This 2D animation details how the JAK-STAT pathway is involved in rheumatoid arthritis. It uses a flat, stylized animation style with vector-based assets and comedically exaggerated effects to transform complex biology into an entertaining and memorable experience. This project was a collaborative effort between Athena Li, Roy Kulananthan, and myself.
During the preproduction stage, my group and I had multiple discussions surrounding our goals, target audience, and stylistic ideas. After being provided a script, we drafted a storyboard, which was later refined to better communicate our ideas. We also created an animatic to smooth out the timing, pacing, and flow of our animation.
To help inform our narrative and stylistic choices, we created a moodboard filled with examples from TV shows, illustrations, and other visual media that could guide our design decisions. Ultimately, we decided on a bold, exaggerated style that echoed the “digital flash cartoon” aesthetic of the early 2000s.
I was tasked with visual development and creation of the cellular assets, environments, and backgrounds. All elements were vector-based and created in Illustrator, and were placed strategically into layers to streamline the animation process in After Effects.
To achieve the rotating 3D arrow effect, we initially planned to use 3D software with a toon shader applied. However, after some experiments, we decided against this strategy, as the resulting animation just wouldn’t fit with the highly stylized and graphic style we were aiming for. Instead, we decided to create a rough animation pass in OpenToonz, and then work over it in Illustrator. Roy animated the movement of one arrow rotation, frame-by-frame, which was then handed over to me for the Illustrator clean-up. After illustrating each frame (as well as the backgrounds), I brought the animation into After Effects to add subtle movements, background transitions, and additional effects.
I was also responsible for final colour correction and effects. My group and I were looking for a more old-timey feel to our animation, with lots of light leaks, flickers, and dust. In After Effects, I used a combination of fractal noise, gaussian blur, vignette, and a variety of other effects to achieve the aesthetic we were aiming for.