3D World

The team used Redshift
through Maya on Early
Man in order to save
time on the project

Early Man is the third
Aardman project
axisVFX has worked on

top-motion masters Aardman
are known for their forward-
thinking and innovative work,
and 2018 saw them release
their latest creation in the form
of sports comedy, Early Man. axisVFX co-
founder and VFX supervisor Howard Jones
was tasked with leading a team to create
the film’s visual effects. Working directly
with Aardman and director Nick Park,

Jones is a specialist when it comes to hitting

Aardman’s creative vision, going back as far

as The Pirates! Band of Misfits before setting

up axisVFX with fellow VFX expert Grant

Hewlett. The newbie company set forward

a pitch and won the job to collaborate on

the 2015 Shaun the Sheep Movie, then later

working on Shaun the Sheep: The Farmer’s

Llamas. Early Man marks their third

Aardman project as a company.

SETTing ThE ScEnE

Early Man brought with it some new

environmental work along with what could

be described as the film’s centrepiece –

the football stadium. “[Aardman] design

everything – we implement it,” Howard

Jones explains. “Apart from films like

Gladiator, it’s not that often that you’re stuck

in one, stadium environment for quite a

large part of the film and a complete CG

industry
axisVFX

EXcluSiVE REpoRT

insight

News and views from around the

international CG community

We talk to axisVFX co-founder Howard Jones about his team’s

visual effects work on Aardman’s latest smash hit

PreHisToriC VFX

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