Creative Caffeine, Snack-Sized!
The first Keys & Curves Inspiro™ post is loaded with goodies.
Keys & Curves is here to unlock inspiration for all things animation, straight to your inbox, every Monday.
👋🏻 Here we go! With everything happening right now there’s little time to sit back and soak in something that’s just… FUN, let alone go out and find it.
But that’s exactly what today’s Inspiro™ post is all about; a guilt-free snack written just for you to grab in those moments between meetings and messages and who-knows-what-else’s.
(Consider it the visual equivalent of digging into the candy bag for one of those kidsize Snickers you’ve been sneaking from last weekend’s Halloween run 😅)
📃 What’s inside:
Animation: Freelance can be fun when it’s Fantasy.
Motion Design: At it’s most messy – when it’s not just sliders and software.
References and remembering one we lost.
ANIMATION STATION
FREELANCE, Fernanda Dias, + a Fight Girl.
The power of personal projects can’t be understated, but how do you find the time – and what do you spend that precious free time on once you make the commitment? One way (and one we’ll be exploring ourselves here at K&C!) is to choose a story that comes from your own life… like TUMBLEHEAD did with FREELANCE 💪🏻
(After you watch the short, make sure to take a spin with Lollypopman’s “The Quest for the Next Step” making of from BConLA 2024)Fernanda Dias Witch Bunny is a must-see compilation of her amazingly designed and even better animated characters on Youtube.
INVINCIBLE FIGHT GIRL: new animated shows seem to be a rarity these days – any that make it through the gauntlet of studio obstructions these days need to be celebrated, and SUPPORTED! If you’ve got MAX you can watch it right now, and if you don’t? You can buy it on Youtube right now!
I’m constantly amazed by the malleability of certain characters. WB can have 3-4 different Batman versions at the same time, TMNT doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon, and Marvel’s about to launch YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN with a completely new (or old, depending on your age…) look!
Have you heard of Dandadan yet? It’s only the most electric, batshit crazy, totally inventive anime that we haven’t seen the likes of since FLCL – and the opening titles might be one of the best ever.
MOTION MADNESS
Make Motion Messy.
Motion Design isn’t just After Effects + Cinema 4D, it can be cameras and motors and messes that look like magic when shot at high speed. Steve Giralt takes us through his Garage to show just what it looks like when motion design gets MESSY.
One thing we can never get enough at Keys & Curves is creative kinetic type. Stretch it, slam it, push it in different directions or keep it classic – there’s always some new way to bring letters to life and we’re constantly on the hunt for them all.
Speaking of type, Variable Type may not be fully baked in just yet, but the old stalwart After Effects just got some new type tricks with 2025!
MGM+ dropped a new UFO show and somebody spent some big bucks on an awesome opening title – anyone know who worked on this big budget beauty?
Really fun rebrand reel for ROBINHOOD, by Porto Rocha – I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of seeing a studio animate the vectors of the old logomark into the new one.
🎬 Filipe Carvalho updated his jaw-dropping near-infinite scrolling worksite
One thing we’re always hungry for here at K&C is the Why behind the creative choices that show up in someone’s work – Gabi Fang talks all about how why used Motion to solve an editorial challenge with her charming “A Worm’s Universe” project.
Nello Fontani cracks the Arcane-styled effects with this beauty
REFERENCE RIFFS
Ha-Ha Tech, Baking as Architecture, + Shock Waves?
Why isn’t your number one tool laughter? This quote from Andy Pearson at Liquid Death has stuck with us since we read it and it’s left us wondering how we can bring the funny more often to our clients:
Humor - it's the oldest technology we have. What other thing can produce an instant, visceral reaction from someone?
Looking for Shape Layer animation inspiration? Search no further than a Rocket Jet Ignition! 🚀
A living chair – we need to rainy day to research arborsculpture 🌳
A former Ukranian architect turned pastry chef mixes art and architecture
REMEMBERANCE
Jason White
He was a classmate, a competitor, and right at the end, a colleague. We lost Jason last week – the deepest thinker I’ve ever met in the industry, the kind of person that you cleared your evening for if you thought you might run into him as he always found a way to talk you into the night.
Chad Hutson, his partner at the game-changing studio Leviathan, said it all better than I ever could – but I will miss the way you challenged us all and I’m saddened to think I won’t work under the light of your creativity one more time, my friend.
On another day we’ll all see that smile again.
That’s a wrap! We’ll see you later this week with a deep dive diagnosis on what to do when your client orders “delight” – can motion make EMOTIONS? 🥰
Witch bunny is amazing