As there are only a few days of 2023 left, we would like to take a look back and highlight several significant moments that shaped Escape Motions and its creative community this year. Thank you for your unwavering support on our journey!
Back Together in the New Office
After several years of remote work, we were able to fully move into our new offices. Residing in the cultural creative center Arta Piestany, Slovakia, we are surrounded by painters, photographers, architects, freelancers, and art enthusiasts who push our motivation to create realistic digital painting tools even further.
Escape Motions Team, Summer 2023
SIGGRAPH 2023
The beginning of August was a very exciting time for us. For the third time, we were able to attend one of the biggest conferences and exhibitions on computer graphics and interactive techniques - SIGGRAPH 2023.
Peter Blaškovič and Michal Fapšo with Sony Pictures Imageworks representatives at SIGGRAPH 2023
The conference was a busy time for Peter Blaškovič (CEO) and Michal Fapšo (the lead programmer) who represented our team in Los Angeles. The main purpose was the presentation of Rebelle's role in making Spider-man: Across the Spider-verse. We talked alongside Sony Pictures Imageworks about how Rebelle software was integrated into the VFX pipeline for the production of this blockbuster movie.
We also attended a Meet & Greet event coordinated by Wacom in their booth - meeting the fans of Rebelle is always a good idea! We did live demonstrations of the software, allowing attendees to witness the power and versatility of Rebelle in action.
In cooperation with HP, we conducted a masterclass, providing attendees with hands-on experience and in-depth knowledge of Rebelle. This session was a valuable resource for artists looking to expand their skill set.
Peter Blaškovič and Michal Fapšo during "Z" by HP Masterclass at SIGGRAPH 2023
Motion IO Release
What's more, the talk at SIGGRAPH came with a humble product announcement. The conference served as a platform for Escape Motions to announce Motion IO - a scripting tool tailored for motion artists, animation, and visual effects studios. It allows the use of our watercolor simulation engine, hyper-realistic brush strokes, layer masks, and other Rebelle features for animation sequences. This solution will enable Rebelle to receive commands from an external custom JSON file and enable the import and export of animation frames that can be used in larger projects.
Focus on Realistic Digital Painting with Groundbreaking Technology
From releasing Rebelle 6 in December 2022 and improving its functionality while introducing new features through 23 updates, the main focus of our development team was on bringing realism in digital painting even further.
With Rebelle 7 being released just days ago, we believe we are closer to providing a realistic painting experience in digital painting. Whether it is through improved art surfaces, authentic brushes and new textures in Brush Creator, structures, thick impasto, or long wanted Metallic Materials, we hope, you will enjoy every creative moment to the fullest.
Hand in hand with the continuous development of Rebelle comes our desire to provide a variety of papers, canvases, and art surfaces which would allow artists to experiment with different textures and painting techniques, just like in traditional painting. In 2023, we introduced Gesso and Typography art surfaces, which immediately became some of your favorites. We thank Ľubomír Zabadal, an expert in traditional art media and assistant professor at UKF University, Slovakia, for his dedication to research in this field.
Discovering New Talent
It is a great reward to see talented painters, illustrators, and concept artists from all parts of the world pick our software and turn their creative ideas and sketches into masterpieces. We are always excited to see your work published in our Gallery or on social media. It was our pleasure to organize another successful Artwork Contest 2023 on our website, video tutorial challenges and a time-lapse challenge on YouTube, a Spider-man fanart contest and the DTIYS Art Month Challenge on Instagram. We thank hundreds of participants who decided to join and partners who supported these challenges with creative prizes.
Winning artwork in the Art Contest Portrait Category by Ricardo Queiroz
It was our pleasure to introduce 19 artists who are joining an exclusive group of Rebelle Featured Artists. We thank them for creating tips and tutorials for fellow creatives in video and written form.
Reaching 11K Subscribers on YouTube
We were lucky enough to continue in cooperation with Justice Frangipane on video tutorials for Rebelle. His painting experience and drawing hardware expertise help us to bring practical tips on how to use our software. It was delightful to finally meet him in person during our travels to SIGGRAPH.
Peter Blaškovič and Michal Fapšo meeting Justice Frangipane (on the left)
Our YouTube channel would not thrive without Featured Artists and other contributors who prepare content for fellow creatives. We were thrilled to introduce the Master Series with Daniel Ibanez, which we hope to continue in 2024.
Whether you are a subscriber returning regularly or a one-time channel visitor, we appreciate your contribution to the channel discussions.
Thanks to your tremendous support, whether by purchasing our software or add-ons, providing feedback and words of encouragement to our team, joining an affiliate program, challenge, or contest, or simply liking an image in our Gallery, we continue to create a great Community of art enthusiasts together.
We are excited about collaborations that are already in the making for 2024, as we proudly continue to sponsor the World Illustration Awards and the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize. Being one of the first software companies to work on Wacom Yuify integration, we look forward to providing a tool for visual artists to claim their authorship comfortably.
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From the Escape Motions family, thank you for your support in 2023.
Best wishes to 2024!
Peter, Michal, Miro, Tony, Anton, Pavol, Rasto, Tomas, Ľubomír, Jarko, Jozef, Alan, Samuel, Alžbeta & Veronika
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Cover Image by Leasa, title collage made of Featured Artwork from Community Gallery