Robots, Lasers & Poetry
Prior to his recent work in UX and XR, Quba Michalski led San Francisco studios Autofuss and Bot&Dolly. As their Creative Director, he dreamt up, planned and executed small in-house experiments, multi-million dollar international campaigns and everything in between.
Using some of the latest tech – motion control robots, drones, lasers, mocap suits, high speed cameras,digital and analogue displays, etc. – he lead the team of artists and engineers in crafting experiences that moved the audiences, evoked emotions, provoked thought and discussion.
In 2014, both studios were acquired by Google. Quba continued his work as Creative Director under the new umbrella, working with various innovative technology departments including ATAP, Robotics, Cardboard and VR teams.
Most of the work conducted at Google cannot be currently made public (or talked about). Below is the final demo reel of the two studios, concluding four years of work under Quba Michalski’s leadership.
European Days
In the early 2000’s Quba operated his own, two-person creative motion design boutique: imago studios. Operating out of Istanbul, imago mostly catered to the European market and maintained a strict 30-70% split between independent and commercial productions.
As often is the case with boutique studios, Quba wore many hats – co-founder, creative and art director, animator, motion and composting artist, editor, photographer, DoP, director, writer, PR, coder, tech support… He created and delivered pitches to agencies and clients, shot and edited the footage, animated content or created tools to achieve effects and looks beyond the capabilities of commercially available software.
Over the span of nearly a decade, imago created over 400 pieces of media – and Quba directed and animated every single one of them – except for a few larger projects where he assumed the role of lead animator and worked with a team of artists. Below is a short compilation of some of more memorable pieces created by the studio, compiled after it closed its doors.
Quba’s passion for technology, hunger for knowledge and hands-on approach are still present today. With his in-depth knowledge of film, video and motion design he is able to plan, execute, or, when need be, troubleshoot even the most complex productions. He’s equally at home on the set in director’s chair, pitching at the client meeting, creating vfx in editor’s den or in a workshop, working with engineers on a new crazy contraption.
Feel free to explore the rest of QubaXR to see some of his more recent works – preferably using a head-mounted display (VR viewer).
Once done, get in touch!