Neal Williams (aka epicproblems) is the 2011 Ally of the Year

We are proud to announce that our panel of judges has chosen Neal Williams of Atlanta, GA — also known on Creative Allies as epicproblems — as the 2011 Ally of the Year. Neal has been an active member of Creative Allies throughout the last year, submitting designs for over 25 projects for the Black Keys, Chris Cornell, the Kooks and many others. We love Neal for the thoughtful hand-drawn illustrations he often submits and for his generous feedback in the comments on Creative Allies. Neal’s story also amazes us: he turned a minor hobby in poster design into a full-fledged design portfolio in just one year through hard work, creativity, strong attention to quality craft and (we like to think) participation with Creative Allies. (You can read our Ally Spotlight interview with Neal from back in October here.)

Neal was overjoyed when he received the news, “I am beyond excited to be named Ally of the Year. There were so many amazing artists submitting work to Creative Allies in 2011 that every contest was both refreshing and a little daunting from an artist’s perspective. I learned a great deal in the past year from the critique and inspiration I got from my peers and I have nothing but gratitude for the entire Creative Allies community.”

Our judges were most impressed by Neal’s attention to detail and distinctive individual style. The feedback that we heard most often was that each of Neal’s submissions has a well-formed concept and displays obvious effort and enthusiasm for the subject. Neal has brought a lot to the Creative Allies community in the past year and we couldn’t be happier to have him chill with us on the beach at Hangout Music Festival in May.

Congratulations to all of our finalists and especially to Neal. Thanks for helping make Creative Allies awesome!