Conversations with Nic Greene

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nic Greene.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I think that one of the biggest influences in my life was being around people who were skilled – cabinet makers who made dovetail joints by hand, housepainters who could cut trim without tape, silversmiths cutting and filing silver sheet together to make ‘objet’.

I was always making things, painting stuff, and that led to retouching and all it’s applications.

Really I fell into what I do professionally, I was working on very early model Macs and someone sat me down with a Mac and a Wacom Pen and a Paint app and it was similar to Painting. I learnt how to retouch and finish on the job. I got into working on Entertainment assets because there was a lot of work for someone like me and at first the work was a means to do other things, like make music.

The quality of work in my field has evolved dramatically over time. Some few years ago I realized that I had become pretty skilled and my focus shifted toward being able to do more creative work with the finishing I was given. Fortunately I was given pieces to finish where the client wanted me to take it somewhere creatively and this has been my biggest pleasure.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I have freelanced for the most part, for a very long time. That is a tradeoff situation – you are your own boss, but you often don’t know where the next job is coming from and I don’t think that is a career path for everyone.

However the things that make it work are the relationships you form with clients, being reliable, communicative and willing to go the extra mile. That brings real value, along with the the skill I bring.

As my industry evolves, and it does keep evolving, I hear that my function is obsolete. Certainly there are less people doing it now than say ten years ago. Right now I’m integrating newer technology, generative ai, into my workflow visibly and invisibly so as to get work done more efficiently and also to do post-production on ai assets too.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’ve been working in Photoshop a long time, and passionately, since I realized that the interaction of a Wacom and the program was a lot like painting.

I became a ‘much maligned’ commercial artist! I worked all over the place, learning, being apprenticed on the job and was delighted to be able to make a living working over images. At some point I realized that retouching/finishing embraces a vast gamut of approach, from the invisible to the highly stylized and that I could bring something useful to play for any asset or comp. And so I do, project by project.

I particularly love Entertainment work because it’s so diverse. In Entertainment, retouching has evolved a very specialized range of tools and skills to make images come alive and impinge, yes it’s quite a skillset – the Finisher is the last one on the whole creative production line and helps make those final touches that create strong first impressions.

I do my best to bring the creatives’ vision to fruition whilst ensuring it looks amazing in whatever format the work is being sent into. I love doing this work and love interacting with all those creatives who need that assistance getting their work to it’s zenith.

Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Being a freelance anything with your own company is, I believe, for most people a huge risk. Of late I have seen a lot of careers, that were very stable careers, end as companies pivoted, brought on new technologies or otherwise morphed. And suddenly many many people are out of jobs. So that puts that kind of risk into perspective. The bottom line to any risk taking is having enough of a sense of something, knowing enough about it, that you can take a calculated leap, sort of like seeing a few frames into the future and putting yourself there. To me that is how to live, it’s fun. The other kind of risk, like gambling, can be exhilarating but never secure.

Contact Info:

• Website: nicgreene-retoucher.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicgreeneretoucher/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nictheretoucher

Image Credits
Sleeping beauty – Carnival Studio
Wonder Man – Proof Creative
Borderlands – Surprise Party
Punisher – Proof Creative