Quba HQ

Morhipo ads and how MovieType saved my skin

I remember the first time John from Motionworks shown me a beta version of MovieType. Pretty cool – I remember saying – I’m sure it will be useful to the people who do lots of 3D text, but not really something I would use in my projects.

While I was certainly impressed with both the idea and the implementation of MovieType, I really did not think I’d ever have any need for it. My motion pieces rarely, if ever, use 3D typography. I may throw an After Effects 3D text layer here and there, but that’s pretty much it.

And then came the Morhipo.com gig.

September 6, 2011
In Announcements, Featured, Motion
3 comments

Quba Michalski: Creative Free Agent

It is my pleasure to publicly announce that as of today I have changed my official status into Creative Free Agent and I am available for work with all interested parties. For all business inquiries you may contact me directly – the details can be found on the About page of this site.

It took me a while to figure out how to properly title myself and my services. Freelance Director? Motion Design Artist for Hire? Unassociated Writer/Art/Creative/Director? Truth be told, looking back at the past decade, it is much easier to list the things I did not do than all the roles I assumed on all the projects.

May 28, 2011
In Motion, Telesine
No comments yet

Fiat 500

I told you I was busy :)

This project started its life as a simple storyboard for a 2D piece based on photographs, delivered to us by the agency. The main brief was to show off different customization options for Fiat 500 using series of cuts. Right from the beginning I knew that the key to making the car look attractive in the commercial was in adding that one extra dimension, so we decided to upgrade the ad to a full 3D.

While the team was working on the car models, I rigged up yet another of my patented After Effects expression rigs (basically my own version of Trapcode Echospace) in order to easily create and animate the flower designs originally designed by the agency. The rest was a pretty standard editing, compositing and beautifying process, resulting in the ad you can see below.

May 25, 2011
In Featured, Motion, Telesine
7 comments

Sun Ich: Purely Fruit

This project was my first venture into the world of slow motion demo shots, and a pretty successful one, if I may judge it myself. It’s been shot over the course of 24hrs on Phantom HD and edited in my standard After Effects environment.

I am particularly happy with this commercial, since I had full creative control over all of its aspects. From concept and creative direction through directing the shoot, to post, vfx and music – I was able to execute the project precisely as I imagined it. In fact the final result is nearly 100% identical to the first storyboard-based animatic, originally pitched to the client.

April 18, 2011
In imago, Motion
One comment

Ulker: Dankek

I’ve been working on quite a few projects in the past months, all of which are in various stages of production and pre-production. Meanwhile, here are two short ads I made for Dankek.

The agency brief asked for a stop-motion aesthetic. We decided to shoot all of the elements live, but do the animation itself in After Effects. In fact I developed a pretty cool expression for creating random imperfections and errors in the object movement, especially for this project. (I am hoping to share it with you soon).

December 13, 2010
In Announcements, Featured, imago, Motion, Video Bits
4 comments

imago Reel 2010

Hot on the heels of yesterday’s address change, I am happy to present you with the latest reel of imago studios, closing down year 2010. Not much to talk about here – press play, sit back and enjoy.

July 17, 2010
In imago, Motion
One comment

gnctrkcll / Cornetto: 1+1

Here is a sequel to the gnctrkcll / Cornetto: text+talk ad released 7 days ago. Since it is a tag-on companion piece to the original ad, not much has changed in the department of decorative elements. You might notice, however, that the main character now got a girlfriend.

This one was produced in 4 days, right after completing the gnctrkcll: Kurucesme series. I would have posted it earlier, but I first had to catch up on sleep :)

July 14, 2010
In imago, Motion
5 comments

gnctrkcll: Kurucesme

This project is a not-so-distant cousin of gnctrkcll / cornetto project, and was produced over the weekend break between the two parts of its bigger relative. The main concept remained the same – a stop-motion actor, t-shirt with a character, busy background.

The character was, again, designed by Meni, but this time we were delivered ready frames from the agency and did not have much input on what it does. Instead I focused on creating a small library of cell-shaded 3D elements, later used to liven up the scene.

July 10, 2010
In imago, Motion
7 comments

gnctrkcll / Cornetto: text+talk

If we were to say just one thing about the making of this ad, we’d describe it as an extreme exercise in hardcore project management.

We were approached by Leo Burnett with two frames of a character design art, a concept for an ad with an animated t-shirt and 6 days to air time. We took the bait. Now, less than a week later, we are happy to present to you the latest ad for a joint promotion of Turkcell’s gnctrkcll and Algida’s Cornetto.

July 4, 2010
In Announcements
No comments yet

The State of Things

I guess it is not too hard to notice that June is gone and I have managed to cover only half of the tutorial content from the trailer. Unfortunately, you will have to be patient for a little while longer.

It’s been raining projects here, and I literally don’t have any free time left to work on the site. This is likely to continue for a few more weeks, so naturally the Automated Light Array and Procedural Disintegration tutorials have been delayed until sometime later this Summer.

Be sure that the moment I catch a moment to breathe I will record the next video, but for now you just have to check the site regularly to see if that moment has come. Until then – enjoy the Summer, or go around the site and try out all these new shiny Facebook Like buttons. If you feel particularly generous, there is also a nice rounded yellow button on the right side you may want to try.