A demo reel of 2D Animation, animated digitally and on paper. More information of each segment below.
Timestamps with descriptions
0:03-0:11
Wyvern on Paper
(2022)
I had wanted to try animating on paper for a long time but didn’t know how to obtain a peg bar and animation paper in Finland. The animation minor’s teacher was kind enough to give me a peg bar with two pins and told me that many animate on copy paper so animation paper isn’t a must. After I bought a light pad I did this looping animation of a wyvern. I found animating on paper very enjoyable and I’m planning to animate the majority of my short film in the minor on paper too.
0:12-0:36
A Unicorn in Helsinki
(2022- in progress)
Shots animated on paper for my animated short film I started in the animation minor in Aalto University. The short film is based on Helsinki's block animals. After the big fire of Helsinki in 1808 the blocks were named after animals and plants when they were rebuilt. The only mythical block animal is a unicorn and my short is about a fictional origin story about it. The story is a mix of an actual historical event and fictional elements. The fire of 1808 started in a shed when a man took a horse there and shut a candle by ripping its wick and throwing in on the ground.
My idea for the unicorn, as well as the other block animals, being ghosts came from the thought that the animals are in the city but are invisible to us. I had an idea early on for a story where a horse dies in the fire that leads to its spirit and the fire getting mixed and formed into a unicorn. Later I found out that the fire did actually start from a shed.
The first shot is animated digitally in Photoshop. The rest of the shots in the reel are animated on paper with pencil. I will animate the scenes from the unicorn’s perspective on paper since the sketchy style portrays the point of view of a newly born ghost to whom the recent events are unclear. The beginning of the short when the unicorn is still alive as a horse and scenes that are shown from humans’ perspective, I will animate digitally. The digital animation is clearer than paper animation which will portray reality. There will be a scene where the unicorn and Johan Albrecht Ehrenström, the designer of Helsinki’s new city plan, will meet which I will animate in both styles.
0:36-0:56
Disguise
(2022)
We had an exercise in the animation minor to 2d animate a short scene that has ongoing movement, a break and a surprising element. Since I love animals and mysterious creatures I got an idea about a creature that seems to be a bird at first glance but turns out to be a two headed creature. I wanted to leave the meaning behind the creature open so the audience would make their own assumptions about what this creature is and why it was disguised as a bird. Animated in Photoshop.
0:56-1:05
(2024)
NORMALBIRD-008
In the animation master's programme we had an assignment to animate about eight seconds of anything. One tip was to animate without any expectations or storyboards, which is the approach I took with my work. I doodled a bird and after finishing the flight animation I decided to not put any details to the bird, making it look like a surreal creature. After animating the flight I came up with a concept that it's an artificial bird that fuels on clouds by eating them.
1:06-1:24
TVPaint Animation Tests
(2022)
Animation minor’s 2d animation tests done on TVPaint. I really enjoyed the program, for example it’s great that you can color things without the need of the outlines being connected which isn’t possible on Photoshop. The second test was my first time animating dialogue. It was fun to think how the character would act when saying “oh no”.
1:25-1:44
Personal Animation Tests
(2020-2022)
Personal animation tests I’ve animated in Krita, Photoshop and Pixilart (the pixel ghost animation). Many of these have exaggerated, silly movement which is one of the things I really enjoy in animation. The classic Tom & Jerry and Looney Tunes were and still are one of my favorite cartoons. They are hilarious in both dialogue and body language which I hope to learn to convey when animating too. My favorite thing in the Looney Tunes is Bob Clampett’s version of Daffy Duck since he’s a perfect character for zany animation.
In contrast to zany movement I’m also a big fan of subtle details in acting in animation. Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston and Milt Kahl were masters at it and in the fifth clip with a cat I tried to animate a “Milth head swaggle”.
The squid-like creature in the second clip is my friend’s design. When I saw his concept art of how the creature has this surprise element with the tentacles I had to animate it.
1:44-1:59
Seeking for Stripes
(2020)
In the first bachelor year of visual communication design in Aalto our last course was about visual movement. We studied both motion graphics on After Effects and production phases in animation production. The course project was a 15 second short animation with the theme of dream and sexuality. Since I like to draw animals I was thinking how I could convey these themes with them. In the short we’re in a dreamlike environment where a creature is seeking for its sexuality which is represented as stripes. When meeting another creature and falling in love it finds its sexuality. Animated in Photoshop.
This project was the first time for me to animate something longer than a few seconds and it was very educational on how to handle an animated production. I also really enjoyed using animal symbolism that I often use when drawing or coming up with story concepts.
1:59-2:12
The Game
(2020)
In the first bachelor year I took a course of metaphor in visual communication. We watched The Game (1997) and created visual material about it. My animation was inspired by the scene in the film where the main character is in a test answering with the first words coming to his mind when seeing illustrated pictures held by a CSR employee. The elements in this animation are from these illustrated pictures. Animating the main character moving from a picture to a picture was a fun challenge. Animated in Photoshop.