Ernex

14/03/2024

This is a logo animation I made a few years back for the game developer company The Multiplayer Group. They were redesigning their identity and needed a new logo animation to go with it. Their main inspiration was “cool video game HUDs” and their visual references had strong influences from classic sci-fi UIs.

It was pretty fun to work on this one. Extra points if you can find the couple of easter eggs I got to hide in the mayhem.

https://vimeo.com/ernex/mpg

_Direction / Design / Animation
_After Effects

2021

07/03/2024

One more year, I had the privilege of working with the team at 2K, designing and animating the main menu transitions for the official NBA video game: NBA 2K23

The project involved creating a series of loading transitions to be played every time the player selects one of the main menu modes. As usual, the different transitions needed to have their own identity, while sharing a common visual theme between them.

This time we went with a full 3D style playing with the idea of the logos forming out of thin air and crashing on a textured background surface, creating a shockwave that would end up revealing the mode’s title. Of course, with our usual sprinkle of glitches and data errors to add some extra complexity to the whole mix

Always really nice working with the team at 2K, with all the trust and creative freedom they’ve given me from day one. This year I also had the chance to collaborate with my good friend FINO Studio, who helped me with some of the physics, lighting and texturing.

https://www.behance.net/gallery/193267565/NBA-2K23-_Game-Mode-Animations

_Design / Animation
_After Effects / Illustrator / Cinema 4D

Client: 2K
Art Lead: Jason Rasmussen
Art Direction / Design / Animation / Motion Graphics Lead: Ernex
Motion Graphics: FINO Studio

2022

25/08/2023

So after a few hundred times trying to answer the question “what did you say you do for a living?” at every social gathering, I decided I might as well spend a few months creating an in-depth course that explains exactly that in detail. From now on I’m just gonna handle QR codes in parties, which probably won’t improve my popularity any time soon, now that I think about it…

A reasonable amount of jokes aside, I’m pretty excited about launching this course and I hope it’ll help some of you out there to take your first steps into the magic world of futuristic user interfaces for movies and videogames. Whether you're a beginner looking to learn or a pro wanting to refine your skills, this course has something for you. You'll get the inside scoop on the whole process, from initial concepts to final renders.

So if designing the interfaces of the future sounds like something you’d like, check out all the details in this link

https://www.domestika.org/en/courses/1059-futuristic-user-interfaces-for-movies-and-games/ernex

And shoot me a message if you have any questions - I'll hook you up with a special discount code too!

09/03/2023

I was approached by the director and the producer of this very special indie documentary “Rock 'N' Roll Is Not Dead" to develop its credit sequence. They had very clear from the beginning they wanted to show a detailed look at the backstory and evolution of the film’s main characters, the children of 2 rock legends and their childhood full of excesses.
We decided to try to suggest that with a quick montage of close-up shots of the internal workings of an old audio tape player, the part that nobody sees.

Although pretty far from my usual style, I had a lot of fun integrating the credits into the sequence and playing with their reflections and depth of field, creating my small personal homage to legendary title sequences like Panic Room or North by Northwest

https://www.behance.net/gallery/165464613/ROCK-N-ROLL-IS-NOT-DEAD-_Opening-Titles

_Art Direction / Animation
_After Effects

2021

02/03/2023

As usual, late with my New Year resolution of catching up with showcasing some of the projects I’ve worked on the past few years but been too busy to even post. Let’s fly back to a couple of years ago, when I got to work again with the guys at 2K on one of their flagship games: NBA 2K22

Once again, I got tasked with creating a series of loading transitions to be played every time the player selects one of the main menu modes. With a much more 3D approach to these transition animations than the year before, I had the chance to get way out of my comfort zone and experiment with a bunch of techniques I’d never tried before, to achieve the stylish look that we were aiming for. Self-illuminating materials, morphing blocks bounded by booleans and a touch of camera projection mapping. Lots of steps and little details, all wrapped in just 3 seconds each...

Facebook video quality is usually pretty bad, so I’d recommend checking it on my portfolio if you want to know what’s behind the pixels:
https://www.behance.net/gallery/164839597/NBA-2K22-_Game-Mode-Animations

_Design / Animation
_After Effects / Cinema 4D

Client: 2K
Art Direction: Herman Fok
Design / Animation / Motion Graphics Lead: Ernex

2021

08/12/2021

I was approached by Ascendant Films for a complete redesign of their logo and a nice epic animation to show on the opening titles and final credits of all their movies. I’ve worked with these guys in a few films and loved the idea to revamp their identity from scratch. Also, who doesn’t like the studios' logo animations at the beginning of the movies?

Their briefing circled around ideas like strength, growth and reaching for the top, so after playing with a few ideas I finally went for something both solid and technical with a whole symbolism linked to the idea of reaching upwards/onwards/further and the meaning of the actual name "Ascendant". I wanted to keep some reference to the original triangular composition of the old logo but reinforcing its resemblance with the letter A, both the initial letter of the company name and the classical arrowhead shape, the perfect shape to simply express going UP. All wrapped up with an airy, epic light reveal.

https://vimeo.com/653676488

_Direction / Design / Animation
_After Effects / Illustrator / Photoshop

2019

I was approached by Ascendant Films for a complete redesign of their logo and a nice epic animation to show on the opening titles and final credits of all their…

16/11/2021

A bit of a change of pace on this one… The agency JDO contacted me to direct their Brand Film “We Create Belief”, destined to explain the company values and increase their brand awareness. They wanted it to have a very poetic and visually minimalistic look, a pretty big departure from my usual style, which made it all the more exciting for me.

I got to collaborate with the legendary Guillermo Torres, an amazing designer who took the original script and voice over and translated it into a series of beautiful linework compositions that I then animated. Also, I was pretty stoked to be able to get Zelig on board to take care of the sound design, whose work I’ve admired for a long time.

It was a pleasure to step out of my usual comfort zone for this one and I’m quite proud of the result.

https://www.behance.net/gallery/131050989/JDO-We-Create-Belief

_After Effects / Illustrator / Photoshop

Client: JDO
Direction / Animation: Ernex
Design: Guillermo Torres
Music / Sound Design: Zelig Sound

2019

The agency JDO contacted me to direct their Brand Film “We Create Belief”, destined to explain the company values and increase their brand awareness.…

04/11/2021

Back with some goodies, finally showcasing some of the stuff I’ve been working on these last years.

First off, one of my favourites from last year: I was approached by the guys at 2K, one of the biggest videogame publishers in the world, to design and animate the main menu transitions for one of their flagship games, .

[Facebook video quality is s**t, so I’d recommend checking it on my portfolio if you want to know what’s behind the pixels: https://www.behance.net/gallery/130463649/NBA-2K21-_Game-Mode-Animations ]

The idea behind this project was to create a series of loading transitions to be played every time the player selects one of the main menu modes, combining each particular style with 3D models, 2D animation and some grittier textures and glitches along the way. Lots of steps and little details, all wrapped in just 3 seconds each...

It was fun to work on these fast-paced little animations, and I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of trust and creative freedom given by 2K, so when they contacted me again to work on the transitions for next year's NBA 2K22, I didn't even have to think about it.

_Design / Animation
_After Effects / Illustrator / Cinema 4D

Client: 2K
Art Direction: Herman Fok
Design / Animation / Motion Graphics Lead: Ernex
Producer: Emma Middlemiss
Motion Graphics: Ian Jones

2020