Salamancy

This project was my first serious venture into the world of stop-motion animation, realised mostly using physical cutout assets and integrating some 2D digital animation for the most complex effects. The story of Salamancy is inspired by the idea of some animals having "legendary" counterparts associated with them, through folklore and historical accounts - with one famous example being the salamander.

I first created a storyboard animatic using, of all things, Microsoft Powerpoint, which although not designed for animation can certainly be used for it. This was where I first explored the story and the visual style of the final piece, and began to think about how it could be realised in hybrid physical/digital form. (The background of the second panel was created using Nvidia's GauGAN AI demo!)

The graphic title at the beginning consists of individually hand-drawn letters converted into 2.5D cutout assets, and the salamander's transformation is a fully digital sequence combining a 3D morph animation with video sequencer effects.