MERRY TECH WINTER 2024
PERSONAL PROJECT / ANIMATION, ILLUSTRATION / 2024
Tech Winter is still in full swing where I am, and as someone who's full-time job is in the tech industry, we all can't help but feel a little somber. That inspired me to make this animated greeting card, a bit of dark humor about elves losing their jobs.
As always I began with a very rough thumbnail sketch, refined it, tried out some character designs and art styles, then began making the assets to import into After Effects. I decided on a cartoony-look to evoke a bit of that Charlie Brown Christmas charm.
The elf holding a cardboard sign was going to be the main focus of the piece, so that's where I wanted to focus most of my efforts. I rigged a rotating head and body with Joysticks n' Sliders, and used RubberHose for the legs. Didn't rig any arms, as they wouldn't be visible (It's not cutting corners if you don't need that corner 😜).
If you've seen my other work, you know how I love little details and microexpressions, as it makes the characters feel that much more alive. Many animators skip this step and just move what they have to, but nobody's that stiff.
The tree is another example. The loose Christmas lights cable at the top of three is oh so slightly affected by gravity and momentum and swings a little, so I animated the Path. I used Create Nulls From Path and parented each light to the nulls.
Lastly, I added some Turbulent Displace to add a cartoony "boiling line" effect to sell the hand-drawn look. I also used animated textures for some of the shading, making just 3 brush strokes, animating them in a Precomp, and masking a loop of them to the objects.
If you like what you see and would like to work together, shoot me an email at nickyinprogress@gmail.com
