Sniff sniff... You smell that? It's a new project.
If anyone knows me, they know that I just can't stop making stuff. Sometimes my biggest vice is taking one little thing I made and getting so excited to make it bigger than myself, and I can try to bite off more than I can chew... to just end up kinda leaving it.
Relatable, right? Probably hit a little deep there.
In my journey as a designer, illustrator, semi-motion designer, and now a business owner, I'm owning more art and creative direction in not just side projects, but more client work. And that's badass. But lately, I feel like I'm not pushing myself. Not stepping out of my comfort zone. I'm designing and whatnot... but just doing what I know. I use my design and technical skills very single day in all of my freelancing projects, it's basically like breathing at this point.
But where's the fear-factor? The risk? I'm going to try something that I don't know 100% will work, but I can do my damndest, and either way, I'll learn a lot. I'm a firm believer that learning can only make you better and more useful, and that can only lead to more opportunities. And you can bet your buns I'm always down for that.
So, enter stage left – "An Ode to Odds," an ongoing motion design/design/illustration/weird experimental piece that, frankly, I have no idea when it will be done... but am excited about the process and things I'll learn along the way.
Cool... but, why?
Like I mentioned before, I hate feeling like I'm stuck in one "bucket" in the design world. Being the odd, all over the place person that I am, I just want to explore, fail, ask questions, and make something that I'm proud of (which could honestly act as a motion reel too... which I've never had.)
Also:
Test myself with leading my own motion project, timelines, and expectations.
Officially feel better about calling myself a "motion designer" (so much imposter syndrome there)
Try new motion design techniques I usually wouldn't, like collage, painting stop-motion, even adding some video bits if it feels right.
Show the world what kind of stuff I want to create
Make some more friends in the motion industry
Learn about what techniques I want to dive deeper into
Get feedback & eyes from other motion designers!
Phase 1: Sketches & Styleframes
This is the most important phase, for a lot of reasons. If you talk to the best motion designers, they'll all agree that the design is by far the most important aspect of any motion piece. You could have the most intricate and impressive keyframes, path animations, and motion tricks, but if the design is hot caca 💩, then so is the piece all together. Kinda sucks, but the design rules all.⚡️
So, for the last month or so, I've just been designing styleframes. Some are more time-consuming, like the illustration-driven ones, and others can take a matter of minutes. It's truly a visual brain dump for me to see the color ratios & balance (if there's too many that are heavily red, black, etc., what colors I need to use more of from the palette, etc.), the variation of visual complexity, typography (trying to make sure the viewer isn't reading too much throughout,) where there's room for visual breaths from the chaos, etc.
I love to select all of my frames in my folder and preview them all together to see how they all compare. I I think it's so visually pleasing to look at. Which means it's heading in a good direction!
So in conclusion, this is to be continued...
Since this is something I haven't really done before, I'm going to also try to milk the hell out of the process. Sketches, screen-records, step-by-steps, motion tests, etc. I've even been strategizing on future live-streaming and content endeavors for my brand in general (WHATTTT?) – but, all of that to come.
And, kind of a side note – if you're a creative person who's doing something that's been your "bread and butter" and want to venture into another thing – don't be afraid. The biggest regret is not trying.
Go get'em. :)
If you're curious enough as I am on how this is going to turn out, keep an eye out on more blog posts and other things!
You can check out the project here. I'll be adding things to it as I go :)
Thanks as always!
⚡️