2024-In-Review, Part 01: Artists We Loved
Starting 2025 off with new names we discovered last year.
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👋🏻 ART APPRECIATION THREAD
2024 was many things for us all, good, bad – and worse, but tons of great art was made, and as we sit ride the line between animation for entertainment and motion design for advertising, we thought it would be a good time for some GREAT stuff to get the year going on the right foot.
MOTION MADNESS
Keyslingers.
Skymography: a mixed-media motion maestro, he’s putting out work that feels like stuff from the heyday of Mograph, updated for modern times. His Match Cut video is what got him on our radar, check out the full length video on their Youtube channel for so much more.
Manon Louart: Manon’s animations are only topped by the fact that she is an unmatched illustrator as well – one with a definitive art style and signature color palette to boot. Mesmerizing colors, iconic style, and radiant illustrations.
Oh, she also makes wonderful Skillshare courses where she explains how she does it all too!
Silvia Casali, aka PuffyPuffPuff: You can’t get cuter than kawaii styled toys and no one does it better than PuffyPuffPuff.
Hannah Sun: knocked us off our chairs with this mesmerizing morphing glittery shape transition done in… CAVALRY! We can’t wait to see more this year from her personal work and the stuff she creates for BUCK NYC!
ANIMATION STATION
Golden Pose Gods.
Gooey Louie: The name really says it all – any time we see these amazing hand drawn effects in our timelines it stops our scroll instantly.
Lava Hijzelaar, aka LAVA: an animator with a clean line and fluid movement that reminds us of an early Glen Keane.
Nicole Stafford: Have you ever seen a single frame from an animation and knew it was going to be an all-timer? That’s how we felt when we saw the designs for the Reaver – and when we saw it moving oh-so-creepy in animation, we were hooked.
DESIGN DISCIPLINE
Type Beasts.
SNOOZE ONE: Lettering artist Snooze One’s videos will lull you into a dream state wondering what the final frame will look like until you find yourself watching the process loop out in front of you a few times in a row.
Rafael Serra, aka FAEL: Brands never look more timeless and eye-catching than when Rafael decides to refresh their look.
Taylor Penton: Taylor is serving up crunchy, funky, handmade fonts a la carte or as part of their Type Club subscription offering. All that plus Taylor’s a damn fine designer as well.
Mohmed Siddique: Custom fonts, liquid smooth kinetic type, and a fun play on the After Effects timeline – it’s been a busy year for an artist exploring everything that’s possible.
IMAGE MAKERS
Illustrators. Photographers. ‘Boarders & Builders.
Bernardo Henning: Has there ever been an illustrator whose still frames feel more kinetic than Hola Maybe?!? Bright, bouncy, electric and eclectic – whether they’re full-on illustrations or doodles over live-action, Bernardo’s work stops us in our tracks.
Heidi Jo Gilbert: Ages ago, we ran into her outstanding WICKED storyboards reel – amazing timing that the story that helped her get her big break is on the big screen at almost the same time as she leads one of, if not the best movie from Dreamworks.
Reuben Margolin: A wizard working with themes of the intersection between nature and math, his kinetic sculptures vary in scale from the minute to the massive.
Bond Truluv: multimedia graffiti artist that has so many unique devices for painting that they made a book covering all of them.
Thijmen Geluk: One of the boldest illustrators we’ve seen since Temi Coker, Thijmen plays with eye-popping colors rooted into place with an amazing use of dark blacks and angular shapes.
Know someone that should spend some time in our Spotlight? Let us know who!
That’s a wrap for this week – tomorrow I’ll be sending out my favorite studios and shops. Until then, keep on slinging those keys and riding the curves! 🤩