HALL, ARTIST AND DESIGNER)) 
I can more effectively see it in my head when I’m doing it just directly in Illustrator which takes longer because I am then moving all these little tiny dots of the vector in order to make it do what I want and look perfect.
((NATS))
((MIKE VAN HALL, ARTIST AND DESIGNER)) 
I try and use music to get myself in the right mindset for sure.  So, if it’s a very intense name on a beer label then, I like heavy metal.  I’ll listen to heavy metal and that will help me get in the right mindset to design in the appropriate direction.  If it’s some bubble gum thing, then I’ll listen to 80’s Japanese music I really like, so.
((NATS))
((MIKE VAN HALL, ARTIST AND DESIGNER)) 
Everybody engages with beer and so, it’s a way to have a cultural conversation too. Cultural confrontations and ideas, it’s a place to explore art that allows some visceral reaction.