Inspiration comes in many forms but for motion graphic designers it's hard to beat a great demo reel. For this week's roundup Topher gathered 16 killer motion graphics and vfx demo reels. Please feel free to add any links to reels you find inspiring in the comments.
16 Killer Demo Reels
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Mark Coleran
Mark is an amazing interface designer working on a ton of prestigious movies such as The Island, Children of Men and Mission Impossible III. His designs are both immensely futuristic and completely breathtaking to see.
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Andreas Feix
Andreas' website Eclipse FX, has bunch of links to the work that he has accomplished, and the awards that he has won. He is a very talented compositor working on many productions including the internet fanflim, still in the making, Star Wars: Threads of Destiny.
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Markus Gustafsson
One of my fellow authors here on AEtuts+, Markus Gustafsson has a pretty sweet demo reel. Not only is he a great teacher, but you can see some of the subjects of his tutorials here, as pieces in his reel as well as some of the freelance projects he has done over the years.
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Onesize
This Dutch based studio deals in everything... motion graphics, visual effects, animation, and anything else you can throw at them. They have done some amazing work for Nike, MTV, G4, just to name a few, with a truly unique feel to their work. I actually found them from their work on The American Dollar's "Anything You Synthesize", a truly amazing music video.
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Mutanthands
James is a London freelancer, rocking a bunch of work for companies like VH1 and Nickelodeon, but what I really like about his work, is the 2.5d feel he gives it. A lot of the stuff you can tell can be created in After Effects, and has a great cartoony, paper-character feel to it.
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CL-DEEZ
This french motion design artist has a ton of work for websites and branding projects, working mostly with 2D motion design, with a dabble in 3D, as every good motion design artist should.
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Josh Childers
This reel here has a ton of 3D as well as some 2D, but all good artists have to broaden their horizons eventually. Josh shows you a great reason why. Working at tons of different studios as a freelancer, he has quite the reel put together.
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Noble Assassins
Rick Morris runs Noble Assassins as Creative Director and has a great mostly 2D reel, working on advertising material for television. I love reels like this, because it really shows you how far After Effects can go as a primary tool.
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Nylon
Nylon is run by three people: Jason Cook, the Creative Director, Bryan Lee, also Creative Director, and Joe Montalbano, EP. These three together produce some amazing work, which is very heavily reliant on 3D, and has an amazing colorful design appeal.
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Chris West
I'm not gonna lie, in the first five seconds of this reel I thought "what in the world am I watching?" but then Chris broke into the real stuff in which makes his real worthy of this list. He has a great eye for creativity, and his motion design and animation are really well put together.
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Danny Yount
Danny made it onto my Inspirational Typography list a while back and his demo reel now, will simply not be looked over without a mention. You have probably seen at least one or two of the clips in his reel on television or in flim sometime or another. Working at Prologue, he has worked on a ton of different movies, and has probably one of my favorite reels on this list.
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Kyle Richtsfeld
Kyle has a cool reel with a lot of the pieces made entirely in After Effects. He works in Vancouver, BC as a mograph artist and director. One thing you won't see in his reel though (and the reason I wanted to include him in this list), is the work he did on the "California" music video for Hey Ocean... amazing use of typography simulating the inside of a catalog.
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Rhino
Rhino is a very high end studio with some truly stunning pieces they have worked on. They are more on the visual effects realm of things, but I thought it would be worth noting here because it was so rad. I'm sure After Effects was used here and there for touch-up, but for the most part things are created entirely in 3D.
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HUSH
New York's HUSH is run by Erik Karasyk, David Schwarz and Laura Alejo. Specializing in TV commercials, music videos and branding, the lastest reel from them is killer.
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Craig Hubbard
Chubbard, as his freelance design is called, has worked on a few tv shows doing spots and branding such as Criss Angel, VH1's Charm School and the IFC Channel. He has got a really creative eye, and some very cool design pieces in his reel especially the running hand at the end.
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Heebok Lee
This guy has worked on some movies that would be a motion designer/comic book nerd's dream. Spiderman, Superman, Incredible Hulk, and Iron Man... and his credits don't stop there. I couldn't think of a better reel to end the list with, but we have to sometime. Might as well be with something truly remarkable.
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User Comments
( ADD YOURS )b pailla May 29th
this one’s nice too
http://www.fubiz.net/2009/05/25/rokkaboy-reel-2009/
( )Shifter May 29th
Very Nice
( )k May 29th
well, Josh Childers definitely has the best reel out of these 16. insane work. wish i had the skills :>
( )PRIYESH May 29th
What about mine?
( )http://www.vimeo.com/794422
John Fischer May 29th
Hey, that was pretty good! I have to admit I wasn’t expecting much out of a “what about mine?” post
But kudos, nice job!
( )Priyesh May 30th
Thanks a lot! Is much appreciated
Btw, your tuts-network rocks.
mike May 30th
lol was good , , i was quite surprised nice work
Matt May 31st
Wundervoll!
( )Priyesh May 31st
Dankeschön, Matt!
John Fischer May 29th
Obviously everyone will have a different favorite, but this has been one of the most inspiring to me: http://www.gkaster.com/
( )Rafi May 31st
haha mine too! pretty crazy stuff
( )Sérgio Soares May 29th
awesome. Nice list
( )Thank u
Rafael Guerra May 29th
all of them are very inspiring reels!
( )Jimmy May 29th
I’m a big fan of EDEN SOTO’S at EdenSoto.com
You can check out mine at JimmyWeber.com also haha.
( )ninjtso May 29th
NICE ON I REALLY LIKE IT ,,,:)
( )pyroclepto May 29th
no renascent?
I hate that guy because he is so awesome. He should be on this list for his technique, execution and overall vision
( )Lloyd May 29th
Sure, just add the link in your comment.
( )Rev65 May 29th
Another great list, Topher! Tons to see and draw ideas from. I love that Mark Coleran has carved out a unique mograph niche and has made a successful run with it.
( )Topher Welsh May 29th
I love Mark Coleran’s stuff… one of my favorite reels to watch over and over. True freakin genius.
( )Dean June 3rd
I liked Mark Coleran’s reel as well, and since I’m a big music nerd I loved hearing “Wherever You Are” by Ulrich Schnauss!!
( )Becky June 4th
Not only is Mark an awesome creative genius, he’s a really great guy. He’ll be speaking and showing his work in October at motion09. Check it out
( )RandomEntity May 29th
surprised not to see Sebastien Cannone’s http://www.sebastiencannone.com or Nick Campbell’s, http://www.creamyorange.com
( )dotcom May 30th
personaly i find this one very inspiring :
( )http://www.gkaster.com/
so elegant.
dotcom May 30th
toh ! already mentioned ! with the same say… ( toh ! )
( )dotcom May 30th
couldn’t stay like this,
Here’s this one : http://www.gmunk.tv/
Ed Wood May 30th
Not very recent but still inspiring… Conrad Ostwald’s reel:
http://www.conradostwald.com/movies/Showreel_Conrad_Ostwald_2008.mov
( )Wouter Bulten May 30th
I think someone copied this article:
http://www.goingame.de/2009/05/16-killer-motion-graphics-demo-reels/
(Found the link on Mark Coleran’s website)
( )Lloyd May 30th
Unfortunately this happens alot, as soon as we publish a tutorial or article it is robot copied to a lot of other sites that just steal from other sites. Don’t think there’s much we can do about it.
( )Diego SA May 30th
These demo reels are really breathtakingly awesome videos to watch. Even with an excellent sequence of works they have done, the soundtrack they chose are dancing, great to enjoy. And they made a wonderful synchronization, highlightning the Hush demo reel with The Ting Tings’ song “Great DJ”. Astounding video!
( )And excellent collection of demo reels you got here Topher! I’ve got distracted for several hours! Nice work!
Lawrence May 31st
Nice round up! Take a look at mine… It’s nowhere near this standard http://www.vimeo.com/4900525
( )Davi-T May 31st
Great list of reels and a lot of inspiration. Just makes me want to study harder and harder. Loved the Bugs Bunny sound clip at the end of Craig Hubbard’s reel mixed along with the audio track.
( )Lawrence June 3rd
I hear that! Watching some of these reminded me of why I started. Long way to go but it’s a good ride.
( )Andreas Feix May 31st
Hey there!
Wow, I didn’t expect to find my showreel here when I posted it; it’s quite an honour…
& to all others – you really got some very neat showreels…
Keep up your good work y’all,
( )Andreas
dukkas June 1st
can anyone help me where I can find the background song used for Heebok Lee demoreel.
( )Topher Welsh June 2nd
It says right there…. on the page to view the reel…
What Else Is There by Royksopp
( )Stewart June 4th
http://www.condorcape.com/showreels/
( )Jason Kempshall June 6th
Very nice!
This is also a great one –
http://www.matthewrobertjones.com/
( )Steve Batz June 9th
One thing I noticed which made a huge impact on me in these reels was the choice of music. Some inspired and enhanced the reel, others made me want to switch off.
PS. Loved the start of the Chris West reel!
( )Eduardo Torres June 9th
Rhyno’s demo reel is jaw-dropping… I cannot imagine all the hours dedicated to learn techniques to achieve something like that.
( )Paul Felmer June 22nd
Hi!
This Reels are amazing thanx for the info.
I leave you here my new reel.
From Santiago de Chile
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MEnU_exoNk
Im working on my web there are some works to
( )Check it out
Thanx!
CL-DEEZ June 25th
Hi, I’m just give u the right link to my Demoreel :
http://www.vimeo.com/3529570
My website has been hacked for a week so you can see it on Vimeo.
Bye
( )Cédric Le floch form cl-deez
Jim Simpson June 28th
http://www.vimeo.com/4195809
( )Dazfbfsq September 14th
I am assured, what is it
( )Tim September 17th
Its awesome work!!!! Keep gng.
( )crm services October 8th
Its really amazing.Gr8 effort keep it gng!
( )Rohullah Kabir October 15th
yah thats like true demo reel i have seen many Demos but those that i saw now those where great keep it up (ae tuts) keep adding these kind of stuff
( )