I was invited to help judge the 2018 X-Particles Challenge. On top of the onerous task of picking the best work submitted, the judges were also asked to throw down and create an entry of their own. After a number of false starts and maybe a little procrastination, this is the piece I finally created on the last day of the competition.

My goal was to create an entry that stood out from the pack, so I decided on a simple graphic aesthetic rather than the expected slick octane or redshift render. Also, instead of trying to create a single complex particle simulation, I decided to create a series of simpler elements that I would edit together. This had a number of benefits. I didn't feel any pressure to make any one of them perfect. It allowed me to make the X subtle in some of the shots, as the cumulative effect makes it clear. And lastly, this was a somewhat last minute affair, so it was something I knew I could pull off in the time I had available.

The individual scenes were created without any specific idea of how they would all come together, but after I had made a few, I started assembling them in After Effects and quickly figured out what was working and where my problem areas were.

The final step was to add the accompanying sound design, which although wasn't a part of my original plan, gives a whimsical and tactile quality to the otherwise abstract visual style.