🌞 Stacked For Summer
Are you stacked for summer or slowing down for the season?
Animating over video to pass the time? Brilliant move, Adrean Tolosa 😍
👋🏻 SUMMER SESSIONS
Whew, it’s been a slice of holey smokes the last few weeks over here – the response to The Hardest Button To Button podcast has left me overwhelmed, inspired, and ready to push Keys & Curves forward.
We’re going through unprecedented times as working artists, getting our stories out in the air for all to see ties us closer together when it feels like a lot of forces are in our way trying to do the opposite.
You are seen and heard and just know how appreciated you are – and thanks for telling me the same over the last few weeks 🙏🏻
📃 What’s inside this edition of KEYS & CURVES?
Animation: Cars and quick cuts.
Motion Design: Stylization taking over.
Reel Riches: As summer approaches, demo reels are blooming everywhere.
One More Thing: Shakespeare as puppets
It’s Monday, we all need a little inspiration, right? LET’S GO! 😁
ANIMATION STATION
Cars and Cuts.
What are you excited for this summer?
KPop: DEMON HUNTERS is coming to Netflix soon, Pixar’s ELIO is sneaking into the summer showdown, and LOST IN STARLIGHT just dropped.
F1 and sports cars are in the air right now – there was this slick F1 Youtube animation from Rafael Mayani and Elias Velho, Andykxyz’s bouncy Blender overprinted geonodes study, a Porsche Lego shoot, and even though it’s not animation I had to share this impossible drone drifting shot 👀
Quick looks:
Fan-made Spidey vs Sandman animation channels those Spider-verse vibes
Oliver Lescot’s Dive Into The Rift short packs kinetic energy and sweet camera work with his distinctive hand-drawn style
MOTION MADNESS
Breaking Expectations
Artists continue to impress when it comes to experimenting with NPR and cel-shading styles. Andykxyz’s offset printing bouncy car has been looping on my screen over and over. NIKE tapped Spider-verse for an awesome corner billboard collab, and then there’s this BONKERS real world sculpt that looks like a toonshaded anime character IRL.
Breaking from expectations is what this MAN vs MACHINE spot for the new Microsoft Surface – the studio known for their mesmerizing Houdini sims flips the script with bold type, splashes of cel animation, and really in-your-face angles and editing style.
Paragraph 03.
BEMO stuffs this spot for Powell Lacrosse with ALL THE THINGS
Super fun 3D + Joysticks N Sliders work from Abraham E at BUFF Motion
REEL RICHES
The Summer Slowdown = A Reel Explosion
You can always tell if the industry has been slowing down or picking up when there’s a sudden burst of new demo reels hitting the socials. When work starts to dry up, every artist starts feeling that itch to cut a new reel to get the work flowing again.
Here’s some of the best we’ve seen in the last few weeks:
GAMEDAY CREATIVE: hyperclear positioning around sports and stadium graphics that does an awesome job highlighting their animation AND design chops – I love how they very clearly identify their offerings (Broadcast Packages, Explainers, Concepts, etc) within a tight client focus.
Loic Losco: I watch a LOT of demo reels with my Open Office Hours practice and one of my pet peeves is how often the opening and closing titles on every demo reel feel rushed, poorly designed, and offer no idea of what you’re capable of or give any sense of your personality. Loic’s reel intro is the exact opposite: beautifully designed, wonderfully animated, and full of enough delightful details that make me want to watch it over and over.
The BIEN Anthem: A call-to-arms as much as a demo reel, the dynamic duo of Hung Le and Ricardo Roberts aren’t backing down when it comes to establishing their leadership position when it comes to inclusion and craft. What I love here is that they lean heavily into the idea of what I call a NARRATIVE reel; something that talks to your viewer with your own unique voice, centering you as an artist with a point-of-view as much as pushing buttons.
STUDY HALL: Thoughtfully simple, tastefully bold – that’s both the positioning of this studio AND their approach to a demo reel, and it really makes this reel stand out from the crowd. The crisp typefaces and layered edits, and sneaky moments of behind-the-scenes elements help too 😉
MODULAR: What’s better than one amazing studio putting out a new reel? How about TWO studios joining forces to make a new offering! HECK Studio and FOREIGN FAUNA have combined forces for a new reel and website and it reminds us that peanut butter and jelly always taste better together.
Wesley Belhar: Show me a reel that had Deadpool and Avatar on the same reel and you know I’m going to share it. How often do you get to see 10 years of work from one person on a single reel? Wesley’s reel has the kind of polish and range you would expect from a veteran of the biggest films and shows, but there’s still more than a few surprises in there as well.
ONE MORE THING…
Check Out These Puppets 😍
Nothing fascinates me more than finding new ways to animate and this inside look at ROMEO & ZOOLIET production from the Saint Louis Zoo is such a wonderful peek into how inventive builds paired with great performers can create new approaches to our character rigging. With real-time performance capture coming to the newest Unreal Engine release, tools like Cascadeur bringing mo-cap editing to the masses, and wild advances in wearable 3D printing, not only are they charming character designs radiating warmth – they’re also hints at where we can take our technology with animation that isn’t just getting hit over the head with AI slop.
Know someone that should spend some time in our Spotlight? Let us know who!
That’s a wrap for this week. We’re getting back to a regular posting schedule, releasing Monday mornings to get you going for the week.
Until then, keep on slinging the keys and riding those curves! 🤩
Really cool stuff here! Loving that offset car animation in particular