NormGrock – Illustrator
About me, Inspirational

My Top 10 of 2014 – Entertainment

This year I had a hard time putting together my top 10 pieces of entertainment list. It was a very busy year what with raising my son along with buying and remodeling our new house. Normally, I make a list of my favorite things and rate them at the end of the year but this year I didn’t get a chance to make my list. So I just had to research what came out this past year. It was a lot of checking on Amazon and IMDb for release dates to make sure that it came out recently and when I watched it. I hope I didn’t forget anything good. My rules to make this list are simple. I must have seen, watched, read, or just enjoyed this piece of media sometime in 2014. It didn’t necessarily have to have been released in 2014. That’s it. With that here’s my top 10 pieces of entertainment for 2014.

  1. Captain Toad (Nintendo)
  2. Frozen (Disney)
  3. Super Smash Bros. Wii U  (Nintendo)
  4. Big Hero 6 (Disney)
  5. Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration (Random House)
  6. How to Train Your Dragon 2 (DreamWorks)
  7. Mario Kart 8 (Nintendo)
  8. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Disney)
  9. The legend of Korra Book 3 and 4 (Nickelodeon)
  10. Newsroom Season 3 (HBO)

Growing up on the shores of Maui, Hawaii, Norm has always loved drawing. Since leaving the islands’ beautiful beaches and landing in Oregon, he went to college and received a degree in graphic design as well as an additional degree in digital prepress technology. After graduating, he worked for an interactive media firm in Corvallis, Oregon. While there, he was the company’s lead illustrator/designer and was responsible for creating illustrations, animations, and interactive products like video games. Now living in Beaverton, Oregon, Norm worked as an in-house illustrator for 10 years at a large education company in downtown Portland, Oregon. While at this position, he was the creative mind behind nationally marketed campaigns, numerous brand identities, toy and product designs, children’s books, as well as Web and interactive designs for the company’s design team. After leaving this position to raise his son, he now spends countless hours perfecting his craft as a freelance illustrator. He has worked with companies like Highlights Magazine, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Reading A to Z, Kaiser Permanente, KinderCare, and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI). He has created projects such as marketing illustrations, children’s books, coloring and activity books, video games, and educational products for these companies and others. Norm’s ability to draw has given him the chance to do the thing he truly loves: Create.

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