Top VFX Artist From London Who Left School At 15 Releases New Dino Clip For Spinosaurus Series
A visual effects artist from London who left school at the age of 15 with no qualifications and went on to work on big productions like the hit TV show ‘Black Mirror’ has shared a new clip from his online ‘Spinosaurus Swamp Things’ series.
Julian Johnson-Mortimer, 46, shares his latest dinosaur VFX creations, some of which have notched up millions of views, on his growing YouTube channel.
Julian told Newsflash that it all started when he left school at “15 with no qualifications”.
He said he was not able to find much work at first, and one day when he was bored, he started painting.
Julian said: “I started painting a watercolour. I found that I really enjoyed it, and started painting pretty much all the time, and after a few years I was able to make a living as a watercolour artist.”
He transitioned into working on special effects using computers in 2001, saying: “I first became interested in doing computer art in 2001 when I discovered a 3D animation programme called Maya. I found it very interesting as it was used to create the effects on many feature films. I tried a 30-day demo of the programme and was hooked.”
The computer programme Maya has been used to create films including Monsters Inc., Frozen, The Matrix, Avatar, Spider-Man, and numerous other blockbuster hits.
Julian said: “I spent the next two years teaching myself visual effects and my first real VFX job was in 2003 working as the creature designer and concept artist for the film Dungeons and Dragons 2.”
Now 46, he developed a keen interest in working on dinosaurs and other large creatures, saying: “I have since worked on many films and TV shows. I started working on my first dinosaur show in 2007, which was an IMAX project for National Geographic called Sea Monsters.
“I really enjoyed making the creatures and I have been mostly focused on dinosaur projects since then.”
In 2016, the expert VFX artist, who is from the town of Gravesend in Kent near London, worked on the visual effects for the Black Mirror episode Men against Fire.
He has also worked on documentaries such as Mysteries of the Unseen World (2013) and Wildest Weather in the Solar System (2011).
His YouTube video Spinosaurus Swamp Things, which he uploaded just three months ago, has notched up 2.5 million views and he has over 75,000 subscribers on his channel.
He recently posted a new clip of his popular ‘spino babies’ characters in Spinosaurus Swamp Things.
Julian said: “Here’s a small preview of a new spinosaurus animation. The spino babies are back but have grown quite a bit!”
