ADULT SWIM: OFF THE AIR
I had the chance to accomplish a dream of mine and create an animation for Adult Swim's show Off the Air, which strings together a handful of experimental animations within the episode's theme, "music" in this case. Available to watch on Adult Swim and HBO Max.
With just the theme of music, I pitched the concept: "A funky instrument raises hell inside the shell of a person".
I decided to create the piece largely in Cinema 4D, with additional collage in Photoshop, and composited in AE. The music itself was created in collaboration with my friend and frequent collaborator, OMO (Javan Cain).
The designs, models, environments, and animation (i.e. all visual elements) were created entirely by me.
Deer modeled in Cinema 4D
Early animation test of main figure
Original digital painting that provided the base for all the backgrounds and landscapes
TOPO CHICO PREMIERE
I was approached to create an animated bumper for Topo Chico's ongoing series showcasing musicians called Topo Chico Premiere. The bumper would be featured as a funky intro to one of the acts in the series.
My Pitched Concept:
An unsettling 1950s dinner party. The table is set with strange jell-o creations and other absurd foods from the past; dinner guests include a dressed up pig, chicken, rabbit, cow, and fish.
Technique:
The process was a shmorgishbord of claymation, collage, mograph, and cel animation, which all culminated into the 12 second bumper. All of the backgrounds were collaged from my collection of materials from the 1950s-70s.
WAYNE'S WORLD
The Atlanta-based studio OK Motion Club reached out for an animated bumper to contribute to their screening series OK Movie Club, hosted monthly at the historic Plaza Theatre in Atlanta and sponsored by Topo Chico.
The series showcased classic women-directed films like Point Break and Wayne's World, and animated bumpers inspired by the films played in the theatre before each screening.
Process:
In gouache, I hand-painted elements like the wing frames, and physically created the alpha mattes using Sumi ink. The rest of the textures were created by heavily manipulating and collaging scans of vintage children's books.
