Van 106 - Animated Logo
My Roles: Technical Advisor | Animator
In May 2021, The Good Kids (Bismarck ND) needed a motion designer to create an animated logo sting for a grip & lighting company. I’m a sucker for awesome art and instantly fell in love with the illustrative style.
With enough time, willpower, and coffee (especially coffee) - I'm an ok illustrator. The illustration skills at The Good Kids is incredible, and I’m thrilled I was able to animate the artwork they created. One unique problem we faced was animating the rear doors opening. We settled on crafting 4 stages of various positions and it worked fantastic. I also suggested we add some body roll to give the van an element of 3D. The full storyboards are below.
The van was rigged with Joysticks & Sliders with an agressive, yet tight wiggle expression to give the illustion as if the van was driving down a bumpy road. With some taper & wave effects on a stroke, the van was suddenly flying down a dustry road on it’s way to an important shoot.
Finishing the project
To finish the project various elements were added to give the scene some depth. The palm trees move at different speeds from foreground, mid-scene, and background to for a bit of camera parallax. Additional animation principles were added to the van to add squash and stretch, anticipation, easing, arcs, and some secondary animation. Low opacity reflections to the windows and a window shine to help sell the realism.
I feel the end project turned out fantastic. The piece has a retro vibe that’s fun and exciting, with a cute story to help sell Van 106’s personality. Most importantly, I made a new friends at The Good Kids - and I’m excited to work with them again.
Testimonial
“So far we have hired Drysen for two projects … and we couldn’t be happier with the results. In both projects, he listened to our needs and understood the problems we wanted to solve while providing high-quality feedback that helped us realize a better vision... His work gave our brand movement and personality and he is very fun to work with!”
— Ben Brick, The Good Kids Branding Agency