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New signing: Geoffroy de Crécy

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We are super excited to announce our most recent signing - Geoffroy de Crécy. Geoffroy is a French director and illustrator, who continuously explores many ways to apply and combine the techniques of traditional animation, stop-motion, 3D and mixed media.

He is perhaps now best known for his mesmerisingly hypnotic animating loops and gifs which have been featured in the likes of It’s Nice That and WeTransfer as well as working with clients such as Fanta, Kellogg’s, Guinness, Fedex and Carambar (to name a few).

We sat Geoffroy down to find out a little more about what makes him tick…

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So Geoffroy, tell us a bit about yourself, how you became an illustrator/animator?

I started as a self-taught graphic designer in the video game industry. It was there I learnt how to use 3d softs and create CGI. I then directed animated music videos and TVCs. Four years ago I decided to start exploring still images for illustrations as I wanted to make something visually different from the aesthetic of CG animated shorts I did before. These new pictures were flat, geometric and graphic. I was happy with these still images but my old animation background said something was missing. The only way to animate an illustration and keep it ‘illustrative’ is to make a loop.

How would you describe your style?

My style is inspired by the digital tools I use. It's driven by the obvious and hidden possibilities of digital software. I try to find coherence between the subjects I treat, and the tools I use. That's probably why my work features a lot of robots and architecture.

What has been your favourite project so far, and why?

I have a long-term project about the loneliness of machines. It's made of a whole host of loops I create continuously in my spare time and all these loops contribute in an ever growing video. It's a great pleasure each time I add a loop in the film. It works perfectly, with no need of a specific work in editing.

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Your loops are wonderfully hypnotic. Are there any rules you follow to create these?

At the moment I have two different kinds of loops. The first ones are part of the machine project I mentioned previously. The rules in this are very specific: No human characters, only machines. No sci fi machines, only machines we come across in our daily lives. From this series, I then decided to create some “free loops”, where the only rule is visual efficiency.

Is there a specific reason for wanting to create loops?

This has definitely stemmed from my double background as an animation director and illustrator. When I work on a nice still picture, I can't help but animate it. Looping is the perfect midpoint between illustration and narrative animation.

It is also a great way to make people watch my work.

Where do you get your inspirations from?

I’m inspired by photographers such as William Egglestone and Stephen Shore... Their work can tell you so much about a time or place by framing just a room or a detail. It’s very strong. I’m also fascinated by Brutalist architecture, which is heavily feeding into my work.

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What’s your creative process when it comes to illustrating/animating?

It really depends on the kind of work! For commissions, I make sketches first to find and present my ideas to the client before I start working on the computer. For my personal work, I often start by creating a little scene directly in 3d software, and then when I'm "in" this picture, I see how I could improve, animate and loop it interestingly. It’s a very incremental process. I’ll put the scene to one side and come back a few days later to make some more changes and improvements.

What tools are you using at the moment?

An old 3dstudio max , the Adobe Suite and sometimes… a pen.

Have you got any exciting projects coming up?

I have an exhibition coming up in October, which is pretty exciting. I’m still working on my lonely machines loop and expecting a lot of “Go’s” for a fair amount of projects I’ve been prepping for.

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