Volume 45

With the goal of producing a series of branded IDs, we dove into our design exploratory phase led by BGSTR Art Director, Carol Cai. Cai's illustrative approach with cheeky touches hit all the high notes with the team at FXX early on and set the groundwork for the collaboration.

Carol Cai concepted and art directed the :10-second IDs, all packed to the brim with the subversive humor the original had been ideated on. This humor came through in the initial ideas she explored including a vortex wormhole and a group soak in a hot tub where several of our famous characters can be found. Walking the line between comedic and edgy gave us a fun space to play in with our illustrated style; we used a lot of liquids and some ambiguous close-ups.

After prepping the :10-second spots, we then handed them off to Peter Schmidt, an illustrator and cel animator, who began the process of drawing the spots frame by frame. We were able to facilitate this process even more by having Senior 2D Animator Casey Drogin streamline some of the bigger illustrated moments in After Effects. This includes elements like the hot tub bubbles that would be intensively time consuming to draw frame by frame.

The creative process led to many memorable moments, including the sound effects Cai created to accompany the ‘tub buddies’ spot with bubble noises and splashing water. We ended up not doing the final sound mix, but included our post-edits in our package to FXX.

We kept our nose to the grindstone drawing all day every day to turn this package around for FXX and were thrilled with how the IDs turned out. The feeling must have been mutual, because before we knew it, we were back to the drawing board, concepting and branding a new block focused on a Family Guy marathon due to debut over the holidays.

The FXX team was great to work with because they’re so willing to explore a vision and give us the amount of creative freedom to really take things to the next level. We all had fun riffing on ideas back and forth, and their notes helped guide our ideas and keep us on brand AND on air by making sure we just toed the line of risque while keeping the spot’s sense of humor intact. Overall, our team of artists made quick work of the complex process of hand illustrating and then cel animating these four IDs. It's a testament to both the expertise of our artists and a great working relationship with our client that we were able to nail the creative and the humor of the IDs and look forward to the next round!

Do you remember how you got into art?

Yeah, I grew up drawing and making comic books and studying fine art in high school. The high school I went to, I spent half of my day really drawing and illustrating. I had this amazing teacher, Mr. P. He’d taught art in prison and really opened up how I perceived what art was. He’d have you spend a whole week working on something and then the last day tell you to tear it apart and make something totally new with it.

He taught me to never be too perfect and to not use an eraser and to not be afraid to make a mark. So I’ve always tried to bring that into the work that I do, and here at BigStar with Josh and our designers it’s been really useful.

Tell us about your role at BGSTR?

I started off as a freelance animator about 6 years prior to joining the staff, so I’ve been working with Josh and the team here for a long time. As a freelancer, I became the go-to for when we had a project where we needed to make something feel really in-camera. On staff now, I have a deeper role in a number of projects at once. I moved from banging out a bunch of animation on a project to really getting to oversee the edit of the spot- the sound design, the pipeline and how all the pieces are going to fit together.

What tools and techniques are you using?

I’m primarily working in After Effects for I’d say 80% of the time. The rest of the time, I’m probably doing hand drawn animation, which I’d started doing when I was 17, so I always enjoy that.

I’ve always enjoyed the different techniques out there- rough and glitchy, handmade, hand drawn or 3D. I don’t have a preference, but I enjoy any project where I get to learn something new or I’m working with someone whose brain I can pick.

How do you determine the look for a particular project? When do you feel like you’re at your best?

I rely a lot on the amazing team at BigStar- working with Ross Henderson, John Leamy, Josh Norton and Carol Cai- they’re all fabulous designers. Where do I fit into that? Well, I think I can design, but they have an eye for making stuff. The longer I work at BigStar, the better my eye is for seeing design and how it’s going to move. Starting to think in motion as opposed to thinking in still images.

I think I feel like I’m at my best now, trusting the designers while also knowing the animation process well enough to also know what I need to ask for me to do my job and make the process as seamless as possible.

Anything else you want to add?

I just feel really lucky that I get to do what I do. I get to make things for a living, and I was making things when I was five and twelve years old, and still now. I freelanced for a long time in New York and saw a lot of different studios and different projects, and the thing that I really enjoy about BigStar and working with Josh is that he has the same level of commitment to quality and maintains a healthy amount of dissatisfaction with the work until it’s really good. Working here has made me become a better artist and teammate.

How does Cel Animation tie into BGSTR’s signature style?

BGSTR has a really physical, tactile style; this starts from design all the way through animation and compositing. Even if we aren't using traditional cel animation on a project, we're always pushing to find ways to make our work feel handmade and have every frame considered.

See case studies: FXX, Walking Dead, Soul of a Nation, Preacher , What We Do in the Shadows