Jump Around: Laurie Rowan’s Animation is Great Fun

Laurie Rowan’s character-driven illustrations are great fun. An animator, illustrator, and director, Rowan creates delightful pastel creatures that jiggle and wiggle across the screen. The result is both playful and original, and we admit that we’d love to watch a show (rather than a short GIF) dedicated to his wobbly creations.

We’re not alone. Rowan has caught the attention of clients like the BBC, Channel 4, Disney, and Google, achieving numerous accolades for his work; and his Instagram page alone has amassed more than 25k fans, gaining his animated GIFS a staggering 350 million views.

Though his art is digital, when it comes to the creative process itself it includes both analog and digital methods. “I begin with sketches, unfocussed, free drawing and let what comes, come,” he told wertn. “At some point, a logic will begin to form and I’ll start to mold that into something that can translate into a short.”

“I keep my process hand-drawn and on paper until I feel it’s defined enough to work up in 3D, from that point I work directly from my sketches in 3Ds Max,” he went on to explain. “Once in 3Ds, each phase blends with the next. I always begin with modeling, then generally onto texturing, lighting, rigging and eventually animation.”

Take a look at some of his playful results: