Hello Contra Community.

Here is my second video for #EndTheCageAge.

The project involved a delicate balance between stylisation, and realism.

The client asked me to design the animals so that they look accurate and somewhat realistic, but to simplify the form and detail. The goal was to keep it as uncartoony as possible.

I referred closely to filmed footage of the animals expressing their natural behaviours to try to replicate the movement accurately. As an animator who’s used to conveying emotion in faces, it felt unusual to me to avoid that for this project!

The cage the animals are in takes design elements from the End The Cage Age logo, and is supposed to be more symbolic of confinement than a representation of how the animals are kept. The client was specific about how large the cage should be in reference to each animal, because they wanted that part to be realistic.

I drew the animation in Photoshop and put it all together with shapes and textures in After Effects. The animation itself is a combination of hand drawn elements and animated shapes – the approach I took for each shot depended on the animation involved. If you’re curious to understand this better, throw me your questions!

When I tell you that the animal in the final animation is considered especially intelligent, I bet you can guess...