Title Design & Animation
Between 2017 and 2020 while working at New York Magazine, one of my biggest responsibilities was designing and animating title sequences for various web series for Vulture, The Cut, Intelligencer, and Grubstreet. It was during this time that I began to hone in on my own style and refine my animation techniques, as I was constantly trying to improve upon my prior work and trying aesthetics that were out of my comfort zone.
Due to the fast-paced nature of the news cycle, I was oftentimes only given a day or two to come up with a title animation, so it was a constant battle of how good can I make something look with the little time I have. Every so often, though, I’d get a full week or two to really sink my teeth into a project. Those were my favorites to work on, because I feel they led to the most growth in my skillset.
The following is a mix of the title design and animation work I’m most proud of during my time at NYMag.
the Vulture Spot at Sundance 2020
Project Approach
Moodboard
To begin, I spent some time pulling references from Pinterest to initially get the ball rolling on what I thought this spot would look like. What I landed on was a simple, flat style.
Storyboard
Typically I would draw out some rough sketches with pencil and paper before touching the computer, but I knew I would need as much time as possible to animate this spot. I opted to jump straight into Photoshop to start playing around with basic shapes and creating a simple version of the action. Approaching storyboarding this way allowed me to iterate faster and to save time by having the composition nearly locked in for the styleframes.
Styleframes
Equipped with the moodboard and storyboard, I next set out to lock in the art direction by creating styleframes for each key moment.
It was in this phase where I felt that the art was too flat and lacking life, so I started experimenting with Photoshop brushes to create a more painterly look.
The full storyboard laid out with final art.
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