As a copywriter only capable of painting with words, not brushes, I envy individuals with a natural aptitude for design.
To strengthen this shortcoming, I devised an internship goal of shadowing Lemonly designers throughout my summer at Slice. (Perhaps a dusting of artistic talent will rub off in the process?)
Enlisting the wisdom of Lemonly Motion Designer Chris Biewer, I ventured into the vibrant world of After Effects and character rigs. Show-and-tell style, he shared a few animative favorites that spotlight unique style, texture, and complexity.
“Animade is an animation studio that runs Boords, the storyboard software Lemonly uses, so I follow their work as much as I can. It’s a short story, not a commercial piece—something I see Lemonly creating in the future. I’m drawn to a unique style—interesting characters built with simple, mobile shapes.”
“The simple shapes are animated really well and have a lot of personality. Probably the most notable aspect is that it uses the same open-source animation tool Lemonly uses to export infographics as code, Lottie.”
“There’s a lot of personality, bright colors, and simple shapes—a handful remind me of Toy Story characters. The sense of physics in character movement is a lot of fun.”
“Similar to Animade, the characters have a really fun style to them. I’d love to learn more about the process they took to get these handcrafted characters into the piece.”
“I have a soft spot for sports animations. From a design and animation standpoint, everything built within the graphics package has to be templated and easily swapped out. It requires foresight of what’s needed so the animator can build the project file correctly.”
“What intrigued me was the geometric grid system. How did they decide to compartmentalize the structure into cubes and when they break? Design grids aren’t generally used within Lemonly animation. I dig the experimentation.”
“This is from a Canadian studio, e→d films. Daniel Gies, the film’s co-director, uses various software to achieve his results and definitely doesn’t let technology limit what he can do. Best of all, he shares a lot of behind-the-scenes materials to help push the industry forward—the type of stuff that will melt your brain.”
“While the voiceover is mundane, the animation is very playful. I enjoy the sliding facial features. As you can tell, I’m attracted to a lot of character work.”
“The animation style is unique, but I’m more so a fan of the story. There’s a build-up. Is he digging for water? Is he going to survive? Ohp, he’s got to take a selfie. It’s unexpected.”
While I may never wield Adobe tools as confidently as I do a red pen, my experience as Chris’ Padawan was certainly enlightening. Want to continue binging animation? Chris recommends sites like Vimeo and Motionographer, and while you’re here, feel free to peruse the Lemonly library for more inspiration.
