Earning a rep as the only guy who knows how to use the software is a good way to get a foothold on a career. That's what happened to Aron Hjartarson, now CG supervisor at The Mill, New York.

"[I got into animation] by accident," he says. His Icelandic director-duo friends, The Snorri Brothers, had a fantastic computer in their studio and no one had time to use it, recalls the 31-year-old Icelandic director. "They were doing commercials and live stuff, so I used it while no one else [did]. It was the only thing I didn't get bored with."

As demand for CG work came the Snorris' way, the self-taught Hjartarson found himself steadily employed. Gradually, his aspirations to be a guitarist were eclipsed by the vast possibilities of animation.

Now living in New York, Hjartarson has completed high-profile work for Absolut Vodka, Hummer, Mike's Hard Lemonade, Lexus and Cadillac. He relocated in May 2002 from The Mill in London to open its New York outpost as CG supervisor.

Since leaving Iceland in 1995, Hjartarson has been a bit of a nomad. He freelanced as an animator in Italy for nearly a year before heading to London where he continued to do freelance animation. In 2000, he hooked up once again with the Snorri Brothers to collaborate on Planet Rock, an installation art/ad piece for Volkswagen. Returning to London, he hadn't settled for long before a freelance opportunity at The Mill set in motion the wheels that would take him back to New York.

Hjartarson, who heads up the company's 12-person CG group, says his job is still relatively hands-on despite his supervisory and quality control duties. It's a non-hierarchical model more along the boutique lines of European post houses. "In America, you have more of a pipeline," he explains. "You'll have one supervisor who chops jobs up and distributes pieces to minions. We don't have minions."

Hjartarson says he tries not to imbue the work he does with his own personal style. Instead, he'll stay true to the job. "That's the cool challenge," he says, "to let you your ego go and listen to the vision of the director. I try to listen to what benefits the project."

His ability to work with the vision is evident in the stylistic variety of his credits.

The Mike's Hard Lemonade work, from Cliff Freeman & Partners, NY, and directed by Rocky Morton of LA's MJZ, required Hjartarson's team to remove the heads from the sumo-wrestler actors posing as wife-thieving aliens, and track monstrous faces onto their chests for "Ape-like Men". Hjartarson himself cleaned up the scanned monster faces. In another spot, "X-ray", Hjartarson modeled a wild-toothed worm creature eating away at the innards of a young man. The creature was modeled in XSI, and he created the skeleton in SI3D. Interaction between the worm and intestines were animated using TOPIX cloth.

For Hummer, from Modernista!, Boston, and directed by the Snorris, each of the six spots end with a pullback from the top of Hummer to a shot of the Earth. Hjartarson and flame artist Angus Kneale created a virtual road and Earth, using a virtual camera to create the pullback effect.

The original plan was to acquire still aerial photographs of the topography of the Vancouver and Iceland locations, but weather and technical difficulties dictated the need for 3D, so the team integrated stock aerial photos and satellite imagery in with computer generated footage.

Hjartarson and The Mill also recently completed a hilarious branded content piece for Absolut Films called "Mulit" from TBWA\Chiat\Day and directed by London-based Stink's Ivan Zacharias. The '70s Bollywood-inspired movie-trailer piece shows how the maligned mullet hairdo is the result of forbidden love. The Mill handled the film treatment and de-grading, compositing Absolut bottle shapes into the scenes, doing sky composition and creating CG birds.

Stating it's still in growth mode, Hjartarson says the objective is to build the New York office a steady clientele of its own, while establishing a seamless flow of work between London and New York.

He's also got his sights set on getting some shut-eye. Between building a successful office and enjoying the daily growth and changes of his infant son, he admits the needed Zs are scarce.

WEBFILES:
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