How to Make a Milkshake

-creative process-

The Challenge

My goal for this project was to create a fun, engaging, and informative animated short for children-based audiences. Throughout the developmental workflow of this project, I had encountered many challenges that required me to think outside of the box to find creative solutions.

My Solution

My approach to this project started with a detailed storyboard which allowed me to organize how each shot in this animation would be composed. Then, I created a vector-based character design in Adobe Illustrator. Next, I imported the Illustator file into Adobe After Effects and rigged the character using an open source plugin known as Duik Bassel. Finally, alongside placing keyrames in After effects, I made some hand drawn animations in Procreate to serve as compostional asstes in the video.

View Storyboard
Storyboard

I have found that the most effective strategy to begin any project, begins with fleshing out my ideas through putting pencil to paper. Although these drawings may be nothing more than just a bunch of doodles, they served a very important role in helping me get into the right head space for designing the visual elements of this project.

View Character Rigs
Character Rigging

Through carefully creating overlapping artwork layers that make up the characters limbs and joints, I was able to utilize the capabilites of the Duik Bassel plugin to manipulate the character's body parts as if I were a puppeteer. Additionally, I had created a library of facial expressions, which allowed for the character to posses a more emotive quality.

View my Assets
Assets

Many of the additional compositional assets that I made for this animation were created on an Ipad. I had a lot of fun using the animation assist feature in Procreate to make hand drawn animated gifs of text and mini characters. Additonally, both the blender and the background art were created in Adobe Illustrator.

Tools I Used:

Illustrator

After Effects

Procreate