Chris studied Graphic Design, before going on to receive a HND in Multimedia Design. With a huge passion for design and animation from an early age, Chris has worked in the Graphic Design industry for several years now, most recently for Robson Brown in Newcastle.

Chris is a self-taught 3D artist, he said, "I m delighted to join Qurios, I've followed them for years, and now i'm here i'm determined to show just what i'm capable off.

“We’re delighted Chris has joined us,” notes Qurios Entertainment Managing Director Niel Bushnell, “As well as being a young talented Artist his experience in Graphic & Multimedia Design will be a valuable resource to Qurios Entertainment. ”

As well as Design, Chris will be involved in other areas of production such as concept design, model building, texturing and animation.

We are very proud to announce that we have been commissioned to produce all of the CGI sequences for the BBC 2 series 'Hyperdrive', written by Kevin Cecil and Andy Riley, who co-wrote the Bafta award-winning third series of Black Books.

Heading up the cast will be Nick Frost (Spaced, Shaun of the Dead) as Space Commander Henderson and Kevin Eldon (Nighty Night, Big Train) as First Officer York.

Hyperdrive is set in 2151 and the crew of HMS Camden Lock are on a mission. Their mission is not to explore new worlds or seek out new life but to protect Britain's interests in a changing galaxy by encouraging aliens to relocate their businesses to Peterborough and take holidays in The Lake District!

The six-part show is a new science fiction comedy for BBC TWO, which follows the crew of British spaceship HMS Camden Lock as they go about their day-to-day lives promoting Britain in the 22nd century.

“We’re delighted to be working on Hyperdrive,” notes Qurios Entertainment Managing Director Niel Bushnell, “as a science-fiction fan this is a dream job. We’ve got some very exciting battle scenes to create. The scripts are very funny and visually ambitious. Some of the most challenging work we will be doing includes some digital set extensions and putting an alien creature into scenes with the human actors. We are really enjoying the work so far.”

Niel and his team have been on the set of Hyperdrive several times to help coordinate the visual effects shots with the live action shoot. Qurios have already designed numerous space ships and aliens for the show. The in-house team will be creating stunning space battles and encounters with new planets. Other work produced includes on-set graphics, ranging from tactical readouts to a biscuit dispenser!

Nick Patrick has been appointed as 3D Artist for the studio. Nick, 34, is an experienced artist, having spent the last seven years working in the computer games industry.

He trained in Art and Design at Swindon College before working as a self employed illustrator. During his time spent making computer games he worked on many different titles including Shadowman, Jackie Chan Adventures and Red Baron.

Nick was born in the sunny south east of England before moving to the ‘grim’ North to take a job at Acclaim Studios Teesside.

Nick worked at Acclaim for 6 years before joining Middlesborough based Atomic Planet. Having spent the last 9 years living and working on Teesside he now calls the North East home. Though he is often mistaken for a cockney he says that he was not born within the sound of the ‘Bow bells’, and still find’s the sound of the northern accent equally baffling and indecipherable. Nick has been interested in illustration from a very early age and said of his new appointment, “I’m very happy to be joining the Qurios team, and look forward to the challenges of working in a busy and competitive studio”.

“We’re delighted Nick has joined us,” notes Qurios Entertainment Managing Director Niel Bushnell, “As well as being a talented Artist his experience in game production will be a valuable resource to Qurios Entertainment. ”

As well as model building Nick will be involved in other areas of production such as concept design.

Now showing on most channels is our animated Groovy Chick commercial. We used traditional hand-drawn technique to help give Groovy Chick her unique charm.

We recently completed a commercial to promote the novel 'The Magicians Guild'. The work involved creating numerous illustrations which were used to tell the story of a young girl with mysterious powers. To view the commercial

Last year we worked with concept artist Bryan Hitch to help visualize the interior of the Tardis for the new series of Doctor Who. Back in early 2004 acclaimed comics artist Bryan Hitch was pitching to work on the new series, (it helped that series Executive Producer Russel T Davies was a big Bryan Hitch fan!) But before Bryan even had any meetings with the BBC, he'd already started sketching out his ideas for the TARDIS interior.

Bryan recalls his thinking as follows: "The simple up front determination was that it needed to be big. Huge. From the earliest sketch I did, before I was even offered a job of the series, I was going for the big dome shape. The central section changed as we went and adapted to comments and requirements and we were constantly reworking it in the finish."

Bryan worked together with Qurios to create an animated 3D turnaround of that initial thought, which Bryan took along to his first meeting at the BBC. Bryan continues, "It helped show the space as it could be used, and even though it underwent massive changes as we went through months of work, that basic idea remained intact."

Although we didn't get to work directly on the show we are proud to have had a small hand in a piece of TV history! (We also pitched several concepts to the production team for new Dalek designs, so far they have remained unused. (One day we might even show them here!)

Matt Turner has been appointed as Production Assistant for Qurios Entertainment. Matt, 25, is a native of Middlesbrough in the North East of England. He studied Television & Video Production at Cleveland College of Art & Design, before going on to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree in Computer Animation at Teesside University.

Matt has had a passion for animation from an early age. “For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by animation. I’ve always been aware of, and intrigued by movement, and human motion. The blending of this with artwork, of whatever form, gives life to that art. It takes it somewhere special, in my eyes. I’m looking forward to helping produce work like that”, said Matt.

“We’re delighted Matt has joined us,” notes Qurios Entertainment Managing Director Niel Bushnell, “As well as being a talented animator he has also studied traditional film-making techniques which will compliment our 3D work well. ” As well as animating Matt will be involved in other areas of production and helping to ensure the smooth running of projects. Up-and-coming projects include an animated television commercial and development of several projects for children’s television.

The live-action for the commercial was produced and directed by our long-standing partners Jam Creative. Qurios consulted on the live-action shoot in Edinburgh before working on the 3D elements. Most of the model building and animation was created using 3DS Max and composited with Combustion.

An additional end shot was recently completed. The scene required complex flocking simulation and animation to make thousands of folders form the Scottish Commissioners logo.

Digital set-extension is a relatively new tool that saves time and money when it comes to large set-building.

For this commercial for the Guernsey Tourist Board Qurios created a digital painting that extended a small set to gigantic proportions. The effect - a large warehouse full of postcards - sits seamlessly with the live action footage.

Not all our commercials involve live action. This recent project for Anglia Polytechnic University required two Herons to be animated and rendered in a flat colour style.

Instead of creating the Heron's in a 2D medium such as traditional drawing or Flash they were built as fully working 3D models. This procedure helped add realism and consistency to the herons.

Qurios is pleased to announce the recent recruitment of Andrew Glazebrook to our growing 3D Art team. Andrew, 37, has lived and worked in the North East of England all his life. Since an early age he has had a passion for the silver screen. He has immersed himself in film history, with a particular interest in special effects, model making and prop building.

“I’ve always drawn, painted and made stuff out of junk from being little. I was interested in fantastic movies long before Star Wars came onto the scene,” comments Andrew. Andrews’s previous experience includes creating miniatures for Role-Playing companies.

He also spent 12 years with Odeon Cinema as a Senior Technician. More recently Andrew worked for games company Atomic Planet where he worked on several new computer games for PlayStation 2.

“We’re delighted Andrew has joined us,” notes Qurios Entertainment Managing Director Niel Bushnell, “Not only is Andrew a creative artist, he has an understanding of traditional film effects and techniques which is a huge boon to our 3D work. He is like a walking encyclopedia! His ability to approach visual problems from a different angle has already reaped benefits”

Andrew will be working on a range of projects including commercials, 3D visualisations and computer game assignments.

Qurios Entertainment was named overall winner in the awards, which celebrate rising stars of the local business world. It also took the Creative Industries Award at the Best New Business Awards 2004.

Niel and Diane Bushnell set up Qurios Entertainment in May 2002, providing arts services for the computer game and television industries, capitalising on Niel's experience of working for a number of prestigious clients including Disney, Warner Brothers and the BBC.

The Best New Business Awards accolade is another accomplishment for the business, which was recently short-listed at the Soho Short Film Awards.

"We are thrilled to have been named Best New Business 2004," said Niel. "The award pays testament to the hard work that has been put in over the past two-and-a-half years by our dedicated team. The business has gone from strength to strength and we are very proud of what we have achieved."

The Best New Business Awards are now in their fifth year

Qurios Entertainment have completed work on their animated intro for Animex Production, part of the Animex Animation Festival organized by the University of Teesside.

The intro shows a journey through lush jungle, over a waterfall and the mysterious stones that lie beyond. The environment was created using procedural textures as well as more traditional 3D computer modeling techniques. The intro also uses complex water simulations which saw the final render time skyrocket.

Early in development Aled Lloyd, architectural model builder, devised the back-story to help add narrative to the finished piece: The bridge was built by a Victorian Explorer, Sir James Swales, on an expedition in 1834. He instructed his Occumara (The local tribes people) to build the bridge to traverse the Gunguru river just below the Arrabela Falls, (Named after Swales youngest daughter).

His instructions caused much heartache for the tribesmen as they considered the land beyond and the mysterious stone structures close to the falls as sacred land. After much negotiations the bridge was built, but on the day of its opening the Gurju man,(local ‘witch doctor’), saw a female Jaguar and an albino cub on the far bank and forbade any of the Occumara to cross fearing this was a bad omen from the Gods.

Swales crossed without the Occumara. Seven days later he returned; vomiting with puss filled legions all over his body, he died three days later. To this day little is known about the land beyond the Gunguru river and the stones Swales had gone to study. It is still forbidden for the Occumara to cross the bridge.

The Season 2 DVD boxed set of Blake's 7 is finally released. Once again Qurios Entertainment have provided an animated intro for the release. Work began on the first Blake's 7 DVD intro back in November 2002. The release date for the first boxed set was set for the end of January 2003 so there was a sense of urgency in producing the first sequence. The first boxed set would feature a 3D computer generated recreation of the classic Liberator, originally built as several real-world models in 1978.

The first intro was delivered just after Christmas 2002, however subsequent legal issues would delay the release until March 2004. For the season 2-4 releases several animated sequences were provided, themed around specific episodes. As well as the Liberator 3D models of other Blake's 7 ships were created, including the Pursuit Ship and System ship.

Managing Director Niel Bushnell said, “It was a great challenge and a childhood dream to get to play with such an iconic ship as the Liberator from Blake's 7, its the British equivalent of the Starship Enterprise. The trick was to try to stay faithful to the original model work while bringing it into the 21st century. We studied the original footage and sourced as many pictures of the model as possible to help us recreate the Liberator.”

Blake's 7 originally aired in the UK on BBC 1 between 1978 and 1981. All of the original special effects were produced with a number of different sized models and shot on film. The new sequence, which shows the Liberator flying through space, was created digitally.

The eagerly awaited DVD release of all 52 episodes began in 2004 with the season 1 digipack. Each release includes audio commentaries on selected episodes, unseen footage and outtakes. Qurios Entertainment has continued its involvement with Blake's 7 and has provided new material for each of the four planned DVD releases. Almost every memorable spaceship from the original series has been recreated as a computer model for the DVD’s.