| Biography |
 Photo by Chris Saunders Phil Wolstenholme has worked at the coalface of inventive computer art for nearly 20 years, and has inhabited a variety of strange but CGI-rich environments during that time. When Amiga computers finally became available in Sheffield in 1987, he saw his opportunity and immediately began a monastic period of self-absorption while he learned the mysterious ways of computer graphics - and designed his first fractal images along the way. Finally re-entering the real world, he set about producing some of the most advanced and influential images to grace album covers and other items of consumer interest.
Despite these handicaps (and fatal power cuts), he produced some of the most enduring sleeve images of the electronic/techno phenomenon from the early-to-mid 90's. In his cover images for musical artists such as 808 State, The Orb, and Cabaret Voltaire, and for clients such as Warp Records, Designers Republic, Sony Japan and Strictly Rhythm, his unique style and pioneering use of 3D imagery helped set the look of things to come, and inevitably raised the possibility of animating these weird worlds. Cover images of the time include such classics as:
Gradually acquiring more and more beige-coloured hardware increased the speed of working tremendously and finally allowed the unknown quantity, 'sleep' into the production pipeline. Subsequent experiments confirmed, against all conventional wisdom, that '3D animation at home' was indeed possible, and Warp Records commissioned a 40-minute, all-3D animation video, entitled: Motion.
Suitably, he began to work with 'industrial strength' Second Nature Industries, who produced the now fondly-missed and award-winning animation software: HyperMatter for 3D Studio MAX. The first commercial software ever to allow CG artists control over 'soft' objects, it allowed traditional styles to be reflected in previously rigid objects and changed the way animators could work for the first time.
All the time, Phil was steadily building his collection of fractal work, and after carefully researching traditional fabric design - which largely consists of either floral, geometric or animal-skin patterns, he realised there was a huge design gap in the medium, and the plan for Heavy Everywhere® began hatching. Modern, yet classic-looking fractal designs utilised in the realm of the visual and tactile senses, as the most intricate decoration imaginable. Early tests on various materials showed huge promise, and fractal-based fabric/product design was born. Phil now works mostly on Heavy Everywhere® projects, some secret, some not, providing designs for fabrics, print, music, fashion and interiors, (and the occasional album cover) whilst still pounding out 3D images and animation just for the fun of it. He is also an accomplished photographer, specialising in intricate, abstract landscapes and panoramas, and has recently been exploring the magic of the Spheron HDR panoramic camera. |
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Often working in conjunction with Designers Republic, Phil decided (at a time when he really should have known better) that 3D modelling and rendering was the way forward, despite home computers being barely able to play 3D chess games at the time. Undaunted, he set forth bravely, if a little naively, into the strange world of 3D software, spending days at a time modelling objects, before spending more days at a time waiting for an image to finish rendering. 
Together with CG artists David Slade and Jess Scott-Hunter, he produced a still talked-about (and still influential) release that set Warp's finest electronic musical artists against ambitious CGI, in a suite of plot-based animation sequences. On a miniscule production budget, Motion exceeded all expectations, and launched at the ICA in London, was a huge success. Against the burgeoning market of cheap 'chill-out' videos, it stood alone, along with the Artificial Intelligence albums, as a statement of intent. _sm.jpg "(Motion) cover: Copyright © Designers Republic/Warp Records. All Rights Reserved.")
Alongside this were projects such as a collaboration with the British composer Gavin Bryars, producing 3D animation for projection during live orchestral performances of Sinking of the Titanic, 1995. Meanwhile, Phil was also forming a career in 3D software development, working as 'the user from hell', after frequently breaking 3D software to destruction and then asking for his money back. Eventually, he decided to try and fix the some of these problems himself by 'infiltrating' the CGI software business.
Second Nature's 'guerilla' development and management strategy produced a product of unparallelled ease and power on minimal budgets, and the product won three major awards in it's first year of release. 
Phil later worked with Lightwork Design, and its offshoot company Kazoo plc and then ZOO Digital Group plc, developing the 3D software package Home Creative Studio, which allowed children and non-professionals to combine 3D models and technology with photos and images to make personal art projects. In the process, he oversaw and helped build an immense library of over 4000 themed consumer-level 3D models, wrote and built the documentation and website, and endlessly re-designed the user interface to make the technology more accessible to non-professionals. The software finally broke the barrier between consumer art and 3D technology seamlessly.