Animation I've Been Up To: Design for IdeaRocket

Over the past 5-6 years, I've been happy to serve as the principle designer, Art Director, and Creative Director for IdeaRocket Animation. During that time we experienced terrific growth, and had some great clients. I've moved on, back to animation freelancing and the fun of designing for kids' show. Here's just a few of the pieces, and design (some used, some unused) that I managed to whip up during that time (click on 'em to enlarge the whole show):

For Venmo...





…based on an animated comic book format. Google it.

 ...a little psychedelia (char. concept W.Gadea).

For a Canadian cracker-maker…

 in the style of the great Swarte…





A couple "puppet show" looks, unused for the spot…




… an urban girl bg that did get used…



 
 A sample look for Verizon.




Some straight whiteboard…








…with a little color













 
Motion Gfx with the great Jacques Khouri.



Some fun traditional character stuff…


…and a little retro traditional.

A cool BG look for a recent gig.

Ending with a combo look for a corporate client…




Most of these full animations can be found on IdeaRocket's Vimeo page, FYI. Cheers, animation lovers! I hope to see you back on children's primetime soon!

Check out more animation design at my site!

Codename: Kids Next Door – More 2x4 Technology on Wheels

For all you junkyard junkies, here are a few of the less often seen rolling 2x4 vehicles employed by numbahs one through five...the colors have been adjusted to jive with the junkyard Leonardo design specs I originally had in mind...

Weeds, Season 8: Growing a New Opening

Airing now for the Season 8 of Showtime's off-beat comedramady Weeds, are the new RSA-style animated opening credits very gratefully designed, directed, and drawn by yours truly; working along with my associates at IdeaRocket Animation, Will Gadea, and the very talented Irish After Effects wizard, Jonathan Parson at Mute Grab, the piece recaps the history of the show's storyline, up 'til this, the final season. It was a pleasure to work with the folks at Showtime, and with my IdeaRocket compadres. Check out this Studio Daily article, and have a look at our finished product:

Animation Design in Flash! Fun BGs & Characters

It's fun to build a throng of Flashy fans and devotees, populating a plastic Everytown, U.S.A, occupying Flash's world of layers and symbols...click to see'em bigger.

Here's our jubilant crowd of up-close enthusiastic small-town pan fans and well-wishers, rushing past as you pass...

...here's a funny little smattering of distant sidewalk onlookers, and a rather anonymous mulling mid-range crowd...

...and here's where we started – with a typical, fun cartoon street, which Flash's plasticity can give an activity all by itself.

Codename: Kids Next Door – More 2x4 Tech Weaponry!

The KND had a never-ending need for new and specialized weaponry; here are a few of the more popular and often-used mayhem-makers that Numbah 2 cooked up in his junkyard lab...

The Phlazer was one of the first 2x4 weapons I "invented," a homemade light amplifying blaster that I'm not sure, but it just might really work...

...the Gumgunner (those gumballs hurt!)

...the Razorgun, for getting into close shaves. Adults with facial hair, look out!

...and Numbah Three's favorite, the Teddyzooka...nothing like getting a teddy bear right smack in the kisser!

Animation Design – Rejections From the "Nice" Pile...

Sometimes even the nicest designs can get the boot, like these two friendly, slightly euro-UPA style salespeople (as value roughs), and the soft pastel world (with their replacements) I was hoping they would live in...

...the soft pastel world with it's graphic bubbles didn't make it either.

Bass Angling, Animation Design Style (Fishing in the Weeds...)

This recent color-keyed flow chart is an homage to the Saul Bass, Mirisch, David DePatie/Friz Freleng schools of those wonderfully graphic show titles...and not to forget Jay Ward! This particular pitch didn't catch on, but it was a nice angle anyways...(to the tune of Malvina Reynolds "Little Boxes")

A Word World Valentine's (Making Machine) Day

Thank goodness this Valentine's Day device didn't have to spell itself!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Animation Design Comes to Life – Actual Shots from Different Spots

Here are shots from actual spots demonstrating how animation design fits content and brand; a variety of looks I've come up with for a variety of requirements – and shown in a variety of venues...

from online to on-the-air...

Design for an online animation, the kind I specialize in at

IdeaRocket Animation

The hand-drawn style supplies unfolding action to the storyline...

Designing an entire world

where every character

is built from it's own word,

for Word World, airing on

PBS Kids...where I created a lot of easily-read characters,

their legible locations, and lots of their well-spelled stuff.

An editorial look for a groovy trip back in history...

And an upcoming animation describing what animation can do...

...maybe we'll end up with a corner office!

See what I do with IdeaRocket,

And a lot more animation design of all kinds at my site.

Call on me for any kind of animation design solution,

particularly if it's perplexing, pop, or playful!

Check out my profile on LinkedIn