We partnered with the award-winning production house, Taylor James, to produce our launch film for the highly anticipated Wacom Cintiq Pro 24 and 32.
Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at how the animation was made, from the early style frames all the way through to the final compositing. Showcasing the detailed engineering that goes into our advanced pen displays, the film was even made using a Cintiq Pro!
“The making of this showcase animation for the new Cintiq was pure joy. Art and techy stuff coming to life using motion graphics and CGI: we loved it.” – Jerome Haupert, Director
How did you come up with the concept?
“For this Wacom video, I wanted to showcase the new Cintiq Pro into a creative context. How it’s used in reality, how technology aids the creative process,” says Jerome Haupert, Director at Taylor James.
“So, I thought the best way to achieve this was to show the hand of the artist in action. This hand is just a part of the piece, discreet, it is here to breathe life into this spot. I didn’t want something that feels too dry or too technological, I went through quite a few designs and style frames to develop a look that I think is fresh, iconic, minimal but colourful and that matches the overall Wacom brand.
The whole spot was created in CGI. It was just easier to do it like that, to get the right look and feel, to control easily the lighting and framing too. We went to create a very highly detailed CGI model for this hand, to get something that feels convincing, realistic in terms of shape, although the final result is very stylized. The hand animation was a bit of challenge: if you look at the hand of someone drawing, the hand barely moves, only the wrist and the forearm. So we introduced some subtle animations to the fingers here and there so it feels alive. I think the result is pretty great.
I didn’t want something descriptive, or too strong, so we kept all those visuals almost abstract and simple. Only the brushes and the motion graphics have a certain complexity to them, to create an engaging contrast visually. We tried different shapes for those brushes as I wanted those brushes to feel almost magical, a bit like calligraphy on paper.”
What were the highlights of the project?
“I think it was that we delivered something really beautiful that the client was thrilled with, and we were all proud of. There were a LOT of client changes and versions, but we worked together really well and delivered something everyone was happy with,” says Jerome Haupert, Director at Taylor James.
And what about challenges?
“Agreeing on a look and feel for the hand was tricky, balancing the cool aesthetic of the minimalist hand and arm without making it look ghostly. We found a balance in the end through trial and error, the most useful workaround was to work up different grades in a comparative window to see how they sat against each other,” says Jerome Haupert, Director at Taylor James.
“Showing the hand of the artists in a minimalistic way, and showing the art coming out of various brushes in a magical way, full of colours, was for me the perfect way to showcase the various technical aspects of this product. ” – Bumble Davis, producer
People involved:
Jerome Haupert – Director
Bumble Davis – producer
Rodi Kaya – rigging
Sebastien Bispo – modeling
Roly Edwards – animation
Matt Burri – lighting and rendering
Dave Head – general
Matt Eley – CAD and lighting
MGFX – Marcel Piekarski
MGFX – Steven Tracey
