Rainforests – Earth’s oldest living ecosystems. This project was an opportunity for me to work on my animation and video production skills. Almost everything was made from scratch: the illustrations, animations, and even the video’s audio. This animated short was a school project, and the subject matter was up to me.

After choosing my theme, and before getting into sketching, I made up a quick script and ran it through an AI voice generator. It was on me to find or create a compelling audio piece to help tell the animation’s story. I added some sound effects and music to tie everything together. From there, I began to work on some rough storyboards that went along with my script.

My assets went from ideas, to sketches, to clean vector illustrations. It was time to start animating, and I knew I wanted to try something new with this project. One thing I always found myself hesitant to create was a walk cycle, so that’s exactly what I incorporated. After hours of building, refining and producing my animation, I came out with a pretty solid walk cycle of a jungle cat.

I had a lot of fun watching this piece come to life with every scene, and I loved focusing in on the smaller details. I achieved my animation and illustrative goals with this project and I feel creating this animated short helped me discover a bit more about myself and my style as a motion designer. This piece was a step in the right direction for me, and I couldn't be happier with the turnout.