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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