Passion Project: Nook and Cranny - Act of Kindness

Nook and Cranny is an ongoing personal storytelling project exploring empathy, environmental care, and small acts of kindness. Created for the Contra Holiday Challenge, this short animated piece tells a quiet, wordless story about noticing someone in need — and choosing to help.

The goal was to create something hopeful, emotionally readable, and accessible across ages.

The Idea

I wanted to create a holiday story that focused on small, human moments rather than spectacle. The narrative centers on slowing down, paying attention, and responding with care.

By removing dialogue, the story relies entirely on movement, expression, pacing, and sound to communicate meaning.

Nook and Cranny began as loose sketches in my physical sketchbook. From the start, I explored contrast:

Nook — organic, glowing, emotionally sensitive

Cranny — blocky, mechanical, quietly protective

I refined the characters digitally using Paper (Paper52) on iPad, preserving hand-drawn imperfections while clarifying form, scale, and expression. Keeping the linework loose was intentional — it allows the characters to feel warm, approachable, and alive.

Storyboarding played a key role in shaping the emotional rhythm of the piece. I created multiple storyboard drafts to explore pacing, framing, and silent storytelling beats.

I also used #LovArt to help generate background ideas and storyboard inspiration. Since the main characters were fully created by me, using LovArt as a background and ideation tool allowed the final visuals to stay original, organic, and character-driven, without overpowering the hand-drawn feel of the work.

With so many video editing tools available, I chose Adobe Express for its simplicity and flexibility. It allowed me to:

Edit video clips and timing

Add transitions and subtle motion

Place closing text remarks cleanly

This lightweight workflow helped keep the focus on storytelling rather than overproduction.

The final holiday short delivers a complete story in under two minutes, guided by visual storytelling and restraint. “Sometimes the smallest act of care makes the biggest difference.”

Nook and Cranny is an ongoing personal project exploring how illustration and motion can communicate meaning simply and emotionally.

This holiday short is part of a larger ongoing world. If you’d like to explore more Nook and Cranny stories—including early children’s book concepts and animated series ideas—view the expanded project here.