“Every time you have a question, you get ten videos explaining the answer. “There are so many great artists and tutorials on YouTube you can learn from,” Alex says. Acquiring these new skills has been relatively easy. “ Maryam & Varto was supposed to be a 2D film, but I’m pushing to make it in Blender, using 2D animation against a 3D environment.” Using a combination of polygons and Grease Pencil to do layout work.Īlex has been working with Blender intensively for a year and a half, including a year for production purposes. He’s so passionate about this workflow that he’s considering it as the basis for his whole production. From the perspective of what I do, it offers this perfect mix of 2D and 3D.”įor storyboarding, Alex often combines Grease Pencil with low poly assets. Having 3D as part of my workflow really helps to convey this.” Keeping everything in Blender: Alex edits clips, creates assets, and draws… all without leaving the software.Īlex has always been attracted to multidisciplinary ways of working. “ Maryam & Vato takes place in this vast Anatolian landscape, which is all about space and endless horizons. It’s serious, of course, but we’re mainly going for an adventure that engages the audience.”įilms like Maryam & Varto tend to have a limited budget, but thanks to Blender Alex’s creative horizons have expanded. Here, we’re going for pure story: two kids and a teenager running away, and becoming friends. There have been a few films done on this topic, and they’ve been very dark. “It’s a deep and intense subject,” Alex says, “But we chose to avoid a super harsh tone. While Maryam & Varto aims to raise awareness around a heartbreaking period, it will do so in an accessible way. “The story of two Armenian kids being rescued by a Turkish teenager is based on reality,” says Alex. And that’s why I’m here today.”Īgainst these huge, tragic events, Maryam & Varto tells the intimate story of two Armenian children fleeing the Ottomans… and encountering an unlikely ally. Alex: “A hundred years ago, there was a huge diaspora of Armenians all over the world, including my grandparents, who came to France. Alexandre and Gorune have Armenian roots, and the story is based on this shared past. It takes place during the Armenian people’s darkest hour: their oppression by the Ottoman Empire in the early twentieth century. Maryam & Varto is an independent film co-written and directed by Alexandre and Gorune Aprikian. You can see an animatic here.īefore we explore why Alexandre loves Blender, and how he’s using it for Maryam & Varto, it’s worth explaining why he found this project so compelling. But he’s also working on an independent animated feature, Maryam & Varto - which promises to be beautiful and thrilling. Mune: Guardian Of The Moon synthesized Alexandre’s creative influences: 3D from his time at DreamWorks, and 2D from his education at GOBELINS.Ī still from Alex’s movie, Mune: Guardian Of The Moon (2014).Īlexandre has a couple of projects in development. And, returning to Paris, a more whimsical vision in Mune: Guardian Of The Moon, which Alex co-directed, and stars iconic French actors like Omar Sy. There’s the blockbuster style from his time as an animator for DreamWorks, working on Kung Fu Panda and Monsters Vs Aliens. In a career that’s taken him from France to Hollywood and back, Alex has absorbed diverse approaches to storytelling. With Blender, it took a couple of days.”Īlex studied 2D animation at the celebrated GOBELINS school of visual arts in Paris, an institution that supplies world-class talent to major studios like Disney, Pixar, and Universal. “In the past, an animatic would take me weeks. A still from the animatic for Alex’s forthcoming film, Maryam & Varto. As always, it’s free to use for any purpose. Inspired by Alexandre’s Blender experience? Download Blender here. Here, we explore Alexandre’s use of Blender, especially his enthusiasm for Grease Pencil, hybrid 2D/3D storyboarding, tips and favourite tutorials, and his thoughts on VR as part of the production pipeline. As well as directing and animating, he’s a senior storyboard artist. He works on large international projects - and smaller scale, more personal films. Looking for a quicker way to storyboard? Or a new creative niche? Or simply want to mix things up?Īlexandre Heboyan is an animation director based in France.
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