Belgian-based Studio Plankton’s team of 3D artists and animators are skilled at telling brand stories of all sorts. One of their many clients is Ressence, a modern watchmaking start-up that has relied on the studio to transform highly technical specifications into meticulously detailed visuals with clear messaging and contemporary branding since 2015.
Madis Epler worked as a graphic designer for several years before realizing he was really more into animation. So he pursued that goal, digging deep into tutorials, books and everything related to 3D. Now a busy freelance creative director, animator and CGI artist, Epler runs his own studio, Banzai Animation, in Estonia where he grew up.
Sarner is known for being a creative agency that specializes in immersive visitor experiences, so when they were asked to head up a new exhibition for the Biotech Room at the King Salman Science Oasis in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, they assembled the perfect team to get the job done. One Small Pixel served as the creative and production company coordinating the content in three main rooms, and they partnered with London-based Ink and Giants to create and direct experiential films as part of the installation.
Flashy motion graphics pieces are the perfect way to go for some projects. But sometimes there has to be more to the visual story. That was the case recently when Bloomberg asked The Mill to create a 30-second spot for Interactive Brokers, a brokerage firm that serves customers all over the world.
When COVID-19 shut down live-action production last year, unforeseen opportunities opened up for many 3D artists, including Los Angeles-based motion designer Jan Sladecko
New York City-based director Saad Moosajee has always found Renaissance art interesting because “it evokes God and seems to have a holy quality whether there are literally angels or just dark, moody figures,” he explains. Even so, it’s an aesthetic he hasn’t found much use for until recently, when Japanese singer-songwriter, Joji, contacted him about directing a music video for “777”, a track from the artist’s latest album, Nectar.
Freelance art director/motion designer Takayuki Sato is currently living in Japan, where he was born and got his start in the industry. But his career was meaningfully shaped years earlier when he moved to the US to study motion graphics and English.
TVs have changed so much since they were first introduced in the late 1920s, it’s hard to see much of a resemblance. These days, OLED (organic light emitting diode) TVs are the cutting-edge choice for those who want superior picture quality, color and contrast. But all OLED TVs are not created equal. That’s why VIZIO worked with London-based Found studio for the launch of the brand’s first OLED TV earlier this year.
Jayse Hansen remembers exactly where he was when he realized what he wanted to focus on as an artist. It was 2005 and he was at a design conference listening to fictional user interface (FUI) pioneer Mark Coleran describe how he created FUI for films like Mission Impossible, Alien vs. Predator and The Bourne Identity. Watching intently as Coleran presented his screen designs for mini spy cameras, holo tables and FBI forensic labs, he thought: “That has to be the best job ever.” Though he knew nothing about how to get started, he knew he wanted in.
Toronto-based director/animator Nick DenBoer has been collaborating with electronic music producer and musician Joel Zimmerman (aka Deadmau5) for years. It’s an odd pairing in some ways—Deadmau5 (pronounced dead mouse) is internationally recognized for his original, well-engineered sound and straight-talking demeanor. DenBoer (aka Smearballs) is known for being uniquely talented at making super weird stuff, including some surreal branding for KFC.
TV series titles don’t usually need updating from season to season. But with the hosts leaving the theme park to head out into the real world in Westworld’s season 3, the time was right to make a change. Asking the question, “What would it look like for a machine to look back on the world of Westworld’s first two seasons, Antibody collaborated with AI Fiction to create “machine dreams” for the title sequence, which explores what the characters go through as they struggle with their new freedom.
Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles—and so many others—had exceptionally talented backup singers who helped make them famous, though those singers are much less well known. In truth, the same thing could probably be said for most artistic genres and, fortunately, there are events that help recognize some of those unsung folks, like the British Academy Television Craft Awards.
