JT Bruce

United States of America

JT Bruce is an independent artist, animator, and filmmaker who uses a multidisciplinary approach to expand creative boundaries. JT grew up in the redwoods of the Santa Cruz Mountains in northern California, playing electric guitar and making movies with friends. He earned a degree in film production from San Diego State in 2009 and has worked as a freelance motion artist in the San Francisco Bay Area for more than a decade where he's had the opportunity to work with dozens of production houses, creating bleeding edge content for hundreds of clients.

In 2020, he completed his feature film directorial debut with the documentary The Devil’s Road: A Baja Adventure. JT’s goal is to explore the possibilities of digital art while maintaining a connection to the things that make us human.


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Urbanalia

Urbanalia_JT_Bruce_Video.mp4

Urbanalia is a non-narrative film that twists photographed urban textures into surreal 3D landscapes.


A reflection on the absurdity of pandemic-era cities - a time when our built environments were forced into emptiness, and public spaces temporarily lost their meaning due to events outside of our control. 

When the pandemic forced the world into a standstill, I spent a lot of time wandering around my empty city of Oakland, California, photographing the urban landscape. I was struck by the absurdity of an environment that was meant for industry, commerce, and transportation - and yet could be used for none of that. 

My photos and observations became the inspiration for Urbanalia. The gritty textures, street art, and grunge of the photos served as the basis for materials that were mapped onto surreal 3D geometry and rendered with uncanny lighting to create a non-narrative mood piece that reinterprets the eerie early days of the Covid landscape.

technique

video

format

landscape

duration

04:33

year

2023

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More from JT Bruce

More on digital art

Generative art
Generative art refers to a way of creating artworks using an autonomous system. In digital art, these are usually generated from code and algorithms created by the artist, often with certain predefined parameters or systems. Although these parameters guide the final outcome of the work, generative art is generally a surprising way to create artworks, as the results are often unexpected and the number of possible outcomes can be infinite.
AI
AI art is a branch of generative art that uses artificial intelligence. Unlike other generative artworks, AI artworks use specific complex algorithms and models derived from machine learning. The most common methods for creating AI art today are GANs (generative adversarial networks) or proprietary prompting platforms such as ChatGPT, Sora, Midjourney, or Dall-e.
3D
3D art uses 3D software such as Blender, Cinema4D, Houdini, or video game software such as Unity to create works of art. In 3D works, artists can either arrange assets (the 'objects' in a 3D artwork or world) that they have created themselves or purchased from other creators to create elaborate environments and scenes (an approach to 3D art called 'set dressing'), or specialize in sculpting, which involves creating their own objects and assets.
Photogrammetry
Photogrammetry is a specialized 3D technique that allows 3D objects to be created from numerous photographs taken of an object or scene from multiple angles. These photos are then compiled to determine the specific positioning, shape, and dimensions of the object in space, and then converted into a 3D model. Initially developed for engineering and urban planning, photogrammetry has become a way for artists to produce extremely accurate 3D models from real-life images.
Collage
An extension of the traditional, plastic approach to collage, digital collage involves searching for and cutting out multiple images, extracting them from their original context, and recomposing them in a new arrangement to create a work of art. Artists can use their own photographs or find images on the internet.
Illustration
Digital illustrations are created using software such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, or Procreate. As with drawing on paper, the artist uses a stylus to sketch a figure or object, usually on a tablet, to construct a scene or artistic universe. Unlike traditional drawing methods, digital illustration is much more forgiving, as mistakes can be easily corrected and drawn elements and objects can be easily moved around within a scene.
Video
Video artworks primarily use a recording camera, but may sometimes include additional post-processing or editing to distort, modify or add additional elements to the image. Some artists use state-of-the-art recording equipment to create macro zoom-ins or time lapses, privileging fidelity to the subject matter. Others use additional softwares to significantly modify or warp the video, creating an alternative perspective on the world that surrounds us.

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