Design is the backbone of everything I do. It's what informs the majority of my decisions whether it's reviewing animator's walk cycles, laying out scenes in After Effects or creating characters for a web series.
Recently I've had the pleasure of working on projects that have been very design-heavy and some of these can be read about further down this page.
I've done a large amount of character design during my career and one project that really springs to mind is my work on CBeebies, Number 1 Newton Avenue.
During this production I was tasked with creating the look of the four main characters which were then animated along to various songs, the title sequence and screen-wipes. The style of the kids was to be super simple for a couple of main reasons - ease of animation and the ability to continue the style onto various other graphics within the animated sections of the show.
My background in graphic design plays a big part in designing additional elements and assets for a production. Everything that isn't a character also needs designed with the same level of consistency and attention to detail.
In the example image above, I was tasked with creating a significant load of graphic assets that were then animated in Adobe Animate and directly in Adobe After Effects for a 5 minute long NHS explainer about the Flu and Covid Vaccines.
As mentioned previously, I've spent a large amount of time being a graphic designer and have worked on a lot of startup's branding projects. The simplicity of the designs is a priority of mine and I like to implement the lessons I've learned while designing logos, in other areas of design, animation and art direction.
Clarity of line-work and shapes can be brought forward and used on character design. Layout of elements is key to compositional work. And knowing how to create a brand that has a versatile cohesive visual identity is extremely useful when comes to art directing an animated show.
