SternRep is now representing Sydney-based and globally recognized commercial CGI company Electric Art! Electric Art is at the forefront of the rise in CGI and 3D animation for commercial advertising and is creating new innovative methods to showcase ideas.
What is CGI?
You may be wondering, what exactly is CGI? The acronym stands for the phrase “computer-generated images” and refers to creating an image via complex digital software. This involves diverse sets of reference images, an understanding of lighting, and detailed observation. Electric Art combines all of these elements with their magical artistic CGI abilities to create stunning photorealistic imagery.
Who is Electric Art?
Led by Creative Director Bruce Bigelow and Head Retoucher Inness Robins, industry-leading CGI company Electric Art brings life to every project with their unique personal touch, always delivering beyond their clients’ expectations. This dedicated attention to detail shows through in their stills, motion, retouching, or animation for food brands, pharmaceutical companies, or any client with a desire to bring their product to life!
Bruce and Inness lead an incredible team of multidisciplinary artists who combine an organic feel with their remarkable skillset to create whatever you can imagine. They specialize in stills and motion work for TV, web, and the newly rising “metaverse”. Many of their projects have received numerous awards at conventions such as Cannes, The New York Festivals, the Clio Awards, and more. Whatever the project is, they value creative direction and collaboration as well as highly crafted production.
With endless creative possibilities, Electric Art likes to say that they get to play god. Together this team has imagined and created worlds beyond the physical, where anything can happen. Take, for example, their project with DDB Health NYC which places a beautifully rendered CGI bull inside a delicate china shop. The masterfully created clip depicts the bull gearing up to lift a small porcelain cup to the top shelf with his horns. The best part? No teacups were broken in the making of the film. The clip effectively conveys the message of a medication that is tough on the disease but gentle on the patient.
These realistic effects aren’t limited to only animals though. Electric Art has a diverse repertoire of delicious-looking food for companies such as Snickers, TimTam, Mars, and more. Your mouth will most definitely be watering when you see their impressive chocolate biscuit fitted together with caramel drizzle and floating through a wall of ganache. If you’re not much of a chocolate person, then their collaboration with Frito-Lay’s Off the Eaten Path campaign will have you hunting down a packet of their truly delectable chips. After all, seeing rosemary and olive oil swirled together to form a perfect triangle snack is enough to make anyone hungry.
Experience
Electric Art also has experience with a dynamic range of creative methods, including: VR/AR, 3-D imaging, texturing, interactive design, surface modeling, special effects, solid modeling, Rendering, product CGI, photorealistic imagery, organic CGI motion graphics, image-based lighting, environmental design, character modeling, Character design, character animation, automotive rendering, architecture design, anatomical aodeling, and After Effects.
We asked the Electric Art to pull back the curtain and share more about the team behind the reality-bending imagery...
SternRep: Where did your tagline “Play God” come from?
Electric Art: A well-known creative here in Austraila, Steve Back, came up with that some 15? years ago There was a whole campaign of a dog pooping cupcakes, etc. which won some awards.
SR: What is the industry like compared to when you started 30 years ago?
EA: Do you want the honest answer?
In those days, (for us) print was a lot bigger of course but so was the idea that advertising had to be creative. Campaigns didn’t get past the front door unless the ideas were solid and that was everything to clients but particularly to the creatives. Clients in general have become much more conservative and risk-averse, opting for lifestyle ahead of ideas any day. It’s easier to dumb things down and be assured of a certain amount of eyeballs rather than do something risky and creative I guess. It’s not always the case, so it’s so refreshing when you see some really great ideas come across your desk for execution.
SR: What’s your favorite part of working in CGI?
EA: The challenge. We work at a pretty high and difficult end of the market so it’s generally challenging what we are tasked with creating. We have pioneered a lot of areas in CGI over the years and will continue to do so. The best way to stay ahead is to lead.
SR: What does your process look like? Can you give a brief description of what a client can expect when they work with you?
EA: Give me a job and I’ll tell you!
Tip top service and attention.
Hopefully, our last job is as good as the first job we did 30 years ago in terms of what we put into it, and expect from ourselves. We started out in this to create the most beautiful images in any given circumstance and we have carried on that ethos. We won’t take on anything unless we can do it to the best of our abilities
SR: Any interesting case studies to mention?
EA: There are almost too many areas of work and too many jobs to mention but a few come to mind. The ESRI campaign for Chiat Day was a great all-around demonstration of who we are.
We had to design and create seven environments from the ground up.
After an extensive design and development period we used (a lot) of CGI, stock, and local photography to create each environment, delivering a campaign of seven photo-real stills images and corresponding looping (just to make it really hard) cinemagraphs.
It was a lovely result and is still used to this day.
SR: What do you love about animation?
EA: Apart from the challenge of telling a complex story in a very short time, the often bigger challenge of creating something from nothing is exciting. Making it all work cinematically, flow, and be lit beautifully, hopefully surprising the viewer.
SR: Anything else we should know?
EA: We tend to swear a lot.
In a world that is ever-changing, Electric Art combines creativity with a highly successful repertoire to make the impossible possible. Whether it be putting a bull in a china shop, or floating chocolate through a wall of ganache, the beautiful artistry of electric art’s commercial CGI can bring any product to life beyond our imagination.
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See more of Electric Art’s work --> www.electricart.com.au
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