Concept for post-destruction London. Final matte painting was done by RodeoFX.
Destroyed London
Author: ajconcep
Triffid orchard
Concept for the Triffid ‘Orchard’. Based on initial artwork by the art director, Dan May. I wrote a script for SketchUp to transfer cameras into Vue, so the camera lineup could be done using SketchUp’s camera match feature, and the final renders could be done with Vue.
Triffoil refinery 1
Another angle of the Triffoil facility destruction. Build architecture is inspired by a water treatment plant close to Heathrow airport.
Triffoil refinery 2
Post Triffid outbreak DMP
triffoil refinery 3
Triffoil refinery establishing shot. Source renders of the main refinery building provided by others.
LVK Titles
LVK rushes logo
Freelance contract for ‘Rushes Film and TV’
Not a high-brow project, but very good fun to work on. All the artists had a lot of creative freedom, and the director (Phil Claydon) was great to work with.
LVK town street
Stages of the ‘Town Street’ illustration for the Film’s prologue. The sequence was meant to have a comic-book feel, so these illustrations were used as backgrounds in the actual film, rather than concepts for a more photo-real painting.
LVK alchemy
Only direction given was ‘a Crazy Alchemist’s Lair’, so I had a lot of creative freedom.
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LVK arches
SketchUP has it’s roots as an architectural modeler, so creating the vaulted ceilings was easier than I expected.
LVK software
All of the illustrations were done using a combination of SketchUp and Painter. The aerial forest matte painting was given to me as a challenge – it was far larger than anything I’d ever done before. I learnt ‘Vue’ in a weekend, and then came in on a Monday to do the shot.
LVK Forest Track
Forest track illustration, also for the title sequence
LVK Jimmy illustration
Illustration test of Matthew Horne as ‘Jimmy’. The director was hoping to have a fully illustrated poster commissioned, in the style of the old hammer horror films. This was my pitch for me have a go at it.
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LVK poster
Concept for the movie’s poster
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LVK storyboards
Storyboards for the final shot
LVK aerial forest DMP
‘Cragwich Forest’ aerial shot – the first time I used ‘Vue’ in production, as well as the first full establishing of my career
Human body title
Blood SEM
One of the key ‘looks’ of the documentary was to use Scanning Election Microscopy (SEM) images for any shots within the body. As SEM images are basically depth maps, I used them as displacement maps within ‘Fusion’ to create pseudo-3D scenes. Combined with extreme depth of field and false colour effects, the results were very effective.
Human body Rushes logo
Freelance contract for ‘Rushes Film and TV’.
Human Body: Pushing the Limits was nominated for an emmy for ‘Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series’ in 2008
Human body marketing still
Main marketing and publicity image. Needed to be 6K, so I up-resed the textures used for the bones and muscles on the hero human model, as well as scattering the smaller rocks. I then painted over the final renders, adding detail to the rock surfaces, as well as the background and dust.
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Eye SEM
More shots using the SEM displacement technique I developed. Close-up of the fovea (the most sensitive part of the eye), and the spinal cord.
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Human body logos
‘Shake’ had just been discontinued, and Rushes decided on eyeon ‘Fusion’ as a replacement. I made heavy use of Fusion’s 3D compositing functions on this show, including particle systems (for the Tornado) and displacement (for the SEM effects).
Spider vision
Texturing for the ‘Spider Vision’ in the spider bite sequence.
Cave mouth
Cave mouth DMP. Shot in Bourne Woods, near Farnham in the UK. It’s such a popular filming location that there were lots of set pieces from other shows handing around – the random junk in this plate was from ‘Band of Brothers’.
Tornado aftermath 2
Second ‘Tornado aftermath’ matte painting. Classic (read: cheesy) backlit DMP sunset.
Tornado aftermath 1
Tornado aftermath – corn field and sky extension.
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Cliff Edge
Cliff edge set extension for the ‘Rock Fall’ sequence
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Tornado concepts
VFX storyboards for the Tornado impact sequence in Episode 1
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Tornado field supercell
‘Supercell’ matte painting for the ‘Tornado’ episode. Miniature trailer from ‘The Model Unit’. Source photo for the supercell from ‘Extreme Instability’
Title Post
Fish Eye Matte Painting
‘Fish Eye’ matte painting. Used as background for almost every poster, affiliate marketing material and website. Probably the most widely visible painting I’ve ever done.
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Stadium concept art 1
Initial blocking was done in ‘SketchUp’, and painted in Corel ‘Painter’.
Rushes logo
Freelance contract for Rushes Film and TV
Skyline waterfront concept
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Initial design for the Skyline matte painting. I preferred this design, but it was thought that it discriminated against host cities that didn’t have a waterfront view.
Stadium Concept Art 2
Initial designs featured sparklers and fireworks, but this was thought to encourage hooliganism at the actual games. The final shots used streamers and floating glitter to try to produce a similar effect.
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Storyboards
Storyboards for the main title sequence
Software logos
Concepts done in SketchUp and Painter. Final Matte Paintings done in Photoshop. Source renders from other artists, or created in Vue.
UEFA Aerial 1
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Aerial view of the stadium, from the main title sequence
Surrounding city is a combination of north London (the area surrounding the Arsenal stadium) and Barcelona, which has the largest football stadium in Europe.
UEFA Aerial 2
Alternate aerial view, often used as an alternate background in marketing posters
Skyline final concept art
Final concept painting for the iconic ‘skyline’ matte painting
Skyline final DMP
Final matte painting of the ‘Skyline’ stadium. Initial renders done in ‘Vue’.